It’s finally time, a complete redesign of the Jeep Grand Cherokee is upon us with the fifth generation going on sale early this year. The new model will be available in a new three row variant shown here in the Grand Cherokee L, a two-row version to follow late this year as a 2022 model.
Now offering up to seven-passenger seating, the all-new Jeep Grand Cherokee rides atop a freshly minted uni-body vehicle architecture. The look is a blending of existing Jeep styling and the facial DNA features of the also new Jeep Wagoneer.
Slim LED headlights bookmark the expected seven-slot grille which is now more upright. The Grand Cherokee L’s longer wheelbase of 121-inches gives it a more formal and upscale character silhouette. Longer rear doors give easier access to its third row by opening a full 64-degrees.
Wheel sizes will range up to 21-inches in size and LED lighting rules the day all around. The rear roofline gets the same chrome trim character line first seen on the Compass, enabling a two-tone paint treatment.
The interior as expected gets a major boost in upscale design as well as major gains in available technologies. The dash for instance gets standard 10-inch display screens including the instrument panel and touchscreen infotainment systems.
Rich materials and craftsmanship are the things to be on the lookout for with beautiful woods, leather seating and upscale trims depending on which model you get. Tech and convenience features are too vast to list here but massaging seats, increased connectivity and top-end audio systems are the headliners.
With its all-new chassis architecture, track is wider by a littler over an inch and ground clearance starts at 8.3-inches. With various grades of the electronically adaptive damping Jeep Quadra-Lift air suspension which can be raised, ground clearance can be increased to up to 10.9-inches with water fording of up to 24-inches.
Suspensions remain fully independent front and rear on the Grand Cherokee L which will be available with three 4×4 systems including Quadra-Trac I, Quadra-Trac II and Quadra-Drive II with a rear electronic limited slip-differential and a crawl ratio of up to 44:1.
The new body structure contains up to 60-percent high strength steel with aluminum hood and rear hatch. Cast aluminum is used for the front engine cross member, engine mounts, shock towers and other chassis components.
For chassis refinement, the front axle assembly is attached to the engine and new active/electronic motor mounts help to manage vibrations – especially when engine auto-start-stop engages.
And that gets us to powertrains which are essentially carry over. Standard is the venerable 3.6-liter Pentastar V6 engine with 290 horsepower and 257 pound-feet of of torque. Optional is the also venerable 5.7-liter V8 with 357 horsepower and 390 pound-feet of torque. Both come with an 8-speed automatic.
The V8 can tow up to 7,200 pounds, the V6 up to 6,200 pounds. There’s no mention of the 3.0-liter V6 EcoDiesel in the specs but the turbo four-cylinder 4xe Hybrid just introduced in the Wrangler will be along for the 2022 model year.
Lastly as one would expect in our times, the new Grand Cherokee will feature a boat load of active and passive autonomous safety and driver aids. Available will be Active Driving Assist which is what Jeep calls their version for Level 2 autonomous driving technology.
The new 2021 Grand Cherokee L begins production in early 2021 at an all-new Mack Avenue assembly plant in Detroit and arrive sometime in the spring to local dealerships. The two-row Grand Cherokee and Hybrid versions will arrive late in 2021 as 2022 models. Pricing will be announced closer to launch.
