2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee 2 Year 24,000 mi Review

[kkreit01]

Pros: Capability, Ride, Handling, Comfort, MPG
Cons: Alpine sound should be better, Lack of low-end grunt, OE tires, 1 major warranty issue

We purchased our new 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo X 2 years and 24,000 miles ago. It came nicely equipped with heated black leather, sunroof, Navigation/DVD/40GB media center with backup camera, towing package, push-button start/easy-entry, self-leveling shocks, etc. We opted for the V6 Pentastar. It has a 5-spd auto.

It’s rated 16 City/22 Highway. We are really pleased with our actual MPG. This is my wife’s daily driver. We average 18.5 MPG in her mixed-daily commute. For long, highway trips, we average 22-23 MPG driving >75MPH. Some report in the upper 20s. This is possible in perfect conditions. On a 30-mile stretch of 2-lane, flat road, it reported 25.9 MPG with cruise set at ~62. For comparison, it gets nearly identical MPG as our 08 Mariner 4wd got -- which had 90 less HP, and >1000lbs lighter. It gets +5MPG over our previous 2wd 2009 Hemi Aspen, which we traded in. The ride is real smooth, and handling is great for its size and weight. It’s a comfortable highway cruiser. Rear seat room is excellent. Ours has QuadraTrac I – which is a full-time, nearly 50/50 4x4 (which makes MPG even more impressive). This system works flawlessly – especially for the wifey. There’s no 4x4 buttons/levers for her to worry about. I feel she’s safe in nearly all conditions. It doesn’t have low-range for rock crawling, but ours won’t see any of that. Overall, I love the Pentastar. It's very smooth and quiet (compared to a 3.5 Duratec Ford). I really like the keyless ignition/entry with push-button start.

On to some gripes… It doesn’t feel like it has 290HP/260 Ft-lbs. Most of this is due to the high 3.06 gear ratio. In our previous SUV, one would get 3.92s if you had the tow package. With Jeep, there’s no choice. It really lacks low-end grunt. It won’t win any stoplight races, and you have to allow plenty of time to get moving. It does shine in the upper RPM-range. It is great at highway-passing speeds. They have significantly improved acceleration (+1 sec) in the 2014 V6 models with 8-spd auto, and 3.45 gear ratio.

Another gripe was the OE Michelin Latitude Tour tires. After 1 year/12,000 mi, they were scary in the smallest amount of snow. Even more laughable – they are labeled as “On/Off Road tire” on the window sticker. Jeep charged >$160 for having white letters, and then calls them On/Off Road. There’s for sure no off-roading in these tires. They are about the wimpiest-looking trucks tires one can find…with rounded-shoulders and a face the only a minivan could love. At 22,000 miles, all tires were down to 5/32nds (a 65K tire!), and one tire had a gauge in the sidewall. I replaced them with Cooper A/T3s this Fall, and am now very happy. Michelin should have kept the old Cross Terrain SUVs. They were much better.

As in my Ram, I’m also disappointed in the Alpine system sound quality.

The Grand Cherokee hasn’t been problem-free for us. The MIL (CEL) came on at about 18,000 mi. I thought, “oh no – here comes dreaded Pentastar head replacement”. The light was real intermittent. I took it to AZ, and they pulled the code. The failure was something like, “torque converter solenoid malfunction”. I didn’t notice any weird shifting, or any problem. I called the dealer, and they said to drive it some more – until the light came on again. The next weekend it came on again. I took it in, and the dealer determined the torque converter needed replacing. It was in the shop for 6 days! We had a ’10 Liberty base as a loaner. I could definitely see why the Liberty always came in last in every comparison test. We’ve had no other issues to date.

Oil spec is 6 quarts of 5w30, and it has a very easy, top-mounted cartridge filter. I had a few free dealer changes, and I used up a case of Chevron Supreme (Costco-special). I recently put PP in, and will probably use it from here on forward. We don’t hit the mileage, so I change every 6 months. The Wix/Napa Gold cartridge filters have worked perfectly, and run ~$6 retail.

I’ve added Mopar Step Bars (very narrow and lame), Mopar slush mats for winter, front tint, and an Airaid Synthamax (dry) quick-fit air intake.

A few pics (and a few reasons why I bought a truck):

First time off road (LOL) (with 20 bags of topsoil behind the rear seat):

New Coopers:

 

[bigjl]

My only issue with the Chevron Supreme oil (in my case the 10w40) was it had a really strong odour to it.

20litres of the 5w30 is good value in the UK at around £42 last time I looked several months ago.

Surprised at your dislike of the Michelins, a popular tyre over here with no mention of the issues you had.

Perhaps they have slightly different compounds for the different markets

I do remember that the first thing you had to do when importing a used vehicle from Japan to the UK was get rid of the Japanese tyres as they were lacking in grip on UK roads.

The fuel economy you are getting is excellent for a big petrol SUV

We are mainly saddled with diesels, which are fine , nice and torquey and a big diesel on tickover somehow make me feel I have something substantial and long lived under the bonnet, a mate used to call a well serviced but high mileage diesel an "oily diesel", lol.

With DPF's and Euro emissions regs diesel SUVs like my Pathfinder have gone from achieving 30mpg overall with Euro 3 to 24/28 mpg with Euro 4 and no Dpf to 22/23 mpg with a Euro 4 with Dpf.

You may aswell have a petrol!

At least you can put it on LPG at a later date.

Ever thought of replacing it with a Discovery 4 with the V8 or perhaps the lovely new Range Rover Sport, I think you can have that with a supercharged V8.

 

[brandini]

Did the acceleration or MPG get better with the new torque convertor?

 

[SatinSilver]

I think you've mentioned using Duragloss on the finish in the past. Either way the paint looks excellent!

 

[440Magnum]

I drove a couple of JGCs very similar to yours (not as nicely optioned) as rental cars about 2 years ago. This was the rental car that led to a story I've told about playing with the EVIC display and a co-worker scoffing at it and saying, 'That would be useful if it gave me transmission temperature...' at which point I was able to tell him that the transmission was currently 170 degrees.

The ones I had were also 5-speed Pentastars, whether the 5-speed was the 545RFE or the WA580 I do not know- do you? I've heard Jeeps got the WA580, which seems right from a vehicle size/load perspective, but the 545RFE has always been in Jeeps in the past. At either rate I agree with your lack of low end grunt- I just had the feeling that they were looking ahead to the ZF 8-speed and not doing any real optimizing for the 5-speed that was there as an interim.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Nice review, and nice Jeep. What you say about the Pentastar is correct: it just LOVES to rev. My folks have the same powertrain in their Wrangler Rubicon. In fact, it spends more time in the upper half of the rev range than the 3.5L does in our MDX. Regardless, it's a smooth engine and it feels at home there. I do prefer engines with a high-revving nature; they feel so much more alive than engines that idle around all day.

 

[kkreit01]

Thanks all. I wouldn't say it's "dawg slow". It's obviously quite slower than the 2 Hemis I've had. Tests have shown 0-60 in around 8.5 secs. It's quicker than my '10 Focus was. It's about the same as my '08 V6 Mariner in initial take-off, but much better at highway speeds. I wouldn't say it got better with the torque converter replacement. It wouldn't be able to keep up with Explorers with similar power/weight. The '14s with 8A can easily. The 5 spd is the Mercedes W5A580. The '11 Hemi got the 545RFE (for only that year). The EVIC does display all sorts of info/temps for everything/etc.

It has been topped with mostly Duragloss.

We plan to hang on to it for quite some time -- as long as it's reliable. Our next SUV will more than likely have a 3rd row again (Durango?). We often wish we had it.

 

[Hokiefyd]

We use our third row quite regularly. 'Specially when the grandparents come, the kids can climb into the back and we can seat six comfortably. That was one of the requirements when we sold our minivan...anything that replaced it also had to have a third row. We use it too often to not have it.

How old are you and/or your kids? Do you have grandkids?

 

[kkreit01]

Our kids are 9 & 13. They are at the age where friends come over, etc. If we are all in the car, only 1 additional can come. Our Aspen sat 8 comfortably. I sometimes wish my truck had a front bench seat, but they are hard to find. My parents have a Mountaineer with 3rd row so that works out OK when we are all together. At the same time, it's sometimes nice not having to haul additional people/kids around.

This Fall, I was tempted by a new Durango at $8900 off, but we really didn't want to start over. I bought the new tires instead -- kept me more invested in the Jeep.

 

[kkreit01]

Updating my old thread...Although we still love driving the Jeep, this year hasn't been very pleasant. We've had the following issues:

1. Noisy rear self-leveling shocks - replaced -- still noisy. This is a chronic issue, that may never be resolved. Some have had 9 replacements.

2. Leaky steering boots - replaced the whole rack and re-aligned. This is also a common problem.

3. Leaky cam sensor seal - replaced.

4. Dealer forgot to reattach tranny breather tube when the first major problem occurred (above). They had to loosen/drop tranny to reattach. I have small hands/arms, and couldn't get to it either (tried to avoid dealer visit).

5. Brake Booster recall - mine required the shield.

All items have been taken care of under warranty. However, this is more problems I've had than my last 15 vehicles combined.

I received another recall in the mail -- regarding the wiring in the roof -- near sun visors. It could short out, and catch fire. Another recall regarding TIPM replacement is also on the horizon.

Well....this week we traded it in. We like the platform, and decided to give Chrysler another chance. We traded for a new '14 Durango Limited AWD. I picked it up today. It's a very nice ride. We considered Explorers --- as we've had 4 in the past. However, after catching up on forums, they seem to be more troublesome. Also, would have had to spent +$5k (at least) in order to match the options on the Durango. The Durango consistently wins 3-row comparisons. Of all times I've taken my Jeep into the service bay, I haven't seen any in line. It was always Grand Cherokees, Wranglers, and minivans. Keeping my fingers crossed...

Here I am this summer -- waiting in the service line at 7:03 in the morning. There were so many friggen vehicles, that the first shuttle was full. I was not happy. I called wife to pick me up (15 mi one way):

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Having problems with the 2014 Durango as well? Or just waiting to get an oil change?

 

[kkreit01]

Originally Posted By: Miller88
Having problems with the 2014 Durango as well? Or just waiting to get an oil change?


Oh,no. I just picked up the Durango today. The pic was this summer -- in the Jeep. There was a long line of Grand Cherokees and Grand Caravans -- roughly 9-10 ahead of me. This dealer is really packed, and no room to expand. They only have 1 entrance to the service bay. There isn't even a separate quick lube lane. That part stinks.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: kkreit01
Here I am this summer -- waiting in the service line at 7:03 in the morning. There were so many friggen vehicles, that the first shuttle was full. I was not happy. I called wife to pick me up (15 mi one way):


That's interesting; every time we had to bring our '07 Town & Country in for a warranty issue, I'd call for an appointment on the phone, and they'd offer a date 3 weeks into the future. I said, "three WEEKS??" "I'm sorry, sir, we're booked solid until then."

Uh huh.

I wish you the best with your new Dodge. The odds are likely with you on this one.