Jeep Madness - 2016 Grand Cherokee SRT

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OVERKILL

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Well, we ran into a little issue with the Expedition. Got the new keys all made and put it on the hoist to get at the balljoints and the brakes were FUBAR from it sitting so long. At that point, with this looming additional expense, in addition to all the impending front end work and cooler lines I decided to pull the plug. I took it down to a buddy of mine's shop that used to work at Ford and figure he'll have a mechanic friend who doesn't mind pouring some hours into fixing it and the body to have a reliable winter driver that he can pick up for cheap. The powertrain is bulletproof, but it was at the point where it wanted more money than I was willing to part with to keep it on the road. Having it up and running with the new keys definitely made this much easier and guarantees I'll get more for it from an interested party.

So that left me in a bind. Find a new beater that I drive for the winter and end up in the same boat next year? I'm travelling too much for work to deal with that nonsense.

After seeing how nice the Durango was as a replacement for the Expedition and the wife's Charger, I was drawn in the same direction. The local dealer had a Grand Cherokee SRT that the VP had been driving for the summer and would still qualify as "new", despite having a few Km's on it. After some waffling, I traded the car, which I did well on, since I had such a discount on it from the original purchase, and picked this up to drive year round.

I'm sure some are scratching their heads at this point but it seemed having two vehicles that we can drive year-round was the reasonable decision to make, and this one can at least do double-duty as the fun toy when desired.

A few stock pics from the dealer:





Am picking it up tomorrow morning. Will be ordering 4x X-ice2's for it and some steelies for the winter. Should be a hoot in the snow.

Initial impressions:
- Interior is nary identical to the Durango. A few nicer bits here and there but not a big difference. Not surprising given they are the same platform
- Exhaust note is surprisingly loud. It is throaty as all heck, significantly louder than the car, but not obnoxious
- The 8spd is glorious with brisk firm shifts. The programming is quite aggressive compared to the Durango, which is expected.
- The gauge setup isn't quite as nice as the Charger, but not bad
- The shifter is the traditional type, which I prefer over the knob-style in the Durango

All-in-all, I'm excited to have a DD I can drive year round and will post up some better pics when I have a chance
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One of my coworkers drove a 300 SRT-8 for 2 winters.. now she has a jeep rubicon with mud tires and a winch(lol).

Hopefully it was a lease.. I dont ask.

New ride looks nice.. bet it doesnt handle like a m5 though.

I was driving the 2010 accent around today to get the tires replaced...
It was actually kinda fun in a go-kart kind of way.
Traction was amazingly low with the new tires and wet 35f weather.
 
Originally Posted By: Rand
One of my coworkers drove a 300 SRT-8 for 2 winters.. now she has a jeep rubicon with mud tires and a winch(lol).

Hopefully it was a lease.. I dont ask.

New ride looks nice.. bet it doesnt handle like a m5 though.

I was driving the 2010 accent around today to get the tires replaced...
It was actually kinda fun in a go-kart kind of way.
Traction was amazingly low with the new tires and wet 35f weather.


No, the M5 was definitely my nicest feeling car to date. I should have held on to it. It wasn't like I owed money on it or anything, it just took a nice chunk out of the cost of the Charger, which was why I parted it with it. That was a mistake.
 
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL

No, the M5 was definitely my nicest feeling car to date. I should have held on to it. It wasn't like I owed money on it or anything, it just took a nice chunk out of the cost of the Charger, which was why I parted it with it. That was a mistake.


You can think that, but you never know..
It might have turned into a total POS from sitting. Things you will never know.
 
Nice! Enjoy it! A GC will be our next vehicle at some point in time. The SRT is equipped with the HD version of the ZF 8 speed. I wish they'd drop the light duty version they use in the Pentastar GC and stick with the HD version for all the trucks and SUV's using the 8 speed AT.

As far as rust, my Liberty is 9 years old next month, and there isn't a spec of rust anywhere on it. I did rustproof it about a week after I got it though, and gave it a second application over the summer.
wink.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Nick1994
Nice Jeep, it's a shame it'll be full of rust in no time.


Will hopefully get it sprayed today. My wife's '06 Charger held up extremely well, despite being driven every winter. I believe the key is getting it oiled new and staying on it. You let the corrosion start and you are screwed.
 
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Great choice. The new interior is fantastic IMO, and the 6.4 can finally get all that power to the ground.

Enjoy!


That was the big thing I noticed, it just digs in and goes, though I believe a lot of that had to do with the junk tires that were on the Charger.
 
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Originally Posted By: Nick1994
Nice Jeep, it's a shame it'll be full of rust in no time.


Will hopefully get it sprayed today. My wife's '06 Charger held up extremely well, despite being driven every winter. I believe the key is getting it oiled new and staying on it. You let the corrosion start and you are screwed.
Yeah, getting it oil sprayed helps a lot but it's still pretty inevitable though right?

My Jeep is 20 years old with (of course, Arizona) not a spec of rust on it.

It's just too bad for you guys in the rust belt. The bodies die before the engines.
 
Very cool. I don't ever see myself driving an SUV, but if I really had to, something like the GC SRT or BMW X5 M would probably be it.
 
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