Thread: Brand spankin'

I considered the new Grand Cherokee for a while, nice bit of gear to drive and had bells and whistles you could only dream of in a Disco and for lots of dollars less than a Disco.

For us though they didn't measure up on a number of fronts. The maximum carrying capacity is tiny, it's just over 550 kg from memory. Add fuel, driver and a passenger and that's over half what you can legally carry gone. I would bet most big caravans being towed by Grand Cherokees are not legal once an average ball weight for a 3 plus ton van is added in.

Another pain in the bum issue is Jeep have made it mandatory that a WDH is used if your towing over a 2.25 ton van. No ones forcing you to but if you had an accident then its possible that you would not be covered by your insurance and why copy the LR air suspension then make owners use a WDH?

One last thing which for us was a show stopper is they are the size of a Range Rover Sport which is small internally compared to a late model Disco.

"The maximum carrying capacity is tiny, it's just over 550 kg from memory."

Don't forget that since the beginning, every Land Rover's empty weight factors in a 75kg driver and (from memory) a full fuel tank. So for instance, when comparing a D4 to a Jeep Grand Cherokee, you also need to add around 150kg on top of the D4's payload figure to properly compare apples with apples. Most people (and all 4WD magazines) miss that in the fine print.

I have read and heard many of issues with the new GC many to do with the suspension going to crap and jeep not helping with warranty and also engine issues as well from a few people at work having lots of warranty problems.

Hi Apples,

So what options are you looking at?

Originally Posted by nat_89

I have read and heard many of issues with the new GC many to do with the suspension going to crap and jeep not helping with warranty and also engine issues as well from a few people at work having lots of warranty problems.

Prior to getting our Discovery, we had a WG GC Limited V8, it was a great car and very reliable, we had a serious look at the WKII and although it is seriously good value for money and even the Overland was cheaper than the Discovery we ended up with, there were just little things that in the end made the difference.

The foot operated park brake was a big no for me as I'm 194cm tall and it reduced the amount of foot space. The interior was nice but the quality of the materials was not as good as the LR, but the motor is sweet and it shares the same ZF box as the disco. I'm still on the Aust Jeep forum, and for the main the WKII is pretty reliable, it's biggest drawback from comments on the forum is the woeful service and parts availability. I haven't regretted getting the Discovery over the GC, not even for a nano second.