2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee

New Jeep Grand Cherokee delivers refinement, off-road ruggedness

By Mark Savage

Published: March 10, 2011

Jeep’s Grand Cherokee has always been a special sport-utility in that it offers both refinement and major league off-roading ability.

Most mid-size utes that also fill the mid-priced range offer less of the serious off-road cred that Jeep owners expect. So here’s the new 2011 Grand Cherokee, again with a more smoothed high-end look, but again able to off-road with the likes of a much pricier Range Rover.

Yet the tested Grand Cherokee Overland 4x4, the absolute most upscale Grand Cherokee starts at $41,120, compared to $47,650 for a Range Rover LR4 that we also tested a couple months back. This one looks better and from a performance standpoint these are fairly evenly matched.

Start with the engines. This fancy Jeep features a 5.7-liter Hemi V8 delivering 360 horses compared with a 5.0-liter V8 in the LR4, with a slightly higher 375 horses. The lighter Jeep, just 4,850 lbs. compared with 5,833 for the Rover, feels much peppier. That’s a big weight difference to be pulling around town too as you do your grocery shopping.

That translates into better gas mileage too, albeit still a ute-like 14 mpg city and 20 highway for the Jeep, according to the EPA. The Rover is rated 12 mpg city and 17 highway. My experience was a surprising 19.7 mpg in the Jeep, in about an even mix of city and highway miles, compared with 14.0 in the LR4.

While the power is impressive, equally so is the smoothness with which that power is put to the road. Jeep’s multi-speed overdrive automatic transmission does an expert job of meshing with the motor to deliver a luxury feel that helps justify the Overland’s price.

Naturally it’ll go off road and pull you out of most treacherous situations with its all-wheel-drive system that can be adjusted to fit highway, or off-road conditions. First, the Jeep starts with 8.1 inches of ground clearance, nearly an inch more than the LR4. Both vehicles allow you to adjust their ride height too. With Jeep’s QuadraLift air suspension system you can increase the ride height by 4.1 inches and the ground clearance to a maximum of 10.7 inches.

The Jeep’s Selec-Terrain system lets you pick from six settings too, from Sport, which lowers the vehicle about a half inch for better aerodynamics on the highway, to the Rock setting that gives you that 4.1-inch rise. Auto is where most of us will leave the system, but you also can select Snow, Sand/Mud and Park, which drops the Jeep 1.5 inches for easier exit and entry.

On road the Jeep delivers a firm, but comfortable ride and the handling is good for a ute. You can turn into corners well with only a slight top-heavy feel in tight turns.

Folks who use their ute for towing will be happy to see a 7,200 lb. rating here, about 500 lbs. lower than the Rover, but still more than enough to tow a trailer with some snowmobiles on it. This model also featured a $1,495 package that included heavy-duty 4-wheel disc brakes with ABS.

The test ute also came with a $1,295 package that included safety equipment such as adaptive cruise control, a blind-spot warning system, rearview camera and forward collision warning. That all worked well and I find the blind-spot system to be vital as more and more motorists insist on passing on the right. Hey, I’m not THAT slow!

Other goodies included a bright metallic “Inferno Red” crystal coat paint job for $225 and rear reclining seats for $1,250. All the add-ons pushed this to $44,915, still less than the Rover’s base cost. Certainly you don’ t NEED to spend that much.

There are several lower cost Grand Cherokees with both 2- and 4-wheel drive. The base Laredo 4x2 starts at $30,215 and features a strong 290-horse 3.6-liter V6 that is rated 16 mpg city and 23 highway. A Laredo 4x4 starts at $32,215. There’s also a Limited model between the Laredo and Overland.

No matter the trim, Grand Cherokee’s interior is attractive and quiet, befitting its luxury image.

This one was fancier than most with a black leather interior with fake wood dash and door trim and pewter-look accents around the console, center stack and steering wheel hub. There are also chrome inserts around the gauges.

Standard is a power tilt/telescope steering wheel that also is heated, an awesome feature in winter. My only difficulty with the wheel was its thickness. This thing is fat and hard to grip comfortably for those of us with smaller hands. You big dudes will be fine!

Otherwise all was fine, attractive and useful. There’s a giant dual sunroof overhead, plus comfortable power seats with a power lumbar control. Both the front and rear seats are heated, with the front seats also featuring two cooling settings. The bottom cushion is fairly flat and the back has moderate contouring. Two memory settings are standard for the driver’s seat.

While most buttons and controls were easy to use, the Grand Cherokee loads the steering wheel hub up with 12 buttons, including a bunch of confusing arrows for maneuvering through the trip computer system. Other automakers have figured out how to make this much simpler.

I’m not a big fan of adaptive cruise control either, but you can at least dial it back in the Jeep so that it’s not constantly slowing you when you’re cruising in traffic with folks darting in and out of your lane.

The Jeep also has power rear hatch, and split seats in back to increase cargo room, and a good stereo with satellite radio.

What’s this come down too? Well, you could pay more for a luxury mid-size ute that’ll allow you to clomp around off-road until you’ve muddied the beast. But why?

Stats:
2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland 4x4
Made in: Detroit, Mich.
Engine: 5.7-liter V8, 360 hp
Transmission: Multi-speed overdrive automatic
Weight: 4,850 lbs.
Tow: 7,200 lbs.
MPG: 14/20
Base Price: $41,120
Dealer’s Price: $39,423
Major Options:
Inferno red crystal coat paint, $225
Overland V8 package (adaptive cruise control, blind spot and rearview camera monitors, forward collision warning, adaptive speed control), $1,295
5.7-liter V8 (w/heavy-duty 4-wheel anti-lock disc brakes and dual bright exhaust tips), $1,495
Rear recline seats, $1,250
Delivery, $780
Test vehicle: $44,915
Sources: Jeep, www.autos.yahoo.com
Hits: Impressive power with smooth shifts and solid off-road ability. Good-looking ute with big dual sunroof, quiet attractive interior and optimal electronics, including heated power tilt/telescope steering wheel, two-speed heated/cooled seats, backup camera, front crash warning and blind spot warning system.
Misses: Fat steering wheel with too many buttons on hub.

2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee

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