TRADING TRAILS FOR BRAWN
Grand Cherokee SRT is part muscle car
While my deep-seated inner motor head snickers over the muscle-bound Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT like a schoolboy who’s just heard a dirty joke, an equally rooted history with Jeep products has me preserving my moral outrage. Well, sort of.
Here’s the beef: What makes any Jeep special is its genuine go-anywhere off-road ability, built into every model since Day 1. In trying to establish bona fides as a performance model to rival that of the European brands, such as the Range Rover Sport SVR, BMW X5 M and Mercedes-Benz ML 63 AMG, Jeep has traded the Grand Cherokee’s Trail Rated status for muscle-car acceleration and sports car-like cornering, along with a swinish thirst for fuel when its potential is exploited.
With that off my chest, I acknowledge that segment of performance aficionados who desire big power in an equally large rig, the type who don’t give a flying, uh, fig about bashing through the boonies. They just want to light up the tires and split the air with a thundering exhaust note every now and again — only in something that will seat five and lug a trailer when needed (7,200-pound towing capacity in the 2015 SRT’s case, up 44 per cent over the previous model). This is something the Grand Cherokee SRT does very well, and at about half the price of those European über-utes.
The 2015 model sees a small bump of five ponies to 475 horsepower and an uptick in torque to 470 pound-feet. Thus, Fiat Chrysler’s money-in-the-bank brand claims the hotrod Grand Cherokee as its best-performing SRT vehicle ever: zero to 96 km/h (60 m.p.h.) in 4.8 seconds and a top speed of 257.5 km/h. For a brick-shaped SUV tipping the scales at a meaty 2,336 kilograms, it has a launch that could embarrass a fair number of supposedly sporty cars — with an angry tailpipe rumble.
The Grand Cherokee has a muscular, bulky body that’s all business on the outside, the only glitz being the five-spoke, 20-inch Goliath wheels finished in “black chrome” with bright chrome centre caps. With the possible exception of the BMW X6 M, it’s likely the most intimidating sport ute out there.
Supporting the SUV’s potential hooligan behaviour is that the SRT’s Selec-Track system delivers more torque to the rear wheels in Track mode for “optimal rear-wheel-drive characteristics.” Selec-Track uses performance-tuned software to differentiate the system’s five dynamic modes: Auto, Sport, Tow, Track and Snow. While Track is the setting for ultimate performance — Jeep says the torque split change in this mode provides a more responsive vehicle from mid-corner to exit and delivers faster lap times on an actual circuit — it’s not ideal for street use, with very abrupt upshifts from the Jeep’s eightspeed manumatic. Auto mode is OK, though the steering seems a bit remote at higher speeds. Ultimately, Sport mode tamed the wandering by firming the steering without appreciably affecting the ride. With the sport suspension and the low-profile Pirelli Scorpion rubber, every tar strip and asphalt patch is known.
When not running red-light races with Grands Prix, the SRT’s massive 6.4-litre Hemi V-8 can be reasonably docile. The Grand Cherokee features an Eco mode that optimizes the transmission’s shift schedule and extends the range of the Fuel Saver Technology, which deactivates four cylinders when conditions allow. That said, the Jeep has a healthy thirst for the recommended premium unleaded; I averaged 14.9 L/100 kilometres ( better than I expected), the bulk of that achieved while travelling four-lane and secondary highways.
New to the 2015 model is active noise-cancelling technology, which uses the SRT’s audio system and four strategically located microphones to automatically introduce sound to the cabin. The result, Jeep promises, is enhanced sound-system clarity and “unfettered enjoyment” of the SRT’s exhaust note. Grooving mostly to the Underground Garage satellite station on the optional Harman Kardon audio system — with 19 speakers and an 825-watt amplifier — I heartily concur.
Even with a sticker price far less than the $100,000+ euroutes, the $65,995 Grand Cherokee SRT is still a luxury SUV. And, by ticking off the $3,295 Luxury Group II option box, which includes leather-wrapped upper door trim, instrument panel and centre armrest and a bunch of other goodies, the Jeep’s cabin is indeed a fine place to hang out. It might not be as fully integrated as the Range Rover Sport SVR, but you’ll pocket more than $45,000 in savings.
There’s plenty of front-seat room, decent rear-seat room for all but the tall and leggy and 35.1 cubic feet of space behind the back seats, or about double that when they’re folded down).
I still like the Jeep’s big 8.4inch touch screen and the clear and easy access to the various functions such as radio, climate controls and GPS navigation. It also has a performance page function for storing recent track and acceleration times.
Call me stubborn, but I like blazing trails, not clipping apexes in my Jeeps. That said, the SRT is a fearsome rig that delivers oldtime Detroit muscle-car thrills. Still, it hasn’t got the bragging rights of more than 500 horsepower under its hood, so here’s what I propose to the technogeeks at SRT: Take the fight to the euro-thugs and drop some version of the Hellcat engine into this baby, upgrade where needed and price accordingly. That’ll get their attention.