The IT Nerd

The Grand Cherokee has been a huge seller for Chrysler over the years. If you look around, you’ll see a lot of them on the roads from a variety of model years and generations. The oldest that I’ve seen on the roads recently is from the late 80’s. That says a lot about how well this SUV has sold over the years. So you know that when Chrysler updated the Grand Cherokee for 2014, they knew they had to be careful so that they don’t derail the momentum that this model has built up over the years.

To see if they’ve succeeded in that, I have a 2014 Grand Cherokee Summit in my possession until Friday. I’ll be posting a multi-part review that will cover the following sections:

• Engine, transmission, handling, fuel economy, and driving comfort
• Interior
• Technology in the vehicle
• Wrap up

First, let me show you a front shot of the Grand Cherokee:

From a visual standpoint, it retains the looks of the Grand Cherokee that people are used to seeing. That’s a good thing as that sort of familiar look helps to retain loyalty from existing customers. One of the things that I noticed is that there are all sorts of little touches all over the vehicle that are unique. Here’s an example:

If you look closely, You’ll see in this picture of the headlight (which has LED accents by the way) the words “Since 1941.” That’s a reference to the fact that the first Willys MB Jeeps were produced in 1941 for the US Army. While civilian versions wouldn’t show up until 1945, it started a brand that basically popularized the SUV.

I’ve only had the vehicle for less than 12 hours but here’s my first impressions:

• For a vehicle of this size, it handles shockingly well.
• The interior is very well appointed and has a lot of quality touches that I am used to seeing in Audi, BMW, and Mercedes products.
• There’s ample power from the V6 that’s under the hood.
• The car is quiet for the most part.

As an aside, the pictures that you will see in this review are taken on a BlackBerry Q10 provided by Rogers which I will review later this week.

Tune in tomorrow and I’ll tell you what I think of what’s under the hood and how it drives.

This entry was posted on June 11, 2013 at 10:49 am and is filed under Products with tags Chrysler, Jeep. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.