Jeep Grand Cherokee

Ok, the obligatory warning - I may be talking through my hat here.

A good friend of mine has one. It was good, until weird voodoo started happening with it. Essentially - she had to keep it revved up so it would not die at the stop lights. Or suddenly all the lights would come on, on the dashboard - pretty christmas tree, and the engine would go into limp home mode. The electric windows packed it in first (proved to be a short in the bundle of wires going inside the door), then all of the above happened. ..

Quite a few very steep thousands dollars later (I think that the dealer ended up changing anything that a dealer could charge) the car seems to be running again. God (or Satan) knows until when though.

A few good searches on the net later and uh... well - let's just say that I don't think it's just one lemon - it's an entire lemon-tree out there.

Again - nothing to do with the brand - as a matter of fact - I quite liked them. Note the past tense.

Guys around here might steer you in one direction or the other. Depends of what you're looking at: comfort? Price? Reliability? something different? a challenge?

For myself - I've got a LC 78 series - 2009 model. Does all I need and then some. Tows 3.5t, and goes like a bat out of hell. Others, may, but I cannot fault it.

Ino!~

I quite like them as well, but how come you can buy a 2005 model with only 58,000 Ks for as little as $$31K. That is a worry to me, but I would like to be told that they are a great vehicle cause the motor is sweet.

Several years ago the ABC had a show the real sea change. One family moved from Sydney to the country (outback NSW) to become farmers. They had a Grand Cherokee and instantly became the talk of the town. The reason was they had a jeep. No one could undertand why they had one. Soon the troubles started and there was not dealer except in the city. She could not get service and jeep just did not want to know about it. Each week when she would come to town for groceries (in her husbands landcruiser) the local newspaper ran stories of the latest jeep disaster.

It is a pretty looking vehicle and has a great dash but there are no dealers in the country and if you are getting a van, this is a likely place to go. Look at what everyone else has and get a patrol or a landcruiser. There is a reason why they all use these vehicles. Service, spares parts availability and reliability.

I'll start my reply with the statement that I own al late model Jeep Grand Cherokee & tow a smallish off-road van with it. Let me say that this is my second Grand Cherokee and we upgraded to the diesel model just before Easter last year. Our previous one was a 2000 model with the 4.7 V8 engine. It was a fantastic vehicle and a great tow car. Of course it's only crime was that it "loved fuel" but so will any vehicle if their driven the wrong way. Now to the current model, you are right in that the whole drive train is Merc. The engine is as you stated a 3.0l V6 merc engine with 510nm of torque. This is the important figure when towing. Our van weighs just a tad over 2100kg fully loaded so as you can see yours is quite a bit heavier. That won't trouble the Jeep as you stated it's rated to tow up to 3500kg with a ball weight of 350kg. This puts vehicles of similar body size or larger like the Prado & Pajero out of contention as they both have a real towing rating of 2500kg. This is a real shame as I believe that they are both fantastic vehicles. In fact it was these 3 that I had to decide from when we were looking to upgrade. If you wish to ask any other questions let me know via a PM.
Happy deciding,
ChrisK
Melbourne

My advice is to talk to people who have actually owned one, there are always tales of horror usually involving friends, cousins or tv reports about brands such as Jeep and Landrover.

I personally have owned a 4L Jeep Cherokee for the last 5 years and taken it from 120,000km to 300,000km with no major dramas, it has done a complete lap of Oz towing a small van including the OTL up Cape York, the GRR and been out to Lake Eyre.

Gooday,
Have a CRD Commander, same vehicle with a bit more weight on it, have just rolled over to 90,000Km on original tyres, has done approx 50,000 of that towing our 3 Tonne caravan. Not a hick up to date, it is our 4th, previous 3 were all Grand Cherokee, previous one to this was the 5 Cyl Merc Diesel which was tops also, traded it at 72,000 Km.

The reason you can buy them a lot cheaper second hand is because they do not have a a Toyota badge on them.
Maybe we have been lucky, but I think not. You get good and bad in all makes and depends a bit how you treat them.
Cheers, Boroma 604.
Happy for you to private message any questions.

G’day bolwarrabob,
I have the 06 Grand Cherokee WH with the 3ltr CRD motor. I reckon they are great. I have turned over the 100k mark now and the only problem I’ve had is the front fog lights are presently inoperative. Some people do experience other small and some major problems but I don’t think any more that other brand makes. Service the vehicle regularly every 10k rather than 20k and use the best quality lubricants. Check out the jeep forum and scroll down to ‘Grand Cherokee Drivers’ http://www.ausjeepoffroad.com/forum/index.php You could put the question to people who own and drive Jeeps.
The 3 litre diesel is the sweetest engine I have come across. The torque available is incredible. I purchased mine for towing although a 2.5 ton rating would have been sufficient for my purpose. I wanted something that did not struggle under almost any circumstances and still return good fuel economy. A lot of people complain about the lack of room in the driver’s foot well. It definitely could be roomier but doesn’t bother me in the slightest.
Cheers

Yes I have to agree with comments above in relation to "You need to ask someone that actually owns one" This is my third Jeep, and all three of them have towed our caravans. All three of them have been Gas Gobblers, and all three of them have been Petrol. The current one is the 5.7L Grand Cherokee Limited and tows a 2.5 ton van with absolute ease and followes the road speed limit wherever we go. The vehicle has 92,000 klms and 55,000 of those have been towing the van. With the van on it has avereged 22.9 liters per 100, and the only fault it has given is the replacement of the steering wheel, due to the fact that it got stickey (to touch) and this was done under waranty.
I have never owned the diesel version but however have driven it, and I have to say it I was very impressed with the power and performance of it. I would suggest if you are to look at a new one, then do your sums, particually on the resale value of it, against the 200 series toyota, another great tow wagon.
For Me I am extreamly happy with Jeep, even the size (small) has some appeal, as there is not a lot room for fridges etc. Hope this is some help..
Jim

I too support the views of other CRD owners. I have an 06/07 Grand Laredo which hs now done 60000ks. I tow a 21ft off road van about 2600kg loaded. Last year I did the Old Telegraph Track up to Cape York, without caravan then towed the van all over the Gulf country. I did lose the turbo going up to Cape York due to a fouled actuator switch but the vehicle went up to the cape and back without a turbo, but with a loss of power even came back via the Bloomfield Track. Had the vehicle fixed in Cairns and have had no more trouble after that.
A great vehicle with better performance than the new V8 Landcruiser and a lot better fuel consumption when towing. This is my fourth Jeep, but first diesel, a great vehicle.

Cheers DarwinDave

I recommended it to my father, who had been towing the horse trailer with V8 cars before, and ruining their rear suspension with too much weight. He got his Grand Cherokee 3.0 CRD about two months ago. He asked me my opinion about Merc ML, Disco 3 and some other options. He didn't want to spend too much, so I thought a Jeep was perfect. Had the 3,500kg towing, Merc diesel and car-like driving dynamics with some off-road capability.
Well, he just loves it! Loves the fuel economy, performance without load and with load, he keeps thanking me and says he would buy it all over again in a heartbeat. Much more power, torque and refinement than any equivalent Japanese diesel. It's going to handle your caravan with ease, and a lot better than the Prado will. His only complaint was I think some tranny hunting with the horse on the back, when going up steep inclines. Apparently the shifting wasn't the smoothest, which could jolt the load a bit more than they wanted. (More important when you're trying to keep a horse from going off-balance). Don't read too much in to that, it really isn't a big thing. But overall, they just love it, and even coming from a 5.7L engine, the 3.0 CRD still feels really powerful. For the money, it's going to be the best thing for you, unless you can afford the 2011 Range Rover 4.4L TDV8 which comes out soon. 230kw/700Nm with 8 speed ZF auto :)

We have had a Jeep GC diesel now for 3 years, having had a X5 and pajeros previously.
Can honestly say it is the best towing vechile that we have had it pulls like a dream and rides like and armchair, so far have towed about 10.500 kms with a 23'6 Coromal Princeton weight about 2550 loaded with the only problem being a starter motor break down that was fixed under warranty, and a leak through a sunroof.
For value for money can't go past it. Exceptional car. I am only sorry that they have stopped importing the Commanders as would be happy to update and continue as long as we tow. Nashy

I concur with all of the pro-Jeep comments above. Ask an owner. I'm on my second GC Laredo 3.0 CRD and before that we had a 2.8CRD KJ Cherokee.
The current car was new at Easter and during May we did 7500km to Mungeranie, Oodnadatta, Coober Pedy then up to Uluru, Kings Canyon and Alice Springs then back to Melbourne. The only problem we had was the GPS went a bit belly-up and got lost on the way home. We tow a 2T full off road van and the fuel consumption varied from best 13.4 l/100km to an ugly 20l/100km, but the average for the whole trip was about 15l/100km. The previous (2006 model) Laredo had similar figures and easily handled Tibooburra-Warri gate-Noccundra plus plenty of other holidays. I changed it at 130000km. The little (2003) KJ also handled the van with no problems and it did the Darling River run without a hiccup. I have a 50mm body lift on this one just to give that bit extra ground clearance when off-road. The KJ had a water pump replaced early in its life and I had no mechanical problems at all with the 06 Laredo.