Jeep Grand Cherokee

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JEEP Craves the fresh Grand Cherokee to become a successes. The tension is palpable, because this mostly all-new mid-size SUV is critical around the way ahead for Chrysler’s best brand. And yes, new Grand is great to look at. It’s bold, fresh and athletic, with short overhangs and chamfered curves, and so it must be being based on Mercedes’ ML platform.

Jeep Grand Cherokee

Jeep Grand Cherokee Interior

Gone are the clunky and awkward washboard side panels of the previous effort, gone is the complicated sub-frame mess that ran riot using the bodyshell. Here’s a solidly engineered effort, though with the loss of a good rear axle in favour of an all-independent multi-link rear axle set-up, and radical Europeanising of the interior, I can’t help but feel it’s made up of the world’s new cookie cutter: shades of Fortuner in the rear, a new Touareg with the side profile, a dash of, dare I say it ML and X5 to the profile. One can’t help but feel that the McDonalds world franchise philosophy has hit a home run with Jeep too. That away, the prominent wheelarches perfect, the seven-bar grille as distinctive as it can be, while liberal using of brightwork in the sills, side panels, window liners, rear bootlid and grille offers an avowedly American bling statement.

Post Title → Jeep Grand Cherokee

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BMW X5 xDrive35d Review

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Diesel rules. Just not here in the USA. But BMW's working to change that.

A great way to make the case for diesel's economy and lower emissions is to put it in an SUV.

The X5 xDrive35d (that's the name, folks) is one of the new generation of clean diesels...odorless, largely noiseless, with good performance from a V6 making 265 horsepower and tons of torque.

The EPA says 26 miles per gallon on the highway...which is five mpg better than the X5 3.0 6-cylinder gasoline engine...rated at 260 horsepower. And the price premium to step up to the diesel is less than $4,000. But that does put the base price a shade above $50,000...which seems to be a major psychological price point in the new reality.

I had the tester for a week and a half and it was flawless...a great drive...and the diesel engine is a great match for the x5's size and weight...that strong, linear power delivery imparting an extra sense of solidity to the vehicle. And there's the knowledge that diesel engines are routinely capable of 250,000, 500,000 and more miles in a lifetime.

Apart from large, mainly 3/4 ton and 1 ton American trucks, it's the Germans who are carrying the flag on diesel. They're not wrong.

Post Title → BMW X5 xDrive35d Review

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