I picked up the Grand Cherokee EcoDiesel on Friday, and took the boat for a car ride on Sunday.
For starters, it's noticeably larger than the Highlander [Kluger], and sits quite a bit higher than even our Honda Odyssey, which is a good thing. It's a few hundred pounds heavier, with 5" more wheelbase.
The big dashboard screen is surprisingly easy to navigate. I didn't need the manual to find anything, so far, which is refreshing compared to the Toyotas I've owned. You get used to anything, of course, but with the Toyota screens (Highlander and Prius), I've often spent an inordinate amount of time trying to find something that I knew is in there. It's the Limited trim, which has a dizzying amount of goodies included. The higher trims (two higher) had stuff I'd never use, like seat/mirror memory. Since I'm the only one to drive it, it's a waste.
The dashboard is mostly electronic. The gauge on the right and left side are mechanical analog, but the whole center is a screen, which includes the speedometer (big digital or synthetic analog needle), and all sorts of stuff in the center can be selected, like fuel mileage, or sound system status (station, genre, and so on). Not necessary, but kinda nifty.
There's no third-row seat, which is fine by me. I've never even opened the third row seat in the Highlander, and I couldn't get it without one. That's just money spent that has no benefit to me. But the back seats have all the usual goodies, like USB charging ports, heat, not sure what else. I don't sit back there, and don't really care.
On the road without a trailer, it definitely rides more like a truck, but not as stiff or nervous as the two 4Runners [Hilux] I used to own. Visibility is fine, though I'm not very discerning; that's what mirrors are for. The diesel starts right up, with no smoke or smell due to the catalytic converter and urea injection system. When it's cold, there's a slight delay between pushing the 'start' button and the engine cranking, as it has glow plugs to preheat the intake air. It supposedly has no trouble starting down to 0F or so, and the Canadian version comes with a block heater. Actually, so do the US versions, but there's no cord on it; a cord for it is $15 on Amazon, or $95 at the dealer, and mine wanted 3 hours to install it.
I'll see how it does when we get an arctic blast, and I can always install the cord later if I want it preheated.
Idling, it sounds like a diesel, but a far cry from the banging/clacking I'm used to from trucks and heavy equipment. It sounds like a small Fedex or UPS residential delivery truck, but it doesn't really get louder as you drive, so it kind of gets drowned by the road noise. No louder at speed than a gasser, until you step on it hard at least. It's just a 3.0L V6.
As to towing, it's much, much more stable with the boat back there than the Highlander. It tows the boat effortlessly, though I do know it's back there. A larger, longer vehicle would be better still, of course, but that's not in the cards. The diesel pulls strong for only 240 hp, but with 410 lb-ft of torque and a low engine speed, it drives somewhat like a diesel truck. I can't hear the turbo spin up, which is a good thing as that gets annoying, but I can certainly feel it, as acceleration ramps up over a second or so.
I don't know how to test the trailer sway control, as I was inducing some sway, but I was not sure how much of that was me, and how much was the nasty cross-winds on the highway that day. I'll have to look further into that. But even with me making the tail wag, it didn't feel like it wanted to amplify or get away from me.
Standard 2" hitch, with 4-flat and 7-round electric connections. 7200 lb [3266 kg] tow rating (7400 for the 2WD), which is nice as I like having headroom above what I actually need, and this one has more than 3000 lb [1360 kg] more. And it feels like it on the road.
When I got it, it had 214 miles on it, about 200 of which were from bringing it in from another dealer. The mileage meter said it was averaging about 28 mpg, even after I had drive it for a couple of days around town. Towing the boat brought it down, but without a real trip, I don't know what kind of mileage I'll get. I'm sure I can bring highway mileage above 30 mpg, though, and combined is likely to be good, too.
It has a 24.5 gallon [92.7 L] tank, with an estimated highway range of 680 miles [1094 km] based on 28 mpg [11.9 km/L] for the 4WD version (30 mpg for the 2WD), but I don't know if that's useable or total tank capacity. Still, I know I can go around 350 miles on the highway on a tank with the Highlander, as that's a routine business trip for me, and with similar mileage, this one will go much farther, all other things being equal. That's an advantage in that it gives me more options for stopping for fuel, which is counterbalanced with the reduced number of stations that actually sell diesel fuel.
Some pics.
Sparkly metalflake paint. Not quite 1960's Easy Rider metalflake, but sparkly in the sun for sure.
