Trailhawk or Grand Cherokee?

[BRM Peter]

Anyone got any advice on which way to go, going to purchase either a ‘17 Trailhawk petrol or ‘15 Grand Cherokee diesel, mostly beach driving & a bit of light to moderate off-roading.
Thanks for any tips.

[Troutman]

Trailhawk comes with bash plates and air suspension and thus greater clearance.....both handy things to have on sand. In other respects, a standard diesel GC is a better drive IMO with all the torque available down low....just needs a moderate lift.

[BRM Peter]

Thanks Troutman, I should have added the Trailhawk is a Cherokee not a Grand so maybe not with the air suspension, I’m thinking about diff lock being the decider, but I like the diesel in the GC?

[jeepsgofaster]

I'm a big fan of the Cherokee trail hawk, but if it has a weakness it's probably sand. I've heard more than one report in soft sand of the rear drive system throwing an overheating code which leaves you stranded in 2wd for about an hour before it cools down. But nothing says those particular vehicles were being driven sensibly or correctly in deep sand.

My thoughts would be to look at either a trail hawk or overland grand. Both of course use the Quadra trac II system which is a huge advantage in sand imo.

See what your budget allows

As for engine type the Cherokee V6 is basically shrunken displacement grand Cherokee pentastar motor. Pentastar is widely known to be very reliable making it's small brother pretty much indestructible.

As for your choice of grand engine's it seems your budget is going to put you in the high mileage catagory. Petrols are cheap to fix CRD's are not.

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[BRM Peter]

thanks jeepsgofaster, great advice, ive read about the overheat & apparently engaging low / diff lock overcomes that.
my budget has me at around 100 000km for a GC diesel, but surly a diesel is good for at least double that or more?
just about to research lifting the GC.
cheers.

[Troutman]

Originally Posted by BRM Peter

........ but surly a diesel is good for at least double that or more?cheers.

Totally dependant on how it was driven and serviced mate. Modern diesels are nothing like diesels of old. Thanks to all the ill conceived emission systems, a modern CRD shits where it eats and that is bad news for engine life.

[Fishframe]

Originally Posted by Troutman

Totally dependant on how it was driven and serviced mate. Modern diesels are nothing like diesels of old. Thanks to all the ill conceived emission systems, a modern CRD shits where it eats and that is bad news for engine life.

City driven DPF’s can be an expensive exercise to replace.