Grand Cherokee EcoDiesel
After a long search, (low mile vehicles are hard to find), I pulled the trigger on a 2014 Grand Cherokee EcoDiesel about two weeks ago.
Today was the first time I had a chance to tow with it as I helped a buddy pick up his new to him 21’ Cobalt. The boat weighs around 5500 pounds, and after the repeated hate threads I see here I had very low expectations of how it would handle this load.
I towed the boat from its previous owner to my house - around 50 miles of interstate. I was very impressed at how it handled the load. The Jeep itself felt very stable - not once did the tail try to wag the dog. And the engine/tranny combo really couldn’t have performed better. I set cruise at 65, and the EcoDiesel held it there the whole trip. There is one decent hill on the way home, and just for grins, I picked the speed up to 75 MPH and the Jeep didn’t flinch.
I’ve run two tanks of fuel through the Jeep since I bought it, and the EVIC actually matches up to my hand calculation very well (has averaged right at 25 MPG for the two tanks). And I don’t know if that accuracy will carry forward to towing, but the EVIC showed 15-20 MPG most of the way.
I know there are plenty of people who don’t like the small diesels, but I certainly see their place, and I think the Grand Cherokee is very well matched for it.
The next vehicle I will be replacing is our Yukon XL Denali. I hope that the new 3.0 finds its way into either a Burb or an Ex. If it does, that will likely be our next vehicle.
Today was the first time I had a chance to tow with it as I helped a buddy pick up his new to him 21’ Cobalt. The boat weighs around 5500 pounds, and after the repeated hate threads I see here I had very low expectations of how it would handle this load.
I towed the boat from its previous owner to my house - around 50 miles of interstate. I was very impressed at how it handled the load. The Jeep itself felt very stable - not once did the tail try to wag the dog. And the engine/tranny combo really couldn’t have performed better. I set cruise at 65, and the EcoDiesel held it there the whole trip. There is one decent hill on the way home, and just for grins, I picked the speed up to 75 MPH and the Jeep didn’t flinch.
I’ve run two tanks of fuel through the Jeep since I bought it, and the EVIC actually matches up to my hand calculation very well (has averaged right at 25 MPG for the two tanks). And I don’t know if that accuracy will carry forward to towing, but the EVIC showed 15-20 MPG most of the way.
I know there are plenty of people who don’t like the small diesels, but I certainly see their place, and I think the Grand Cherokee is very well matched for it.
The next vehicle I will be replacing is our Yukon XL Denali. I hope that the new 3.0 finds its way into either a Burb or an Ex. If it does, that will likely be our next vehicle.
