With no diesel coming, Jeep is pinning its hopes on this plug-in hybrid version of the new Grand Cherokee for the perfect blend of performance, economy and tech
As Jeep’s top-selling model globally, the Grand Cherokee is as important to the American SUV brand as the moon is to the tide. But the new-generation Jeep Grand Cherokee is missing one key ingredient that Aussie buyers still covet – a diesel engine. The petrol-electric plug-in hybrid Jeep Grand Cherokee 4xe won’t replace the diesel, but with 280kW of power, the promise of excellent economy and a circa-40km all-electric range, the PHEV will add a crucial second powertrain (beyond the V6 petrol) when it joins the new GC line-up early next year.
The sum of US
Due in Australia in the first quarter of 2023 – think February – the Jeep Grand Cherokee 4xe will reflect the US brand’s strong push upmarket with its new-generation large SUV that launches here next month in V6 petrol form.
Given the stretched seven-seat Grand Cherokee L V6 starts at $82,250 plus on-road costs and extends to $115,450 plus ORCs for the Summit Reserve, Jeep might be battling to keep the price of its new plug-in hybrid electric vehicle – offered only as a five-seater at this stage – under $100,000.
At six figures, that’ll take the Grand Cherokee 4xe well past rivals such as the Kia Sorento PHEV at $80,000 to within sight of circa-$140K European luxury plug-in hybrid SUVs like the Range Rover Sport and BMW X5.
We’d expect it to also be shopped against premium diesel-powered 4×4 off-roader rivals such as the top-shelf Toyota Prado and new Toyota LandCruiser 300 Series, as well as the Land Rover Defender.
Jeep Australia hasn’t yet confirmed whether it will deploy just one model or several model grades with the 4xe (pronounced ‘four-by-ee’) hybrid powertrain in Australia, but at its international launch in Texas we tested the top-spec Summit Reserve and mud-plugging Trailhawk versions.
Indeed, the Jeep Grand Cherokee Summit Reserve we punted was maxxed-out in terms of equipment.
How does six digital screens sound? You get the driver’s instrument display (10.25-inch), a head-up display (10-inch), central infotainment touch-screen (10.1-inch) and segment-first front passenger screen (10.25-inch), along with twin rear tilt-adjustable touch-screens (10.1-inch).
It’s almost hard to know where to look!
Power-adjustable heated/cooled front seats with effective massage functionality and quilted leather upholstery are part of the package, as are heated and cooled rear seats, eight USB-A and USB-C ports and quad-zone automatic climate control for multiple micro-climates.
You get a wireless phone charger and even a night vision system with animal and pedestrian detection.
A thumping 19-speaker McIntosh audio system adorns top-spec models and a huge panoramic glass roof bathes the entire cabin with sunlight. If it’s sunny. There’s also 21-inch polished alloy wheels matched with a black-painted roof to add a bit more exterior eye candy.
First impressions? It feels more like a Range Rover than a Jeep inside, the premium diamond-quilted seats a highlight, delivering excellent comfort and support after several two-hour stints in the saddle.
All the controls, buttons and dials have a classy feel, while the new dashboard design with its impeccably integrated trio of screens stretching door-to-door deliver show-stopping optics.
Yet for all the visual splendour, the set-up is functional with sensibly grouped central controls, including buttons and dials for seat heating/cooling, climate control and stereo volume across three horizontal tiers, which improves useability.
The infotainment menu system is the best yet on a Jeep and small touches like the illuminated rotary gear shift dial with a smooth but solid feel adds a little tactile charm.
It’s highly likely the top-spec Jeep Grand Cherokee Summit Reserve model grade will be offered here with the 4xe PHEV powertrain, but hopefully the Trailhawk 4xe makes the grade too, which is an absolute beast off-road.
The Trailhawk doesn’t have half a dozen digital screens or massaging seats, but its all-terrain tyres shod to 18-inch alloy wheels, air suspension system delivering up to 277mm of ground clearance, a disconnecting front sway bar for extra wheel articulation and highly capable 4×4 system pair with a more robust and pragmatic interior fit-out to deliver a different kind of appeal.
All Jeep models sold in Australia are backed by a five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty with five years’ roadside assistance. These elements will be crucial given the previous-generation Jeep Grand Cherokee’s well-documented issues with reliability and customer relations.
Jeep Australia’s managing director, Kevin Flynn, told carsales the brand has “worked incredibly hard to overhaul our customer experience – both internally and throughout the dealer network”.
Service plans and intervals will be detailed closer to the local launch of the Grand Cherokee 4xe, but Flynn noted that ownership costs have been “drastically improved” and that the brand now has “adequate resources to service vehicles all over the country”.
Loads of tech
The 2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4xe is fitted with many of the latest safety features customers increasingly expect on brand-new vehicles, including a full array of airbags and advanced driver assist tech.
Among the latter, there’s autonomous emergency braking (AEB), adaptive cruise control, lane keep assist and active lane management, the latter conspiring to make the Jeep a competent highway cruiser.
The top-spec models’ Quadra-Lift air suspension and active shock absorbers ensure the American SUV keeps occupants mollycoddled, thanks to smooth and seamless bump absorption, while front and rear cameras (with water washers), a 360-degree camera and the aforementioned night vision system provide extra sets of eyes.
Other systems on board include rear cross traffic alert, advanced brake assist, blind spot monitoring and rear parking assist sensors with emergency stop detection. A new intersection collision assistant is part of the package too, as is driver attention alert and traffic sign recognition.
It would have been nice to see a camera-based blind-spot live feed – as found in the Kia Sorento – and the lack of an auto-hold function on our test vehicle was disappointing, especially given the vehicle has an electric park brake.
Plugging in
The 2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4xe will add another dimension to the driving experience of the new-generation series when it lobs early next year, and in practice the PHEV system operates as expected.
The hybrid powertrain delivers a 51km all-electric range in urban areas (based on initial European WLTP testing), while under the US EPA standard the claim is 40km (25 miles).
Charging the 17.3kWh lithium-ion battery pack takes around 12 hours using a regular household power point, or roughly two hours with a 7kW (AC) wallbox.
Working in tandem with a 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine, the PHEV powertrain generates a claimed 280kW and 637Nm, which is significantly more gristle than the only other engine offered on the Australian-market Jeep Grand Cherokee at present: the 3.6-litre petrol V6 (210kW/345Nm).
The hybrid also has more muscle than the 5.7-litre V8 (265kW/530Nm) not offered in Australia and the 3.0-litre turbo-diesel V6 (185kW/570Nm) that’s been axed.
When you open the taps from standstill in Sport mode, the Jeep GC 4xe moves with purpose and is perceptibly faster than the V6, but the acceleration is not what we’d call high-performance or V8-like.
And that’s largely because the PHEV version is around 350kg heavier than V6-powered models.
The hybrid gubbins, and especially the battery, create a very chunky Jeep, tipping the scales at around 2500kg.
The extra heft also spoils the Jeep Grand Cherokee 4xe’s braked towing capacity, tagged with the lowest rating – 2722kg – of all three engines available on the new SUV. This compares to 2818kg for the V6 petrol, and 3300kg for the V8 that’s not coming here.
The 4xe’s towing limit is also well below the former diesel V6’s 3500kg capacity. Despite Jeep’s global chief Christian Meunier previously stating the Grand Cherokee 4xe’s towing “is at least as good as with an ICE engine”, the reality is it’s not quite there.
Jeep is continuing with local testing of the Grand Cherokee in Australia, but we’re not expecting it to deliver major improvements to towing limits for our market.
Driven in pure EV mode, we managed to achieve the claimed 25 miles (40km) from a full charge when driven fairly assertively. Others managed to achieve almost 50km with judicious driving.
At almost full-throttle acceleration from standstill (a full boot sees the petrol engine kick in, even when in EV mode), electric-only power isn’t particularly forceful but it’s more than enough to keep up with traffic, and initial off-the-line response is prompt thanks to instant and sustained torque delivery.
The hybrid powertrain comprises a pair of electric motors, although the smaller e-motor (33kW/53Nm) is essentially a starter motor and doesn’t provide propulsive power, unlike the larger transmission-mounted electric motor (100kW/265Nm).
On its own, the 2.0-litre turbo-petrol combustion engine generates a healthy 200kW at 5250rpm and 400Nm at 3000rpm. Factor in a generous 72-litre tank and Jeep claims a vehicle range of 756km for the PHEV, a figure that will appeal to those accustomed to diesel-powered vehicles.
There are three modes of operation for the plug-in hybrid – Electric, Hybrid and e-Save. The latter engages only the petrol engine and can also actively charge the battery, but even in Hybrid mode the battery recharged reasonably quickly during freeway driving, which is a definite plus point, meaning when you cruise into busy areas you’ll have regained some EV range.
Despite the colossal 2521kg kerb weight of the Summit Reserve PHEV, we managed to achieve overall fuel consumption of 8.8L/100km, which covered lots of high-speed highway driving of 115km/h-plus, along with urban driving and country gravel roads.
That’s a long way from the official WLTP figure of 2.6L/100km, and more than twice the 57mpg (4.1L/100km) quoted in the US, but inner-city driving where the electric motor comes into its own will bring the advantages of the PHEV into perspective.
Features like improved underbody aerodynamics, a front axle disconnect for highway driving and active grille shutters are also designed to reduce fuel consumption in everyday driving.
It’s not yet clear whether Jeep has run into a crevasse from which no locking diff or disconnecting sway bar can recover by ditching diesel power, but as interest in electrified vehicles grows the new model could find favour in Australia.
Big and comfy
The journey upmarket for the 2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee flows into the way it drives – certainly in the Summit Reserve 4xe model we steered.
The fifth-generation large SUV has a distinct focus on ride comfort rather than athletic dynamics, and it suits the large wagon to a tee.
On gravel roads, the 4xe lolled along smoothly and predictably and on asphalt and crumbling concrete arterial roads it delivered seamless performance, with adaptive dampers and air suspension ensuring impressively smooth ride quality.
The electric power steering is ultra-light and feels nicely centred at highway speeds and has three settings, none of which are designed to set lap records at the Nurburgring. Rather, the Jeep’s modus operandi is taking the elbow work out of slow-speed manoeuvres and parking – which it does well.
The lavish seats, advanced semi-autonomous driving aids and air suspension ensure a unified and very pleasant driving experience.
The new Grand Cherokee is also quieter and more refined than before, the inclusion of active powertrain mounts helping reduce noise, vibration and harshness levels from the combustion engine, while active noise cancelling keeps the cabin hushed.
The cabin itself is bigger too, thanks to a 15mm increase in wheelbase to 2964mm, delivering more room in the back seat.
The boot is surprisingly large and Jeep reckons cargo space is up by around 160 litres, with totals at 1067 litres and 2005 litres with the rear seats upright and folded respectively.
Rock-solid off-road
There’s no question Jeep knows how to build a rock-crushing off-road machine and when it came time to test the 2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee Trailhawk 4xe, it completed an incredibly challenging circuit of rock climbing, hectic descents and water crossings that only a small percentage of owners would ever attempt.
With 277mm of ground clearance and a 610mm water fording height, the Jeep doesn’t need to fear too many obstacles, and while the intensity of the off-road course saw most attempts whack the undercarriage a couple of times, the 3.5mm-thick steel skid plates do their job in protecting the underbody.
“It can take hits,” said Eunjoo Hopkins, the Jeep Grand Cherokee 4xe’s vehicle synthesis manager.
The Quadra-Drive II 4×4 system brings plenty of capability to the Trailhawk 4xe as well, including a two-speed transfer case with a 2.72:1 low-range ratio, a rear electronic limited-slip differential, five-mode Selec-Terrain traction management system and a disconnecting front sway bar that affords extra wheel articulation.
Together with Goodyear Wrangler Territory AT all-terrain tyres (265/60R18), the trail-ready Jeep Grand Cherokee 4xe performed some incredible feats of slow-speed dexterity and strength, the 4×4 system doing an exceptional job of splitting torque between front and rear axles and left and right wheels.
Even when two opposing wheels had very little traction it would figure out a way to find purchase and work to extricate itself.
The most impressive stunt was switching the vehicle to pure EV mode, where the electric motor not only provided powerful and well-modulated torque, but did it in silence. It’s an odd but very satisfying experience, and like nothing we’ve ever felt before.
Windows down, the only sound is that of the wind, the birds and the tyres scrabbling for traction – no engine revving wildly via low-ratio gearing.
There’s no doubting the electric off-road experience is compelling, and as more PHEV and EV off-roaders hit the market it will be fascinating to see how buyers respond.
While these vehicles will be expensive initially, early impressions suggest the extra cost may be worth it.
That the top-selling plug-in hybrid in the US at present is the Jeep Wrangler 4xe suggests there’s method to Jeep’s madness. It’s just a pity the Wrangler hybrid is not offered in Australia at present.
Impressive debut
The 2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4xe is impressive and will add credibility to the American brand’s desire to provide cleaner, smarter and more capable vehicles in Australia ahead of its first EVs.
The chiselled-looking SUV is a fitting evolution for Jeep’s top-selling and most important model, and the highlight is undoubtedly its ability to drive through the ’burbs and tackle hard-core off-road terrain confidently and in almost pure silence.
I’m not convinced legions of diesel-loving buyers are going to gravitate towards the plug-in hybrid from the outset, especially given the chubby Grand Cherokee 4xe can’t tow as much as the petrol V6.
But you can’t halt progress. The electrification age is upon us – and Jeep has flicked the switch.
How much does the 2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4xe cost?Price: $100,000 estimated (plus on-road costs)Available: February 2023Powertrain: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo petrol-electricOutput: 200kW/400Nm (electric motor: 100kW/265Nm)Combined output: 280kW/637NmTransmission: Eight-speed automaticBattery: 17.3kWh lithium-ionRange: 51km (WLTP)Energy consumption: 25kWh/100km (WLTP)Fuel: 2.6L/100km (WLTP)CO2: 62g/km (WLTP)
Safety rating: Not tested
Keyword: Jeep Grand Cherokee 4xe 2022 Review – International