Nick1994
$100 site donor 2024
Well, I figure I might as well write up a review on my grandfather's 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited 4x4 that he bought in January, as this platform is still being produced. He doesn't drive anymore so we all chauffeur him around in it, and take him on trips out to his mining properties in the desert in Western Arizona.
This Jeep really is the only vehicle that would work for him that fits the needs of "newer, real 4x4 capabilities, and easy for him to get in and out of". Overall we're extremely happy with it, it's comfortable, has plenty of power, and is as 4x4 capable as we need it to be. We just got back this weekend from a week long 3,000 mile road trip to Texas, Oklahoma, and Southern Colorado.
Pros:
-Power, it has very smooth and plentiful powerful power delivery from the Pentastar 3.6L. It is no race car, but the power and it perfect for this vehicle.
-4x4 capability. The Quadratrac-II system really puts the traction down, even with the bald highway tires that were on it when we bought it. Just give it more gas and it applies braking to other wheels and the power moves to the tires with more traction wonderfully. However, it does scrape a bit on the underside, but I've looked underneath and no damage.
-Comfort. Overall it's pretty comfortable, the leather seats are great and with 2 people in the car there's plenty of room. I'll also add some to this in the Cons section.
-Technology. It's got a bit of tech in it being a Limited model. I really like the functionality of Uconnect, more of that in the Cons section though. The Automatic High Beams work great too, as well as the projector low beams. Those blew my mind, I didn't know headlights could get that good! Ventilated seats are awesome as well.
-Handling. This thing handles amazingly, high speed curvy mountain driving is effortless. I felt very confident in the twists. It does not drive like an SUV. And this is with Cooper Discoverer AT3 tires!
-Stereo. It has like 10 speakers including a sub in the trunk, but I don't think it's the top of the line stereo. Either way, it sounds incredible.
Cons:
-Comfort. While this car is still very comfortable, if you're a tall family, there's some things to consider. On our road trip my aunt and I took my grandfather. We traded off driving so we had to have the driver's seat scooted up, this was ok for the most part as we used cruise control almost exclusively. The back seat also had some room but it's a little awkward for trying to get comfortable. I'm 6'2" and if I sit up straight my head is in the roof, but I slouch a lot so it was good enough. This Jeep also has a panoramic sunroof, which I hate sunroofs. They cut down on headroom and it's also a heat entry point.
-I can't get the Uconnect software to update, I've tried multiple flash drives and formatted them with multiple computers and loaded it up, as well as calling Uconnect support. The CarFax shows the radio was replaced when it was nearly new, maybe that has some thing to do with it? Some issues we have is sometimes on Bluetooth music it skips around like a skipped CD. Navigation is probably also out of date and while it always got us where we needed to go, it was annoying. It would start recalculating randomly and wanted us to get off the freeway sometimes for no reason. It also picks up traffic jams which works great, but sometimes it reminds you every mile or so for 50 miles.... I couldn't figure out how to turn that off.
-Cruise Control. For the most part it worked great, I'd say at least 95% of our trip had the cruise control on. The issue is when pulling up a hill at say 70 mph, the car sometimes waits until 65 mph to kick down some gears and get you back up to speed. Even in sport mode.
-Fuel Economy. This was a little bit disappointing, as it only got 20.6 mpg average for our trip. We never drove above the speed limit and accelerating wasn't all that harsh. I guess it could be worse, being a 4x4 SUV. I'll put the Fuelly link below for fuel economy. I didn't get the last tank when we got into town recorded.
http://www.fuelly.com/car/jeep/grand_cherokee/2014/nickfancher1/801515
This Jeep really is the only vehicle that would work for him that fits the needs of "newer, real 4x4 capabilities, and easy for him to get in and out of". Overall we're extremely happy with it, it's comfortable, has plenty of power, and is as 4x4 capable as we need it to be. We just got back this weekend from a week long 3,000 mile road trip to Texas, Oklahoma, and Southern Colorado.
Pros:
-Power, it has very smooth and plentiful powerful power delivery from the Pentastar 3.6L. It is no race car, but the power and it perfect for this vehicle.
-4x4 capability. The Quadratrac-II system really puts the traction down, even with the bald highway tires that were on it when we bought it. Just give it more gas and it applies braking to other wheels and the power moves to the tires with more traction wonderfully. However, it does scrape a bit on the underside, but I've looked underneath and no damage.
-Comfort. Overall it's pretty comfortable, the leather seats are great and with 2 people in the car there's plenty of room. I'll also add some to this in the Cons section.
-Technology. It's got a bit of tech in it being a Limited model. I really like the functionality of Uconnect, more of that in the Cons section though. The Automatic High Beams work great too, as well as the projector low beams. Those blew my mind, I didn't know headlights could get that good! Ventilated seats are awesome as well.
-Handling. This thing handles amazingly, high speed curvy mountain driving is effortless. I felt very confident in the twists. It does not drive like an SUV. And this is with Cooper Discoverer AT3 tires!
-Stereo. It has like 10 speakers including a sub in the trunk, but I don't think it's the top of the line stereo. Either way, it sounds incredible.
Cons:
-Comfort. While this car is still very comfortable, if you're a tall family, there's some things to consider. On our road trip my aunt and I took my grandfather. We traded off driving so we had to have the driver's seat scooted up, this was ok for the most part as we used cruise control almost exclusively. The back seat also had some room but it's a little awkward for trying to get comfortable. I'm 6'2" and if I sit up straight my head is in the roof, but I slouch a lot so it was good enough. This Jeep also has a panoramic sunroof, which I hate sunroofs. They cut down on headroom and it's also a heat entry point.
-I can't get the Uconnect software to update, I've tried multiple flash drives and formatted them with multiple computers and loaded it up, as well as calling Uconnect support. The CarFax shows the radio was replaced when it was nearly new, maybe that has some thing to do with it? Some issues we have is sometimes on Bluetooth music it skips around like a skipped CD. Navigation is probably also out of date and while it always got us where we needed to go, it was annoying. It would start recalculating randomly and wanted us to get off the freeway sometimes for no reason. It also picks up traffic jams which works great, but sometimes it reminds you every mile or so for 50 miles.... I couldn't figure out how to turn that off.
-Cruise Control. For the most part it worked great, I'd say at least 95% of our trip had the cruise control on. The issue is when pulling up a hill at say 70 mph, the car sometimes waits until 65 mph to kick down some gears and get you back up to speed. Even in sport mode.
-Fuel Economy. This was a little bit disappointing, as it only got 20.6 mpg average for our trip. We never drove above the speed limit and accelerating wasn't all that harsh. I guess it could be worse, being a 4x4 SUV. I'll put the Fuelly link below for fuel economy. I didn't get the last tank when we got into town recorded.
http://www.fuelly.com/car/jeep/grand_cherokee/2014/nickfancher1/801515
