Can we all just take a moment, and tip our hats to the boys at Mopar.
You don’t necessarily have to own a Mopar to be alive and be a fan of what these guys are doing. But it’s hard be a fan & NOT eventually want one. The ‘Mopar’ just starts to sink in, and it’s hard not to smile.
Because Mopar is the ZZ Top of the automotive industry. Walking into the room wearing dark sunglasses & a bandana… with traces gold glitter on a disheveled suit. Quietly & confidently saying something over the corporate boardroom chatter like, “Listen take that damn car over there (*points left), stick that monster motor in it (*points right)… paint it orange, lime green, or purple. It’ll be awesome, they’ll all love it, anybody got a light?”
It’s a winning formula. It worked in the 60s & 70s when Mopar did it then, and it works now. Proving that if it aint broke… and it aint a Prius… roll with it.
Look – the Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT doesn’t need my review. FCA didn’t bring it by to get ‘my opinion’. They brought it by to show off.
470 horsepower, all-wheel-drive, 1-button launch control, and seating for 5… 10 when you buy two of them.
Legitimate ‘Track Mode’ in an SUV. Seriously, who does this. The GC SRT gives you a readout of your 1/4-mile time/stats, right there on the infotainment screen. It tracks your best 0-60 time, as if to ‘challenge’ you. Virtually calling you out & saying ‘Step it up Nancy’ through the speakers. It tells you how much horsepower you’re putting down, in real time.
Even in ‘Normal Mode’ the suspension is tight & well sorted. Maybe even a little too tight for the average nerd. But I felt like Normal Mode was a bit like trying to keep a dragon chained down. Gearshifts were a little early & pulled-back. And this truck just can’t be normal.
‘Sport Mode’ seemed like the happy place for the engine, because it let’s the GC SRT run in its natural powerband. And in ‘Track Mode’ the shifts are brutal & fast in all the best ways. However, your wife’s gonna know you’re up to something in Track Mode. Those wives catch on to the surprise launch-controls pretty quickly. But as Marty McFly says, “Your kids are gonna love it.”
If your lifestyle wants/requires an SUV, and those three letters S-R-T are in your budget, than this is 100% the one you want. 100%. And at 70K decked, it might seem a little sticker-shocking at first, but it’s actually one hell of a bargain compared to those yuppy European counterparts.
