SA Road Tests

Welcome

This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. We drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under South African conditions. It also just happens that most of the vehicles we drive are world cars as well, so what you read here possibly applies to the models you can get at home.

*To read one of our archived road tests, just select from the alphabetical menu of manufacturers' names on the left. Hover your cursor over the manufacturer's name, then choose from the drop-down menu that appears.

*Please remember too, that prices quoted were those ruling on the days I wrote the reports.


We take the black asphalt highway in a 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT

For asphalt tracks, not goat tracks

You get big, luxurious SUVs and you get serious off-road machinery. A few models manage to combine both worlds. Range Rovers and Grand Cherokees come to mind. Then you get big, luxurious SUVs that prefer asphalt and go like nobody’s business. Think Audi Q7, BMW X6 and Porsche Cayenne. And a niche Grand Cherokee called SRT. The letters stand for Street and Racing Technology, Chrysler’s performance division that develops special kit for special vehicles.

The badge says Grand Cherokee and the body looks like a slightly bulked-up version of the luxury off-road warrior, but there are fundamental differences. Like steel suspension with gas shocks but no quadra-lift air springs, Selec-track traction management rather than Selec-terrain, and Quadra-trac active on-demand awd that’s high range only with LSD, rather than Quadra-trac ll or Quadra-drive ll. And a 392 cubic inch (6.4-litre), hemi-head, pushrod V8 that puts out 351 kW and 630 Nm; without the forced induction used by its main competitors. But performance is right up there with the Germans and the English.

There are visual clues; like the 295-wide tyres, black radiator grille, adaptive bi-xenon HID headlamps with black background, 20” black vapour chrome wheels, big red Brembo calipers on ventilated discs at both ends, body-coloured lower front fascia with gloss black insert and chrome bezels, black chromed oval exhaust tips, bulkier bonnet with a pair of reversed air extractors, SRT-badged leather bound steering wheel, a new rear spoiler and a powered hatch.

Inside or undercover are the new eight-speed ZF automatic box shared by all Grand Cherokees, adaptive cruise control with stop function, forward collision warning with crash mitigation, 19-speaker, 825-Watt Harman Kardon surround sound audio and a new version of the Uconnect user interface. This 8.4-inch touchscreen display includes, among its other functions, SRT-exclusive Performance Pages that provides instant feedback on steering input measurements, power, torque, 0-100 km/h time and 100-0 km/h braking distance.

As expected at this price, the SRT has a full house of electrical and electronic equipment and safety aids. Front seats are eight-way power adjustable, the steering wheel adjusts electrically, upholstery is in leather with suede inserts and all seats are heated. The rear, 60:40 split backrests can recline through a few degrees, making big differences to comfort and available headroom.

The SA Standard Tall Passenger found that adjusting backrest angles increased headspace from eight out of ten to 10 out of 10. The back cushions also flip down flat by releasing levers on each side of the seat squabs to create a level load surface. Knee room score was a full ‘ten’ while foot space under the completely lowered driver’s chair earned an ‘eight.’

Unseen is something Chrysler calls “fuel saver technology.” It’s a multi-displacement system that shuts down four cylinders once inertia is overcome and you are cruising gently. It sounds like hype but it does work, helping us return an average fuel consumption figure somewhat better than we expected. For a technical description of how it works, follow this link

A brief description of Selec-trac is probably called for here. First, the term has nothing to do with off-road tracks of any kind. While the SRT could certainly deal with normal ‘soft-roader’ territory, it isn’t designed for rock crawling or *donga diving; no high lift suspension, low range gearing or differential lock. The track its makers have in mind is of the racing variety.

Here we go with the various settings: “Track” means traction control off, sport shifting mode and track (harder) suspension settings. “Sport” means sport shifting and firm suspension. “Auto” selects automatic, full-time awd that adapts itself to driving conditions. “Snow” is for slippery conditions and the vehicle pulls off in second gear. “Tow” holds lower gears for longer and selects firm suspension. A button off to the left of the Selec-trac selector pads is marked “Launch.”  This controls wheel spin and power delivery for full-energy take-offs. The vehicle goes into “Track” mode automatically.

Loading: The powered hatch opens to reveal a big load area with a flat floor at upper thigh height with four lashing rings, six bag hooks, a 12-Volt socket and a torch. Under the ribbed floorboard is a pair of shaped storage bins for stuff you don’t want in public view and a steel spare wheel with 245/65 R18 tyre. It’s a sort of spacesaver intended purely to get you somewhere to buy a new one if you manage to damage an original 295/45 ZR20 runflat.

On the day we investigated the replacement issue, we found that Pirelli Scorpion all-weather tyres in this size were on special at R5404 each, with balancing and alignment extra. And surprisingly, for M+S runflats this big, the dealer told us that there were 61 in stock around the country that day. That’s a backhanded cautionary to check the availability of some other cars’ exotically-spec’ed tyres before signing up, by the way.

Driving impressions: Even in auto mode, the suspension is on the sporty side of firm; too firm for comfort over our test bed stony provincial dirt road, for instance. Acceleration, when we had the space to experience it and weren’t too concerned about brief bursts of fiscal irresponsibility, was electrifying. As for the V8 rumble, snarl, whatever you prefer, it was nice but too muted and polite for this particular recycled teenager. Mercedes’ C63 and the now-gone Chevy Lumina do it better.

Summary: Grand Cherokee SRT will do basic off-roading but it’s actually a well-kitted street rod. It’s also a spacious and luxurious mobile concert hall. Despite its size, driving and parking is easy. Use it for dropping the children off at school, going on holiday, midnight shenanigans or for going to the opera. And know that you can actually buy tyres for it. That’s today, without having to wait six weeks for special imports.

Test unit from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles SA press fleet

The numbers
Price: R999 990
Engine: 6417 cc, 16-valve, pushrod V8
Power: 351 kW at 6000 rpm
Torque: 630 Nm at 4300 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 5,0 secs
Maximum speed: 257 km/h
Real life fuel consumption: About 15,4 l/100 km
Tank: 93,5 litres
Cargo volume, up to roof: 782/1554 litres
Warranty and maintenance plan: 3 years/100 000 km

* Donga - South African for gully or small ravine, but "donga" alliterates better

What We Do

This is a one-man show, which means that every car reviewed is given my personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.
Every test car goes through real world driving; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.

I do my best to include relevant information like real life fuel economy or a close mathematical calculation, boot size or luggage space, whether the space is both usable and accessible, whether life-sized people can use the back seat (where that applies), basic specs of the vehicle and performance figures if they are published. In the case of clearly identified launch reports, fuel figures are of necessity the laboratory numbers provided with the release material. If I ever place an article that doesn't cover most things, it's probably because I have dealt with that vehicle at least once already, so you will be able to find what you want in another report under the same manufacturer's heading in the menu on the left.

Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. As quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so they can see I do actually exist.



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