We took this classic adventure vehicle on a Colorado family ski-in hut trip adventure. This means we had a good stint of on-road travel to get from the suburban Front Range into the mountains. We didn’t have much in the way of offroading, but we did have a very snowed-in parking lot where we had to stash the Jeep Grand Cherokee while we skied into our hut for a few days.
Handling
The 2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee offered a very comfortable drive to the mountains. Steering was easy and smooth and I was happy that the front wishbone and rear multi-link coil springs suspension with electronic adaptive dampers wasn’t stiff like in other models of Jeep. At just under 70 inches high, the Grand Cherokee has a relatively low center of gravity and this practically eliminates body sway when taking corners (too) fast.
Once we got deeper into the mountains and the roads became snow packed, the traction system had no problems and provided confidence inspiring control. Finally, when we got to the trailhead, the neglected snow filled parking area (there was only room for 3-4 vehicles depending on how people parked) was easily navigated with the 4WD engaged. We didn’t need the height-adjustable air springs, but we did witness a few other vehicles make a few unsuccessful attempts to get into a proper parking position and had to give up and drive down the road to an alternate parking area.
Hauling
Generally, we lean towards 3-row vehicles for the versatility of in-town and adventure use. But this 2-row version (Jeep does now offer a 3-row option in the L version) plus the addition of the Yakima EXO Rack system got us and all of our ski gear there comfortably. The cargo space behind the 2nd row is a decent 37.7 cubic-feet and was able to accommodate the sled plus a pile of packs hauled up to the hut for our trip. For full cargo mode, the capacity expands to 70.8 cu-ft when the second row is dropped. We did still fill the cargo box and ski rack on the Exo rack—but this was a particularly gear-heavy adventure.
While the Jeep Grand Cherokee does come with rails on the roof, they are mounted flush so only a specific style of cross bar mounts will fit. I was not able to use my generic strap-on style of Thule cross bar mounts. Fortunately, I didn’t need them.
We didn’t tow anything on this trip, but we did use the 2” hitch receiver for the Yakima Exo system which does put a lot of weight on the hitch. Nevertheless, the 2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee is rated to tow 6,200 pounds.
Efficiency
With a 23-gallon fuel tank we found the estimated 19 city/26 highway mileage to be pretty accurate and the Jeep Grand Cherokee easily delivered 300-400 miles of range even while driving into the mountains and hauling all our gear.
Amenities
The Jeep Grand Cherokee has a plush interior. Ours was with the white leather seats and soft touch points throughout the cabin. We found the 39.9 inches of front-row headroom to be very comfortable and the controls for everything from the shifter to the 4-wheel drive selector were intuitive and appropriately placed.
We tested the Overland trim which is the third highest level of four trims available (Limited, Trailhawk, Overland, and Summit). The Overland trim includes power-folding side mirrors, premium LED headlights, a dual-pane moonroof, hands-free motion activated rear tailgate, hands-free keyless access on all the doors, hill descent control, and Jeep’s Quadra-Trac II 4WD system.
Family Friendly
The Jeep Grand Cherokee is a reasonably family friendly vehicle. Naturally, it has all the required child safety features like LATCH points for kid’s car seats and lock-outs on the rear doors. But the latter is the standard switch on the combing of the door frame, which isn’t very accessible and is more set-and-forget. Which is fine for very young children but as they get older a switch on the dash can allow for the development of more independence. The second row accommodated the kids’ car seats just fine and the process of installing or removing the kid’s car seats was of average effort.
Conclusion
Overall, the 2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland Two-Row 4×4 served us very well for this adventure and would be a good choice for adventure driven families like ours. The level-up would be to check out the 3-row L version to accommodate more passengers for around-town activities, like when the grandparents come to visit.
