My new 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee Summit review

[LDN]

Thank you pugwash.

So all the Summits and overlands have air suspension? That's pretty good given it's a very rare extra on an ML.

The centre screen; is that touch screen?

[Pesty]

What warranty work?


I'm thinking of spending up to 25k on one of these or a Mitsubishi next year.

I spend a lot of time on American forums and reliability comes up again and again with the gc being the best but still worrying.

[LDN]

Do these have a spare wheel as standard? And if so; is it full size?

[PugwasHDJ80]

Pesty said:

What warranty work?


I'm thinking of spending up to 25k on one of these or a Mitsubishi next year.

I spend a lot of time on American forums and reliability comes up again and again with the gc being the best but still worrying.

Only warranty work i had done was software upgrades at my request (so updated nav, body control, trans etc etc) nothing actually broke- or recall, ust stuff that i spotted you could have done, if you had certain "symptons".

Can't say i've had any problems with reliability to speak of

[Pesty]

Thanks.

Still love theses I'm a long time jeep fan. Loved my old 04 GC

I'm in a kind of you only live once mood but my sensible head keeps saying run the terracan till it falls apart.

I give my ( off roaders) quite a bit of abuse it won't be ran on tarmac 100% I go down rough trails weekly, mainly large pot holes so traction not that much of an issue ground clearance and being tough soak up bumps is.

[loafer123]

LDN said:

Do these have a spare wheel as standard? And if so; is it full size?

My Summit does...I just checked for you!

[LDN]

loafer123 said:

LDN said:

Do these have a spare wheel as standard? And if so; is it full size?

My Summit does...I just checked for you!

Thank you!

[loafer123]

Pesty said:

Thanks.

Still love theses I'm a long time jeep fan. Loved my old 04 GC

I'm in a kind of you only live once mood but my sensible head keeps saying run the terracan till it falls apart.

I give my ( off roaders) quite a bit of abuse it won't be ran on tarmac 100% I go down rough trails weekly, mainly large pot holes so traction not that much of an issue ground clearance and being tough soak up bumps is.

I am now on 45,000 miles after 2.5 years.

No reliability issues at all. A couple of software updates under warranty. First one meant the radiator fan came on a lot, which was then sorted out by the second one.

Very good service from the dealer, too.

[Zippee]

My overland is now 18mths old and has done 12.5k, no issues at all apart from a trim rattle sorted under warranty.
Air suspension is a must, I tried the limited and its horrendous in comparison.

[Sheepshanks]

Zippee said:

Air suspension is a must, I tried the limited and its horrendous in comparison.

What's the motorway ride like?

I tried to get one of these on the Mangoletsi scam a while ago - it would be a bit mad but thought it'd be a great cruiser but I followed an Overland for some distance on the M40 and it was very jittery.

[PugwasHDJ80]

Sheepshanks said:

What's the motorway ride like?

I tried to get one of these on the Mangoletsi scam a while ago - it would be a bit mad but thought it'd be a great cruiser but I followed an Overland for some distance on the M40 and it was very jittery.

mangoletsi scam?

in comparison to my merc CLS it positively wafts. Its very quiet, very relaxed and feels very composed.its happier doing 70 than 95, but that suits me.

[American iv]

We have a Diesel MY15 Laredo here in Australia - bought it 10months ago and have put 16,000kms on it so far.

I love the car:

• It's a great place to sit and drive with the interior really feeling "plush" and way higher spec than other cars.
• The stereo sounds great.
• The engine / gearbox can be a little slow to react, but it has oodles of power and can push you into the back of the seat easily.
• For it's size it is not silly on fuel - we get around 8lt/100km on runs to the city and back (40km by motorway) dropping to 9lt/100 when you pop to the shops. It's the same as our Mrk6 Golf GTI really.
• The rear seats are usable - we have a baby seat in the back of ours and it fits nicely with a passenger up front.
• The boot is a great size, but a little awkward in shape.
• The base trim comes with the 8.4" screen, reversing camera, sensors...
• The 3.5tonne towing capacity is a boon (perfect for our 250kg max load trailer )
• Suspension is great on the road and it's a nice smooth drive - it handles ok too, but is a big barge.
• We have had it off road and whilst it doesn't have the trick air suspension or locking diff, it handled everything we did perfectly (e.g. nothing crazy, just a very rough track which required high ground clearance and 4wheel drive - our friend couldn't take his SUV up)

My gripes would be:

• The steering constantly follows the camber of the road. It isn't a terrible drive, just needs concentration and regular corrections. The dealer told us that the car isn't designed for Australian roads and I should expect the steering wheel to turn 1/4 turn and veer to the curb/tree/verge/curb (bull, but I've had it in for repair countless times to no avail). The 75th we test drove didn't do this.
• Getting parts for it here in Australia is tricky - everything has to be imported from the states
• The boot cover stops way too short and you end up with a 20cm gap between the cover & the seats. Plus it's very low so makes putting things in the boot tricky.
• Full size tyre is inside - tricky to get too should you have a full load
• 6month / 10,000km service intervals

I'd recommend them

[LDN]

Nice review and good insight.

I like the look of them minus the chrome trims. May test drive one next week.

[Zippee]

I’d echo a lot of what has been said. They are big comfy cars, have a lot of gadgets as standard (heated and climate seats, memory seats mirrors and steering wheel for example), material quality is pretty good barr a small amount of centre console trim and mine has been incredibly reliable.
Fuel wise I get around 29-30mpg, but with it being an 80 litre tank I get around 550 miles between fills.
Rear seats have loads of legroom, I sit quite far back and any passengers behind me can still stretch out. On my overland the rear seats are also heated and they recline (hence the rear roller blind gar to the back of the seats).
Ride is smooth enough for me, OK it’s not an S class but it’s better than many in its class (I preferred it to the Jag F-pace for example)
I also have the optional safety pack – adaptive cruise, anti-collision and blind spot monitoring which I’d recommend looking for.
In relation to the above though – in the UK service intervals are 1 year or 12k.

Downsides to me are small but my thoughts;
Mirrors don’t autofold when locking the car
Boot is big but shallow if you are using the roller cover, though seats down the load area is huge.
Low level/speed inputs to the throttle (ie car park manoeuvring) can be a little dim witted
A-pillars can be a pain to get used to in terms of blind spot

And to top it all mine seems to have come with a free mirror spider in each mirror  Must be a part of the car as I can’t find the damned things and every morning I have a nice new cobweb hanging on each door.

[Sheepshanks]

PugwasHDJ80 said:

Sheepshanks said:

What's the motorway ride like?

I tried to get one of these on the Mangoletsi scam a while ago - it would be a bit mad but thought it'd be a great cruiser but I followed an Overland for some distance on the M40 and it was very jittery.

mangoletsi scam?

in comparison to my merc CLS it positively wafts. Its very quiet, very relaxed and feels very composed.its happier doing 70 than 95, but that suits me.

Sorry, missed that - it was when Mangoletsi took loads of deposits off people for Overland's on 3+23 £199/mth deal. One person on here did get one, but his was much more expensive as he took all the options and a much higher mileage.

I suppose the happiness at 70 makes sense - just got back from the US and it occurred to me that cruising seems effortless and quiet but that was because the heavily enforced speed limit was 65MPH.

[American iv]

Zippee said:

...On my overland the rear seats are also heated and they recline (hence the rear roller blind gar to the back of the seats).
...
In relation to the above though – in the UK service intervals are 1 year or 12k.
...
A-pillars can be a pain to get used to in terms of blind spot
...
And to top it all mine seems to have come with a free mirror spider in each mirror ? Must be a part of the car as I can’t find the damned things and every morning I have a nice new cobweb hanging on each door.

The Laredo seats recline too, but aren't heated. You have to have them very far back to make them match up to the roller blind though. It seems like the least thought out part of the car to be honest.

The service intervals in Aus are all stupidly low - 6months / 10k km (6,200 miles) is fairly normal. I've heard it say it's to do with the climate (in Melb we get a few 1 or 2C days in Winter, up to 40+ in summer) but I believe it's just a case of dealers ripping punters off to be honest.

It's not just me then! I have scared myself a few times missing cars in the A-pillar - especially when pulling out of a junction and the rate of turn is the same as the car's speed (the car stays in the A-pillar until a terrifying toot or my wife points it out)

We have free mirror spiders too - though it's a tadge more frightening to see a huntsman than the British spiders

[KevinCamaroSS]

American iv said:

The Laredo seats recline too, but aren't heated. You have to have them very far back to make them match up to the roller blind though. It seems like the least thought out part of the car to be honest.

It's not just me then! I have scared myself a few times missing cars in the A-pillar - especially when pulling out of a junction and the rate of turn is the same as the car's speed (the car stays in the A-pillar until a terrifying toot or my wife points it out)

This gap is an issue in a number of Jeep models, based on seat backs reclining. I have not come up with a sensible solution yet. Most likely was attach the roller to the seat back as an option, still have the side panel fixing as standard.

A-pillar issue is common to all modern cars, some can be worse than others dependent on angles. I find the jeeps better than most.

[LDN]

I've heard some actor was killed by his Jeep GC after the gear selector wasn't in park; it ran him over or crushed him. The gear selector does seem a silly thing; and I see they have changed it for 17 cars onwards.
https://jalopnik.com/did-jeeps-recalled-gear-shift...

[Sheepshanks]

LDN said:

I've heard some actor was killed by his Jeep GC after the gear selector wasn't in park; it ran him over or crushed him. The gear selector does seem a silly thing; and I see they have changed it for 17 cars onwards.
https://jalopnik.com/did-jeeps-recalled-gear-shift...

It was mentioned a couple of pages back. I'd say it's a bit of an issue on autos generally, and not helped in US as they never use the parking brake.

[loafer123]

LDN said:

I've heard some actor was killed by his Jeep GC after the gear selector wasn't in park; it ran him over or crushed him. The gear selector does seem a silly thing; and I see they have changed it for 17 cars onwards.
https://jalopnik.com/did-jeeps-recalled-gear-shift...

One of the software updates put in measures to prevent it happening.

It has made no difference to me, but presumably prevents idiotic accidents due to misuse.