[Akshay1234]

The Jeep Grand Cherokee has been launched in India at a price of Rs. 94 lakhs - 1.12 crore (ex-Delhi).

What you'll like:

• Classy design with the signature Jeep grille
• Packed with gadgets & features
• Offroad capability
• Exclusivity factor of brand Jeep

What you won't:

• Grossly overpriced at 1+ crore
• Interior plastic quality is too ordinary for the price
• Rear seat space is lesser than expected for a big SUV
• People giving you confused looks when you say you bought a 'Jeep' for 1 crore

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

[Akshay1234]

Introduction

To most Indians, Jeep means a type of vehicle rather than a brand. But for those who know the brand, they know Jeep makes rugged and capable SUVs, and more recently with some comfort thrown in. It's most famously known for the Willys Jeep, which our very own Mahindra manufactured at one point. One theory says that the name Jeep came from a military designation G.P which stood for general purpose. When G.P was slurred, it became Jeep.

The launch of the Jeep brand in India has been delayed by about 2 years. The Grand Cherokee will be launched in 3 variants - 2 with the diesel engine, the Limited and the Summit. And one with the 6.4 L Hemi V8 engine, the SRT variant! They are going to launch the Wrangler unlimited too, which will probably have off-roaders salivating!

For this drive we had the 3.0 V6 diesel Summit variant. A look at the classic Jeep design on the plastic strip in the headlamp:

[Akshay1234]

Exterior

The Grand Cherokee we get here is the 4th generation model. It was launched in 2011, and received a refresh in 2014. That refreshed model is what we get here in India. This 4th generation is called the WK2, and it shares its platform with the Mercedes ML class.

Looking at the pictures, you expect the SUV to be massive. The first thing to strike you when you see it is that it doesn't look as large in real life as it does in pictures. Yes it does look intimidating with that big Jeep grille and the large tyres, but it doesn't seem to be as big as the Mercedes ML either. The Grand Cherokee seemed to be of a similar size to my X3, possibly a tad bit larger.

The design itself is clean, but edgy and the Grand Cherokee doesn't seem to have many curves in its design. Even the wheel arches are squared off. The signature Jeep Grille will either be a hit or a miss with people, but the design overall will please most. The car does look pretty good in the deep cherry red colour that we had gotten for the drive. The DRLs in this car go around the headlamp, and look really nice! With the DRLs on, the vehicle certainly looks aggressive from the front along with the large grille.

Compared to the front, the rear looks relatively plain and simple. In fact I find it looking a bit dated. What I do like, is that inside the tail lamps the lights are in the shape of the front DRLs. I also like the way the Jeep logo gets its own indentation on the tail gate, and is not just a badge stuck on. There are twin exhausts, one on each side which are subtle yet sporty.

Chrome is aplenty, typical of an American SUV. There are chrome surrounds for the grille, tow hooks, fog lamps, windows, door handles are in chrome and there is a chrome bumper protector on the rear.

To differentiate between this Summit version, and the lower end Limited version there are a couple of things to notice. The easiest is the wheels, which will be smaller 18" ones on the Limited. Apart from that there will be black coloured cladding, unlike the body coloured cladding on this Summit. The Limited will also miss some small bits like the dual exhaust tips. Now when it comes to differentiating both of these from the SRT, trust me you will not need to look at anything. The HEMI engine will let you know before you can get to the exterior details!

The front features Jeep's characteristic grille and it sure does look aggressive. Also check out the exposed chrome tow hooks at the bottom:


The rear as you can see looks relatively simple as compared to the front:


You can really see the size of the wheels and tyres from this angle. Note the ground clearance is 208mm:


The wheels and tyres look absolutely massive on the Grand Cherokee. The wheels are 20" 5 spoke behemoths, and the tyre size is 265/50 R20 which isn't a very low profile:


A closer look at the DRLs and the Bi-Xenon Headlamps:


The tail lamp LEDs arranged similar to the DRLs:

[Akshay1234]

Interior Front

When I first got into the driver's seat, I found the interiors well designed and pleasing to the eye. No odd bits and bobs and quirkiness. Looking around I realised the interior is smaller than expected, it reminded me of my X3 straight away, in fact the rear legroom looked to be a little less. This really surprised me.

Furthermore, while looking around I realised the quality of most plastics is not great either. The centre console trim would not be out of place in a 7 lakh hatchback, and the plastic surrounding the gear lever and the cupholders was even worse. Compare that to the wood BMW has or the plastics Mercedes use in the same locations and you will be thoroughly disappointed. The wood finish used all over (including the steering wheel) is very shiny, and to some may look low quality. But thankfully, when touched it feels acceptable.

If I had to describe the interiors, it would be utilitarian luxury. The seats are firm but supportive, the leather feels tough. As mentioned before, space is not all that great. The front seats are large (expected for an American vehicle), and elbow room is good. Front seats are ventilated and heated. Moving to the rear though, the legroom is not exactly class leading. I am expecting it to be priced in the range of the base X5 and ML, but the rear seat and interior space isn't as good as them. Nevertheless, it's not cramped and you can squeeze in a fifth person for a longer drive though the said person may not be too happy about it.

A view of the centre console and dashboard. There are quite a few buttons all around, which may get confusing at times:


This heated steering wheel is full of buttons, even behind the wheel! Notice the dummy buttons on the right, these have adaptive cruise control options in the international model. The left side buttons can be used to operate the MID:


Driver's door, with the window and mirror controls, and the memory buttons. The door pocket can hold a 1 litre bottle and some knickknacks:


The front seats with their heating and ventilation function. Overland is embossed into the front seats. Overland is actually a variant available in other countries which is placed below the Summit.


The footwell has well sized pedals, except for the dead pedal. Accessing the dead pedal is a little difficult as the parking brake on the left hits your shin:


Cool looking gear lever and the horrible plastic around it. More on this gear lever in the following posts:


A closer look at some of the low quality plastics used. The buttons too felt really cheap to press. I preferred adjusting everything from the touchscreen, which thankfully was possible:


The key on the Grand Cherokee isn't that grand, and does have a couple of dummy buttons. The panic alarm and remote starting buttons are missing on the Indian variant:

Interior Rear

The rear seats have a good backrest angle and decent thigh support. These are adjustable for recline and are only heated, not ventilated:


Maximum and minimum legroom shown in this picture, overall the rear legroom is not that impressive. The floor hump doesn't eat much into the 5th passenger's space:


The offending switch between the AC vents looks absolutely horrid and has no place in a vehicle made in today's times. Note the twin USB ports and seat heating buttons below:


Boot space is again average, notice the subwoofer on the right. One thing which looks out of place is the tailgate button. It is positioned in the boot on the left, which is more convenient to use, but it really looks out of place. Maybe I'm nit-picking on that one though:


A fair amount of storage around the spare wheel too, the bins are quite deep:

[Akshay1234]

Features

The Grand Cherokee is stuffed with features to the gills! There is a UConnect touch screen which lets you control pretty much everything in the vehicle, similar functions as the idrive of BMW or MMI of Audi. The speedometer itself is a 7 inch LCD display with various functions. The music system is a 9 speaker system with a centre speaker and subwoofer. The SRT gets a 19 speaker Harmon Kardon set up which I would have loved to hear. Rear seat entertainment is available too, with a Blu-ray player. The UConnect I believe is shared with the likes of Maserati, etc. On the whole a nice system to use, and it could have even done without the physical buttons.

The UConnect touch screen. The resolution is good, and it recognizes touch commands well. Not exactly as good as an iPhone, but not bad at all either:


UConnect can control all kinds of parameters, from the A/C controls, to the media, to various vehicle settings. Seen here is the seat ventilation and heating control for the driver as well as passenger. Also the first time I'm seeing an option like this to turn on and off the auto dimming IRVM:


The climate screen; makes most of the buttons below redundant. I wish the buttons were just left out (since they feel cheap) and it was only the touch screen - Similar to the XC90:


Navigation is present too. Though the maps could have been much better, they don't look nice and are very basic compared to the 3D maps the other manufacturers use now:


Light settings screen. Loads of different options given for each category in settings which I found very nice:


The reverse camera clarity and resolution was horrible. I've seen aftermarket solutions which are better. I can't understand why this couldn't have been made better:


Rear passengers get fold up screens which are placed on the front seat backs and matches perfectly with the eye-line of the rear passengers. This is a first in the segment.


The screens had an HDMI and AV input on the side of each seat…


…and a Blu-Ray player below the front central armrest. First time I'm seeing a Blu-ray player in a vehicle:


There was also an SD card, and USB and Aux in the centre console. The Grand Cherokee has LOADS of connectivity and different types of inputs:


Next up is the 7 inch speedometer screen which can display various bits of information. The resolution on this too is quite good.

The basic digital speedometer view, which can be switched to an analogue display as well:


Left side steering controls are used to change what this screen displays, and to change settings. Below you can see some of the settings available:


Nice graphics depending on what mode is selected:


Various kinds of information available (tyre pressure, transmission oil temperature, engine oil life, battery voltage, etc.):

[Akshay1234]

Driving the 3.0L V6

The 3.0L CRD Turbo V6 Diesel engine makes 240 BHP@ 3600 rpm and 570 Nm@ 2000 rpm.


The Grand Cherokee Summit uses a 3.0L diesel which puts out 240BHP and 570Nm of torque. These figures are pretty much on par with the other 3.0L diesels in the market today. This engine is shared with the Maserati diesels.

Once I pressed the starter button, the engine cranked and came to life, but it was less refined than I expected. I could clearly hear it at idle. And once we started moving the engine seemed to be louder than the other 6 cylinder diesels of the competition which you can only hear at higher revs. Now not that the Grand Cherokees engine sounds like a tractor or a Tata 407, but it could have been more refined (or maybe it was just this test car too).

The engine is certainly torquey, and the midrange really pushes you back into your seat but it tapers off towards the top end. Basically this is not an engine you will want to push very much, it is more happy being driven in a relaxed manner but it's got the mid range for quick overtakes on the highway.

The Grand Cherokee is not a slouch by any means, and it gets up to cruising speed and well above cruising speeds effortlessly. Wind noise and engine noise at cruising speeds is well controlled (again not class leading). Stability is good, and the vehicle feels planted enough to do quick lane changes too if required. There is a slight bit of vertical movement though nothing which will unsettle you.

When I read the specs, I was delighted to see the ZF 8-speed transmission being used. The transmission is not tuned as well as the Germans have tuned it. Although, it doesn't feel confused or ever in the wrong gear. It just doesn't feel as well tuned as say in the X3, or the X5.

There is a sport mode in the transmission, which gives you this display on the instrument cluster. I personally barely found a change in the way the vehicle drove:


The Selec-Terrain system which allows you to select different off-road modes. It can supply up to 100% of the power to each axle if needed. There is also a proper low range gearbox, a first in this segment. There is no doubt in my mind that the Grand Cherokee will be an extremely capable off roader:

Suspension, ride, handling and brakes

With the massive wheels, you would expect this SUV to really jostle you around. It's actually quite good in terms of ride. The suspension is very well damped, so while a larger bump or pothole will upset the Grand Cherokee, you will not hear the suspension doing its work but just feel yourself being moved around. I did drive the Grand Cherokee on broken roads and smooth roads, and nothing really seemed to catch it off guard. What would normally have my X3 thudding around didn't feel like anything for this.

Low speed ride is absorbent, and not stiff. It's not exactly magic carpet ride either though. Even at higher speeds the Grand Cherokee is quite absorbent leaving no reason to complain.

I didn't really get to push the vehicle to comment on how handling is. While it's not exactly a corner carver, it's not sloppy. It again loses out to its German rivals in this sense. Steering feel is average and it does give you a little bit of feedback.

The Summit variant makes do with a regular suspension, without damping adjustment which is a feature that should have been present. The SRT gets the full air suspension with ride height adjustment.

Braking felt good, the feel was not spongy and was confidence inspiring. I did not try hard braking at high speeds, but at city speeds the brakes felt pretty strong and were not a cause for concern.

[Akshay1234]

Other Points

• Notice how the paddles are really tiny in this? For someone like me who usually rests at least 2 fingers on the paddle while using it, this was very irritating. I kept hitting one of the buttons below, which are used for volume and track changes. Remember how I told you this steering is full of buttons.

• The gear shift action doesn't give good feedback, and is very confusing. It's more than likely you will leave it in a position which is not intended. In fact, Jeep has issued a recall for the same (Related link)
• There is a rechargeable flashlight in the boot, quite useful!
• The spare tyre is an almost full size (245/65 R18) and it's tucked under the boot floor. Nice to have this when others are providing space savers, and those who provide full size spares don't know where to store it (Audi Q7).

[GTO]

Great review, Akshay & Omkar! Thanks for sharing guys. Rating 5 stars.

My sincerest condolences to brand Jeep . Just shows how out of touch Fiat's management is with reality. A Grand Cherokee for 1.4 crores on the road, and Wrangler for nearly 1 crore!!! Both of these are dead-on-arrival. The Grand Cherokee is trying to enter Range Rover territory - that's like McDonalds trying to sell a value meal at the Zodiac Grill (or a Michelin-Star restaurant).

I spent a full day with the Grand Cherokee. It's a good SUV, but in the league of the Ford Endeavour 3.2. In fact, the Endeavour 3.2 matches or beats it in every possible area. Instead of one Grand Cherokee, I could buy a Mercedes GLE + Ford Endeavour + Toyota Fortuner.

Seriously dimwit pricing. The worst I've seen in recent times.


Pic Source

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by GTO

Seriously dimwit pricing. The worst I've seen in recent times.

Absolutely true. No hope for the brand if this is the way they price their products. Even though these are CBU prices, I don't have any hope for their India specific SUV coming next year either, if at all it comes that is!

Then comes the question of showrooms. Shared with FIAT and Abarth? Really? 7L OTR and 1.4 crores OTR in a single showroom for a brand considered weak in this one main parameter.

And don't get me started on service centers! I have travelled 200kms one way to get to a decent service center. Now that might be acceptable for a brand like FIAT, but they really had to pull up their socks for Jeep if they were going to ask more than a crore for it!

[SmartCat]

In Europe, what does the Grand Cherokee compete with on price? ML/Q5/X5 ?

[Akshay1234]

I need to clarify - There are comparisons done to the X3 and ML and the likes in the review, simply because I expected the pricing to be similar if not some more than the X3 and ML. But at 1cr, I'm sorry its a complete joke to me. Had I started comparing this with Cayennes, and RR Sports I don't think I would have had too much to write.

Sorry Jeep, you pushed forward the launch by years for this? I will be surprised if even one Wrangler or diesel Grand Cherokee sells.

The way I see it the SRT will move a couple of units, thanks to it being cheaper than the other performance SUVs, but thats it!

[mac187]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

Brand is dead before launch! What were they thinking??!

A wrangler is hardly worth 30 Lakhs and it is 71 Wow. Grand Cherokee at 1+ Crore? Wonder what were they smoking and comparing themselves with!

Sad day for the brand fans.

I really want to know who finalizes the prices? I simple online search will tell them what territory they are getting into with the prices.

When i got the image, I was shocked. All this time we have been discussion how 35 lakhs would be a tough ask for Wrangler. Then I see this

[wilful]

Originally Posted by GTO

Great review, Akshay & Omkar! Thanks for sharing guys. Rating 5 stars.

I spent a full day with the Grand Cherokee. It's a good SUV, but in the league of the Ford Endeavour 3.2. In fact, the Endeavour 3.2 matches or beats it in every possible area. Instead of one Grand Cherokee, I could buy a Mercedes GLE + Ford Endeavour + Toyota Fortuner.

Seriously dimwit pricing. The worst I've seen in recent times.

Attachment 1548629
Pic Source

You have answered the question that sprang to my mind on seeing the prices.
If this is the kind of pricing, I think Renegade would be priced around the 50 lac zone. Seriously?

The Grand Cherokee is trying to enter Range Rover territory - that's like McDonalds trying to sell a value meal at the Zodiac Grill.

I just loved this!

Excellent review!!

[shankar.balan]

Jeep India announces
its pricing in India. And what a joke it is!

I wonder what their India FCA Team are Smokin' these days.....must be some hotshot consultants who are completely disconnected from the real world...

Looks like they arent targeting the true 'Jeep' enthusiasts or the people who really know and will use these vehicles.

Seems that their preferred target audience are Politicians, Goons, Real Estate Demons and other Distinguished Members of the Corrupt-o-cracy exclusively!

Much luck to you Jeep India-you seem to have clearly forgotten where you began life - in the trenches of WW2!

Enjoy!

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by smartcat

In Europe, what does the Grand Cherokee compete with on price? ML/Q5/X5 ?

India gets three variants - Limited, Summit and SRT. In the US, these are priced as below-

Limited - $ 37,565/-
Summit- $ 49,795/-
SRT- $ 65,695/-

In comparison, Audi Q5 range starts from $ 40,900/- while Audi Q7 range starts from $ 54,800/-

In India, Q7 range is price around the 75L range. SRT priced above it is understandable, but the whole range and with such a premium?