Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT-8 2013 Review

Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8

An engine noise (you couldn’t insult it by calling a note) that makes babies and grown men cry (for different reasons), a thirst for premium fuel that will keep oil sheikhs laughing and a look tough enough to make drivers of uber-SUVs feel short-changed.

Speaking of which, those ML63 AMG and X5M drivers might also dislike this: $76,000.

That’s the retail price of the SRT8 and it’s about $100,000 less than the aforementioned German four-wheel drives.

For that money you get a thoroughly capable package underpinned by a modern architecture, powered by a 344kW 6.4-litre V8 engine, corralled by Bilstein adjustable shocks and Brembo brakes and equipped with plenty of luxury and safety gear.

The SRT8’s local launch has been twice delayed because of global demand and it is already sold here out until 2013. Only 4000 are built per annum and demand far outstrips supply.

This is the second generation Grand Cherokee that has been tuned by Chrysler Group’s Street and Racing Technology (hence SRT) division and its pricing is nearly $14,000 below where the original was pitched in Australia when it launched in August 2008.

But that’s indicative of the whole Grand Cherokee lineup, which is thriving on the back of substantial price adjustments and the fact it is a vastly better vehicle than its predecessor. Sales are up year-on-year a whopping 190 per cent.

Compared to the standard Grand Cherokee, the SRT8 adds body-colour wheel flares, side sill cladding, a one-piece front fascia including LED daytime running lamps, integrated brake ducts, heat extractors in the bonnet, a tailgate spoiler and an active valve exhaust system with two massive chrome tipped outlets that exit outboard at the rear. Previously, the exhausts were centre-mounted, but the new set-up allows a tow bar to be fitted. Max braked towing capacity is 2268kg.

Standard equipment includes a power liftgate, Alpine nine-speaker stereo system, satellite-navigation, adaptive cruise control, dual-zone climate control, keyless entry and start, heated and ventilated front seats, heated second row seats and Bluetooth.

A ‘Performance Pages’ display provides instant feedback to the driver on steering input, power, torque, 0-100km/h and 400m times, 100km/h-0 braking distance, g-forces and expanded engine information.

The SRT8 rolls on 20x10-inch alloys encased in 295/45ZR20 Pirelli Scorpion Verde run-flat rubber. However, there’s also a compact spare tyre under the luggage area floor.

That’s competitive with the likes of the ML63 AMG and X5 M, and roughly the same as the original SRT8 despite an almost 10 per cent boost in horsepower and torque and a rise in capacity from 6.1-litres. That shows what adding 200kg to the kerb weight can do -- now up to an extraordinary 2336kg!

Mind you, the new SRT8 also manages to cut fuel consumption by 12.4 per cent to a still thirsty 14.1L/100km (and emissions to 328 grams of CO2 per km). Much of that comes courtesy of the new Multi Displacement System (MDS) that allows the engine to run on only four cylinders when cruising.

At the core of the new SRT8 -- as per all Grand Cherokees -- is a modified version of the same fundamental monocoque architecture that underpins the latest Mercedes-Benz ML and GL. Jeep claims a massive 146 per cent torsional rigidity improvement compared to the old car.

Building up from there you’ll find independent suspension all-round, Bilstein adaptive dampers and Brembo brakes, a 25mm lowered ride height and Jeep’s Quadra-Trac active on-demand four-wheel drive system.

This is the most basic of Jeep’s 4WD systems offered with the Grand Cherokee. There’s no low range and the car is not trail-rated -- Jeep terminology meaning it is actually good at going off-road. You have been warned.

The driver has a five-mode Selec-Track control on the console to decide how the SRT8’s chassis and other systems behave. The modes include the default Auto option, as well as Sport, Track, Snow and Tow.

Selec-Track affects stability control, adaptive damping, transmission shift strategy, transfer case torque proportioning (static 40:60 Auto, 35:65 Sport and Track, 50:50 Snow and Trail), electronic limited slip differential, throttle control and cylinder de-activation.

Steering via hydraulic rack and pinion is retuned with quicker gearing to make it more direct and bolstered by heavy duty oil pump and cooler. Selec-Track does not change its behaviour.

Like all the Grands before it, the WK2 remains a five-door, five-seat wagon, with a longitudinally mounted engine driving all four wheels.

But each generation has been an incremental improvement over the last, starting from the very low base that was the awful ZJ series.

WK2 addresses some criticisms, especially improving rear seat space, growing the size of the fuel tank and lifting interior quality.

So now rear seat passengers benefit from additional leg and hip room (but a little less head and shoulder room) and the fuel tank grows from 79.9 to 91 litres (in SRT8, 93.5 in all other versions).

An upmarket interior feel is looked after by Nappa leather and suede seat trim, carbon-fibre accents integrated into the instrument panel and door trim and pedals in polished alloy pedals. The leather stitching on top of the dashboard is nice too -- we could
tell that from the annoying way it reflected in the windscreen!

Assembly quality is better than it was previously, with a decent consistency to panel fit.

Having said all that, the actual look and feel of the controls and instrumentation is pretty dated. Nothing highlights that more than the small media screen with its grainy sat-nav graphics.

If you get into a Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep showroom check out the 300 SRT8 interior for comparison, it’s leagues ahead.

Nevertheless, the sports seats up-front are truly supportive and definitely full-sized. The powered, heated, flat-bottomed steering wheel continues the super-sized theme with a massive rim that will be too big for some.

Storage space is decent in the SRT8. There are a profusion of pockets, cup holders and bins. Some of that centre console space is created by the use of an old-school foot parking brake. No push button here!

The luggage area starts out at 782 litres and expands to 1554 litres with the 60:40 rear seat spilt-folded flat. That’s shrunk a little from the old car, but is still enough space to swallow a mountain bike without having to pull out the front wheel.

Jeep claims a total of 45 safety and security systems in the SRT8 and Insurance Institute for Highway Safety ‘Top Safety Pick’ as a result.

However, a diesel left-hand drive Grand Cherokee tested by Euro NCAP netted only four stars.

COMPETITORS

But you could also add the Range Rover Sport (supercharged V8 naturally) starting at $161,400 and the freshly arrived and very desirable $164,900 Porsche Cayenne GTS.

But in terms of an SUV in the same price range offering the same performance as the SRT8? Foggedaboudid!

ON THE ROAD

In hot weather, at the end of a long road drive and two up, figures ranged from 6.2 secs down to 5.3 as various hacks had a crack. Some simply left the car in Auto and tromped the throttle, others loaded up on the brake, while a few even dialled in Track and removed all traction and stability control nannies by pressing the stability control off button for five seconds (remember that for sand driving).

After all that, just leaving it in Auto seemed to work best.

Later, in the cool of the evening (down from 30 degrees to 14) and with no passengers, I dialled up the Performance Pages 0-100km/h timer and launched. The result? 4.6 sec as easy as you like.

The upshot is that the performance claims seem reasonably credible. The thunderous soundtrack is even better. It sounds deep, menacing and virile from within the cabin, albeit slightly muted by excellent sound dampening.

Standing outside listening to an SRT8 blow-by is fantastic. There’s a deep beat, overlaid by a raspberry on flat-throttle gearchanges and a NASCAR roar from the induction and exhausts. Awesome.

Less appealing is the fuel consumption figure that exploiting the V8 delivers. The claim in this case is less reliable than the performance figures, as we spent the day hovering above 16.0L/100km. And we certainly weren’t pushing the throttle hard.

The intervention of MDS was barely noticeable, something that couldn’t be said about the five-speed auto. The eight speed will be welcome for the improvement it delivers in smoothness and economy.

There were some hesitations and some thumping changes. However, when the pressure was on it definitely improved in Sport mode, while the ultimate move was to control shifting manually.

Speaking of the Selec-Track modes, it was quite hard on the open road to detect significant chassis behaviour differences when swapping between Auto, Sport and Track. Basically, the SRT8 rides firm or firmer, albeit with the ability to round off the harsh edges of savage bumps.

Even in Auto mode it would get tiresome if your daily drive ventured over crap -- read typical Australian -- roads.

At Anglesea, the swap to Sport then Track definitely delivered improvements during a high-speed cornering exercise. Because the Bilstein dampers were controlling weight transfer that much more, the SRT8 was happier to turn-in more quickly and decisively.

In any circumstances a dead-zone in the first few degrees off-centre was obvious, but the steering then weighted up nicely and delivered decent feel, although that did degenerate to kickback on significant mid-corner bumps. Those same lumps could also extract some sideways movement from the rear-end.

The SRT8 is a reliable understeerer when pitched hard into slower corners, an issue it resolves as Quadra-Trac shuffles drive about. It doesn’t feel particularly involving -- its high centre of gravity and stupid-heavy weight nix that -- but it is controlled and simply eons ahead of any dynamics Jeep has ever served up. Nevertheless, the Euros are still well ahead, especially the physics-defying (well almost) GTS.

The track also offered the chance to really test out the six-pot front/four-pot rear Brembos. On bitumen they were superb, on dirt they showed no sign of sympathetic tuning, the massive tyres tending to skate over the surface.

Not that we can see too many SRT8s spending too much time on dirt roads. The more cultivated confines of our more upwardly mobile suburbs will surely be its weekday haunts. At the weekend, the beach house or the chalet will be the appropriate destination. And there won’t be many louder, prouder ways to get there.

Sound like your kind of drive? Hey go ahead and stand in line. If anyone dares to disagree, just tell them the devil made you do it.

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