2011 grand cherokee on hells revenge

[JL Rockies]

 

[DaveB]

VW had a thing 3 years ago where you could sign up with them and meet them in Moab for a day or two of beating the crap out of some new Toureges. We found them at lunch time playing at Hell's Gate. They went really well.

Last year we saw a guy with a brand new Toureg on Hell's and they beat the crap out of it. The funny thing was when we drove by their dog was in the drivers seat and they were out walking around.

 

[Houndoc]

I agree on the KISS concept. High tech stuff may be fun to design for the engineer-types, but I like having fewer things that can go wrong.

And although we all must acept that most Jeeps are used around town, we should be glad they at least off some off-road components, and that enough "soccer moms" buy them to keep the company afloat.

 

[Hickey]

Count me in as a soccer mom.

 

[iamsparticus]

I was on hell's last year and i saw a new grand with the ifs right behind me i couldnt believe it at first but it made it up some hard stuff but you could tell the front end was stiff as heck

 

[UNSTUCK]

I think maybe it's hard for us to be impressed by the "little" stuff. We need to sit back and remember the first time we drove our first trail in 4 low. Didn't it just about blow your mind? So now some guy takes a soccer mom car, bone stock and drives HR. First he's scared out of his mind, then it turns to amazment at what his new rig can do. You now have one more person in the sport. He then goes out and gets a CJ.
Bottom line is that a lot of times it takes these mall crawlers to get someone interested in the sport. I say great job Jeep.

 

[N-Smooth]

I respect it and think it'd be fun. I started in 02 with a soccermom car... And I'm still in one lol but hey it get's me to Moab three times a year

I'm down with anyone wheeling anything as long as they are prepared and know their limits

 

[Hickey]

Unstuck said it very well.

The 2011 Grand Cherokee should not be viewed as a serious off-road vehicle, that wasn't what it was designed for. I would not view it as an expedition type vehicle either. This new Cherocar is truly a car. It's competition is the Ford Edge, Nissan Murano, and other crossovers.

I've disliked the Grand Cherokees since the first unibody model rolled out. They always seemed to be trying to please two different markets at once. The off-road crowd complained that they weren't more off-road friendly and the "soccer mom" crowd complained that they weren't more highway friendly.

When you are faced with a choice between an off-road friendly Jeep or a highway friendly Jeep, you can now easily choose a Wrangler or a Grand Cherokee. Each vehicle now fits their market much better than years past. This is exactly why I bought a Grand last night. It fits my needs perfectly with options to spare.

If you were given a choice between a Subaru Outback wagon (no turbo) or a 2011 Grand Cherokee, which would you rather drive? I was left drooling after driving the Grand.

My grand will never see Hell's Revenge. It might be cabable of it, but it wouldn't be much fun. That is why I have two Jeeps.

 

[N-Smooth]

Jealous! I'm gonna get a wk when the car is paid off

 

[SUPERFLY]

I was going to say a smart comment about how dumb new SUVs are but then I read unstucks comment... Good point!

But that being said.. One time, right the last grand body style came out (05 maybe? I don't know) we saw the Chrysler guys on fins n things... They got a good laugh at us because we were rallying a PLYMITH VOYAGER through it. We poked fun at them for testing on a trail a mini van could do, but they hit back with "it's a chrysler mini van" I have video of the whole episode but it's on my old old camera and I don't know to get it on a useable computer format

 

[Bart]

I applaud Jeep for taking the time run trails with these rigs. They do it so they can add the "Trail Tested" badge to the line. BTW, these are R&D runs, not just to prove a point. They will review the weaknesses with engineers and make changes and mods where they feel appropriate.

I'm not far behind you Hickey. My wife's next ride will be a WJ.

 

[Hickey]

I was totally biased against the Grand. I refused to even look at it. We drove quite a few wranglers, but they can be a chore on the freeway. My wife actually pointed out the differences in specs between the Wrangler and the Grand Cherokee V6. The new Pentastar V6 and 5 speed auto is a smokin combo! Jeep needs to dump the anemic 3.8 and 4 speed auto found in the rest of the models and stab the Pentastar 3.6 in the entire line up. Way more power and much better fuel. I would even consider buying a Liberty if it had the Pentastar in it. You could maybe squeeze 25 mpg from a liberty with some serious get up.

 

[SAMI]

I was impressed with the Grand Cherocar that Ken Garff let their event guys rally at the last mini KOH during the Old School Rockcrawl..

 

[cheepin]

Is Hell's Revenge really a test for any vehicle with 4WD and low range? If you play in the tubs, do the Escalator and a few other optional obstacles, yes. Otherwise I'd take my Dodge out on it and not expect any damage. My point is that Hell's has a LOT of traction. ANY vehicle with low range and 4WD will do pretty well on it. There's not a lot of ledges or other things to navigate that would be "rough" on a vehicle.

I'm not sure what trail to recommend to Jeep to prove to me that their new IRS/IFS soccer-mobile is worthy of my $$,$$$.$$, but Hell's Revenge isn't it. IMHO, a stock IRS/IFS rig will have all kinds of issues with any serious trail use. A solid axle rig (with decent tube diameter/strength) will hold up to YEARS more trail use than a "normal" OEM IRS/IFS rig.

This "Jeep" is built for getting to the ski resorts or making mom feel secure while she drives the kids to school (which is most of the market, unfortunately).

Yep.In fact I took my old '00 Dodge 2500 quadcab over it.In stock forum with full air pressure.Didn't do any side obstacles but it was a piece of cake.

 

[Hickey]

I was impressed with the Grand Cherocar that Ken Garff let their event guys rally at the last mini KOH during the Old School Rockcrawl..

The 2011 do not have a solid axle.

 

[SAMI]

The 2011 do not have a solid axle.

Not sure what you're getting at here. The one in the photos doesn't have a SFA. Oh, wait... Are you referring to the rear axle? Oohhhhhh... Well, still. It was fun to watch the pictured GC rally; must've been a 2010 model then?

 

[N-Smooth]

i'm sure he is referring to the rear. those pics are sick! i want that job too

 

[Hickey]

Yup. 2011 is a whole different animal.