Vospers recently gave some customers an opportunity to really put our 4x4s through the ultimate test with an on and off road driving day. Our instructor on the day was Nick Agg-Manning of Outdoor Adventure Consultants so when the new JEEP Grand Cherokee 4×4 CDD arrived we could think of no-one better suited to put it through its paces on a test drive. Here’s what Nick had to say about his experience with the latest addition to our Plymouth JEEP showroom;
The new JEEP Grand Cherokee 4×4 CDD was handed over to me on the last Wednesday of July at Vospers Showroom, Honiton Road, Exeter. I set the Sat Nav to our Off Road Course in East Devon and pulled out onto the A30 with the smoothness and guile of a mother cheetah looking for her next meal.
Almost immediately, the voice of the car asked me to “Please bear left in 1,000 feet”. Please? Did she really say please? So reassuringly polite. By now I was basking in the aura of impeccable manners which were all around me; not just the voice of the SatNav but also the response to anything I asked of the vehicle was so immediate and so positive.
I have had the privilege of driving a number of SUV / Crossover Cars, both on and off road, but, I was instantly at home in this cockpit that left nothing to chance as I was advised on the screen in front of me, the result of my every move, tweak and kick.
It had not taken me any time at all to tune the radio to my favourite ‘Classicfm’, to set the cruise control to exactly 70MPH and leave myself a reasonable distance of 75 feet for the Adaptive Cruise Control to alert me to anything that I approached that was likely to come within that distance. I head off to the Off Road Course used by my Company, Outside Adventure Consultants Ltd.
Some parts of the course were marked as ‘out of bounds’ to guest drivers as the routes were deemed to be either too steep or too deep! Neither was a problem for my JEEP Grand Cherokee – the air-suspension meant that I had given my under body the maximum ground clearance possible, whilst I had opted for the ‘Rock’ mode on the dial by the Shift which set up the throttle response, deploys automatic, individual wheel braking to keep me cocooned in an entirely safe, luxurious cockpit, whilst the JEEP once again demonstrated immaculate manners and descended the steepest of hills under total control.
The automatic transmission system allows you to take control and select gears to suit – so, down to me as an experienced off road driver, I selected a higher gearing than the system had anticipated, which meant that I had no difficulty or wheel spin when ascending an equally steep slope up again.
On the Thursday after my test drive, my loaned JEEP Grand Cherokee posed on our Company Stand at the Honiton Show all day and it certainly attracted a lot of visitors and extensive chat. The thing is, this JEEP Grand Cherokee looks good, very good and she is a wonderful addition to the JEEP fleet.
Thank you Vospers for giving me the opportunity to really try out your new marque; thank you JEEP for creating, what for me is, the most superb SUV ever.
Thanks Nick. We’re glad you like the JEEP Grand Cherokee 4×4 CDD as much as we do!
Find out more about off-road experiences with Nick at www.oacltd.co.uk
[schema type=”review” url=”http://www.vospers.com/new-cars/jeep/” name=”JEEP Grand Cherokee 4×4 CDD” description=”Review of the new Jeep Grand Cherokee” rev_name=”Jeep Grand Cherokee” author=”Vospers Blog” pubdate=”2013-08-23″ ]
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