2021 Grand Cherokee L

Bought the new WL about a week ago. I was the only person to test drive it and It had 23 miles when I signed the paperwork.

SPECS: 2021 Grand Cherokee L (WL) Limited
Baltic Grey Exterior
Capri Wicker Beige Interior
v6
Quadra-trac I - I have not needed 4 Low since 2018. Think those days are long behind me.
Tow package - I always get this if it is available. It includes better engine cooling, and other options that increase reliability. In this case it also comes with a full size spare.
10.1 touch screen (Required for tow package for some reason)
Panoramic moon roof (Comes with the media package upgrade)
20' Wheel Package (Comes with the tow package for some reason)

Fuel Economy - Drove all week on the gas the dealer put in, drove to Austin (200 miles), and drove around down there for 2 days. Filled up before heading back to Dallas and it had 1/4 tank still. Average was 16.8 MPG (mix highway and city). Drove back to Dallas (all highway) and showed 24.6 MPG when I got home (published is 25 highway). That was at 75 MPH. I am not disappointed. My Ram would have been 16~18.

First thoughts are wow, this is comfortable. The ride is smooth but it does not wallow. The variable power steering makes slow speed maneuvers easy.
The v6 has plenty of power for the highway and I don't intend to tow anything with it. May hang a bike rack on the hitch occasionally but nothing else.
The 8-speed shifting is very smooth now. On any new car it takes time for the computer to adjust and perform optimally.
Seats are comfortable but would prefer a slightly deeper bucket. Still better support than in my RAM.
2nd row seating is comfortable. This particular Jeep has the captains chairs in the second row. No middle seat.
3rd row seats - an adult can sit back here but would not want to be back there for long drives.

The Adaptive cruise control - Great for the highway when traffic is moving well. It adjusts well and is really non-intrusive. When you start to pass it accelerates to your set speed without having to do anything. When traffic starts getting heavy it is a pain. People cutting your off will cause it to rapidly decelerate even when they are moving faster than you. It can stop the vehicle when necessary if traffic stops.

I am not a big fan of the lane holding. Supposedly when you turn on the blinker it should deactivate the system and let you change lanes. Several times it tried to fight me. I am not sure if this is just a something it needs to learn or not. I finally turned it off when it yelled at me to put my hands back on the steering wheel when I had them on it. Not sure if I will use it or not in the future.

 

me not ready for a talking car

 

Not really talking but the warning chime like something was seriously wrong with the car. Along with an aggressive Message on the dash display telling me to but my hands back on the wheel. I was not amused.

 

I rented a 2021 Yukon XL last week and the lane notification was driving me crazy.

 

Are the brakes bigger with the tow package needing the larger wheels?
On the Expeditions the screen / tablet is different for HD towing due to the electronic options including the pro trailer backup and an aux input for a trailer camera.

 

@Jw60 No, the spare is on an 18" steel wheel. Someone just decided to require it.

 

I don't like all these automatic systems but at the end I accept , I drive slower in fact ...or it drives.
In accepting I am more ,reelax' but need more time to travel.
It is tbe end of 'sport' driving.

 

As long as the option is there to easily turn this crap off, I have no problem with it being there. It’s when it becomes mandatory and it clearly impedes the vehicle’s safe/practical operation; that’s where we as consumers need to draw the line in the sand.

In my ‘95 car, I have to turn the traction control on if I want to use it. I’m my wife’s ‘01 car, I have to turn it off if I don’t want to use it. In anything much newer, the option isn’t even there. All winter long, I’m pulling people up our road who can’t disable their traction control that is going haywire and completely disabling their car that could otherwise have zero problem making it up the road with a little finesse and driving skill if they could just turn that crap off!

 

Found another interesting thing this morning. You can't put an oversize tire on the front without some serious work. The shape of the steering knuckle wraps over the top of the tire on the backside. I was wondering why the manual said you can't use snow chains on the front wheels.

 

How about the New gas saving Feature ???????? of shutting down at a Stoplight ? It ' Restarts' when you put your foot on the gas ??????
I suspect in a few years when all the Starters wear out. There's gonna be a bunch of unhappy consumers. Especially when they get the Bill ? Starter's typically are not covered under warranty.
We disabled that on our 2019 Subaru , but I suspect that we won't be able to in the future

 

That tech has actually matured quite a bit. They install heavy duty alternators, batteries and starters to compensate. It has only turned off a handfull of times on me. The requirements for it to activate are pretty stringent.

 

I'm not arguing with you, but an awful lot of cars next to me at a stoplight do it regularly ?

 

The Expedition 3.5 does that, the Flex 3.5 does not. I can have the dealer disable that, allow fogs on with highbeams, and enable "global windows" (hold lock / unlock on key fob to operate windows) -think rainy days-

But like mentioned above the Expedition battery and starter is massive compared to the Flex even though they are same displacement.

 

@Lockman to your point it is very easy to turn off (button on the dash) and remembers for the next drive cycle.

 

Gotcha.......I realize that. That's what I did on ours. We disabled that on our 2019 Subaru , but I suspect that we won't be able to on future vehicles.
BTW , Very nice Jeep that you bought . I like it.
....Richie

 

On my 2021 Gladiator, there is a switch on the center console to turn off/ disable the traffic light engine shut down. Have to do it every time you start the engine

 

Update on the 3rd row seating. We had 6 adults in the Grand yesterday. The people in the 3rd row said it was not bad at all but they would not want to ride back there for a couple of hours.