The 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee range has landed in Australia, bringing lower entry prices, a new eight-speed auto, a revised interior, and a new rear-wheel drive base model.
Starting out the new range is the Laredo 4×2. It comes with the 3.6-litre Pentastar V6 petrol engine producing 210kW and 347Nm. It’s matched up to a new ZF eight-speed automatic transmission feeding power to only the rear wheels. This is the first rear-wheel drive Grand Cherokee to be offered in Australia.
As you would expect, with less load on the engine, the 4×2 is slightly more fuel efficient than its 4×4 brothers. On the combined cycle, it’s been rated at 10.1L/100km, as opposed to 10.5L/100km in the 4×4 versions with the same engine.
Other changes for the new lineup include a revised exterior design, with LED daytime running lights, new LED headlights and taillights, a tighter front fascia with a shorter main grille and raised fog lights. There’s also a larger rear spoiler and some new alloy wheel designs.
Inside, there’s a fresh three-spoke steering wheel, and a Uconnect 8.4-inch multimedia interface as well as a 7.0-inch TFT display within the instrument cluster. The top-spec SRT muscle machine is also available with a Harman Kardon 875-Watt 19-speaker stereo.
Engine specifications remain largely unchanged from the outgoing model, with four options on offer; a 210kW Pentastar V6 petrol, a 3.0-litre turbo-diesel with 184kW, a 5.7-litre petrol V8 with 259kW, and the brute SRT which comes with a 6.4-litre HEMI V8 with 344kW. All variants come with the eight-speed auto.
With a new entry-level variant comes a new entry-level price. The Grand Cherokee range now kicks off from a very reasonable $43,000, which is around $2000 cheaper than the previous entry model.
Full prices for the new range are as follows (excluding on-road costs):
Laredo 4×2 – 3.6L V6 petrol – 210kW/347Nm – 8-speed auto – $43,000
Laredo 4×4 – 3.6L V6 petrol – 210kW/347Nm – 8-speed auto – $46,000
Laredo 4×4 – 3.0L V6 diesel – 184kW/570Nm – 8-speed auto – $51,000
Limited – 3.6L V6 petrol – 210kW/347Nm – 8-speed auto – $56,000
Limited – 3.0L V6 diesel – 184kW/570Nm – 8-speed auto – $61,000
Limited – 5.7L V8 petrol – 259kW/520Nm – 8-speed auto – $61,000
Overland – 3.6L V6 petrol – 210kW/347Nm – 8-speed auto – $66,000
Overland – 3.0L V6 diesel – 184kW/570Nm – 8-speed auto – $71,000
Overland – 5.7L V8 petrol – 259kW/520Nm – 8-speed auto – $71,000
SRT – 6.4L V8 petrol – 344kW/624Nm – 8-speed auto – $77,000
