TriShield
09-21-2011, 02:11 PM
Ferris Bueller Would Drive One
http://media.il.edmunds-media.com/jeep/grand-cherokee-srt8/2012/ft/2012_jeep_grand-cherokee-srt8_f34_ft_810113_717.jpg
Man, it is cool.
By Scott Oldham, Editor in Chief | Published Sep 20, 2011
Good advice is hard to come by in this world. But here's a golden nugget. Do something you love with your life, because first you're 20. Then you're 40. Then you're dead.
Too morbid? Then allow us to quote the great philosopher Ferris Bueller, who once said, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop to look around every once in awhile you could miss it."
That's the mindset behind the 470-horsepower, 6.4-liter, 160-mph, 5,000-pound, $60,000, 12-mpg 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8. This muscled-up SUV is about enjoying today, right this very moment. It's about wanting, reaching and grabbing. Pure automotive hedonism. And we absolutely love it.
Just the fact that Jeep will sell you such an automotive delectation in this age of four-buck gas and the politicized green movement is exactly what we're talking about. Your neighbor, your Oprah and your wallet may be telling you to get a Prius, but your soul wants this beast.
Let's go for a ride.
The Track Numbers
http://media.il.edmunds-media.com/jeep/grand-cherokee-srt8/2012/ft/2012_jeep_grand-cherokee-srt8_r34_ft_810111_717.jpg
This muscle machine looks good dirty or clean.
The last time we drove a 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 we spent an afternoon flogging it on the big track at Willow Springs Raceway. And we went home impressed with the Jeep's speed, stability and agility.
This time around we stayed away from the racetrack. Instead we spent two weeks with the Jeep doing the commute thing, the mountain road thing, the test track thing and the dry lake lets-get-it-dirty thing. After all that, we're still impressed.
This 5,000-pound behemoth lit up our test track. Jeep claims a 0-60 time of 4.8 seconds, a quarter-mile time in the mid-13-second range, 0.90g on the skid pad and 60 to zero in 116 feet. And for once a manufacturer's performance claims are right on.
At our test track, our dark gray Jeep hit 60 mph in 5.1 seconds with its traction control turned off (4.8 seconds with 1 foot of rollout like on a drag strip) and it tore through the quarter-mile in 13.4 seconds at 102 mph. Then it circled our skid pad at 0.87g and wowed us with a 67.2-mph run through the slalom.
It also stopped from 60 mph in 116 feet on the very first run. Then it got better, stopping from 60 in 112 feet on its fourth try.
Impressive? No doubt. But also a bit disappointing. The previous-generation Grand Cherokee SRT8 was about a tenth quicker to 60. Turns out an extra 50 hp can't quite overcome the new Jeep's extra 500 pounds.
We're also a bit disappointed this isn't the All-American German Slayer we were hoping for. Although it's no doubt a serious performer, the Jeep, which carries a base price of $54,470, is easily outperformed by the big-buck German muscle SUVs. Both the $87,000 BMW X5 M and the $107,000 Porsche Cayenne Turbo will smoke it in a straight line, and the Porsche outhandles the Jeep easily.
Real Competition
http://media.il.edmunds-media.com/jeep/grand-cherokee-srt8/2012/ft/2012_jeep_grand-cherokee-srt8_fint_ft_810111_717.jpg
The interior is much more luxurious than before.
In its price range, the Jeep's only real performance competition is the 390-hp Infiniti FX50 S. Now, the FX doesn't perform quite as well as the Grand Cherokee SRT8, but it's not exactly left behind either. Again, the Cherokee's as-tested weight of 5,256 pounds and the tall gearing of its antiquated five-speed automatic transmission hold it back.
The Infiniti has less motor, but it weighs "just" 4,621 pounds and has a seven-speed transmission. It hits 60 mph in 5.5 seconds (5.2 seconds with rollout), and finishes the quarter-mile in 13.7 seconds at 101.5 mph.
When it comes to agility and road holding, however, the Grand Cherokee sets a new standard at this price point. Its 67.2-mph run through the slalom is essentially dead even with a BMW M3. This big biatch turns. Especially in Track mode.
Track mode is the most aggressive setting in the Jeep's five-mode Selec-Track system. Controlled by a large knob on the console, the Selec-Track system integrates with all systems that can affect performance — stability control, suspension damping, shift logic, torque split, rear LSD operation and more. Largely, its management of torque split and suspension damping yield the biggest influence in control.
The five settings are Auto, Sport, Track, Snow or Tow (it can pull 5,000 pounds). In Sport and Track Mode the truck's dampers are stiffened for more control, and its all-wheel-drive system sends more power to the rear wheels for additional agility. In Snow the torque split is 50/50 front to rear, but in Sport and Track it's 35/65.
http://media.il.edmunds-media.com/jeep/grand-cherokee-srt8/2012/ft/2012_jeep_grand-cherokee-srt8_f34_ft_810113_717.jpg
Man, it is cool.
By Scott Oldham, Editor in Chief | Published Sep 20, 2011
Good advice is hard to come by in this world. But here's a golden nugget. Do something you love with your life, because first you're 20. Then you're 40. Then you're dead.
Too morbid? Then allow us to quote the great philosopher Ferris Bueller, who once said, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop to look around every once in awhile you could miss it."
That's the mindset behind the 470-horsepower, 6.4-liter, 160-mph, 5,000-pound, $60,000, 12-mpg 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8. This muscled-up SUV is about enjoying today, right this very moment. It's about wanting, reaching and grabbing. Pure automotive hedonism. And we absolutely love it.
Just the fact that Jeep will sell you such an automotive delectation in this age of four-buck gas and the politicized green movement is exactly what we're talking about. Your neighbor, your Oprah and your wallet may be telling you to get a Prius, but your soul wants this beast.
Let's go for a ride.
The Track Numbers
http://media.il.edmunds-media.com/jeep/grand-cherokee-srt8/2012/ft/2012_jeep_grand-cherokee-srt8_r34_ft_810111_717.jpg
This muscle machine looks good dirty or clean.
The last time we drove a 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 we spent an afternoon flogging it on the big track at Willow Springs Raceway. And we went home impressed with the Jeep's speed, stability and agility.
This time around we stayed away from the racetrack. Instead we spent two weeks with the Jeep doing the commute thing, the mountain road thing, the test track thing and the dry lake lets-get-it-dirty thing. After all that, we're still impressed.
This 5,000-pound behemoth lit up our test track. Jeep claims a 0-60 time of 4.8 seconds, a quarter-mile time in the mid-13-second range, 0.90g on the skid pad and 60 to zero in 116 feet. And for once a manufacturer's performance claims are right on.
At our test track, our dark gray Jeep hit 60 mph in 5.1 seconds with its traction control turned off (4.8 seconds with 1 foot of rollout like on a drag strip) and it tore through the quarter-mile in 13.4 seconds at 102 mph. Then it circled our skid pad at 0.87g and wowed us with a 67.2-mph run through the slalom.
It also stopped from 60 mph in 116 feet on the very first run. Then it got better, stopping from 60 in 112 feet on its fourth try.
Impressive? No doubt. But also a bit disappointing. The previous-generation Grand Cherokee SRT8 was about a tenth quicker to 60. Turns out an extra 50 hp can't quite overcome the new Jeep's extra 500 pounds.
We're also a bit disappointed this isn't the All-American German Slayer we were hoping for. Although it's no doubt a serious performer, the Jeep, which carries a base price of $54,470, is easily outperformed by the big-buck German muscle SUVs. Both the $87,000 BMW X5 M and the $107,000 Porsche Cayenne Turbo will smoke it in a straight line, and the Porsche outhandles the Jeep easily.
Real Competition
http://media.il.edmunds-media.com/jeep/grand-cherokee-srt8/2012/ft/2012_jeep_grand-cherokee-srt8_fint_ft_810111_717.jpg
The interior is much more luxurious than before.
In its price range, the Jeep's only real performance competition is the 390-hp Infiniti FX50 S. Now, the FX doesn't perform quite as well as the Grand Cherokee SRT8, but it's not exactly left behind either. Again, the Cherokee's as-tested weight of 5,256 pounds and the tall gearing of its antiquated five-speed automatic transmission hold it back.
The Infiniti has less motor, but it weighs "just" 4,621 pounds and has a seven-speed transmission. It hits 60 mph in 5.5 seconds (5.2 seconds with rollout), and finishes the quarter-mile in 13.7 seconds at 101.5 mph.
When it comes to agility and road holding, however, the Grand Cherokee sets a new standard at this price point. Its 67.2-mph run through the slalom is essentially dead even with a BMW M3. This big biatch turns. Especially in Track mode.
Track mode is the most aggressive setting in the Jeep's five-mode Selec-Track system. Controlled by a large knob on the console, the Selec-Track system integrates with all systems that can affect performance — stability control, suspension damping, shift logic, torque split, rear LSD operation and more. Largely, its management of torque split and suspension damping yield the biggest influence in control.
The five settings are Auto, Sport, Track, Snow or Tow (it can pull 5,000 pounds). In Sport and Track Mode the truck's dampers are stiffened for more control, and its all-wheel-drive system sends more power to the rear wheels for additional agility. In Snow the torque split is 50/50 front to rear, but in Sport and Track it's 35/65.