SUV adds amplified growl to its bite
Jeep’s devilish Grand Cherokee SRT delivers old-school muscle-car thrills
Once again, I’m conflicted. 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, which I articulated the last time I drove the SRT: What makes any Jeep special is its genuine go-anywhere off-road ability. In trying to establish bona fides as a performance model to rival 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, sports car-like cornering, and a swinish thirst for fuel.
I acknowledge — while not completely understanding — that segment of performance aficionados who desire big power in an equally large rig, the type who don’t care about bashing through the boonies. They just want to light up the tires and split the air with a thundering exhaust note — only in something that will seat five and lug a trailer when needed (3,265-kilogram 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 power bump, up five ponies to 475 horsepower and an uptick in torque to 470 pound-feet. Fiat Chrysler’s money-in-the-bank brand claims the hotrod Grand Cherokee as its best-performing SRT vehicle: zero to 96 km/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 kg, it has a launch that could embarrass a fair number of supposedly sporty cars, plus the angry rumble of a grizzly bear eyeing a hapless hiker, which turns into a terrifying bellow when the gas pedal is pushed hard.
The Grand Cherokee has an ursine demeanour as well: 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 — and deemed worthy of note by Jeep — 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 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 eight-speed manumatic.
Auto mode is OK, other than the steering seems a bit remote at higher speeds. Sport mode firms the steering without 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 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. A button on the centre stack allows Eco mode to be engaged (though not when in Sport mode) for improved fuel economy. The Jeep has a healthy thirst for the recommended premium unleaded; I averaged 14.9 L/100 kilometres, the bulk of that achieved while travelling fourlane and secondary highways.
New to the 2015 model is active noise-cancelling technology, which uses the audio system and four microphones to introduce sound to the cabin.
The result is enhanced soundsystem 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.
The $65,995 Grand Cherokee SRT is still a luxury SUV, meaning a high level of opulent appointments and modern conveniences that make the cabin a fine place to hang out.
There’s lots of front-seat room, decent rear-seat room for all but the tall and leggy (guilty) and one cubic metre 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.
The SRT really isn’t my kind of Grand Cherokee. 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.
Here’s what the motor head in me proposes 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.