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My wife has had her 2013 Grand Cherokee for 5+ years with no drama at 93,000 miles. The 3.6 is solid and provides solid fuel economy; she's always around 21-22 mpg on a country road commute. She has zero issues with a snowy commute in the middle of a blizzard as needed or cruising to the beach.
We just bought my daughter her first car...it's a 2012 Grand Cherokee with the 3.6 and 94,000 miles.
The only down side for me is the same with all the midsize suv's; the front passenger knee room could be better and the rear legroom is fine, but could be better when you're 6'2" tall.
I drive Ford Exploders for work so I had zero desire to stare at the same plastic dash on my off-time.
I like Grand Cherokees a lot. Good solid vehicles that have been around for a while. But here's a question... do you need an SUV? We bought an all wheel drive Lincoln MKZ (a sedan) a year or so ago and it needed to go in the shop. They gave us a Lincoln Nautilus (an SUV) as a loaner. The ride quality was noticeably better in the MKZ. We definitely prefer a sedan - quieter, better ride, better gas mileage. Just a thought... good luck with your search!
I owned a 2012 with the 3.6. The 3.6 is a great motor, but not in the 2011 - 2013 model years, because those years use the 5 speed mercedes transmission, not the 8 speed zf. Jeep had the bright idea of combining the 3.6 with a 5 speed and a very tall gear ratio (3.09? 3.12??), and the thing is a complete and utter dog if you care about performance in any way.
Especially when it upshifts from 2 to 3, it happens so low on the rpm that when 3 arrives it's like somebody hit the brakes and you lose all power, you can actually feel that shift slow you down for a few seconds until revs climb back up.
Downshifts under moderate throttle are way too slow, so you keep pressing and boom it downshifts like 5 gears (exaggerating), but it's not a well tuned power train by any means.
That was my only complaint about the Jeep, but after 1 year of ownership it was driving me nuts and after 5 years of owning it I was ready to get my axe out.
The 2014+ is a completely different Jeep. The extra gears + change in gear ratio + better tuning was all it needed to make the 3.6 shine.
Im scared to drive one...I already want one, Im sure if I drove one....be over LOLI had a ‘14 GC Limited as a loaner years ago when a former Ram was in the shop. I fell in love with that thing !!! It was fully loaded with the huge sunroof and everything.
Truth is I only need a truck about once a month....but that’s too often not to have one.
Big ****** (based on a Ram 1500 chassis but with an independent rear) was officially introduced today.The upcoming Grand Wagoneer looks pretty nice too...