You'll find giant four-piston...
You'll find giant four-piston Brembo disc brakes at every corner (14.2-inch front, 13.8-inch rear). The front is wrapped with 20x9 forged aluminum wheels and 255/45R20 Goodyear RSA all-season/run-flat tires. Out back are 20x10 forged aluminum wheels and similar 285/40R20 Goodyear rubber.
Dollar for dollar there isn't much, if anything, that trumps a '10 Grand Cherokee SRT8 on the road or at the track. Not only was the Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 the first all-wheel-drive SRT vehicle, it is the quickest, most powerful Jeep vehicle ever produced. The specially developed all-wheel-drive system propels the Grand Cherokee SRT8 from 0-60 mph in less than 5 seconds-quicker than the $100,000 Porsche Cayenne Turbo and BMW X5. Not enough? How about 0-100-0 in a low 19-second range and 60-0 mph in about 125 feet. Still not enough? The sports-tuned suspension and all-wheel-drive allow the Jeep SRT8 to hold 0.92g on the skidpad, putting the 5,000-pound SUV on par with the $130,000 Porsche 911 Turbo, which holds just 0.04g more (0.96g) on the skidpad. Need more? Quarter mile times in the low 13s make the SRT8 Grand Cherokee the fastest accelerating vehicle within the SRT8 lineup and second only to the SRT10 Viper among all SRT-tuned vehicles. Plus there is no electronic speed governor, leaving the top speed rev-limited (revving to redline in top gear) to just shy of 170 mph.
Thanks to all-wheel drive, huge Brembo disc brakes, and the Electronic Stability Program (ESP), the Grand Cherokee SRT8 is a 420hp sports car that any idiot can push into performing heroic feats without becoming an obituary headline. That is, unless you just totally blow a corner altogether. Technology can only save your dumb ass from so much stupidity.
Sitting behind the wheel of the SRT8 Grand feels more like driving a two-door sports car than an SUV. Rallying through the twisties you quickly forget that there are two additional doors, seating for three more people, and plenty of storage space behind you. We appreciated all of the cupholders, storage bins, and pockets which were required to keep our valuables from becoming projectiles inside the Jeep during our hot laps around town.
The five-speed automatic did an awesome job of keeping the 6.1L Hemi in its sweet spot. We also liked the toggle shifter feature. You can downshift to help slow down in the corners and when you jump back on the throttle the tranny automatically upshifts, but only when you reach the 6,400 rpm redline. This feature let us concentrate more on driving and less on the RPM and shifting.
Inside you'll find all of...
Inside you'll find all of the interior appointments you'd expect to see in a high-end sports car or SUV. One of our favorites was the in-dash 1/4-mile timer.
By design you'd expect a Jeep to be somewhat spartan and utilitarian. Not so with the Grand Cherokee SRT8. The interior has all the accoutrements you would expect to find in both a high-end sports car and in a modern-day SUV. Our test Jeep had the Customer Preferred Package, SRT Option Group I and II, as well as a few other wingdings. We appreciated these added features, which included dual climate controls, sporty leather power seats, a 115-Volt power outlet, power windows, a universal garage door opener, a sunroof, a CD/DVD/MP3 radio, front and rear seat heaters, a remote start, and more.
Opt into the $1,595 Customer Preferred Package if you are a stereo-and-navigation system kind of person. The $2,045 Option Group I is a must-have because of the many functional items it brings to the table. For $750 we could take or leave Option Group II, which added heated rear seats, an auto headlight leveling system, and HID headlights.
Other cool features that we had fun with were the in-dash 1/4-mile timer, G-force gauge, and of course, the MPG monitor that let us know we were sucking down 12-16 mpg of 91-octane. With a heavy foot on highways, in town, and on winding roads we averaged 13 mpg.