Mountain Wheels: Supersized Grand Cherokee L means a big off

Sports Sports | Aug 12, 2023

I spent the week in a 2023 Grand Cherokee L — the extended wheelbase, three-row version of the Grand Cherokee — feeling like things were maybe a little too big for their own good.

But then I remembered the Grand Wagoneer exists, a vehicle I’ve only seen out in the public, with all the scale and charm of a blow-up bouncy castle, so the mildly supersized Grand Cherokee L didn’t feel quite as overinflated. It is, however, still a much different vehicle.

Our test model of the L was a higher-end Summit model — base priced at $65,710 but ending up at just over $73,500 with the addition of the rather revolutionary (by Jeep standards) night-vision display; a multicolor head-up display; a $2,020 19-speaker, 950-watt McIntosh audio system; and, my goodness, a touchscreen/video monitor for the front passenger.

Such is the luxe appeal of this very family-oriented SUV, which adds a lot of Pacifica minivan/Dodge Durango-styled passenger comfort, but remains steadfastly connected to the Jeep experience with the same range of off-road capability as standard-sized Grand Cherokee models.

Mine came with the standard 3.6-liter Pentastar V6 engine, good for 293 horsepower and 260 pound-feet of torque, plus a combined city/highway mileage of 21 mpg; the Grand Cherokee L is now the only home for the family’s 5.7-liter V8, which offers 357 hp and 390 pound-feet of torque, but only 17 combined mpg. The V8 allows you to tow up to 7,200 pounds of trailer — 6,200 pounds with the standard engine.

The L model is substantially larger, gaining just under a foot of extra overall length (204.9 inches) and 5 extra inches of wheelbase (121.7 inches). That makes a considerable difference in the vehicle’s feel, with much more Jeep to park, corner and cruise along with.

Again, depending on your needs and desires, that extra real estate is either great, or, to some people, sort of ruins the semi-recently-updated Grand Cherokee’s sense of balance. The rear doors and glass are extra long and the whole vehicle does look oddly huge from the side.

Inside, it’ll now take up to seven passengers, though the model I drove had two very large captain’s chairs in the second row and equally sizeable, almost throne-like, third-row seats, each with easy access to USB ports.

While the regular Grand Cherokee features a little over 38 inches of second-row legroom, that’s now 39.4 inches, and even third-row passengers get 30.3 inches, which is more suited for adult-sized passengers and longer trips. The second-row seats catapult forward to allow relatively easy third-row access.

Overall cargo storage is also up substantially. Drop all the seats and you’ll get 84.6 cubic feet of storage, versus 70.8 in a standard Grand Cherokee, with 17.2 cubic feet behind the third row seats if you leave them up (and, very large third-row headrests, if you’d like to block out your views of the marauding public behind you).

Vehicle weight has also grown by about 284 pounds to 5,068 pounds, which can be felt just a bit in the L model’s outings. Power is certainly adequate, though maybe not as feisty as it is in the smaller turbo found in the hybrid 4xe model, and the air lift system and dampers do their best to balance things out.

While I chose not to ruin the Grand Cherokee L’s fancy Silver Zynith paint job by beating the hell out of it (I left that to the GMC Canyon AT4, review coming soon), Jeep says the vehicle will do all of the Jeepy things you want it to do. That means nearly 11 inches of clearance, 2 feet of water-fording capability, and my vehicle’s Quadra-Trac II 4×4 system. The Selec-Terrain switch pre-programs modes for rocks, snow, mud/sand and a slightly revvier sport mode; the hill-descent control will work both forward and reverse for speed control on those invariable rock-bashing weekends.

I had painted 20-inch aluminum wheels and pretty standard all-seasons; options include 21-inch wheels, as well. You get the sometimes-finicky rotating gear knob and half-sized steering wheel paddles to control the German-made eight-speed transmission.

The full cabin sunroof is gigantic and, like Pacifica, the Family Cam feature can be used to spy on the activities of even your furthest-back passengers. The night vision camera, which shows up in the instrument display, very accurately spots pedestrians and animals — though you have to look down to see it — and the highly-upgraded navigation maps had lots and lots of trouble consistently getting live traffic information, even in zones with lots of cell service.

Andy Stonehouse’s column “Mountain Wheels” publishes Saturdays in the Summit Daily News. Stonehouse has worked as an editor and writer in Colorado since 1998, focusing on automotive coverage since 2004. He lives in Golden. Contact him at [email protected].

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Almost an extra foot of overall vehicle length does change the character of the extended Grand Cherokee L, though there’s ample third-row room. As a Summit Daily News reader, you make our work possible.Summit Daily is embarking on a multiyear project to digitize its archives going back to 1989 and make them available to the public in partnership with the Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection. The full project is expected to cost about $165,000. All donations made in 2023 will go directly toward this project.Every contribution, no matter the size, will make a difference.