[Omkar]

2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee Review

Jeep Grand Cherokee Pros

• Butch styling with loads of character and B-I-G SUV presence
• Robust build quality. Feels solid, just as a premium Jeep should
• 270 BHP turbo-petrol engine is refined & smooth. 8-speed ZF AT is quick-shifting too
• Jeep’s Quadra-Trac I 4WD system should help you get out of most tricky situations
• Lots of premium features like heated & ventilated front seats, IRVM camera, front passenger touchscreen, etc.
• Loaded with safety equipment (8 airbags, ESP, ADAS, rain brake support & more)

Jeep Grand Cherokee Cons

• No diesel engine option for heavy users. 2.0 turbo-petrol is a thirsty motor
• Interiors just don’t feel premium enough for the 90-lakh OTR price
• Big size, wide turning radius and weighty steering make it cumbersome to drive in the city
• Turbo-petrol just about gets the job done. Not an outright performer
• Backseat isn’t as spacious as you would expect in an SUV of this size. Seatbase is short too
• Misses out on hardcore offroad kit like a locking diff, low-range, hill descent control…

This review has been jointly compiled with Akshay1234. Thanks to him for the expert observations!

Introduction

The Jeep brand is now popular in India, but the Grand Cherokee moniker isn't. Back in 2016, Jeep launched the 4th-gen Grand Cherokee as a CBU import, and it was grossly overpriced. It barely found any buyers, but this time around, the approach has changed and the 5th generation car that you see here is assembled at the Ranjangaon facility in Maharashtra.

Powering the Grand Cherokee is a 2.0L, inline 4-cylinder, turbo-petrol motor that makes 270 BHP and 400 Nm. It is mated to an 8-speed automatic gearbox (ZF sourced) and gets Jeep's Quadratrac I 4WD system with four terrain modes - Auto, Sport, Mud / Sand, and Snow. It comes with a host of features that are expected these days from a premium SUV. You get 8-way power adjustable front seats that are heated & ventilated, rear camera display on IRVM, wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay connectivity, 9-speaker Alpine sound system with subwoofer, and connected car tech. In terms of safety, it has 8 airbags, brake assist, ESC, hill start assist, 360-degree camera, and ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) features.

We got to spend a day with the new Grand Cherokee, and it sent us back to the time we drove the previous generation car back in 2016 (Drive Report). A lot has changed since then and there’s plenty to talk about. So let’s get right to it.

Jeep Grand Cherokee Price & Brochure

The 2022 Grand Cherokee is available in a single ‘Limited’ variant at an introductory price tag of Rs 77.50 lakh (ex-showroom). This puts it in the league of the BMW X5, Mercedes Benz GLE, and Audi Q7. It does undercut the competition in terms of price, but it doesn't get a diesel engine option which puts it at a big disadvantage. Sad that the torquey 3.0L V6 diesel engine from the previous generation car hasn't made it to this one.

There are 4 exterior colour options - Diamond Black Crystal (our test car), Bright White Clear Coat, Velvet Red Pearl Coat, and Rocky Mountain Pearl Coat. You can have the car only with all-black interiors for now.

You can download the 2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee brochure here: 2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee Brochure.pdf

[Omkar]

Exterior

While the 4th generation car felt like it was designed to please the masses, this 5th generation Grand Cherokee is edgy in terms of design. It is more chiselled now and sure has a lot of street cred.

Up front, you have the iconic wide 7-slat grille with sleek headlamps on either side and a chrome line at the bottom. This grille and headlamp combo makes the front look very similar to the Meridian, but the Grand Cherokee is a whole size bigger. With a wider track, the car has an imposing stance:


Rear is quite boxy and feels very functional. A simple Jeep logo sits in between the slim tail-lamps:


There is a long wheelbase, 7-seater version on offer for the US market but for now, we get this short-wheelbase 5-seater version. You get the traditional ‘Grand Cherokee’ badge on the doors which looks classy. Check out the very characteristic shoulder line that runs from the headlamp to the tail-lamp. Looks very distinct in person:


The 2022 Grand Cherokee measures 4,914 mm in length, 1,979 mm in width, and 1,792 mm in height with a wheelbase of 2,964 mm. It has a healthy ground clearance of 215 mm:


I like this boxy design. In times where SUVs are trying to look more sporty with coupe-like designs, a traditional SUV design stands out from the crowd:


The Grand Cherokee’s face is flat and very muscle car-like. What adds to this look is that the bonnet is now longer and more flat as compared to the previous generation car. Exposed tow hooks like the older car (reference image) or the international Trailhawk variant would’ve looked very cool. There’s also a chunky chrome strip at the bottom of the bumper, which doesn’t mess too much with the overall frontal look of the car:


LED reflector headlamps get LED DRLs (with integrated turn indicators) on top and a chrome border at the bottom:


A look at the LED fog lamps and the chrome strip on the lower part of the bumper:


The front grille houses a camera which is part of the 360-degree view system. Interestingly, the front camera gets a washer which can be activated from the touchscreen:


With the 5th generation, the beltline has been lowered to increase the glass area. You also get a chrome strip above the windows to give the roof a floating effect:


B-I-G 20-inch 5-spoke rims suit the car’s overall size and are shod with 265/50 section tyres. Signature squared-off wheel arches add to the SUV appearance:


The Grand Cherokee gets a feature called ‘Rain Brake Support’ which gets activated when the windshield wipers are operating i.e. driving through rain. When active, the ABS pump periodically pushes the brake pads against the discs to keep them dry. This ensures that when the driver applies the brakes in wet weather conditions, the discs are dry enough to perform optimally:


Panoramic sunroof is of a good size and lets in plenty of light:


The right quarter glass gets the silhouettes of the five generations of the Grand Cherokee:


On the left quarter glass, you get the traditional Willy’s Jeep silhouette. You'll find this on the inside of the fuel flap as well. Jeep’s easter eggs are always a delight to stumble upon:


Slim wraparound LED tail-lamp has a very simple design. Check out the sharp recess on the tailgate and the bumper. Note that the reversing camera is placed above the number plate, while…


…the IRVM camera is placed on the spoiler. Both the cameras get washers so you don’t have to step out and clean them all the time while off-roading:


Just like the front, the rear gets a chunky chrome strip at the bottom:

[Omkar]

Interior

Just like the outside, the interiors of the Grand Cherokee have also changed drastically. The cabin is well-designed and looks upmarket. However, the quality of materials in certain areas isn't that great, especially when compared to some of its German competitors. There’s that wee bit of additional flex on some plastic panels that doesn't feel very premium:


For now, you can only have the interiors in an all-black trim. The design is clean and you have a waterfall-like layout for the centre console. There’s a black fake wood-like trim on the dashboard which looks nice but may not be to everyone’s liking. Plastics on the top part of the dashboard are soft to the touch, and lower down you have hard plastics which feel very average:


Big and chunky steering wheel feels excellent to hold. It’s heated and comes with electric adjustment. It also gets a black wood insert on the bottom spoke. Controls for the touchscreen are placed on the left while the buttons for the adaptive cruise control are placed on the right spoke:


I love using the buttons behind the steering wheel on Jeep cars. Some people find them unconventional and difficult to use, but I find them to be super intuitive once you get used to them. Buttons on your left side can be used to increase and decrease the volume while pressing the middle button will mute the sound. The ones on the right are for going up & down tracks with the centre button for changing the audio source:


Nice looking engine start/stop button. It’s shared with the Meridian:


Instrument cluster has a 10.25-inch screen and displays plenty of information. It is customizable and you can have a traditional analogue display or you a digital speed readout with a horizontal tachometer. You can even switch from km/h to mph. While on an off-road course, you can have off-road-related info displayed on the MID and you also get notified when traction control is disabled. The adaptive cruise control display is also quite intuitive. All in all, the screen has a lot of inbuilt info and you can spend a lot of time exploring through various displays and settings:


You also get a nice head-up display. Its settings can be adjusted through the MID:


Light switch panel is quite ordinary and is a direct lift from the Compass. Down below, you have the parking brake and the bonnet release lever:


The doorpad gets a black wood-like finish and also a silver trim. The upper part where you are most likely to touch is covered in soft-touch plastics:


Switchgear is shared with the other Jeep cars, but the switches and the rotary knob are tactile and easy to use. Note that only the front windows get the auto up/down function:


The Grand Cherokee is equipped with a 9-speaker Alpine sound system with a subwoofer. The sound quality is good, but not on par with the competition (BMW’s Harmon Kardon system and Mercedes’ Burmester system are superior):


Big front seats are 8-way power adjustable with a memory function for the driver’s seat. They’re heated and ventilated which is a very convenient feature for the Indian climate. In terms of comfort, the cushioning is on point, and you can spend long hours in these seats without any complaints. There’s a good amount of side and under-thigh support to make the driver and front passenger comfortable:


Driver armrest is quite wide and can be used by both front passengers. There are two levels of storage, the shallow one can be used for the items like your keys and wallet while the deeper one can be used for other stuff. At the base of the opening for the deeper storage area, you will find the 7-slat grille easter egg:


Pedals are well-spaced but it would’ve been appreciated if Jeep offered an organ-type accelerator pedal. Find anything interesting about the brake pedal detailing? Hint: It has something to do with the number 7:


Massive ORVMs sure create a blind spot, so you must be careful. They’re heated and have a convex edge to cover more area:


The IRVM is more of a conversation mirror for talking with rear passengers. Flick the switch below to turn on the IRVM camera feed. Note that if the sunshade is open, there will be some amount of reflection on the screen as you see here. The clarity is excellent and there’s almost zero lag in the feed:


Buttons to adjust the angle of the camera and the brightness of the screen are placed below:


Centre console has a lot of buttons, and it will take some time to get used to them. But they’re well laid out and the console doesn’t feel too cluttered:


Just below the central A/C vents, you have buttons to switch OFF some important functions. From L-R there’s Auto start-stop, active lane management system, traction control, parking sensor alert, and passenger screen:


10.1-inch Uconnect 5 system comes with inbuilt navigation and wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay connectivity. It’s a nice system to use and is responsive, but the design and layout feel dated. The number of settings and options in the system can overwhelm the user. You have quick-access menus at the bottom. The home screen displays a split screen of functions of your choice. Climate control options can also be adjusted through the touchscreen. There are plenty of vehicle-related settings that can be accessed through the touchscreen:


Lots of useful vehicle information while off-roading can be displayed on the screen. But note that you don’t get hardcore off-road gadgetry like a locking differential or a low-range gearbox on the Grand Cherokee. So, this does feel quite gimmicky. Maybe on a Trailhawk variant, these will make a lot more sense:


Camera quality is good, but not very impressive. You can have a full-screen camera display as well. There are plenty of angles that you can play around with and you get dynamic guidelines for both front and rear cameras. You can even spray water on the front and rear cameras by just tapping on the ‘Clean Camera’ option:


HVAC and music controls are placed together here which might create some confusion. I intuitively reached for the rotary knobs to lower the temperature but it turned out that those are for the music control. All the buttons are well-marked, and you will need some time to get used to them:


The car gets USB Type-A and Type-C ports along with an AUX cable port. There’s also an HDMI port for the passenger screen and a 12V socket. A wireless charging pad is placed below:


Land Rover style rotary dial has a knurled finish and looks nice. Shifting through transmission modes isn't very intuitive though, especially in traffic. Next to the dial, you get the selec-terrain knob for different modes. Lots of dummy buttons here that are used for functions like hill descent control and 4WD low on the international variants. We get an auto hold button only which is convenient to use in city traffic:


Passenger side screen gets a privacy filter so that it doesn't distract the driver. It has HDMI support, so the front passenger can watch entertainment videos while on the road. You can also have additional camera views displayed here to help the driver out while parking this big SUV in a tight area:


Well-sized glovebox gets felt lining. There’s no illumination or ventilation here which is an obvious miss:


Getting in and out of the rear seat isn’t too cumbersome for average-height individuals (5’7”-5’10” tall). Shorter folk will have to climb into the rear seats. The rear bench is wide enough to seat 3 passengers abreast with ease. But the middle passenger won’t be that comfortable considering the hard backrest and the transmission tunnel on the floor:


Seats are otherwise quite comfortable and the backrest angle can be adjusted too. At 5’10” tall, I had decent knee room behind my driving position, but it’s not excessively spacious. The headroom is plenty, and the seats offer good support. For my height, I found the under-thigh support to be poor which was quite a bummer. Akshay1234, at 6’3” tall, felt as if he was seated on a bar stool. There’s some space to tuck away your feet underneath the front seat. Note that the car’s battery is placed under the driver’s seat:


The rear of the centre console houses a small storage area for a phone and the rear A/C vents. There are USB Type A and C ports here as well which is super convenient. There’s also a 230V AC socket here, but it has a flat pin layout, so you will need an adaptor. For some reason, the rear seats only get a heating function and no ventilation. In India, the latter is more of a necessity than the former:


Boot space is ~1,000 litres which can be expanded further by folding down the rear seats:


Button to close the powered tailgate has been placed on the D-pillar, which is not very intuitive. Most of us have gotten used to finding the button on the tailgate itself:


The spare is an 18-inch steel wheel:

[Omkar]

Driving the Jeep Grand Cherokee 2.0L Petrol AT

2.0-litre turbo-petrol engine makes 270 BHP @ 5,200 rpm and 400 Nm @ 3,000 rpm. It’s mated to an 8-speed automatic gearbox:


Fire up the engine and you’ll appreciate the refinement of this motor. It’s barely audible inside the cabin at idle and even on the outside, all you hear is a soft rumble. Get a move on and the petrol engine feels smooth. The throttle response is nice and linear unlike some of the turbo-petrol motors where it feels spikey and over-responsive. With a light foot, you can drive around smoothly in the city at low to medium speeds. There’s good power on tap for closing gaps in traffic. But given that the Grand Cherokee is a ~2,000 kg SUV, the 2.0L turbo petrol feels overworked and trying too hard to keep up with the power demand. It will get the job done, but it doesn’t feel effortless.

The size and weight of this SUV are very much evident when driving in a city like Mumbai. You get that proper BIG car feel with the long bonnet visible from the driver’s seat. In tight lanes, you need to be careful of the size and the parking sensors go off quite often. Expectedly, taking tight U-turns isn’t an easy task. The steering isn’t very light and driving around in the city is a quick workout for sure.

Highway cruising is something that you will like doing in the Grand Cherokee, especially since most highways have 100 km/h and 120 km/h speed limits. You can cruise along nicely in 8th gear at 100 km/h & 120 km/h, while the engine spins at a relaxed 1,500 rpm and 2,000 rpm respectively. The engine has a strong mid-range and the power between 3,000 to 5,000 rpm is plenty for quick overtakes on the highway. Put your foot down for an overtake and the ZF-sourced 8-speed transmission drops down the gears quickly. You will find yourself in the meaty section of the powerband, which is quite enjoyable. The engine doesn't pull as hard at the top end and sounds very strained too. The gearbox doesn’t let the revs go beyond ~6,200 rpm, which is something very common with turbo-petrol engines. All in all, the outright performance is good and adequate for most driving conditions, but the engine doesn’t like being pushed too hard and you really need to keep working the paddle shifters to extract some performance out of it.

Jeep has tuned the ZF-sourced 8-speed gearbox well. It is responsive when you need it to be, and the shifts are smooth too. The gears have been spaced out nicely and you can put the paddle shifters to good use. Sometimes, you do feel the downshifts while slowing down, but overall, this is a nicely tuned gearbox. You also get a convenient auto hold function which a lot of owners will appreciate in the city. The Selec-Terrain system offers five terrain modes - Auto, Sport, Rock, Snow, Mud/Sand. We drove primarily in Auto and Sport modes and the difference between them isn’t too much. Throttle response in Sport mode is a little sharper, but you can get along without any hassle in Auto mode. Since this was primarily an on-road driving experience, we were asked to avoid any off-roading and didn’t get to explore any other terrain modes. Also, the Grand Cherokee in India doesn't get the more capable versions of the Quadra-Trac 4WD system that come with features like a low range, air suspension, or a locking differential.

The car is equipped with Advanced Driver Assistance Systems or ADAS which includes features like emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, blind spot detection, passive pedestrian protection, drowsy driver detection, park assist, active lane management, and intersection collision assist system. We didn’t get enough time to test all these out, but blind spot detection works quite well even with bikers and cyclists. The active lane management is switched ON by default every time you start the car and you must manually switch it off every time by pressing the button on the dashboard (TWICE!) which is quite irritating. The car senses lanes intuitively and the steering correction is quite strong. I preferred having this switched off.

Noise, Vibration & Harshness (NVH)

Overall insulation and engine refinement are very good. The cabin remains silent while driving around in the city. Out on the highway, you start to hear wind and tyre noise once you hit 100 km/h.

Mileage & Fuel Economy

A turbo-petrol motor, 2,000+ kg kerb weight, and automatic transmission are some of the things that should make it clear that you won't be getting excellent fuel economy numbers. You get an idling start-stop system, which should help save some fuel at traffic signals, but that’s about it. Expect numbers in the range of 4-6 km/l. The fuel tank capacity is 87 litres.

Suspension

Ride Comfort

The Jeep Grand Cherokee rides on multi-link independent suspensions at the front and rear. You do not get air suspension like in some of the higher variants of the international model. It rides on massive 20-inch wheels and is shod with 265/50 section tyres like the previous generation car. Driving around in the city at low speeds, the ride quality is absorbent. The suspension works silently, but there’s a noticeable amount of movement inside the cabin. The recommended tyre pressure is 36 PSI and at this pressure, a lot of the road’s inconsistencies are felt inside the cabin. We lowered the pressure down to 32 PSI and it seemed to handle small road imperfections slightly better. However, the inherent characteristics remain the same. Large potholes are handled quite well, which is expected from a Jeep. On the highways, there's noticeable vertical movement. At expressway speeds, road undulations will have the car bouncing and it’s better if you lift off in advance to ease the blow.

Handling & Dynamics

The Grand Cherokee is not an SUV that loves corners. It’s big and tall and there’s plenty of body roll. Add to that, the bounciness makes it more of a challenge to go through corners. Carry some speed into a corner and you never really have a lot of confidence in pushing the car hard. Hit a bump mid-corner and that will upset the balance of the car. You will have to hastily make corrections. The car doesn’t really like quick direction changes either. Better stick to sedate driving and not go testing its limits in the ghats.

Steering

The steering isn’t too light at city speeds and it doesn’t really weigh up enough at highway speeds. There’s a little bit of feedback though. Overall, the steering feel is average.

Braking

The brakes perform as expected in day-to-day driving conditions. They’re a bit grabby, but you get used to them quite easily. Sharp braking will result in some amount of nosedive. But overall, the brakes do a good job of stopping this big SUV. There’s also an emergency braking assist which will apply sudden brakes if say, a pedestrian comes in front of the car. It also gets a feature called ‘Rain Brake Support’ which gets activated when driving through rain. This is when the ABS pump periodically pushes the brake pads against the discs to keep them dry. This ensures that when the driver applies brakes in wet weather conditions, the discs are dry enough to perform as expected.

[Rehaan]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[Sran]

Originally Posted by Omkar

This is a 2.0-litre turbo-petrol engine that makes 270 BHP @ 5,200 rpm and 400 Nm @ 3,000 rpm. It’s mated to an 8-speed automatic gearbox:

The major dislike is the ECU on the front right side. It has no protection whatsoever. ECU should have been installed on the inner side near the firewall. Any 80 kmph+ crash will most likely damage it, and replacing ECU will add to profits.

Does this also get some sort of box frame as seen in American versions? I have also heard that some models of Jeep are using some sort of plastic omnium tanks. Is this true?

I have also heard that Jeep now comes with disposable nuts and bolts on mechanical parts like ball joints, shockers etc.. and it can not be reused after opening as threads wear off?

I don't think a 2-litre turbo engine is good for a vehicle this size, on paper, it looks underpowered. It's probably the same engine used in the Chevrolet blazer in America.

With this many plastic cowls at the front any radiator work will be time-consuming and costly.

[RaiVW]

The car of this size and cost should come with projector headlamps, I am not sure if this drastically affects the through of light but my experience of driving Compass model S vs limited. I was able to figure out the difference in projectors vs reflectors.

The Compass and Meridian are equipped with projectors.

[Shreyans_Jain]

A major plus point of this car is the proper sized spare wheel that comes inside a dedicated wheel well, without compromising the boot space. There is no obvious speed limit warning pasted on the spare, so it should be fully usable too.

Contrast with the Germans, who either just don’t give a spare, or offer essentially a motorcycle tyre that takes up half the boot.

A proper spare wheel that does not kill the boot is a must in Indian conditions for highway cars. Infinitely more practical.

[vredesbyrd]

Seems like a pretty good overall package except that a 2.0L petrol has absolutely no business in something this big and heavy (should have been the 3.6L Pentastar V6) and missing Quadra-Trac just feels shortchanged.
Feels like BMW treatment of Indian market like the feature list of pre-LCI F25 X3 20d.

[ChetanM6]

Great review. Reading the points about the suspension, I guess Jeep India went for a comfort setting to cater to the comfort loving buyer population in this segment. While I have no concern about the engine output, I was hoping that Jeep India would get the air suspension at least to make the package justify its pricing. Anyways, I will reserve my feedback only after driving this SUV in upcoming weeks.

[aniketi]

One stupid question - What's the major differences between this and Jeep Meridian? Both looks quite similar and more or less same size and presence. Why one should spend 40-50 Lakhs more on Cherokee? Just for brand value?

[viren83]

Short & crisp review Omkar! I'd have still liked to read some more about this Jeep. The car looks drop-dead gorgeous to me. If you crave for muscle car and want some practicality, THIS is it.

Somehow, my like for American cars has grown over the years with their innovations, design and build. Cars like Compass, Grand Cherokee and Endeavour have got timeless designs. Even the LWB Compass has commanding presence.

For Jeep, its their stupid Service - very very uncommon for an American product, and Greed - to make more $ per car, which keeps the mass market consumers away from them.

Originally Posted by aniketi

One stupid question - What's the major differences between this and Jeep Meridian? Both looks quite similar and more or less same size and presence. Why one should spend 40-50 Lakhs more on Cherokee? Just for brand value?

Did you miss that mean look in the opening post? That costs 2x the premium I was waiting for someone to say this. Our family saw the Meridian & GC side-by-side and I was surprised to see exactly same D-pillar design in the Meridian! I wondered how team-bhp missed it in the Meridian's review. Must say, the Meridian looks equally good.

[bullitt1]

No low range and hill descent control, pretty much a softroader. At this price one could buy both Meridian and Trailhawk. Jeep should have brought SRT instead.

[car-go]

Originally Posted by Shreyans_Jain

A major plus point of this car is the proper sized spare wheel that comes inside a dedicated wheel well, without compromising the boot space. There is no obvious speed limit warning pasted on the spare, so it should be fully usable too.

The spare wheel still seems to be smaller sized (18") with speed limit specified (120/75), isn't it? Am I missing something? My Compass also has a smaller spare (good that at least it exists though).

[Vidzy]

How does this car warrant 90L plus OTR??? There are at least 5-7 better cars if not more available in the market at this price point and having much better road presence and also better brand value and better looks and better features.