[raveen_2023]

Originally Posted by download2live

Is it easy to drive around in urban traffic?
Last time I checked out review of a Jeep (It was Rubicon btw) they were very happy that the Rubicon reached around 100+ on highways. And that was with I guess 6lt engine.It was a long time ago. Memory is weak. Was a bit amused at the engine power and the speed. Maybe because it is a off-roader.
But what I do remember that it handled terribly at 100+.
Hence asking the same question on Cherokee.

You are right download2live. Wrangler Rubicon handles terribly because of body on frame construction and solid front and rear axles. NVH levels are also high due to no sound deadening which makes it impractical for daily driving. Grand cherokee has unibody with independent suspension on all wheels, so handles very well both on highway and in city with negligible body roll.
Rubicon came with AMC 4lt inline 6 cylinder engine until 2005 which is very popular among wrangler fans.

[the VTEC guy]

@ Raveen - congrats on a wonderful garage. Nice to see a all American Garage as against the popular Japanese. The rear 3/4 look of the Cherokee almost reminds you of BMW X5.

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Initial Ownership Section. Thanks for sharing!

[JUDA]

Raveen awesome vehicle man! Me and wife also seem to have fallen in love with the GC Limited. I am still selecting the correct trim level for my New 2014 GC - I think the limited is way to go however don't know if I should step it up to the Overland which is crazy especially the Quadra Tech 3 (I think) is the one which raises and lowers the vehicle. As I plan to join a local 4x4 club and go once a month for an off-road excursion but then again there is the price to consider in all of this. Anyways the color man -You got the best color! I am stuck in between the Black and the white. Don't know what to get, the black looks real cool but again its a "black".. superstitions kicks in.

Anyways, look forward to your comments on this. The GC 2014 is here with real great goodies.

Cheers

[raveen_2023]

Juda, Sorry for the delayed reply. I am glad to meet another GC lover on team-bhp. I believe, you can have selec-terrain and quadra-lift air suspension on limited if that is what you are upgrading for. We were also sentimental about "black" but it worked out fine because our GC is actually a very dark green which looks like black. Jeep calls it "Black forest green" and i don't know if it is offered on 2014 models.
I clocked 12,000 miles in 9 months and had 2 oil changes. First one was free and I paid 50 bucks for the second. No issues so far except for a very faint rattle from the rear at parking lot speeds. Dealer could not find a problem and I am not concerned about it. I recently added mopar chrome bezels for fog lamps.

[RIC.BURNS]

GC is one of the best and clean looking suv's you can find. I am not a big fan of chrome alloys though, the srt8 all black is a killer. It was on top of my list when i was shopping around for a large crossover, since im not used to slow down at corners(spoiled by a punto back home needed a better driving dynamics vehicle so i had to settle with a CX9. Have fun!!

I dont like the designs of Toyota/Honda and Hyundai and their boring driving manners. So they never make it to my list, glad to see other fellow bhpians being non-typical desis.

[kraft.wagen]

Thats an awesome looking Jeep raveen.

Originally Posted by raveen_2023

Juda, Sorry for the delayed reply. I am glad to meet another GC lover on team-bhp. I believe, you can have selec-terrain and quadra-lift air suspension on limited if that is what you are upgrading for. We were also sentimental about "black" but it worked out fine because our GC is actually a very dark green which looks like black. Jeep calls it "Black forest green" and i don't know if it is offered on 2014 models.
I clocked 12,000 miles in 9 months and had 2 oil changes. First one was free and I paid 50 bucks for the second. No issues so far except for a very faint rattle from the rear at parking lot speeds. Dealer could not find a problem and I am not concerned about it. I recently added mopar chrome bezels for fog lamps.

The 2014 GC prices are out, starts at $23k

Jeep Cherokee Sport 4x2: $22,995
Jeep Cherokee Sport 4x4: $24,995
Jeep Cherokee Latitude 4x2: $24,495
Jeep Cherokee Latitude 4x4: $26,495
Jeep Cherokee Limited 4x2: $27,995
Jeep Cherokee Limited 4x4: $29,995
Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk 4x4: $29,495

Originally Posted by JUDA

Raveen awesome vehicle man! Me and wife also seem to have fallen in love with the GC Limited. I am still selecting the correct trim level for my New 2014 GC - I think the limited is way to go however don't know if I should step it up to the Overland which is crazy
Anyways, look forward to your comments on this. The GC 2014 is here with real great goodies.

[anandpadhye]

Wow that's cheap.
We are being ripped off here in India in general. Going by this, they should launch Jeep Cherokee ~Rs.18 lakhs...

Any idea about the Wrangler - that's the one I intend to buy once it's lauched here.

[raveen_2023]

Originally Posted by kraft.wagen

Thats an awesome looking Jeep raveen.



The 2014 GC prices are out, starts at $23k

Jeep Cherokee Sport 4x2: $22,995
Jeep Cherokee Sport 4x4: $24,995
Jeep Cherokee Latitude 4x2: $24,495
Jeep Cherokee Latitude 4x4: $26,495
Jeep Cherokee Limited 4x2: $27,995
Jeep Cherokee Limited 4x4: $29,995
Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk 4x4: $29,495

Thanks Kraft.wagen. But the prices you have posted are jeep CHEROKEE's not GRAND CHEROKEE. They are two different vehicles from different segments. Jeep cherokee is a compact SUV aimed to compete with the likes of Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4. That is why it is cheaper.
Grand cherokee is a mid size SUV. Base model(4x4) starts at around $30,000 and the top end SRT model crosses $65,000 on road.

[kraft.wagen]

Yep I meant the Cherokee. Thanks for pointing
This is the one that replaces Jeep Liberty

Originally Posted by raveen_2023

Thanks Kraft.wagen. But the prices you have posted are jeep CHEROKEE's not GRAND CHEROKEE. They are two different vehicles from different segments. Jeep cherokee is a compact SUV aimed to compete with the likes of Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4. That is why it is cheaper.
Grand cherokee is a mid size SUV. Base model(4x4) starts at around $30,000 and the top end SRT model crosses $65,000 on road.

[abhishekdev]

Originally Posted by raveen_2023

My friends advised me against buying a Chrysler product but the new Grand Cherokee looks too sharp to resist. We went to test drive the jeep first and every thing changed once we pulled off the dealer lot. We both were impressed by the quiet cabin, tech features and awesome power of 290hp pentastar engine.

Hi Raveen, I need to get my first new vehicle in US soon, and although I am more fond of sports sedans, the ones that are worthy are beyond my budget (previously discussed here : . Buying-owning-driving-maintaining-car-north-america). The next fallback option on my mind is this SUV, which both and my wife are fond of owning.

I am very impressed with the GC drive experience after test driving the Overland 4x4. However the reliability issue ghosts around the GC and my colleagues warning me against Chrysler are the only thing holding me back from going ahead with a deal.

I am in a very similar position as you were and given that you have owned the vehicle for quite sometime with decent mileage now, could you please share some of your experiences about:

- How comfortable the GC is for long highway drives, including comfort for rear seat passengers ?
- How's the snow/winter performance (pickup, handling, braking...) ?
- How has been the wear-n-tear on frequently handled plastic parts (like any loose temperature controls) ?
- I read about electronic failures (like. console display freezes etc.) on safecar.gov. Did you face any such issues yet?
- And finally, would you suggest for OR against the GC as the first and primary car?

Looking forward for any other tips you may provide.

[raveen_2023]

Originally Posted by abhishekdev

Hi Raveen, I need to get my first new vehicle in US soon, and although I am more fond of sports sedans, the ones that are worthy are beyond my budget (previously discussed here : . Buying-owning-driving-maintaining-car-north-america). The next fallback option on my mind is this SUV, which both and my wife are fond of owning.

I am very impressed with the GC drive experience after test driving the Overland 4x4. However the reliability issue ghosts around the GC and my colleagues warning me against Chrysler are the only thing holding me back from going ahead with a deal.

I am in a very similar position as you were and given that you have owned the vehicle for quite sometime with decent mileage now, could you please share some of your experiences about:

- How comfortable the GC is for long highway drives, including comfort for rear seat passengers ?
- How's the snow/winter performance (pickup, handling, braking...) ?
- How has been the wear-n-tear on frequently handled plastic parts (like any loose temperature controls) ?
- I read about electronic failures (like. console display freezes etc.) on safecar.gov. Did you face any such issues yet?
- And finally, would you suggest for OR against the GC as the first and primary car?

Looking forward for any other tips you may provide.

Hi Abhishek, Our Grand cherokee will be 1 year old in a few days and clocked 14,000 miles as of now. I will try to give my experiences in the order you asked:
- We went on 5 long trips that ranged from 1000 - 1200 miles round trip and found GC very comfortable. Most of the times, it was just me and my wife but when we had friends in rear seat they were praising the rear leg room and head room. How ever, the cargo volume is quite less compared to other midsize SUVs due to huge wheel wells. I can not complain about that because it is the wheels to body proportion that gives macho look to GC and sets it apart from mini-van looking cross overs.

- GC handled snow with ease this past winter. We live in midwest and got decent amount of snow from January to March this year. Getting stuck in snow is nearly impossible. Even with the basic QT1 4x4 system i did not skid/slide this winter. In my opinion, safe winter driving depends more on the driver rather than vehicle. Hard acceleration or braking will make any vehicle lose control no matter how sophisticated the 4x4 system is.

-No wear and tear at all. I am very happy with attention to detail and quality of interior.

- I did not have any problems with electronics. We have touch screen with rear back up camera, rear sensors, hand free and voice recognition. I have not been to dealership for any thing other than a very faint rattle from rear. I don't hear it any more.

-If you are going to buy brand new, I can safely recommend GC as a primary car because it has 100k / 5 year power train warranty. This is my third car in the US in last 8 years (two american, one korean) and I never had problems with any car before 100k miles. But if you intend to keep it longer (like 10 years or more) I would go with a honda/toyota. Test drive all vehicles you have short listed and decide for your selves because the general opinion of Indians in US is against american cars. Any manufacturer can produce a lemon and it is very rare that you will get a defective vehicle when you are buying brand new.