Thoughts on Jeep Grand Cherokee?

[Truck Fun]

The upcoming Grand Wagoneer looks pretty nice too...

Larger size than what we want or need. But will be interesting to see how it competes in the market.

 

[NH RAM]

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.

 

[aces-n-eights]

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!

 

[ramffml]

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 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.

 

[ramffml]

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!

The GC drives amazingly well, especially with Air Suspension. It's not a body on frame SUV.

 

[NH RAM]

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.

If it were for me, it would be different, but for the wife and daughter, the zf wasn't necessary. They cruise along and if it goes from A to B, they're mostly happy. There is a noticeable wait for upshifts until you get on it a bit, but it's been reliable and that's the most important part. So far. I'm sure if my wife's 2013 didn't have a lifetime warranty we might be looking at at a newer GC, but it's still holding in there.

 

[Nystagmus]

I 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.

 

[Graygoose]

I 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.

Im scared to drive one...I already want one, Im sure if I drove one....be over LOL

 

[ToTheDarkSide]

My wife drives a 2015 limited and has put 100k on it. Loves it. Zero issues(knock on wood) I’ve talked 4 of my friends into getting one. We were looking into the new GW next when they come out. I don’t want to trade it in. It would be a great daily for me. Plus we wouldn’t get anything out of it. Awesome winter vehicle too!

 

[blackbeautyhemi]

My wife loves her 2016 grand Cherokee limited. Haven’t had any issues mechanically with it, just a couple cosmetic issues taken care of under warranty. The 3.6 with 8 speed transmission runs great for what it is and does very well on fuel.

 

[trailhead]

My wife drives a 2018 Grand Cherokee and loves it. My only complaint is the tilt wheel lever is too far a reach.

 

[Ram1967]

I traded my 2014 ram Big Horn hemi in for a 2019 jeep grand Cherokee trail hawk and absolutely love it. I did get the 5.7 L hemi. Loved my big horn but moved to New Mexico and have been using the jeep grand Cherokee for vehicle camping. Also had a 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee Upland And love that as well. I’ve had no issues with my 2019 and now have a little over 17,000 miles. Extremely comfortable love the panoramic moonroof and ventilated seats

 

[Ram1967]

Biggest thing I miss from my ram Big Horn is the spacious center consul. Only thing I do not like about the jeep grand Cherokee is there is very little storage space. Wish they could make it deeper or wider. And I wish they would put notches so you could close the front storage when you have a cell phone hooked in. Don’t understand why they don’t do that

 

[Ridgerunner665]

We wanted a Grand Cherokee very much.... but just couldn't justify the cost so we got a Cherokee instead.

The Grand Cherokee is a dang nice SUV for sure.

Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

 

[Old Fart]

deleted

 

[andymax]

I have a 2014 grand Cherokee Overland… A trim level I highly recommend. Has all the bells and whistle‘s you can want. The summit is mostly cosmetic upgrades. The limited was just that… Too limited on the creature comforts that I was looking for. I drive about 52,000 miles a year, this jeep now has 211,000 miles and I love every minute of driving it. It is an extremely comfortable highway vehicle, awesome on long trips. At the same time, an exceptional off-road vehicle and it tows very very well. I have the eco-diesel version and regularly get 30+ miles per gallon. If the diesel is not for you then I would recommend just bumping up to the hemi as you get pretty much the same fuel economy on the highway anyways as the V6, But yet the daily driving experience will be that much nicer. Seriously, you can find an Overland for the same price as a properly equipped limited… You just have to shop a little bit. By the way, if you plan to do a lot of highway running then I strongly recommend getting the adaptive cruise control feature… It is awesome. I have owned a number of pickup trucks, a number of sedans, some of them very nice high end luxury cars. This is without a doubt the most singularly capable vehicle I’ve ever had. No, not perfect, but for my purposes it’s awesome. My wife loves driving it as well.

 

[Truckit]

I have a 2019 RAM Limited and a 2020 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT. The Jeep is not as comfortable as the RAM but is a lot more fun to drive. In fact if I didn't need a truck I would consider a 2nd SRT. Yes they are that good! My daughter works at a dealer that has both a Chrysler Ram Jeep store as well as a Ford store. She will not let me buy a F150 or a Ford SUV. In fact she won't even price them to me. My son does digital marketing for a 3 store Ford dealer and he tells me the same.

 

[Tracy in IL]

what's this topic doing on the Ram forum? Jeep forums galore.

 

[David Langford]

We have a 2019 GC Trailhawk and absolutely love it. This will be the last year of this model, revisions for the 20 or 21, I believe. This is our third in a row, we had the GC Ascent before this and loved that too.

 

[McBroom]

We have an 18 GC Trailhawk and its absolutely fabulous. Its the black out edition 4x4 5.7 amazing ride

Black 20 Ram

 

[HemiLonestar]

The upcoming Grand Wagoneer looks pretty nice too...

Big ****** (based on a Ram 1500 chassis but with an independent rear) was officially introduced today.
https://www.caranddriver.com/photos/g33861459/jeep-grand-wagoneer-concept/