We take a close look at the story of one of America’s most enduring large SUV nameplates
The Jeep Grand Cherokee is one of those models which seems to have been around for a lifetime.
For many readers, that will literally be true. The nameplate has reached its 30th anniversary in 2022. Across three decades, others have gone through many generations, but the Grand Cherokee has only recently entered its fifth.
Here we look at the build-up to the first model, its dramatic public debut and what has happened since.
Earlier Cherokees
Jeep has been naming vehicles after the Cherokee people of the southeastern United States since before the model we’re discussing was first thought of. Launched in 1974, the original Jeep Cherokee was a two-door derivative of the slightly earlier Wagoneer, though a four-door version would be added to the range later.
Several engines were available, including a 6.6-litre V8. There have been some mighty Grand Cherokees over the years, but none of them has had an engine as large as this.
(PICTURE: 1978 Jeep Cherokee Chief)
A gap in the market
The second-generation Cherokee was an exceptionally successful model, but it was also a lot smaller than its predecessor. This opened up the possibility of people who wanted large SUVs looking elsewhere, but there was also a market for the more compact version.
The American Motors Corporation (AMC), which owned Jeep at the time, decided to split the range into two, and began planning the first Grand Cherokee.
Truly grand
Although it was taller than the original Cherokee, the Grand was also slightly shorter and narrower. It was, however, bigger in all dimensions than the second Cherokee, which was the main point of the exercise.
Unibody construction
SUVs were traditionally based, as pickup trucks generally still are, on a standalone chassis with a body bolted on top of it. This is great for off-roading, but not so great for driving on sealed surfaces. Despite Jeep’s history of building off-road vehicles, AMC chose a unibody construction for the Grand Cherokee.
From the first generation onwards, the Grand has been based on a bodyshell to which everything else is attached. Its road manners are theoretically better than they might have been as a result, even though this hasn’t always been apparent in some cases.
Through a glass noisily
The Grand Cherokee was revealed to the public at the 1992 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, several years after AMC had been bought by Chrysler. It arrived at the event in spectacular fashion. With Coleman Young (1918-1997), then halfway through his fifth term as mayor of Detroit, in the passenger seat, Chrysler boss Bob Lutz (born 1932) entered Cobo Hall by driving, not through a doorway, but through a plate glass window.
The stunt gave the new model a tremendous amount of pre-launch publicity. The Jeep survived more or less unscathed. The window finished second.
Petrol engines
The Grand Cherokee went on sale in April 1992 as a 1993 model year vehicle. The only available engine at first was an AMC 4.0-litre straight-six, a new member of a family which dated back to 1964.
Chrysler later added its own 5.2-litre Magnum, the first of many large-capacity V8s to be fitted to the Grand Cherokee. Late in the production run, Chrysler went still further by fitting a 5.9-litre version of the Magnum.
Diesel engine
European Grand Cherokees were built by Magna Steyr in Graz, Austria. Some of them were powered, not by any of the petrol engines mentioned previously, but by a rather noisy 2.5-litre four-cylinder diesel engine supplied by Italian manufacturer VM Motori.
This unit was also used by Chrysler in several other applications, and in the Ford Granada and Range Rover.
Success story
The Grand Cherokee was very popular in the US and Canada. In each of its six model years, from 1993 to 1998, more than a quarter of a million were produced, for a total of 1,647,188.
Demand was clearly greater than for the smaller Cherokee, which exceeded 200,000 units only twice in 11 model years.
Generation 2
Although the second Grand Cherokee, introduced in 1998, had rounder styling and more elaborate details than the first, the overall design suggested that Jeep hadn’t moved forward very far.
Chrysler suggested otherwise, claiming that only 127 minor parts had been carried over from one generation to the next. Presumably this didn’t apply to vehicles fitted with the 4.0-litre straight-six, since engines generally have a lot more than 127 parts if you include all the nuts, bolts and washers.
New engines
VM Motori added a fifth cylinder to its diesel engine and raised the capacity to 3.1 litres. This unit appeared in the Grand Cherokee for a few years before being replaced by a 2.7-litre (but still five-cylinder) diesel supplied by Chrysler’s new parent, Mercedes-Benz.
The old Magnum engine was ditched in favour of Chrysler’s new V8, which was named PowerTech. At 4.7 litres it was the largest engine in the range, but also the smallest eight-cylinder unit ever fitted to a Grand Cherokee.
Falling sales
The new Grand Cherokee was so popular that Chrysler felt confident enough to build more than 300,000 units for North America in each of its first two years.
By the end of the generation, the Jeep had so many rivals that annual production was reduced to just over 200,000. In total, just under 1.6 million were manufactured, slightly short of the figure for the original model.
Into a new century
The first Grand Cherokee of the 21st century made its public debut at the 2004 New York International Auto Show. In plan view, it was the largest Grand yet, and only fractionally shorter than the original Cherokee.
It also reached new heights of refinement. To keep pace with developing tastes among SUV customers, Chrysler made a point of reducing noise levels and improving the ride quality.
V6s and V8s
The 4.7-litre PowerTech V8 engine was carried over from the second Grand Cherokee, and a 3.7-litre V6 from the same family replaced the 4.0-litre AMC straight-six. The diesel option was now a 3.0-litre Mercedes V6.
Far more exciting than any of the above was the 5.7-litre Hemi V8, which had recently made its debut in the Dodge Ram pickup truck. As first fitted to the Grand, it produced 330bhp (by far the highest output so far), but variable valve timing and improved cylinder heads would later raise the maximum output further to 360bhp.
The SRT8
By the time the uprated 5.7-litre Hemi appeared, Chrysler had already created a new derivative of the Grand Cherokee with a 6.1-litre version of the same engine. In the SRT8, the first of many Grand Cherokees reworked by the Street & Racing Technology division, the 6.1 produced 420bhp. Later Grands would eclipse that output in a big way, but this was the first outstandingly powerful model in the series.
Independent testing in 2006 showed that the SRT8 had a 0-60mph time of 4.6 seconds, and was quicker on a skidpad than a Ford Mustang.
Decline
North American production of the third Grand started off strongly enough at just under a quarter of a million units for the 2005 model year, but collapsed to an average of under 50,000 in 2009 and 2010.
To be fair, this wasn’t the vehicle’s fault. The global financial crisis near the end of the decade badly damaged an already financially insecure Chrysler, and led to the company filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in April 2009.
A new beginning
Despite its financial difficulties, Chrysler was able to develop a fourth Grand Cherokee, which went on sale in 2010 and has since become the longest-lived version.
It was larger in every direction not only than all previous Grands but also the first-generation Cherokee. It was also the best version yet. We described it as being “almost indescribably better than its predecessor”.
Enter the Pentastar
The 5.7-litre Hemi V8 was the only engine carried over from the previous generation. The entry-level petrol unit was now a 3.6-litre version of the new Pentastar V6, which was also used in Chrysler and Dodge models.
After a gap of six years, VM Motori returned as the supplier of the Grand Cherokee’s diesel engine. The 3.0-litre V6 was a big advance on the old five-cylinder, and had twin overhead camshafts and four valves per cylinder.
It was both significantly more powerful than the previous unit and a great deal quieter. Its power output rose still further after an upgrade two years into the production cycle.
Eight-speed transmission
Early fourth-generation Grand Cherokees had automatic gearboxes with either five or six ratios. From the 2014 model year, Chrysler switched to a ZF eight-speed. This allowed the engines to stay close to their optimal speeds in all conditions.
One result of this was that the diesel model officially became 10 percent more economical even though VM Motori had increased its power.
Stability problems
In 2012, the Swedish magazine Teknikens Värld put a Grand Cherokee through its famous moose test, and found that it went on two wheels at 61km/h (37.9mph) and nearly fell over at 63.5km/h (39.5mph).
Two years later, an updated model completed the test without incident at 71km/h (44.1mph). The magazine praised Jeep’s engineers for their work in improving the vehicle.
Safety recall
In 2016, Chrysler recalled 1.1 million Grand Cherokees due to a rollaway issue. A software update was introduced to engage the parking brake automatically when the doors were opened.
The rollaways were reported to have led to several hundred incidents. One in particular was believed to have led to the death of Russian Star Trek actor Anton Yelchin in 2016.
The SRT
Originally bearing the old SRT8 name, the high-performance derivative of the fourth model was revealed to the public at the New York International Auto Show in April 2011.
It was powered by what will probably remain the largest engine ever fitted to a production Grand Cherokee, and was for a time the most powerful. The Hemi V8 had been taken out to 6.4 litres, and was now rated at a formidable 470bhp.
The Trailhawk
The SRT was the last Grand Cherokee of its generation that anyone would think of taking off-road.The first was the Trailhawk, which made a brief appearance in the 2013 model year and became a permanent part of the range in 2017.
It was the best off-roader of the lot thanks to its adapted suspension, greater ground clearance, Kevlar-reinforced Goodyear Adventure tyres and underbody protection.
The Trackhawk
Despite its similar name, the Trackhawk launched in 2017 was about as far removed from the previously mentioned Trailhawk as any two Grand Cherokees could be. Its Hemi V8 engine was slightly smaller than that of the SRT at 6.2 litres, but it was also supercharged, and had a peak output of around 700bhp.
“Doesn’t know much in the way of delicacy and isn’t at all good mannered,” we said, before suggesting that it was also the most “straightforward, direct, unpretentious and genial” of ultra high-performance SUVs, and – at just under £90,000 in the UK – a bit of a bargain, all things considered.
Three rows
The fifth, and current, Grand Cherokee was officially revealed in January 2021. In its initial form, known as Grand Cherokee L, has a feature never before associated with the nameplate – a third row of seats, which allowed the vehicle to carry up to seven occupants.
The range also includes three types of four-wheel drive transmission named, in ascending order of complexity, Quadra-Trac I, Quadra-Trac II and (for best off-road performance) Quadra-Drive II. Rear-wheel drive is available in most trim levels.
Variable ride height
The Grand Cherokee L is also available with five-way adjustable ride height thanks to its Quadra-Lift air suspension.
The normal ground clearance is 8.3 inches, but it is reduced by 1.8 inches in Park Mode (to make entering and leaving the vehicle easier) and increased by 2.6 inches for the most difficult off-road conditions.
The shorter version
A standard-length Grand Cherokee was announced in September 2021. Technically similar to the L, this has the same two-row seating arrangement as all previous Grand Cherokees, and can accommodate five people.
This range includes one model with extra off-road capability. Wearing the familiar Trailhawk badge, it has no equivalent in the L line-up.
(PICTURE: Jeep Grand Cherokee Trailhawk)
The 4xe
Most current Grand Cherokees are powered by either the 3.6-litre Pentastar V6 engine or the 5.7-litre Hemi V8.
The exception is the 4xe, which has a turbocharged 2.0-litre petrol unit from the Stellantis Global Medium Engine family supported by an electric motor. Due to go on sale in early 2022, the 4xe is the first plug-in hybrid in Grand Cherokee history.
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Keyword: 30 Years of the Jeep Grand Cherokee