New Grand Cherokee miserably fails moose test

[Jarlaxle]

Originally Posted By: LeakySeals
Originally Posted By: Miller88
I'm guessing the previous generation would have done better ...

No way. I had the older gen with quadra coil and quadra trac. All black 98 GC limited. Was a beauty, leather and a 318 v8. Unstoppable in all conditions especially deep snow or ice. Great off road. But on the road it was downright dangerous. Leaning over on road grades, wobbling back and forth on the highway. Was all over the road. Narrow and top heavy. Made me nervous one day avoiding an 18 wheeler blowout. Almost rolled over on a minimal evasion of road debris. Was gone by the end of the week, the kids were young at the time. Chrysler knew it was bad, why the widened the wheelbase.

Looks like a conflict between computers, SUV's and testers using car tests.


Your Jeep clearly had serious mechanical problems. I have driven ZJ Grands...and they DO NOT "wobble" on the highway unless something is very wrong!

 

[rcy]

Have to agree with this. I had a 98 5.9 Limited and it was perfectly fine on the highway.

 

[cchase]

Does anyone deny that plenty of people drive around in overloaded vehicles, or are we all on the same page here?

Most 4-dr sedans exceed their GVWR with 4 or 5 adults in them.

 

[440Magnum]

Originally Posted By: Jarlaxle
Originally Posted By: LeakySeals
Originally Posted By: Miller88
I'm guessing the previous generation would have done better ...

No way. I had the older gen with quadra coil and quadra trac. All black 98 GC limited. Was a beauty, leather and a 318 v8. Unstoppable in all conditions especially deep snow or ice. Great off road. But on the road it was downright dangerous. Leaning over on road grades, wobbling back and forth on the highway. Was all over the road. Narrow and top heavy. Made me nervous one day avoiding an 18 wheeler blowout. Almost rolled over on a minimal evasion of road debris. Was gone by the end of the week, the kids were young at the time. Chrysler knew it was bad, why the widened the wheelbase.

Looks like a conflict between computers, SUV's and testers using car tests.


Your Jeep clearly had serious mechanical problems. I have driven ZJ Grands...and they DO NOT "wobble" on the highway unless something is very wrong!


Agreed... I've driven examples of every generation of the Grand Cherokee except the WK, and I've never found any of them to be "unstable" or prone to wobble "all over the highway." They're not sports cars, but they're not deathtraps, either.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Originally Posted By: jeepman3071
Originally Posted By: expat

I tend to agree, Half the problem is the vehicle (in my mind) is geared to a market that DOESN'T expect the vehicle to handle differently to a car.
As a car, the handling is unacceptable.


This. It is either a Jeep or a car, it can't be both. This "crossover" market drives me crazy. All it does is convince people their SUVs are more car-like (in lots of cases they are) and will in fact handle just like a car. I see people attempting speeds and maneuvers on the highway in crossovers that I don't feel comfortable doing in a sports sedan.

My Cherokee has a 2" lift and over sized tires. I do have larger performance swaybars, tighter steering, and nice shocks so it handles similar to stock. I still drive it like a Jeep though, not a sports car.

I like Jeeps but maybe this test will open Chrysler's eyes a bit.

I wonder what the results of this test would be if it was done with other SUVs or even trucks. I bet most of them wouldn't do so well.


I see stuff every day that scares the living daylights out of me. I KNOW one of these days I'm going to get caught up in a pileup because someone thinks their Rav-4 is a sports car.

Never been in a Rav4 (or any of the car-based cute utes), but I'm guessing they don't have a lot of body roll from the factory. The way people drive those things, they're leaning pretty good.

The other thing is, the way the manufacturers tout the cars, they're "so safe" and they also come with 200+hp engines ... people have the mentality that they can drive it like a sports car and if they hit anything they are save because it's "an suv!" and it has a good safety rating.

I'll stick to not going above 55 in my lifted Jeep