Thanks Brad. That’s why I bought a 2020 Grand Cherokee TrailHawk as well. Such a well rounded vehicle. Not a purpose built vehicle like a Wrangler. Enjoy your videos.
@@ProdigalOverland That travel trailer with it's tandem axles is too big (weight & length) for your Cherokee to tow. Just cause your vehicle can make the wheels of a trailer roll, doesn't mean it should. Or can do it safely.
Travelin' Ted we towed it quite a bit. But we were over weight. It’s part in the reason we went with a different set up. We now have a 40 foot 5th wheel. Towed by a big dually. The Jeep doesn’t tow anymore. Thanks for the comments!
not sure if anyone cares but if you're bored like me during the covid times then you can stream all the latest movies and series on InstaFlixxer. Have been watching with my gf these days =)
Excellent logic for the GC Trailhawk. Totally agree with your assessment. And same reasons I have an '18 GC Trailhawk. For challenging trails, I have my '98 TJ. Keep the videos rolling!
Yea same. My daily is a Renegade Trailhawk. Great commuter and actually a lot of fun on trails. I have a 97 TJ 5spd for the weekend cruises and more challenging trails.
Just go a fully loaded v8 hemi 2017 GC Trailhawk with 30k miles. Loving it so far. Can't wait to try it out in our canadian winter. Towing capacity was also a major selling point for me.
Awesome video - I totally agree with you on all these. I'm really glad I found your channel - I heard about it from Matt at Ozark Overland Adventures. I did not know the JGC was so capable off road until watching your content. Fuel economy is another issue. The 2021 V6 Trailhawk is rated 19/26 and you still get 6200 lbs towing capacity. That blows the doors off Wrangler, Tacoma, 4Runner, etc. The Gladiator comes close in my estimation but then you are sacrificing interior comfort, fuel economy (unless you get the diesel), and Gladiator gives you a longer wheelbase. We want to hit the road as a family, tow a small trailer, go off road, but still have the option of using it for non-camping/off-roading road trips. Plus whatever we buy is going to be a commuter car day-to-day. So, yeah, I am planning to get a Jeep Grand Cherokee. Glad to hear you are happy with your purchase. Now we just need to save up for ours :) See you on the trail!!
Couldn't agree more! Great video and honest testimonial. Our Jeeps rule. Especially when I get up stuff wranglers struggle with. (open diff) wranglers that is ;)
I'm born into a jeep cult family, 1972 , so I'm 3rd generation jeep cult . I grew up with Wagoner, CJ 5and 7 , Cherokee Chief. Cherokee XJ . My first jeep was a 79 CJ 7 in 1987 , 15 yesrs old and a drivers permit burning in my pocket. The next Jeep was a 85 Wagoner, huge difference from the CJ7 . Since the Wagoner i went on to Grand cherokees . Since a young kid the Cherokee has been my favorite next to Wagoner because its the best universal jeep you can get, plenty of room and comfort, I'm getting old 😂 room for a 6.4 under the hood, you can tow with it , extremely capable off road . I love all jeeps for different reasons each model is unique and after several models never had any issues with any of them . I'm on my 3rd round and currently running a 22 Grand cherokee trail Hawk. 15 Grand cherokee Laredo, 16 Wrangler JKU and a 17 patriot , patty riot . I love all my jeeps, The Wrangler is fun to drive , the patty with the small front end gets down the smallest trail with quads , but the Grand cherokees are my go to for weekend trail rides, Laredo for the mud pits , trail Hawk for climbing . I like my JKU but the Cherokees are my favorite and would trade the Wrangler for a SRT but wife gets in the way . Keep Jeeping everyone, ✌🦆🦆🦆🦆
These videos are getting better and better. Great reasons also. I have a 2017 grand cherokee trailhawk loaded and I love it. Been thinking about making videos with it.
@@ProdigalOverland I'm taking you up on that trail offer. I'm located in Birmingham Alabama. Not sure if you guys are coming anywhere near here, but if I'm out west or up north anytime soon, which I hope I am, I will definitely let you know. Stay safe out there bro.
Good info. I have a couple video production tips for you, if interested. 1) It's clear you start and stop your camera during this video. You can edit that out. Don't start talking until your hands are in their intended position, and don't finish your point while moving your hand to the camera. This lets you trim things and it's cleaner looking to the viewer. You can also keep the camera rolling while you look up your NOTES on WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO SAY and then just edit those parts out. 2) As you see in the caps, point #2 is to figure out what you want to say before you record. ;) Enjoying the content, have a great time, and see you on the trail.
Brad, I love the quality of your videos. If I had no idea of your sub count and judged you just off of production quality, I’d think you would have at least 50k subs. You’ll get there at this rate! Love the content man, I would be interested in seeing a vlog of sorts that shows your day to day life. Living out of a vehicle and mobile home seems fun. Also, for my application the JGC does an amazing job on the road where it spends most of its time, but having the off-road capability at the same time makes it a no-brainer. I started way back in the day with a 2000 JGC Limited and now in a 2017 Trailhawk. Hard to beat. Keep up the great vids 👍🏼
Thanks for the feedback! Make sure to catch the next one. We have some good stuff coming but definitely want to here more from folks on things they want to see. I had thought about showing more of our mobile life as well. Thanks again 👍🏻
Thanks Brad. When I got my Jeep Grand Cherokee, I had three Jeep Wranglers in the past. There marvelous in that you could maneuver off-road. Amazing. But when you said the luxury, no one could make up the difference. Luxury is the main word. 😄
Good synopsis. Only thing I would argue is the cargo space is pretty marginal. I have 2 girls and a small dog and we struggle for cargo room. So much so in fact I added a roof basket to try and help with the space constraints. Other than that love the videos and appreciate that you are championing the GC platform.
Thanks for the feedback. As far as the cargo space, I meant as compared to the wrangler. But yes as compared to other SUVs it is lacking. We had both dogs. And a large laundry bin in there yesterday. It was a bit snug. Thanks again for watching!
I raise eyebrows all the time in our WK2... I've had it up to the mirrors in water, on trails 60 miles from the nearest pavement...SO much Wk2 hate out there. It's nuts. I actually spoke to the guy that helped design the WK2 and he told me flat out, there's "No where the wrangler rubicon can go, that the WK2 can't go... It's all about aftermarket part availability" I've never had any problems off road in my wk2, we now own 2 of them. 13 overland now with 200,000 miles and a 2018 Trailhawk. Pro tip: If you have a 5.7, keep a waterpump on hand if you're going into remote areas, and the gasket you need with it/Tools you need to do that job. Even if it's covered under warranty, you WILL lose a waterpump. My 2nd one has gone a 150,000 miles, but the first went fast. Better to have it on hand, get reimbursed than to be stranded.
Good vid. Bought a 2020 yesterday for most of the same reasons. Looking forward to trying it out once some of the newness wears off. ( It is her daily.) I have built many off roaders, Wranglers, all generations of Bronco, and many trucks with 36"+ tires. I think this will suit our needs for now. Probably mostly mountain bike trips to the Texas hills.
I agree with everything you've said Brad! Wranglers are single mission specific, GCs are more like a Swiss army knife. I went even a different route, chose a GC limited 4×4 because I could lift it & fit larger tires. Just installed my chief products armor & wow! The ride & handling has improved dramatically along with the Bilstein rear shocks. Anyways, great vid as always, thanks for the content.
& yes, the quality of the chief products is top notch! Laser precision! I highly recommend them! I got the transmission, sump & lower front guard protection, so far.
Hey Brad, let me add my thanks to you for your channel. I too have a WK2 5.7L Trailhawk, so don’t think I am just casting shade with the following comments, which I have discussed with Bill Mackin at Chief via emails last year. Simply, the TH is way over its rated weight capacity when you load it with aftermarket gear, passengers, cargo and trailer as you have. Look at your door sticker (1,050 total load capacity on mine), look up the Jeep’s curb weight and weight distribution, consider the gear, passenger, cargo and trailer tongue weight vs that capacity and run the numbers. My curb weight is 5,253 with 54% front and 46% rear, so the weight on front axle is already 2,837 and on rear axle is 2,416 before any add-on’s, driver and passengers, gear or trailer tongue weight. The first limit I run into is that I can only put 363 more on the front axle before I hit the 3,200 limit. With your front armor and winch, plus a share of the rock rails and passengers you’re already there before gear and tongue weight. As you load up the vehicle, you also reduce the available rear axle capacity until you no longer have 720 lb capacity for your 7,200 trailer rating but instead perhaps 300 for a 3,000 trailer. Bill Mackin put it this way: “I know that I’m definitely over the GVM on both of my WK2s. I load them up with gear and use them fairly extensively off-road, but I’m also fairly smart about what I put them through. They’ve done some tough off-road tracks, but I take it easy until I’ve arrived at camp and unloaded the majority of my gear.” And “In the end, if you’re over by a large amount you need to decide if the Grand Cherokee is the correct vehicle platform for your needs or if you’d be better suited with something like a Ram 2500 Dual Cab.” Just saying, your family’s safety has to come first.
Hey Bruce. You are correct with Your numbers. I had run the same and we had both our rig and trailer weighed and we were definitely over. I was concerned about the long term effects on the Jeep. As well as safety. As I Mentioned in the video, we have since traded in that trailer. We moved to a 40 foot keystone fuzion Fifth wheel toy hauler. Our tow vehicle for that is a 2011 Chevy Silverado 3500 duelly. And I’m happy to report that we are well within the weight capacity on both the trailer and truck. Thanks for the feedback and the support! Really appreciate it!
Thanks for the video as I have been trying to decide which suv to buy to pull a trailer and for off roading. You convinced me the Jeep Grand Cherokee Trailhawk id the way to go.
That’s fantastic. We have started to do trips. Where we take new folks out off-road. We have talked about reaching out to Jeep dealerships to offer a trip as a customer experience and help new owners orient to off road capabilities. I’d love to hear your thoughts on that!
I have a 2014 GC Summit with a Diesel, and I love it! Not it’s not off-road centric on the GC line, but I have a Built Liberty for serious off-reading. As to the air suspension, I have the same issue when the mercury drops. It’s a common thing, here in Alaska.
How about a grand charokee trail hawk vs a regular trailhawk. Im in the situation where i can get both for a very good price. And both are decent vehicles in terms of service history. As a beginner offroader
I have a 2017 jeep grand chorokee trailhawk. I boght it in 2018. I love but have never taken it off road. I watched a movie where a couple drove the grest western trail. Got me interested in overlanding. Thats how i came to watching you video. To learn how and see if it something id like to try. I though my car was basically an on road luxury car but it has all i need for going off road. V8 hemi, skid plate, rock rails. Im going to give it a try.
Enjoying the content! Keep it up!👍🏼 Quick questions, how many miles do you currently have on your Jeep GC? Also, do you have extended warranty if so do you recommend getting it due to Jeep’s reliability reputation. I just got a 2018 Jeep GC trailhawk like you but as a v6👍🏼
We have about 60,000 miles on our GC. We did get the mopar extended warranty plan. For 100,000 miles. The extra piece of mind. Is worth it for me. Thanks for watching!
I just bought a 2014 Grand Cherokee limited with all those same features. I love it. But it has the twenty inch rims with the 265/50s on it. I need to find some 18 inch old rims that i can throw some offroad tires on before i take her out.
Great video!Good reasons. I was thinking about Toyota 4Runner Trd Pro before then I bought Jeep Grand Cherokee Trailhawk and i don’t regret of my purchase! V8 power,cool modern design,full time 4x4!!!and some luxurious things on GC Trailhawk i like over 4runner..Also 0% financing by Chrysler Capital 😇 Great car overall,thank you so much!
Thanks for the videos I have been doing some research on different type of vehicles for use with camping and backcountry off road trails any information I find is greatly appreciated
The Grand Cherokee is a great on-road family vehicle that’s also capable off road. The Wrangler is a great off-road vehicle that’s also capable on paved roads.
That wrangler sway drove me crazy. I always had to constantly adjust the steering wheel. To me this is not a pleasant experience if driving far.. That combined with the outside noise when driving the wrangler
best dark horse overlanding vehicle you can buy today....I'm on my second one..As long as you get a Trail Rated version with a 2 speed tcase you'll be surprised at what these vehicles can do. Total sleepers, besides anybody can wheel with 35" tire & a four inch lift on a Wrangler. Be original
Hi Brad, great video as always. I share the same exact GC as you and couldn’t agree more with your analysis. I think that with couple small modification (better tires and some additional chief products protection in the front) this vehicle is very capable. I take it here in the NW on Jeep trails and it always surprises me how great it performs . In my opinion the AWD system is very good. I had a chance to use the hill decent on couple of very slippery occasions and it was so great how it brought down the Jeep without losing traction at all. Looking to see how the next gen GC will look like.
If you don’t need towing. The v6 is plenty. Another thing to consider would whether or not you plan on modifying the Jeep (extra weight) if you think you might load it down with gear and mods. And you care about acceleration you might want the V8. I actually had the v6 in a 2015 overland, before the V8. And I thought it was more than adequate.
Your air ride gets wonky cause it builds up condesation and Ice. In a Canadian winter my Dad had to have his 2016 Ram airde riide completely replaced twice because of this. Supposedly in 2019 and forward they've added a dehumidifier to the system to dry the air out. At least thats what the dealer told my Dad for his 2019 ram.
There's depreciation of NEW cars and then there's depreciation of USED cars. Depreciation of USED jeeps is very low. Even the Jeep Patriot that I had, I drove for 5 years and lost only $5000 .
I completely agree with your conclusions and wonder why the GC Trailhawk doesn't get a bit more respect. I also drive one, a 2018 Grand Cherokee Trailhawk only I have the EcoDiesel, so I keep the same towing capacity you have, but don't pay the gas mileage penalty of the Hemi.
@@ProdigalOverland The EcoDiesel Trailhawks are hard to find, they were only available on the 2018 models and then they only sold for a few months that year.
I also have the diesel 2018 trailhawk. Great vehicle. I agree with all your comments. I can get 1000km out of a full tank of diesel on a long haul. That mileage is very welcome with out long distances in Australia
Hi Brad I just bought a 2021 Jeep Grand Cherokee Trailhawk V8. need to add roof rack, rock rails and maybe some additional front and back bumper protection. any suggestions? I really like the Gobi Roof rack. is your all the way with the no sunroof rack option? thanks Mike
We pretty much have the same vehicle (2019 GC TH, same tire setup) but I have the 3.6 vs your v8. is that why you have the LED DRLs or did you swap those out too? I like those much beter than the single bulb DRL on mine...
Hi Brad, thanks for all the tips - I just bought a 2021 V6 Trailhawk and I would like to raise the suspension to offroad2 while taking my boat out of the water at the ramp to minimize the contact with saltwater. Is that OK to do? Are there any recommendations that you know of about towing on offroad1 or 2 setting?
Brad. great information here! Question I need a high ground clearance 4x4 crossover can go over deep sand (subaru doesn't cut it with AWD and 8.7 inch GC). I won't do rock climbing and stuff though. But I do need to sleep inside the suv with 2nd row down for some trailhead rest and such (mostly 1 person, shorter than 6" and maybe 2 people at times). Will you recommend Grand Cherokee Trailhawk or other trim for this purpose? Any additional tips for a buyer in the market like me. Thanks
The grand Cherokee trailhawk is great on sand. As far as sleeping in it. We have had folks out with us do that. One seems ok. Two people gets pretty tight.
@@ProdigalOverland Thank you! My local dealer has a 2018 GCTH just came off the 3-yr lease. All stock options and have 15k on it. With your deep knowledge, should I buy this one? It is under CPO program.
Hey Brad, I'm new to the Trailhawk world - is the vehicle operating on 4W all the time, or only when it is required based on the settings you select? Thanks again -
What tires do you run? Stock, +1? ...and that can handle the towing and provide the traction an overland vehicle needs...how many miles do you get out of theses sets of tires?
Brad, thank you for your videos. I follow you and am appreciative of your input on mods etc. I truly appreciated this video because I too always wanted a Wrangler and also considered the 4Runner. The reasons you gave were the deciding factor for me as well and I pulled the trigger on a 2020 Sting Grey GC with the Hemi. My question is did you get the extended warranty on the GC?
Buyer beware. Jeep de-rates payload capacity. We have a 20 Limited V6 4x4 w/ factory tow package. The 6200 lb tow rating is useless w/ a 1050 lb payload capacity. The GC TH V6 has 900 lb of payload...same as our 14 Subaru Crosstrek. Think about it...620 lb of tongue weight leaves 400 lb for passengers & cargo.
How much did you pay for yours? The price is my only concern. I've had 3 Grand Cherokee but all V6 models. But I'm seriously considering a Trailhawk with a V8 and keeping it for the long haul. Let me know! Thanks!
Hi David. Thanks for the question! We actually did a video on the cost of our rig and all the modifications. It is the Trailhawk build video. Here is the link. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Kj3WcIzNdQ0.html
I guess you didn't test drive a 4Runner? I was curious about normal street/highway driving GC vs 4Runner, but you didn't say. Just not sure the 4Runner is so far behind in most in most of your reasons, and it sounds like you you really had a loyalty to Jeep over Toyota.
