Aside from the aggressive exterior design to most obviously include heat-releasing hood vents, LED DRL’s (daytime running lights), a set of 20’s with red Brembo brake calipers revealed and five-inch black dual exhaust tips on the back end–the greatest thrill of all while testing the 2013 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 came when a guy at a red light in the next lane over challenged me to a race.
Now, I must admit that his initial intentions when winding down the window were to give props concerning the hot whip I was harnessing. But from behind the wheel of his beautifully buffed, black and brand new 5-series BMW, the look on his face suggested he believed he had the upper hand. Naturally, the testosterone kicked-in and the next thing you know, there I was, edging him on to declare that an SUV would surely leave his Bimmer in the dust.
With testosterone being what it is, he accepted the challenge. The light turned green and he got, well, “dicked” shall we say, by an SUV. But not just any SUV, no sir! We’re talking true beast here…Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8!
So there I sat at the next traffic light, grinning from ear to ear. And only because he and I are friends did I roll the window down to gloat even further.
Once we reached our destination, of course he wanted to check out the SUV that left beat the crap out of his 5-series BMW. It was right then and there that I let the cat out the bag. In order to dance with the SRT8′s big ass 6.4 liter V8 HEMI, boasting 470 horses under the hood and 465 lb-ft of torque for 0-60 in 4.8 seconds, he needed to be pushing either the 560 hp 5-Series M! But with his 550i’s 407 hp 8-cylinder turbo, the power just wasn’t there, despite the heavier load I was carrying. Out of it all, we a good laugh was shared as he continued to explore both the stunning exterior and interior.
At the base price of $60,295, Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 is like no other domestic SUV out there! Sure, it offers every conceivable creature feature you could think to ask for in a whip, even down to a heated steering wheel, cooled and heated seats, rain sensing wipers and a kick ass 19-premium speaker Harmon Kardon sound system to Bluetooth music from Pandora of your phone. Its safety features include several warning systems including forward collision warning to calculate stopping distance, as well as blind spot and cross path detection and tons of air bags and more, all of which is itemized at http://www.drivesrt8.com.
Most impressive of all is the handling of this standard size beast of an SUV. Sure, it drinks gas like water (12 miles per gallon city / 18 highway / 14 combined), which I wonder if could be corrected if the transmission had more than five speeds. But with performance tuned steering for superfluous maneuvering, active damping suspension and Jeep Selec-Track’s five options for conditions (auto, sport, tow, track, snow)—which I totally fell in love with while driving in “Sport,” driving this baby is all about feeling good! In fact, in a recent comparison test by Edmonds, it danced circles around Porsche’s mere 420 hp, $125,615 Cayene GTS. All that and more has made Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 THE most awarded SUV the auto industry has seen.
Bottom-line for my hombres out there with a thing for flexing your muscular prowess behind the wheel, this whip’s definitely for you!
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