Jeep Meridian: Observations & overall mileage after a 400 km road trip

The overall fuel efficiency achieved after the 400 km trip was around 10 km/l.

BHPian revsperminute recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Drove to Gujarat and back in the Meridian. ~400km

Here are my observations after the drive.

Context- My usual companions on highway drives are German sedans. I drive almost 70% of my highway miles in my 1.8 TSI Octavia.

Engine/GB- While the engine has just enough grunt to not make the car feel lethargic, the overall tuning and the autobox behaviour made some situations quite cumbersome to manoeuvre. The highway right now is in pathetic condition. Hence I found myself slowing down from my usual cruising speed almost constantly. And pretty much every time I mashed the throttle to get back to speed, the 9-speed just crumbled. The car felt very laboured. Slow downshifts and reluctance to hold onto a gear made me just give up and cruise at speeds lower than I would usually do. In most other cars, I would put the gearbox into sport or flick down a couple of gears myself. But alas, no such feature on the Jeep.

Ride/Handling/Steering- The ride and handling package is surely and by far the best part of the Meridian. The car is very stable at ~100 km/h and irons out poor road surfaces at those speeds. I managed to avoid all the craters but hit a couple of small potholes at ~60km/h; the car maintained composure and I wasn’t particularly worried about any damage. The handling is best described as satisfactory for an SUV. Cars like these are not made to be corner carvers and the driver should keep that in mind. No nervousness during lane changes and minimal body roll was observed. The steering could be a tiny bit more communicative but to be honest, it fits the theme of the car.

Interior Amenities- The car is well appointed and the interiors feel very plush. No complaints at all. However, the sound system in the Kodiaq is far better.

Presence- The Jeep does make its presence felt on the highway. That being said, it’s nowhere close to a Fortuner or my GLE.

EOD Verdict- I wasn’t particularly tired after driving 400kms but I didn’t have a smile on my face either. The car is a very capable mile muncher as long as you take it easy. It’s not one to be hustled. Doing so will just make you frustrated. The Kodiaq at almost the same price is a much better option for spirited drivers. As for the fuel costs associated with running a 200hp petrol SUV, read on…

Surprise!!! After the drive, calculated the fuel economy figures to be around the 10 Km/L mark. Although FE figures don’t really upset my views on a car but I have seen better figures on a Fortuner without babying the loud pedal. How this car managed to guzzle so much fuel is beyond my understanding given that I drove with a relatively light foot and almost nil traffic.

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