Test drive Jeep Grand Cherokee. First, second and comfort
At the end of the year, Jeep will unveil a new generation of the Grand Cherokee - with turbo engines, touch panels and something like an autopilot. An excellent excuse to see your predecessor and once again be surprised at his charisma and unpretentiousness
The single-lane road near Kostroma looks more like a landfill: there are all types of irregularities, and sometimes potholes are so deep that you have to rearrange on a piece of asphalt. On the right are birches, and on the left is the Volga.
For some reason, locals speak in a whisper about the forest path along the Volga, where tourist centers and rest homes have been built since Soviet times.
“Everyone complains about this route, but what can you do - you have to go. It is being repaired in pieces, but it doesn't help much. I ride in second gear and train my vision, because if you relax, you can lose a wheel. Or the suspension - to hell, "- a summer resident in a Lada Granta showed me an expensive repair kit, after which he anxiously walked around the car and drove on in silence.
This year, $ 32 will be spent on roads in the Kostroma region. At least 735 tracks will be repaired, as well as the most broken streets in Kostroma itself. However, you begin to feel all these problems inside the Jeep Grand Cherokee Trailhawk when a smartphone flies out of the cup holder at 49 km / h from monstrous vibrations.
These are crossovers and sedans here at a snail's pace, and on the most advanced of the Grand Cherokee, the road turns into an exciting quest. It is unlikely that the engineers who worked on the Trailhawk kept the Kostroma expensive ones in mind, but these guys definitely tried to make the SUV not hesitate to drive off the asphalt. Here is the permanent all-wheel drive Quadra Drive II with electronically controlled rear locking, but the most interesting thing is the air suspension, which in the most off-road modes raises the body by as much as 274 mm.
Always near.
Here, by the way, there is no longer a frame - the Americans abandoned it in favor of handling more than 10 years ago. But don't expect the Grand Cherokee to react precisely to sharp turns of the steering wheel and confident driving in a straight line at high speeds. This SUV seems to keep its pedigree in mind, swaying in an American way and responding to actions with some laziness. Of course, you have to get used to driving the Grand Cherokee Trailhawk, but already on the second or third day it will not seem clumsy and outdated.
By the way, about archaism. The current Grand Cherokee is 10 years old - during this time Audi came up with a full-fledged autopilot, Elon Musk launched Tesla into space, and we pay $ 95 per liter of 0,6th. instead of 25. The technical stuffing of the Grand Cherokee, built on the same platform as the 2004 Mercedes ML, no longer looks progressive, to put it mildly. There are still not the most economical aspirated engines with a volume of 3,0, 3,6 and 5,7 liters, which are far from the optimal solution from the tax point of view. But the owners are proud of the resource of these engines unprecedented for the supercharged era and do not pay much attention to the quality of the fuel.
During the test, the 3,6-liter engine, if it showed itself and not exemplary, then at least without questions coped with all the tasks. This V6 produces 286 hp. with. and 347 Nm of torque and, according to the figures in the passport, accelerates the 2,2-ton SUV to 100 km / h in 8,3 seconds. On the track, by the way, there are no questions about the power reserve: overtaking the Grand Cherokee is easy, and the eight-speed "automatic" works adequately and predictably. By the way, in a busy highway mode with overtaking in the oncoming lane, countless settlements and four-lane sections, Jeep burned an average of 11,5 liters per 100 km - a good figure in the context of the curb weight and atmospheric V6.
In general, the Jeep Grand Cherokee of the outgoing generation is an excellent alternative to the Toyota Land Cruiser Prado and Mitsubishi Pajero Sport. The American looks like a reasonable compromise for those who don't need a frame but don't want to think about what's under the wheels. Moreover, all three cars are incredibly similar inside. No, it's not about the design, but about the ideology: a minimum of soft plastic, a maximum of buttons, and almost no sensors and soiled panels. The screen on the Jeep dashboard looks out of date, but the information is perfectly readable, and the monitor itself is not overloaded with additional readings.
The same story with the multimedia screen: there are only more than 7 inches here, it is quirky, almost square in shape, with grainy graphics, but it has everything you need: support for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, navigation and even a special section where the system shows the position bodywork, transmission operation and driving mode.
The Jeep Grand Cherokee copes well with long hauls: there are even overly soft seats, a comfortable armrest, decent sound insulation (even without adjusting for studded tires) and intelligible, in contrast to the frames, brakes. On the move, you can even feel some monumentality of the Grand Cherokee: it is definitely not the biggest among the competitors, but it takes on an impressive pedigree and charisma.
Light sluggishness and archaism even suits him, because it's all about emotions. Jeep Grand Cherokee is real and good for it. The next generation of the legendary SUV will debut this year and will surely shine with touch screens, fully digital dash, projection and turbocharged motors. All in all, Grand Cherokee, we will miss you.
| A type | SUV |
| Dimensions (length / width / height), mm | 4821/1943/1802 |
| Wheelbase, mm | 2915 |
| Ground clearance, mm | 218 – 2774 Feet |
| Cargo space, l | 782 – 1554 Feet |
| Curb weight, kg | 2354 |
| Gross vehicle weight, kg | 2915 |
| engine's type | Petrol V6 |
| Working volume, cubic meters cm | 3604 |
| Max. power, l. with. (at rpm) | 286/6350 |
| Max. cool. moment, Nm (at rpm) | 356 / 4600-4700 |
| Drive type, transmission | Full, AKP8 |
| Max. speed km / h | 210 |
| Acceleration from 0 to 100 km / h, s | 8,3 |
| Fuel consumption (average), l / 100 km | 10,4 |
