WL Jeep Forum
Welcome to WLJeepforum.com! Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!
Car and Driver - March 16th, 2022
- Thread starter dseffren
- Start date
PhillyG11
Well-known member
C&D's conclusion sentence is: "The new Grand Cherokee is comprehensively better than the one it replaces, but the Summit Reserve represents a luxurious new peak that may be priced out of reach for many current fans."
As a WL74 owner but of a different trim, I think that overall the article is pretty fair. I was a little surprised on basically no mention of any reliability or electrical issues, given the pretty public criticism of the issues, as Sarge has mentioned across the forum. However, C&D probably focused too much on the increased price, given the current market, rampant inflation, and the fact that C&D was reviewing the currently highest trim, the SR trim. The SR trim obviously would have the most markup among all current trims, given the laundry list of premium interior and exterior options. And most of the JGC "fans", or even the average new mid-size SUV customer, probably will not be in the market for any top-of-the line model, especially one like the SR which can be reasonably compared to the X5.
The author of the C&D article probably also was too subjective in his criticism of the WL's exterior: "doesn't look much different than before." Really? Can he blame Stellantis for not wanting to make more wholesale changes to the architecture to the fourth best-selling SUV in 2021? I think a more fair C&D review is the following: https://www.caranddriver.com/jeep/grand-cherokee
That said, I am interested in C&D's long-term tests on the WL74 and/or WL75.
SneakyJeep
Well-known member
To be fair, I'm not sure they had it long enough to have any obvious issues during their testing, and I don't think they're sitting around on Jeep forums or Jeep-specific websites looking for any issues that some buyers are having. I do hate it when publications are given the top-of-the-line, fully loaded trims by the manufacturers to review. The vast majority of JGC sales will be the Limited trims. CNET Roadshow did a review of the Trailhawk model (although not in an off-road way) and they gave it really, really high scores. Outside of the off-road specific features, it's closer to the Limited trim than the Summit/Summit Reserve.
www.cnet.com
2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee Trailhawk Review: Rugged and Refined
With its knobby tires and air suspension, this SUV can take you just about anywhere -- including a night out on the town.
Sarge
Well-known member
I have never seen C&D comment much on reliability, except at the brand level, in new car test reviews, EXCEPT when it comes to their 40k mile long term reviews. And they absolutely roasted the Gladiator...
As for Jeep overall, and their price point: Jeep used to be a pretty typical American brand, in the sense that the overall quality, design, fit ad finish etc were all WAY below their German counterparts, but now they have gotten MUCH closer to providing a BMW or Range Rover experience in competing models. The former interior designer for Audi (who was long held as the king of interior design) went to work for FCA and drastically improved things (the RAM 1500 has the best interior in it's class, and has since that hire), so overall the price point is largely justified, against a backdrop of tech offerings that are otherwise only available on FAR more expensive offerings from other makers.
The real problem, though, in my very painful experience, has been horrible quality control. At the same time, many of my problems may all be related to one core issue in my electrical bus system for all I know, meaning the real problem is they can't find the root source of all the electrical issues I'm having. As bad as my car has been and continues to be, I think there's one or two issues deep in the electrical system that are triggering a lot of the random weird issues I've had. There are, of course, THOUSANDS of more cars like mine with few or no issues. Which is why I'm going to replace mine with another one, in hopes of better luck.
I also really like the overall GCL package, and the fact that my Jeep dealer is 3 miles away, where all the non-American options are between 100-300 miles away (I don't love any of the other options enough to be that kind of slave to any car, except maybe Toyota, since they are extremely reliable).
As for Jeep overall, and their price point: Jeep used to be a pretty typical American brand, in the sense that the overall quality, design, fit ad finish etc were all WAY below their German counterparts, but now they have gotten MUCH closer to providing a BMW or Range Rover experience in competing models. The former interior designer for Audi (who was long held as the king of interior design) went to work for FCA and drastically improved things (the RAM 1500 has the best interior in it's class, and has since that hire), so overall the price point is largely justified, against a backdrop of tech offerings that are otherwise only available on FAR more expensive offerings from other makers.
The real problem, though, in my very painful experience, has been horrible quality control. At the same time, many of my problems may all be related to one core issue in my electrical bus system for all I know, meaning the real problem is they can't find the root source of all the electrical issues I'm having. As bad as my car has been and continues to be, I think there's one or two issues deep in the electrical system that are triggering a lot of the random weird issues I've had. There are, of course, THOUSANDS of more cars like mine with few or no issues. Which is why I'm going to replace mine with another one, in hopes of better luck.
I also really like the overall GCL package, and the fact that my Jeep dealer is 3 miles away, where all the non-American options are between 100-300 miles away (I don't love any of the other options enough to be that kind of slave to any car, except maybe Toyota, since they are extremely reliable).
Last edited: