Jeep Grand Cherokee L Night Eagle 2024 Review

The 2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee L Night Eagle starts from $69,450 plus on-road costs, making it the cheapest offering within the three-row Grand Cherokee line-up – and $5000 dearer than the five-seat version.

In exchange for the cash, you get suede and ‘TechnoLeather’ upholstery, power-adjustment for the heated front seats, a heated steering wheel, a 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster, 10.1-inch infotainment system with smartphone mirroring, wireless phone charging, a six-speaker sound system, automatic LED headlights and adaptive cruise control, among other things.

The whole package rolls on Continental CrossContact rubber, wrapped around black 20-inch wheels which complement the gloss black grille, wing mirrors, exterior badging and dark interior theme.

Under the bonnet is Jeep’s ancient 3.6-litre ‘Pentastar’ V6 petrol engine, good in this application for 210kW/344Nm, all of which is harnessed by an eight-speed automatic transmission and fed to all four wheels via the brand’s ‘Quadra-Trac I’ full-time 4x4 system.

All Grand Cherokee Ls offered in Australia carry a five-star ANCAP safety rating from 2022 – unlike the five-seater.

There’s no denying American vehicles have a tradition of looking pretty good, and the 2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee L Night Eagle is no exception with its big square lines and sheer size lending it a commanding stance on the road.

The interior presents nicely too, with an elegant cockpit and centre fascia, the latter really only hampered by the jumble of buttons for the climate controls under the infotainment system.

The seats are comfortable and the driving position has plenty of adjustment, more so than many of the Grand Cherokee L’s rivals.

Big American SUVs like this have nearly always proved comfortable on the open road and that’s exactly the case here, with the Grand Cherokee L Night Eagle offering decent ride comfort on Aussie country roads, despite the relatively low-profile tyres.

The ancient but smooth V6 trundles along silently on the open road with minimal fuss, thanks to the eight-speed transmission’s wide ratios, and can be hustled along when poked with a stick, sounding rather tangy in the process.

There’s oodles of room in the sliding second row and more than enough in the third to get by, as is typically the way with most large and upper large SUVs.

The boot is massive when the third row is stowed, and you get an almost completely flat load space when the second row is stashed too.

Unfortunately, the 2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee L Night Eagle’s identity as a big, traditional American family lugger brings plenty of negatives to offset its positive attributes.

That soft and comfortable suspension tune doesn’t cope too well with mid-corner bumps and often feels like it’s at odds with the quick-ratio steering, leading to a wallowy cornering experience, especially on a winding road. Worse though is its off-road capability, or rather, lack of it.

Being the base model, the Night Eagle misses out on the Selec-Terrain drive modes offered on the Limited trim level, meaning the traction control and 4x4 systems are left to their own one-size-fits-all settings, which wouldn’t be the end of the world if it had any meaningful suspension travel, low-range gearing, a centre differential lock or tyres that could handle more than just bitumen.

But it doesn’t, and so even the most innocuous of ruts and slippery surfaces can have you questioning if it was such a good idea to venture off the bitumen, let alone onto a slightly challenging trail.

To be fair, the Grand Cherokee L Night Eagle is more capable than something like a Hyundai Palisade or Nissan Pathfinder, but don’t for a minute consider this a Ford Everest, Isuzu MU-X or Toyota Prado rival.

Other criticisms revolve around the dated powertrain which loves a drink – we returned 11.6L/100km after almost 600km of highway, fire trail and outer suburb driving – and lacks low-end torque compared to the turbo-diesel competition, the glary and smudge-friendly piano black trim, busy infotainment system and sub-par 2813kg braked towing capacity.

If only a diesel or smaller-capacity turbo was available…

The short answer is only if you have your heart set on a Jeep.

The 2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee L Night Eagle is stuck in no-mans-land between the road-going three-row SUVs and the go-almost-anywhere ladder-frame options.

Yes, it’s better off-road than the road-going crowd – thanks primarily to its extra clearance – but it simply isn’t as dynamic or efficient on the black top, and its limited all-terrain capabilities are nothing compared to a proper 4x4 large SUV.

What’s more, the Everest, MU-X and Prado are all just as good as, if not better than the Jeep on the black-top, not to mention better on fuel and significantly better at towing.

If you absolutely have your heart set on a Jeep, we’d recommend spending the extra $17,000 on an Overland variant so you at least get some proper off-road hardware. Otherwise, look elsewhere.

2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee L Night Eagle at a glance:
Price: $69,450 plus on-road costs
Available: Now
Engine: 3.6L V6 petrol
Output: 210kW/344Nm
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Fuel: 10.6L/100km (claimed)
CO2: 243g/km
Safety rating: Five stars (ANCAP 2022)

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