Under the hood is the muscle...
Under the hood is the muscle of the Jeep sleeper. The SRT Grand 6.1L Hemi V-8 belts out 420hp and 420lb-ft of torque, making it the quickest, most powerful Jeep ever produced.
After railing the Grand Cherokee SRT8, you'd think we'd be too woozy with bliss from all the adrenaline pumping through our veins to actually have any legitimate complaints. Aside from the 20-inch wheels, 40-series street tires, lack of a low range in the transfer case, and less ground clearance than grandpa's Cutlass we do have some grievances. With more horsepower than a nuclear aircraft carrier, it seems like a sin that the dual exhaust tips fill the space where a factory tow hitch should be. Perhaps rightly so, since the SRT8 Grand only has a tow rating of 3,500 pounds. Altering the suspension to handle more load would surely compromise the crisp sporty handling. Who needs towing capacity when you can go 170mph?
The powerful V-8 induces some torque-steer, although it's not the aggressive torque-steer that you feel in a front-wheel-drive car. It's most present in corners where you let off and jump back on the throttle around the apex of a corner.
The easy-exit auto seat feature more than once crushed our driving-disheveled cargo on the rear passenger floor (someone should have strapped that stuff down in the back). Fortunately, this particular convenience feature (among others) can be turned off by simply toggling the switches on the steering wheel.
Bottom Line
Like most Jeep products, the '10 Grand Cherokee SRT8 puts a smile on your face. We found ourselves coming up with errands to run just so we could spend more time in it. This is one Jeep we were sad to see leave our driveway. Think of the '10 Grand Cherokee SRT8 as a sports car for the truck and sport-utility guy. It's a sleeper if there ever was one. Nobody expects an SUV, much less a Jeep, to be this quick and agile. At a moment's notice the SRT8 Grand is ready to sneak past any Mustang GT driver from a standstill, and then wallop him in the corners. But with government-mandated fuel economy standards increasing quickly, it's this kind of performance that may soon become extinct. It's possible that this generation of the Grand Cherokee SRT8 could be the last available with a big-inch V-8. So if you want to get behind the wheel of an SRT8 Grand with the 6.1L Hemi, you better jump on the '10 model. There's no word on if there will be a SRT8 Grand in the future. And even if there is, it could be a year or two before it hits the dealer floor.
Pros:
- It's a better sports car than most sports cars
- Lots of interior seating and storage space
- Plenty of interior appointments to keep you busy for weeks
Cons:
- No tow hitch and low tow rating
- You can't take it off-road at all
- 12-16 mpg