When we talk off road, we talk Jeep. Undoubtedly Jeep is number one brand which first introduced off-roading capabilities to the industry. Through long years of experience of only producing off road capable SUVs and Crossovers, Jeep have set to be the most awarded SUV brand in the history of automobile industry.
In the past three decades Jeep started to offer some sporty oriented SUV versions along with those set specifically for off-roading purposes. The story began with introduction of ZJ Grand Cherokee 5.9L Magnum V8 in the 90s, representing the third generation “Cherokee family” (first generation Grand Cherokee) after the first two generations the SJ and XJ.
The WK2 Jeep Grand Cherokee is considered the fourth generation Grand Cherokee series present since 2011. This particular model is jeep’s best-selling model in USA because it offers a hugely diverse trim levels from economy to high performance versions satisfying all types of customers.
The 2020 Jeep Grand Cherokee comes in twelve different trim levels mostly tuned for off road, powered by the famous 3.6L Pentastar V6 rated at 295 hp and 260lb.ft of torque mated to an 8 speed automatic transmission configuring the base model. Ten of the trims uses the same powertrain most of which are optional for 4x2 or 4x4 driving system.
It gets more interesting when it reaches to the eleventh trim level, the Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT. The performance oriented SRT trim level Grand Cherokee powered by the well-known 6.4L HEMI392 V8 Apache engine rated at 475hp and 470 lb.ft mated to an 8 speed AT with standard AWD driving system. The HEMI392 is the most powerful naturally aspirated engine available on Chrysler Corp. production line. One upper level engine remains that is saved for the best of the best.
The name Trackhawk is registered for Jeep’s top end super performance, track-ready SUV, the fastest accelerating SUV ever. Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk is amazingly powered by the craziest V8 Engine ever. The 6.2L Supercharged Hellcat HEMI engine rated at 707 hp and 645 lb.ft mated to the famous 8 speed ZF 8HP70 transmission through a full time AWD system.
It only takes this Jeep Grand Cherokee 3.5 seconds to reach from stand still to 60 miles an hour, making it the fastest accelerating SUV by far. There are rumors about the newer Red Eye Hellcat HEMI engine, literally the upgraded version of the standard Hellcat engine, rated at 797 hp and 707 lb.ft, to be offered with the newer Grand Cherokee trims but so far there has nothing been approved by FCA.
It seems a little naive because the newer generation of the Grand Cherokee is said to be unveiled soon but it was postponed due to COVID-19 pandemic. It is more probable that Red Eye Hellcat HEMI would be offered with the new generation than the current WK2.
WK2 Jeep Grand Cherokee is one of Jeep’s top notch models ever offered, tightly followed by the Wrangler Series. Since 2011 when WK2 Grand Cherokee entered the market there were a series of awards until now worth mentioning. Back in 2011, it was named “Best of the Best 2011 Truck”, Car and Driver gave away “Editor’s Choice/Mid-size SUV” awards for WK2 Grand Cherokee. It also was “IIHS Top Safety Pick”, Consumers Digest “Best Buy for 2011”, MSN’s “Safest SUV in America” and Detroit News’s “Truck of the Year for 2011”.
Notably the 6.2L Hellcat HEMI was awarded as the “Top 10 Engine of 2015” as well as the “Most Powerful Production V8” before the introduction of the 808hp 6.2L Demon HEMI V8 and 797 hp Red Eye.
The retail price of 2020 Jeep Grand Cherokee starts at 34,000 USD for the base Laredo E 4x2 and reaches as high as 69,140 USD for AWD SRT392 and 87,645 USD for the fastest devilish SUV ever, the Trackhawk.