Jeep Grand Cherokee test drive since 2010 SUV
New Jeep Grand Cherokee
Once upon a time, when the Chrysler Corporation was still in a serious relationship with Daimler, a promising fruit began to ripen on it on a completely legitimate basis. But, as we all remember, the partners broke up.
And when Chrysler has already fallen in love with Fiat and moved to live, suddenly a child from an old marriage new Jeep Grand Cherokee on the Mercedes-Benz ml platform appeared. I don’t know how Fiat felt in this situation, but everyone in the 4x4 Club editor was in a nervous anticipation. The last time such a stir arose when I brought the new Wrangler. Since then, we have tested both the Audi Q7, the updated Porsche Cayenne, and the BMW X6 M. But not one of these machines has caused such interest as Chrysler products. This unhealthy fever about Jeep is not lending on any logic.
The depth of the ford is half a meter. Finally buy a ruler
Dunkin Donuts and Pizza Hut
In fact, what did we want to see in the person of the new Jeep Grand Cherokee? Bold design solutions? Well, we are aware that Chrysler spent all his creative gunpowder on the Commander and now knows for sure that he had fired idol. Maybe a completely different interior? Perhaps yes. Because the old one faded quickly, like a southern beauty. And in an incomprehensible way, some magazines were started in it in the pockets of the doors, bags from McDonald's, sand in the seats of seats, even if you are alone and careful. That's why we were waiting for something more aesthetic and disciplining, at least in the spirit of Lexus.
We were also very interested in how exactly the Americans ordered the inheritance of Daimler. After all, the new Jeep Grand Cherokee is made on the Mercedes-Benz ml platform. But we have already convinced many times that the platform is secondary in relation to the settings. Who will interfere with Chrysler, as before, to set the suspension on the Pizza Hut booklet, and buy the steering wheel from Dunkin Donuts?
In such conditions, the round-terrain round is mostly useless. Here you need to turn on your brain. Or to accelerate well, but then you can come without a bumper
Glider and bar
Suspicions only strengthened after I put ML and Grand nearby in the courtyard of the editorial office. The German body is subordinated to the laws of aerodynamics, and inside the rules of ergonomics. The American built on the same platform resembles a bar on the background of a glider. Almost vertical windshield and high, like a truck, a hood line. Will a good Yankee doubt, choosing between a liter of saved fuel and bus lobby?
Diagonal hanging is not a problem
You open the hood of a German and see the tension of engineering. Here, it was not Ponaroshka who thought about how to optimize the center of gravity: for a high SUV, it is important that the motor is located as low as possible. Jeep was done a little differently. They calculated the highest point of the engine compartment and screwed the engine directly to it. But you can’t say this about the suspension here the hand of Mercedes is felt. Jeep never had anything like this. The Americans in German levers did not touch anything, they could not figure it out.
You can't fix a sledgehammer anymore
I will no longer bore you with a preface and go directly to the test drive. Or right away to its results: why do you need to read five pages, how did I go back and forth for several days on my route only to me? I apologize in advance for pathos, but this is one of the best cars in the entire history of the Chrysler all -wheel drive cars. He combined the German engineering genius, Japanese conciseness and American comfort. Note, I have not said the best SUVs. Nothing radical has changed with cross -country ability. On the contrary, she suffered. The wheelbase, inherited by the ML, is more than 2900 mm. This means that the chances of sitting on the belly have increased.
Places for two glasses and their users
The trunk opening is less functional than that of the old Grand
What did the fans of the old Grand Cherokee really get? Big body. Excellent interior decoration. A wonderful suspension. There are no exaggerations and extra curtsies in the new Grand. The only thing that annoys in the decoration is traditional American gypsies when artificial chrome is adjacent to a plastic cherry. But the elongated wheelbase contributes to a good course stability, and every detail pleases the suspension: how it passes large irregularities, how it balances on the verge of comfort and handling. The 4x4 club mechanics say that now you can’t fix it with a sledgehammer, and the cost of repairs will be completely different, but, I think, it's worth it.
All previous Cherokee interiors resembled anything other than the interior. This is the first!
Honestly, without this chiffonier finish it would be better
What does the stones have to do with it?
The engine with a volume of 3.6 liters fully corresponds to the driver’s expectations, accelerating the car to hundreds in 9 seconds. Power of 286 horsepower for happiness is quite enough. A five -speed adaptive automatic machine deftly adapts to the rhythm of your right leg, pulling on the gas pedal. In general, in the reactions on the steering wheel, brakes and suspension, Grand Cherokee is much more pleasant, clearer and more natural than the closest competitors of the Ford Explorer and Toyota Land Cruiser Prado. But he is not the first among them by cross -country ability. In any case, not in configuration with the transmission of Quadra-Trac II, which was in our hands. It does not include multi-disc lock in bridges available only with Quadra-Drive II. But she has a SELEC-TERRAIN puck, spied on Land Rover. Allegedly, this circle helps to drive along sand/stones/snow, in a delicate way to change the degree of slipping. In a sandy quarry near Moscow, I felt the difference, but I could not imagine the owner of the Grand Cherokee, making his way somewhere in the mountains and with a smart view of the selector in the position of the stones.
The SUV transmission adaptation system to different coatings really began to work on Range Rover, and then only after six years of torment of Indian programmers. To the American to their level to reach out and stretch. In addition, an electronics that really help to make your way through rocks have only Toyota, and it is called CRAWL CONTROL. Not to mention the fact that in nature there is a whole SUV created to move the rocks, Jeep Wrangler Rubicon. And that abnormal, which will climb through the stone thoroughs on the Grand Cherokee must be isolated from society, it is inadequate.
It’s good that you can simply turn on a reduced gear and go to Grand Cherokee without electronic torment, hoping only for your experience. Only the above -mentioned wheelbase, stretched to indecent sizes, interferes. Where the old Grand was driving, a new scraping of the bottom. Therefore, it is possible that it is better to choose a Grand Cherokee in a configuration with a pneumatic suspension that increases the road clearance. When this option appears in the Chrysler representative office, we will definitely try it.
Author: Dmitry Leontyev, photo of Alexander Ortnova-Baranov
Source: Magazine 4x4 [January /2011]
