Big Als Z

6spd would be awesome, but I expect that with the redo of teh 360's. Lord knows Saab needs it.
I think the advantage still sits with Chevy as they offer it in 2wd and AWD. The drag race will be close. I belive that with the new HP ratings, the TB SS went to 400 and the Jeep SRT8 went to 415...so the gap is very very thin.
I assume that mags will pick the Jeep over the TB SS because of quality of interior and who knows what else, but performance will be damn near the same. Its gunna come down to Chevy's price vs the Jeeps interior.

Jason E

And while I admit the materials used in the Jeep are definitely superior to the Chevy, I don't think the design itself is nicer. I am not a big fan of the new Jeep's dash, personally. At least the Chevy has a decent shape inside...that center stack in the Jeep bugs me.

HuJass

I've driven a few of the SRT8s. They're alright.

No, they go pretty good. We ran one of ours at the local drag strip and it turned 13.40s at around 102-103 mph.
I've also driven the TB SS. The TB SS feels more buttoned down, more solid than the SRT8 but it's more isolated. The Jeep feels more raw, more gritty. We never got to run the TB SS, but it didn't feel as quick as the SRT8. The Jeep felt snottier. It had more of an immediate response than did the TB SS. But once the TB SS got rollin', it was like a freight train. Typical LSx characteristic (they need much more low end grunt).
By seat of the pants, I would put a TB SS around a 14.10 - 14.20. Ours was a prototype, so maybe it wasn't in final tune or calibration. And the SRT8 was also a prototype, so maybe it had the juice turned up in it.

Once, before the Stratus R/Ts came out, we received a Stratus ES with the 2.7 V-6 and our manual trans. That car flat out ripped. The production R/Ts we got later couldn't even come close to it. That mule had to be a mid-14 second car. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd pulled extremely hard. It kinda ran out of breath in 4th, but you were doing around 80 by then.

My point being, we think Chrysler turns up the heat some on their prototypes, whereas GM tones theirs down.

I want to see a comparison test between the SRT8 and TB SS.

mastrdrver

I think it was Autoweek that said that the Jeep SRT8 out ran the Porshe SUV turbo, don't know what the Porshe runs though.

Gold_Rush

For some reason, i don't think that is "Trail Rated" .

Jeep straying from its roots. Change is good i guess.

96_Camaro_B4C

It may or may not be faster (and I hope it is; that Porsche is absurd). But Autoweek had not actually tested an SRT-8 Grand Cherokee yet; they were just quoting from Chrysler's press kit. Chrysler claims that it is faster than the Porsche Cayenne Turbo. It may well be. The Porsche has a power advantage (~450 hp, IIRC), but weighs something nuts for its size, like 5500 lbs give or take. So even though the GC and TB aren't lightweights, they are compared to the Porsche (the TB and GC are somewhere in the 4500-4800 lb range). They also both look better than the Porsche.

muckz

Yet that is no indication of its off-roading intentions... It has low profile wheels/tires, it sits low, and there are plenty of vehicles with AWD that are not meant to go off-roading.

Besides, who of the SUV owners takes them off the road other than a driveway?

greg_nate

TB SS AWD gets 14/17 mpg. Not much better...then again, I am not and SUV guy, so maybe 17mpg highway is a good thing.

Gripenfelter

They are $36,990 u.s. or $44,185 cdn.

http://www.chevrolet.com/trailblazer/

http://www.gmcanada.com/english/vehi...trai_mode.html

falchulk

Jeep Cherokees do not have AWD. They have a low range. They have a very advanced full time 4wd. One that can send 100% of the torque to just the 1 wheel that is getting traction. It definitely will have offroad capability but I agree that no one that pays that much for one will take it off road.

Gold_Rush

I read the article and they mention nothing of a 4low. Infact, there's no mention of taking it out of 4wd and into rwd. From what i gathered, it's in full-time 4 wheel drive all the time which to me sounds like an AWD system regardless of how Jeep/DCX words their system. This of course is different than the regular Grand Cherokee's which offer a true 4wd system.

It's not a serious off-roader, that's for sure. The Grand Cherokee already had limited ground clearance, and all that body cladding and suspension tuning probably made ground clearance even lower on this SRT8. 20" wheels and low profile performanc rubber doesn't help either. I think it's safe to say this is more of a on-road performance SUV, not so much an off-roader or atleast a serious one.

Edit: Ground clearance on this SRT8 will be 7.0". Either way, it wasn't like anyone was going to take it off-roading anyways. Still a heck of an SUV.

falchulk

From what I have read in the past, it will be a beefed up version of the upper level quadratrac fulltime 4wd offered in the grand cherokee. 4lo is what usually designates the diffrence between awd and fulltime 4wd.

Gold_Rush

But i don't think this SRT8 has a 4lo which is why i think it's an AWD. On top of that, it seems you can't switch it over to Rwd and it's in full-time 4wd all the time. So in reality it's packing an AWD system and not a 4wd system is what i was getting at. I know Jeep calls it a variation of the quadratrac system, but it's not a true 4wd system like the the other quadratrac's.

HuJass

The SRT8 has it's own transfer case not shared with other Grand Cherokees. The Quadratrac has an NV245 transfer case. It's a 2 speed transfer case with a clutch pack. It's in AWD all the time (the clutch pack can vary torque output completely to the front or rear, depending on traction using the ABS wheel speed sensors). When you pull the chrome lever up on the console, you lock the t-case into 4 low.
The SRT8 uses the NV146. It's a single speed t-case with a clutch pack. It varies torque output depending on traction utilizing the same clutch pack as the 245 and the speed sensors.

falchulk

HuJass, is that first hand info? If so, what else does is the "NV156" sit in besides the srt8, if anything?