HiI'm looking at the 07, 08 Jeep Grand Cherokee Diesels and would very much appreciate your opinions.I am wanting one to drive daily and to pull a 20 foot, 3800 lb boat in the summer. I'm sure this wouldn't be a problem for it. If though it could also pull my 29 foot Bullet Ultra Light Trailer - I've never weighed it but it is 5200 lb dry so maybe 6500 lb loaded?? that would be a major plus. Is the Jeep heavy and long enough for this? If not I'll look more at a gas one.They certainly don't come cheep - in Alberta they want low to mid 20s for anything with 100-150 thousand kilometers on it. I don't even want to guess what a new one goes for.Is this deisel motor a good one? If so, will the rest of the car be long worn out before the deisel? Any special maintence issues? Any certain years better or worse than others? Did some come with a special tow package?Did they only make these in 07 and 08? and again now new? Why the stoppage in production?Thanks much for the help.

gschindel wrote:HiI'm looking at the 07, 08 Jeep Grand Cherokee Diesels and would very much appreciate your opinions.I am wanting one to drive daily and to pull a 20 foot, 3800 lb boat in the summer. I'm sure this wouldn't be a problem for it. If though it could also pull my 29 foot Bullet Ultra Light Trailer - I've never weighed it but it is 5200 lb dry so maybe 6500 lb loaded?? that would be a major plus. Is the Jeep heavy and long enough for this? If not I'll look more at a gas one.They certainly don't come cheep - in Alberta they want low to mid 20s for anything with 100-150 thousand kilometers on it. I don't even want to guess what a new one goes for.Is this deisel motor a good one? If so, will the rest of the car be long worn out before the deisel? Any special maintence issues? Any certain years better or worse than others? Did some come with a special tow package?Did they only make these in 07 and 08? and again now new? Why the stoppage in production?Thanks much for the help.This diesel engine is a Mercedes diesel and they stopped putting them into the GC due to the Mercedes/Chrysler take over fell apart and Chrysler was sold to Cerebus.I would pass on any Chrysler vehicle with these engines due to limited sources to repair and support.

I don't understand where FishOnOne is coming from. A Mercedes diesel is a Mercedes product, with many dealers servicing them, throughout North America. Jeep is still a thriving automotive company and can be serviced in almost any town or city in North America. One that age would have no warranty so that would not be a problem, Soooo, where is the problem of owning a 4x4 with the best of both worlds in its makeup..:?

Thanks. Never thought about the companies splitting making the repair / maint an issue. Ill ask my local shops what they think about this. Maybe I'll look more at the touaregs.

Ask yourself this... With a 29ft trailer hanging off the back of a Cherokee can I control the load in an emergency or heavy braking situation?

I can't comment on the diesel, but the Grand Cherokee is a great towing platform for a boat. I had an 07 Hemi that did a great job pulling my 5000 pound 21' boat. The only downside was 10 MPG with a smaller fuel tank made frequent stops. The 3.0 CRD would get significantly better MPG with similar towing capability, so my main complaint probably would not apply to your situation.If you read FishOn's other posts, you will notice a severe bias against any Chrysler product. Make sure you take that into account before taking his post as gospel. A better question may be would the CRD resale value stay that high if parts/service really was a problem?

Jeep Gr Cherokee Diesel - Worth the $? Reliable?, Could tow?

nevadanick
Explorer
Oct 06, 2013
You will need to find the specs for the particular vehicle you are looking at. My MB is rated to tow 7500 lbs.
gschindel
Explorer
Oct 06, 2013
Thanks much for the replies. I asked an independent mech about service/parts. He said as this motor is still in use in Mercedes that it wouldn't be a problem and he says they are a great power train.

I know for sure the boat wouldn't be a prob. How about the TT though? Right now we pull it with a durango with a hemi but not with the good pulling rear end. Would a jeep have enough suspension to handle the tongue weight? No idea what my weight is though.

Thanks.
nevadanick
Explorer
Oct 06, 2013
T&P, have you driven one ? At least i can say i have driven that engine although its in a different suv.
transamz9
Explorer
Oct 06, 2013
Bionic Man wrote:
T&P, the Jeep will have the potential to tow better (faster) than you truck up hills as it weighs at least 1000 pounds less.

Also more gears.
Bionic_Man
Explorer
Oct 06, 2013
T&P, the Jeep will have the potential to tow better (faster) than you truck up hills as it weighs at least 1000 pounds less.
Turtle_n_Peeps
Explorer
Oct 06, 2013
nevadanick wrote:
The horsepower and torque of this engine is about the same as the first Cummins that came in a Dodge and i dont recall ever seeing one of those going 30 up a hill with far more than that behind one. Our MB has 210 hp and i think 420 lbs tq and i would put money on it that it would pull that 3800 lb boat up a hill much faster than 30. I pull my enclosed bike trlr with a couple bikes which i know is lighter but can pretty much go as fast as i want.

Really? Who said anything about the boat being a problem?

The OP said:
OP wrote:
I am wanting one to drive daily and to pull a 20 foot, 3800 lb boat in the summer. I'm sure this wouldn't be a problem for it.

He also asked the question:
OP wrote:
If though it could also pull my 29 foot Bullet Ultra Light Trailer - I've never weighed it but it is 5200 lb dry so maybe 6500 lb loaded?? that would be a major plus. Is the Jeep heavy and long enough for this? If not I'll look more at a gas one.

I agree with you and the OP about the boat. But; towing a 3,800 lb boat and a 6,500 lb TT are two TOTALLY different things.

My 3/4 ton truck is a 200 HP diesel stock. The boost is turned up and so is the pump. It also has 4" exhaust. It's more than likely around 225 hp now. It also has 4:10 gears. The Jeep diesel has 376 lb of torque to my stock trucks 425 ft/lb.

On the flats it tows fine. In small hills it tows fine; but with a 7000lb TT on the tail I am down to less than 30mph in the big mountains.

So you tell me how a Jeep with the same or less HP and WAY less torque is going to tow better than my 3/4 ton pickup that is set up for towing? :h
quicksilverado
Explorer
Oct 06, 2013
I have an 07 GC CRD. It has a Green Diesel tune that bumps the power to 240 hp and 440 ft lbs of torque. I get 24+ 50/50 hwy/city and 27 hwy at 70 mph. I use an independent Mercedes shop to take care of mine. Have not towed with it, but know several that do. They tow 5-7k lb TT. They pull in mountains just fine. Check out jeepforum. There is a ton of info on the CRDs over there.
wilber1
Explorer
Oct 06, 2013
I think the real reason they discontinued that engine after 2009 was the same as why they dropped the diesel Liberty. It didn't meet the much more stringent 2010 diesel emission regs. Not that it matters.
nevadanick
Explorer
Oct 06, 2013
The horsepower and torque of this engine is about the same as the first Cummins that came in a Dodge and i dont recall ever seeing one of those going 30 up a hill with far more than that behind one. Our MB has 210 hp and i think 420 lbs tq and i would put money on it that it would pull that 3800 lb boat up a hill much faster than 30. I pull my enclosed bike trlr with a couple bikes which i know is lighter but can pretty much go as fast as i want.
DirtyOil
Explorer
Oct 06, 2013
With a 29ft trailer hanging off the back of a Cherokee can I control the load in an emergency or heavy braking situation?

don't dare ask them OTR drivers how they expect them little rigs they use to tug them 30-40+ ft trailers in single, double or triple haul... how they gonna stop em.