Driving Impressions

The 5.9 Limited's ride is quiet and comfortable, more comfortable than in any other Jeep and in most of the other compact sport-utility vehicles. There's extra sound insulation built into the Grand Cherokee to keep the noise down, and the materials used on the Limited version work very well. If you like hot rods and need a sport-utility, then the Grand Cherokee 5.9 Limited should be on your list of compact sport-utilities. Its V8 accelerates from 0-60 mph in a mere 7.3 seconds, according to Chrysler, and the sporty exhaust system lets you and some of the people around you know it's got some serious horsepower. Our test truck ripped away from intersections. It accelerated up long grades with ease. With excellent performance in the 40-70 mph range, passing on two-lane roads wasn't much of a challenge at all. We didn't haul any major loads with it, but it is rated to pull a 6700-pound trailer, sufficient for pulling small boats and cars. The Grand Cherokee still uses recirculating-ball steering, and it is a bit mushy and imprecise compared to other systems. It works with a leading-arm coil-spring front suspension and trailing arm coil-spring rear suspension with gas shocks all around to keep the Grand Cherokee on the straight and narrow. Ride quality is very good, all things considered, and ride control is taut, with not too much body roll in fast corners. Brake performance was the best we've ever experienced on a Jeep vehicle, very solid and strong. When going off road the Grand Cherokee is one of the most capable with a suspension that offers plenty of articulation for climbing over rocks. Its closest competitor in this regard is the Land Rover Discovery. The only caveat here is that the Grand Cherokee's throttle is a bit sensitive at tip-in, make all that power difficult to modulate when creeping through rocky or muddy terrain. The outside rearview mirrors and A-pillars generate quite a bit of noise at freeway speeds, made more so because the powertrain noise and chassis noise were both so well subdued by tuning and isolation.

Final Word

The Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.9 Limited is without a doubt the most complete and most satisfying Jeep ever built. It has one of the best combinations of power, comfort and off-road prowess of any of the midsize sport-utilities, and for that you are asked to pay a very serious price. While most Grand Cherokees sold are Laredo and Limited 6-cylinder models, there is still room in the market for the ultimate Jeep. And that's where the 5.9 Limited comes in. Starting at $38,175, it's a candidate for upscale families and Jeep offers a popular two-year lease program. In short, the Grand Cherokee 5.9 Limited has style, power, luxury, and very serious off-road performance.