For many years, the Grand Cherokee has served as Jeep's most upscale model, combining off-road ability with posh trappings and high-performance variants that, more recently, have allowed Jeep to compete tangentially with vehicles like the Porsche Cayenne Turbo and Land Rover Range Rover.
For 2019, Jeep has made a number of small changes to the Grand Cherokee. All trims now come standard with blind spot monitoring and rear cross traffic alert, and Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone integration. The other infotainment-related change is the use of bonded glass in models with the 8.4-inch navigation touchscreen, which allows for pinch-to-zoom functionality.
There's a new trim, too, in the Grand Cherokee Limited X, which gets unique front and rear fascia, performance hood, granite crystal exterior accents and 20-inch wheels in a low-gloss granite crystal finish. The Limited X also comes standard with the Unconnect 8.4 infotainment system, nine-speaker stereo and active noise cancellation.
Finally, Overland trim gets a new standard 20-inch wheel design, and Summit models get a trim-specific 20-inch wheel option.
Jeep has left the Grand Cherokee's powertrain choices untouched. To start, there's a 3.6L V6 making 295 hp and 260 lb-ft of torque, and a 5.7L V8 that produces 360 hp and 390 lb-ft. The party really gets going with the SRT model and its 6.4L V8, which is good for 475 hp and 470 lb-ft and a 0-100 km/h acceleration time of 4.3 seconds. Should that somehow not be enough, the Trackhawk borrows from the Dodge Challenger and Charger Hellcat models a supercharged 6.2L V8 that makes a thunderous 707 hp and 645 lb-ft, enough to push this truck through the quarter mile in 11.6 seconds.
All Grand Cherokee trims use an eight-speed automatic transmission to drive all four wheels.
In SRT and Trackhawk form, the Grand Cherokee turns into a serious performance machine that takes to hot laps as easily as their less-potent siblings handled off-roading. They'll easily keep up with Europe's most performance-oriented SUVs, but for a lot less money. However, as nice as the Grand Cherokee is, it can't boast an interior as outright luxurious as the likes of the Cayenne or Range Rover.
Still, by the time you reach the Summit, Jeep throws in a full suite of active safety gear plus niceties like 20-inch wheels, HID headlights, power-folding side mirrors, leather-trimmed dash and console, wood-accented steering wheel and rain-sensing wipers.
Jeep's fuel consumption estimates range from 12.7/9.6 L/100 km (city/highway) for the 3.6L engine to 20.9/13.8 for the Trackhawk and its 707-hp V8.
