Today I’m in Moab, Utah, looking at the fifth generation of an American luxury off-road icon, the 2022 jeep grand cherokee.
From the first generation to the fifth generation, the grand cherokee has always been a unibody suv, and that’s definitely a defining characteristic of this compared to something like a lexus gx or another body on frame suv.
If you wanted the sportiest luxury suv, you could go with a bmw x5, which will handle better than the grand cherokee but won’t give you 11.3 inches of ground clearance, and the grand cherokee has always straddled this line between luxury on-road handling and off-road ability.
If you want something even more off-road capable, that’s why jeep has the four-door wrangler in terms of design, jeep has kept the The grand cherokee has long been known for its long hood front tire pushed really close to the front that helps improve the approach angle.
If you get the trailhawk model, we get a different bumper, this one’s pretty low because this is the summit reserve trim, but this one still has an available adaptive air suspension system that gives you 11.3 inches of ground clearance this suspension is at its highest height and the air suspension, as I’ll talk about a little bit later in the video, helps improve the approach angle This can advance water up to 24 inches depending on the type you choose.
In terms of length, it’s 193.5 inches long, which is 4 inches longer than the previous iteration.
In comparison to the three-row Grand Cherokee l, part of the length goes to the rear passenger space, some to crash structures up front, and some to the cargo room in the back.
This one is almost a foot shorter.
What does the suspension look like at its lowest point? Well, I’ll just go in here and turn the button, and it’ll lower itself two times quicker than before, according to Jeep.
Out back, we still have a somewhat vertical lift gate that clearly helps enhance load practicality.
exhaust tips with two integrated tips The hitch receiver is stowed away beneath this central compartment down at the bottom, and we get standard rear parking sensors in every model, which helps explain the Grand Cherokee’s higher price tag for 2022.
We also get a slew of other standard safety features.
cruise control that adapts Autonomous emergency braking with recognition of pedestrians and cyclists aid with lane maintaining blind spot monitoring with rear cross traffic detection and lane departure warning Optional features include rear parking sensors and automatic emergency braking.
driver attentiveness monitoring with night vision 360 degree camera If you purchase a Grand Cherokee in early 2022, you’ll get a hands-on assisted driving system; if you wait a little longer, you’ll get a hands-free driving system, similar to the Cadillac Supercruise and Ford’s Blue Crews.
Jeep hasn’t given any specific dates for when this will be available, but we can expect it to be available on the Grand Cherokee, Grand Cherokee l, Wagoneer, and Grand Wagoneer for North America.
The 3.6 liter naturally aspirated v6 engine is the basic engine and will be found in most trims.
It makes 293 horsepower and will provide you 21 miles per gallon combined whether you pick rear-wheel drive or four-wheel drive.
We also have an optional 5.7 liter v8 engine that will only be offered in the top end trims of the Grand Cherokee, so you’ll have to pay if you want the additional power.
This increases power to 357 horsepower, torque to 390 pound feet, and fuel economy to 17 miles per gallon.
This is only available with four-wheel drive and will tow 7 200 pounds when properly equipped.
Coming a little later is a 2-liter plug-in hybrid system, similar to the one found in the Jeep Wrangler, that should give you about 375 horsepower, 470 pound-feet of torque, and according to Jeep, about 25 miles of electric-only range.
More information on that will be released later, but if you pick that option, towing capacity drops to 6000 pounds, and four-wheel drive is standard.
During my time with the Grand Cherokee, I found the front seat comfort to be great, and it’s still very nice even if you buy the restricted trim.
This model has the most adjustable seat with an extending thigh cushion inflatable side bolster four-way adjustable lumbar support available massage powered tilt telescopic exterior column that’s memory linked to the two position memory over there on the driver’s door, and the front passenger seat has the same range of motion as the driver’s seat.
One thing that surprised me in here and in the three row grand cherokee is that the front seat massage is definitely a plus.
Jumping into the back, we find about an inch more legroom than the previous generation grand cherokee, but it’s still in the middle of the pack in terms of legroom.
Keep in mind that even though this is larger than some of the competition, it was designed for a big v8 engine to sit up front, which takes away some of the interior space, but it’s still pretty comfortable.
I have about five or six inches of legroom left with th There are heated ventilated rear seats available, as well as back seat entertainment displays and a very forceful recline in the rear seats.
The back seats recline to a reasonable degree.
We have manual rear blinds available for the back seat occupants, with the 60 side fully reclined and the 40 side fully upright.
There are a number of air vents back here, and you’ll find them on the b pillar directly in front of the back doors.
Rear seat entertainment is also accessible.
This is essentially the same system that we find in the wagoneer and grand wagoneer.
We then have a lot of stitching on the seat backs, which surprised me because instead of just hard plastic or some sort of vinyl upholstery, Jeep has done a lot of stitching on that seat back to make it more attractive.
We also have four zone automatic climate control, heated and ventilated rear seats, and four zone automatic climate control.
There are four USB outlets and a 120 volt inverter port in addition to the additional air vents.
Because the engine is now lower in this platform, Jeep was able to realign the drive shaft and make that hump about two inches lower than before.
Cargo capacity improves a hair over the previous generation, but we still have a relatively high load height that’s due to the offered capability and the desire for improved departure angles, as well as the fact that we have an s.
Jeep managed to stuff the optional subwoofer over here in the wheel well, which is a pretty convenient spot to put it, and there’s a little easter egg here on the rear window as a tribute to the five generations of Grand Cherokee.
Let’s take a quick tour of the interior.
Just above the rear view mirror, we have the latest Jeep controls, including buttons for the large panoramic moon roof and the power shade, as well as the telematics system and the rear hatch.
The moon roof extends to just about the rear passengers laps, not quite their heads, as you can see.
The front doors have a lot of authentic wood trim.
Depending on the trim level, you may obtain faux wood trim as well.
There’s a lot of quilting and sewing going on.
Lots of soft touch materials in this trim the only hard plastics on the doors are right there inside that storage cubby moving over to the dashboard we have a lot of premium materials going on stitched leather up top with contrasting stitching real wood trim that matches the doors moving over to the dashboard we have a lot of premium materials going on stitched leather up top with contrasting stitching real wood trim that matches the doors moving over to the dashboard we have a lot of premium materials going on stitched leather up top with More stitching below, and even soft touch materials right here around this large glove compartment, where I was able to fit a 10-inch tablet computer.
Of course, the most interesting feature for some people is going to be this passenger lcd screen, which you can see from the passenger side is pretty bright, but as I move over here to the driver’s field of view, it’s actually blocked off so the driver doesn’t get distracted.
This is a little bit richer, sort of a medium nutty brown, not quite as dark as some of the brown interiors we’ve seen in the grand cherokee before, but pretty similar to the grand cherokee l, and of course those larger jeeps have four usb input ports there, which you can use with carplay or android auto.
If you use the hdmi input for the front passenger, you can also share that content with the two screens in the back.
Behind that, we have the drive mode selector, which includes off-road modes, a height selector for the adaptive air suspension system, a break hold button, four low hill descent control, and a neutral mode.
We have a tiny cover right there over these two enormous cup holders if you wish to flat toe your Grand Cherokee.
Softly cushioned middle armrest with a respectable quantity of storage It’s a two-tier compartment, and you can see that it’s a little lower than before thanks to the drive shaft being repositioned on the driver’s side.
This model has an available heads-up display, and you can see the tweeters for the Macintosh sound system there again, along with all the stitching on the dashboard, and then a full lcd instrument cluster below that.
This display is incredibly adjustable, and if you want to learn more about it, watch my whole uconnect 5 video where I go over all there is to know about it.
The steering wheel is redesigned, with a leather-wrapped air bag cover and sport grips on the top.
You’ll notice we still have paddle shifters on the steering wheel up on the right down on the left, but they’re still sort of half paddles because the volume up down and track forward backward buttons are still on the back of the steering wheel.
You’ll notice we still have paddle shifters on the steering wheel up on the right down on the left, but they’re still sort of half paddles because the volume up down and track forward backward buttons are still on the back of the steering wheel.
The driver’s seat is a little less adjustable, and this is the first trim where leather upholstery becomes standard.
This model has a lot of options, including the passenger side screen, which is interesting because it’s only available on the limited trim, as well as the stitched dashboard, which really dresses things up.
The wood trim on the doors and dashboard is fake, but it’s an excellent one.
You can still get a rear seat entertainment system as an option in this model, and there’s still a decent amount of screen real estate in the dashboard with that large 10-inch lcd and of course the large touchscreen infotainment system.
On the moonroof front, it’s the same as the one found in the summit reserve, and it’s definitely a pretty big sheet of glass that goes just over the back seat passengers heads.
thankfully, Jeep also included a laredo trim, which isn’t quite a base model because it has four wheel drive and a single option package, the luxury package, which includes features like the power liftgate that are normally reserved for higher trims.
As you can see, the front end is very similar to the limited model, and the wheels have a classic jeep look to them.
The tires are still pretty wide 265 with 60r18s on this model.
Surprisingly, the complete LCD instrument cluster comes standard, but the leather-wrapped steering wheel isn’t.
It’s part of the package that this one has in the center console we have an 8.4 inch touchscreen lcd that still has apple car playing android auto and the software is very similar to the larger screen it just uses a smaller screen with thicker bezel we still have dual zone automatic climate control up front below the climate controls we still have four usb ports but you can see the shifter changes a little bit here there are no additional buttons on either side and then we have dual zone automatic climate control up front below the climate controls This stitched section is part of the luxury add-on package and then an injection molded top portion of the dashboard if you don’t get that additional package on the laredo trim this is just an injection molded component if you’re looking for something a little more outdoorsy there’s always the trailhawk version it’s distinguishable from the rest of the line by the front end design as you can see we have these tow hooks up front these have been designed with modern crash standards The first thing to know about current generation grand cherokee is that, although being bigger, it has reduced weight compared to the previous model, thus 0-60 times should be just a bit quicker.
It has lost roughly 250 pounds compared to the outgoing model when comparing like vehicles to like vehicles.
Jeep also stated that there was a little bit more of a focus on on-road handling dynamics with this generation grand cherokee than ever before, which I believe really shows when the road starts to wind now jeep was very careful in saying that they have improved not only on-road driving dynamics but also off-road driving dynamics, and that’s really the key with the grand cherokee is that this has always been the kind of vehicle that tries to straddle the fence with excellent on-road driving Tires with a greater aspect ratio When the road becomes a little windy, you may engage sport mode, which tweaks the adaptive suspension system and the drive train together to give you a more sporty feel and o Because Jeep and Alfa romeo are part of the same global conglomerate, jeep engineers say they were able to consult with alfa romeo engineers when tuning the suspension for on-road driving dynamics, and I think it really shows the grand cherokee is definitely more engaging this generation than the previous generation.
Now, there was some early reporting that this generation grand cherokee might simply be a jeep alpha romeo, but that wasn’t the case as we found out.
In terms of ride quality, keep in mind that I am driving the model with the lowest aspect ratio tires, but I did notice that this generation grand cherokee seems to be a little bit more firmly sprung than the previous generation, which some people may like and others may not.
If you want a smoother ride, get the adaptive air suspension, which is a little more difficult to get.
According to Jeep, the v6 model obtains one mile per gallon better than the previous model, owing to increased aerodynamics in the vehicle.
We also have active grill shutters in the front and a front axle disconnect function.
The front axle disconnect function is totally automated.
Because this is a four-wheel-drive car with full-time four-wheel drive, there is no button or knob in the center console to select rear-wheel drive only mode.
The system simply decides what you want to do based on the drive mode you’re in now it’s time to take the grand cherokee out on the trail so today we have Tommy Mike from tfl car be sure to check them out uh going to help me demonstrate some of the trailhawk’s off-roading prowess now the first thing you’ll notice is that this new adaptive air suspension has a lot more suspension now the first thing you’ll notice is that this new adaptive The Grand Cherokee’s construction is also distinct from that of a typical crossover; we have shorter overhangs and you’ll note how the bumpers are slanted, which offers you better departure and approach angles.
Rock rails, on the other hand, aren’t there.
You can see the scuffing on the side of the Grand Cherokee, and there’s a little amount of scuffing on the front bumper, but it’s obviously not the typical crossover design.
There are a lot of skid plates under there as well.
Now, from this angle, you can see the e limited slip front differential, which is a brake-based system rather than a mechanical system like we see in the rear.
It will overheat a little bit more easily than the rear because it uses the brakes to stop the front wheel moving, but the software is programmed very differently than traction control in the avenger.
The functionality of what is essentially traction control on the front axle changes depending on the drive mode that you’re in.
If you’re in one of the more aggressive off-road drive modes, like this vehicle is in right now, it’ll be more interested in equalizing that wheel speed.
If you’re in one of the more on-road focused modes, it may reduce power from the engine just a little bit depending on the situation that you’re in right now.
How much is the new Grand Cherokee going to cost? It’ll start at 37 390 for the base trim with rear-wheel drive, plus a 1795 destination charge, which is a little on the steep side.
According to Jeep, most people buy the limited trim, which starts at 43 710 but can get fairly expensive because there are a lot of options available on the limited trim as well.
But, as you’d expect from a vehicle that has a well-deserved reputation for being sort of the American Range Rover, the grand cherokee can get pretty pricey if you get carried away.
The summit reserve trim, which is what I spent most of my time in today, started at $66,000 with the v8 engine.
It’s a little bit less expensive if you want the v6, but with all of the options on this particular model this one came in at over 71 thousand dollars.
The grand cherokee is difficult to compare because it is technically in the same mid-size two-row suv segment as the ford edge, chevy blazer, subaru outback, and hyundai santa fe, but it isn’t like any of those.
It is a rear-wheel drive off-road focused mid-sized vehicle that you could compare to something like the toyota 4runner.
Obviously, it’s designed for off-road use, but since it’s a body-on-frame vehicle, there are greater concessions in terms of on-road driving characteristics and luxury features.
The Grand Cherokee’s interior is light years ahead than its predecessor.
In an odd sort of way, I see the four-door bronco as a pretty valid competitor to the grand cherokee because the bronco isn’t quite the same thing as the wrangler it’s definitely targeted at off-road ability but the independent front suspension means there’s less articulation up front than we find in the solid axle wrangler and of course the existence of the wrangler has allowed for the bronco to exist.
The defender and the discovery both start with a turbocharged 2-liter four-cylinder engine, so there’s definitely a different engine lineup in this for some people that’s going to be a pro for others that’s going to be a con, but either way the grand cherokee should be cheaper to keep around than any of those british alternatives.
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