A three-row Jeep without the Grand Wagoneer expense
2022 Nissan Pathfinder SL 4WD vs. 2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee L Constrained vs. 2022 Volkswagen Atlas SEL 4Movement: “Bargain” 3-row SUV competition.
This week: 2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee L Constrained.
Price: $52,685 as tested. Luxury Tech Group II added $2,795 for Capri leather seats, a bevy of driver helps, ventilated front seats, memory tilt/ telescoping steering, wi-fi charging, and far more. Sunroof extra $1,795.
Marketer’s pitch: “A legacy prolonged.”
Typical wisdom: Car or truck and Driver likes the “tailored interior, roomy 3-row format, really able off highway,” but not that it is “more high-priced than most rival SUVs, V-6 could be far more refined, V-8 is a gas-guzzler.”
Fact: Difficult enough for trails, but what about suburbia?
» Examine Much more: 2022 Nissan Pathfinder: Mostly on monitor vs. two rivals
What’s new: Debuting in 2021, the Grand Cherokee L delivers a few rows of seating and stretches out a bit to accommodate them. It is fundamentally a Dodge Durango with a Jeep search.
Up to pace: Like the Durango, if you will need to haul a ton of individuals or a good deal of things in a hurry, this is the ticket.
The foundation engine — a 3.6-liter V-6 — provides 293 horsepower and 260 pound-ft of torque. That will get you to 60 mph in 8 seconds, in accordance to Auto and Driver. When that’s not quick, the engine did not feel specifically sluggish, so it is worth a take a look at.
Potential buyers with a lot more guide in their ft can decide on the 5.7-liter V-8, introducing 64 horses and 130 pound-ft, and they’ll have 1.9 seconds shaved off that acceleration time, in accordance to Motor Development. But they will want to skip forward to the “Fuel Economy” area right here.
Shifty: Every person receives the 8-pace transmission. (You get an 8-speed. You get an 8-speed. And you get an 8-velocity.) It will work efficiently on the highway, and shifting with the paddles also will work basically.
I’m rising accustomed to the dial management, but I nevertheless really do not like it.
On the highway: The Grand Cherokee L begun out experience bouncy and unwieldy, but like the Durango, swiftly becomes easy to adjust to. Motorists are not seeking to roar close to the curves, but they will not have to slow down all that a great deal, either.
Still, the Grand Cherokee L hits rough patches tough, jostling driver and travellers.
Driver’s Seat: The perch of the Grand Cherokee L is comfortable and supportive. The Capri leather-based seats stood out even though just hopping within for the to start with time.
The gauges are highly adjustable electronic shows with a wide selection of possibilities. The SUV arrived with a really minimalist location chosen, featuring just digital quantities and scant other details. A few clicks allowed me to swap to the analog speedometer and tachometer with the usual facts decisions in in between. And wooden trim on the dash adds a awesome contact.
Like a lot of SUVs, while, the huge hood appears to be to sit up tall and helps make looking at around the auto far too hard.
Mates and stuff: The next-row captain’s chairs present pretty much as substantially consolation as the front row but sit a little on the very low aspect. Headroom and legroom are great, although foot home is a very little cosy.
They move fore and aft to create more house for the rear.
The rear row offers respectable headroom, but legroom is at a high quality mainly because the flooring climbs increased and increased as the Grand Cherokee passengers scale into the back again. There’s no home for ft beneath the 2nd row seats, of system, so propping them out into the second row could possibly be the only alternative.
Cargo space is 17.2 cubic toes driving the third row and 84.6 with everything folded down.
Thoroughly geared up, the Grand Cherokee L can tow up to 7,200 pounds, which is a ton, increased than the Pathfinder’s 6,000 lbs . and in a unique group altogether from the Atlas’ 2,000.
Perform some tunes: The Join 5 stereo did not get off to a very good get started. CarPlay set appropriate up but stopped soon thereafter and was not uncovered once again for a couple times. Even when I was in a position to obtain it, the process was hardly ever computerized as in nearly each other vehicle.
I might have blamed my cellular phone, but a further challenge appeared right absent. Devoid of obtain to my tunes library, I switched in excess of to Sirius. When fishing around the dial, it locked in and kept scanning and scanning via hundreds of channels. I thought that was the program, but I tapped the dial all over again, and we ended up again at my original station. Nope, it was caught.
Fortunately, we labored perfectly collectively following that, and the operation is pretty easy. Volume and tuning knobs assistance, whilst the black dials on a black track record suggest they disappear for ageing eyes. The touchscreen is effective very well, as touchscreens go.
On the dazzling side, sound from the technique is distinct with superior reproduction, about an A-.
Keeping heat and neat: HVAC functions are offered on the touchscreen, and lots of are replicated in buttons and toggles just below the radio. But they sit really lower, deal with downward, are modest, and are not intuitive. Come to a decision right before you travel.
Gas economy: I averaged a piggish 18 mpg in a quite sedate (for me) spherical of tests.
Where by it is crafted: Detroit.
How it is built: Customer Reports predicts the Grand Cherokee L reliability to be a 2 out of 5.
Coming in two months: 2022 Volkswagen Atlas.
Clarification: In past week’s Nissan Pathfinder critique, the next-row console was mischaracterized. It truly eliminates for 3rd-row obtain.
