BY ERIK JOHNSON
Simply put, diesels are awesome. We’re such huge fans of diesels and their clattery goodness that we were beside ourselves with glee when Jeep announced last year that it planned to swipe the 3.0-liter turbo-diesel from the Mercedes powertrain lineup and stuff it into its Grand Cherokee SUV for 2007. After all, what vehicle wouldn’t be better off with a little sparkless ignition in its life?
The 3.0-liter turbo-diesel in the Grand Cherokee is essentially the same engine found in Mercedes-Benz products like the ML320 SUV and E320 sedan, apart from some extremely minor calibration tweaks. (We expect both the Grand Cherokee and the Mercedes diesels to adopt BlueTec clean-diesel technology in order to become fifty-state compliant in the coming years. Currently, the diesels are not available in New York, California, Maine, Vermont, and Massachusetts.) In the Jeep, the 3.0-liter produces 215 hp at 3800 rpm and a whopping 376 lb-ft of torque at 2000 rpm, enough to pull a parade float full of beatboxing Fat Boys impersonators to White Castle without breaking a sweat. (Or, you know, pull a stump out of the ground or whatever.)
From the time the turbo’s boost kicks in at 2000 rpm straight through to the 72-degree V-6’s 4500-rpm redline, this thing just pulls and pulls and pulls”until around 90 mph, at which point accelerating becomes hoping that another mph will tick off sometime before tomorrow. It’s relatively quiet, though, sending little more than a hint of diesel clackity-clack to occupants ears, even when your right foot unleashes as much twist as the pavement”and driveline components”can handle. But torque hardly equals flashy acceleration numbers, and that’s the case here, as the CRD Cherokee managed just a 7.9-second 0-to-60-mph time (although any SUV that barks its front tires after a brake torquing launch is alright by us), and covered the quarter-mile in a leisurely 16.2 seconds. These were, however, 0.2 second and 0.1 second quicker than the times posted by the ML320 CDI, which weighs a full 200 pounds more than the 4813-pound Cherokee.
Besides being able to pull down your neighbor’s garage when he doesn’t return your lawnmower, another big reason most folks choose a diesel is fuel economy, and that’s one of the areas where the Cherokee, quite frankly, fell flat on its face. Over 500 miles, our Grand Cherokee netted just 17 mpg, compared with the EPA estimates of 20 city/24 highway. That number was also worse than the 19 mpg we got in the heavier ML320 diesel. What gives? We suppose that’s a marked improvement over the 12 mpg we averaged in a Grand Cherokee with the Hemi V-8 back in 2004, but it still ain’t very good.
Take the CRD out of the Grand Cherokee CRD and you’re left with a Grand Cherokee, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, just a mediocre thing. The interior design is quite nice, with lots of bins and cubbies, but it’s let down by plastics that are, to be generous, crap. (Jeep is addressing this issue with the 2008 models, which will sport revised interiors.) The steering is accurate”but numb”and the ride placid over even the craggiest freeways, but the brakes offer little in the way of feel and take too long”195 feet”to stop from 70 mph.
Jeep’s biggest misstep in regard to the Grand Cherokee CRD, however, is its price: You can’t even think about setting foot into a Grand Cherokee CRD for less than $38,800”that’s for a 4×2 Limited model—and our top-of-the-line 4×4 Overland test model came in at $46,950 after adding $190 all-terrain tires. That makes the CRD more expensive than both a Hemi-powered Grand Cherokee ($36,595) as well as a base ML320 CDI ($44,455) and, in the Benz’s case, you’ll get one hell of a lot better interior to go with the standard all-wheel drive.
If Jeep would plop that diesel”which is a roughly $3000 option in Limited or Overland models”into a rear-drive, base Grand Cherokee Laredo, the price would come in around $32,000. That would be a relatively inexpensive Jeep that could tug 7400 pounds, as much as a two-wheel-drive Hemi model. This cheaper formula seems to strike us as the right one to get American buyers into diesels, but perhaps the Daimler half of DaimlerChrysler felt that less expensive oil-burning Grand Cherokees would cannibalize too many diesel Mercedes sales. But Jeep shouldn’t have to worry about stuff like that anymore
VEHICLE TYPE: front-engine, 4-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 5-door wagon
PRICE AS TESTED: $46,950 (base price: $46,760)
ENGINE TYPE: turbocharged and intercooled DOHC 24-valve diesel V-6, aluminum block and heads, direct fuel injection
Displacement: 182 cu in, 2987cc
Power (SAE net): 215 bhp @ 3800 rpm
Torque (SAE net): 376 lb-ft @ 1600 rpm
TRANSMISSION: 5-speed automatic with manumatic shifting
DIMENSIONS:
Wheelbase: 109.5 in Length: 186.6 in Width: 73.3 in
Height: 67.7 in Curb weight: 4813 lb
C/D TEST RESULTS:
Zero to 60 mph: 7.9 sec
Zero to 100 mph: 26.7 sec
Street start, 5–60 mph: 9.0 sec
Standing ¼-mile: 16.2 sec @ 83 mph
Top speed (governor limited): 111 mph
Braking, 70–0 mph: 195 ft
Roadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad*: 0.77 g
FUEL ECONOMY:
EPA city/highway driving: 20/24 mpg
C/D-observed: 17 mpg
