A bit of perspective:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204903804577082671773044262.html?KEYWORDS=srt8
Jeep's Great Big Beast of Solid Grace
Hand me Melville's condor quill and Vesuvius as an inkpot. The 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 is one very angry whale.
Horsepower addicts will want to know: Is this, the Chrysler SRT division's riff on Jeep's midsize SUV, fast? Even though straight-line speed is not the most interesting thing about this vehicle, the answer is oh, yeah, immoderately so. With a 6.4-liter, 470-horsepower Hemi V8 in the powder magazine and a series of very smart clutches and differentials delivering torque to all four half-shafts, the SRT8 hurls its 5,200-pound bulk to 60 mph in 4.6 seconds and barrels through the quarter-mile just fat of 13 seconds. By those metrics, the hyper-Cherokee is the murdering, harpoon-straightening, bang-for-buck champion in performance SUVs, as fast as or faster than the pricier Mercedes-Benz ML63 AMG, Porsche Cayenne S, Range Rover Sport Supercharged, BMW X5 xDrive 35i or Audi Q7.
The high-performance Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 is an SUV that drives like a sports car, and very well may be the best-built American car on the market according to Dan Neil, who has details on The News Hub. Photo: AP
But that's not the most interesting thing.
As for the company's claim that the sport-ute circuits the 12.8-mile Nurburgring Nordschliefe in 8 minutes and 49 seconds, well, that's certainly noteworthy. That's approximately as quick as a Dodge Viper lapping the 'Ring in 2003 and, I assure you, that felt fast then. I would also mildly observe that the sound of the Cherokee at full whoop—a dark-soaring and portentous cackle, an ill-boding pressure wave like a string of distant daisy-cutters—is exceedingly pleasant. Punch the throttle from a traffic light and men for blocks around will involuntarily reach for their wallets.
Still, not most interesting....
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204903804577082671773044262.html?KEYWORDS=srt8