After a couple years of waiting, the 2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk has just debuted prior to the New York Auto Show and just as expected, it is quite extraordinary.
As we’ve known for a long time, power for the Trackhawk continues to come from the company’s 6.2-liter supercharged Hellcat V8. As with its Challenger and Charger siblings, it continues to churn out 707 hp and 645 lb-ft but thanks to the car’s all-wheel drive system, it is quicker than its lighter siblings.
As a matter of fact, Jeep says it’ll sprint from a standstill to 60 mph (96 km/h) in a mere 3.5 seconds and run down the quarter mile in 11.6 seconds at 116 mph. It’ll continue onto a top speed of 180 mph (289 km/h). Impressively, the Grand Cherokee will come to a stop from 60 mph to 0 in 114 feet thanks to its six-piston Brembo calipers at the front and four-piston units at the rear, clamping down on 15.75-inch and 13.78-inch discs respectively.
Compared to the Challenger and Charger SRT Hellcats, the oil capacity of the Trackhawk is greater, 8.3 quarts versus 7.0. This aids in maintaining the same 7,200 lbs towing capacity as the Grand Cherokee SRT8. Additionally, the Trackhawk’s eight-speed Torqueflite transmission has been modified from the Hellcat twins and includes a Track mode that cuts shift times to a mere 160 milliseconds.
From a visual perspective, the Trackhawk is hard to differentiate from the SRT8 in a somewhat surprising move from Jeep. The only key indicators of the vehicle’s true identity include new air inlets where the foglights traditionally sit (one cooling the engine intake and one serving the oil cooler), quad black exhaust pipes, a ‘Trackhawk’ badge on the hatch and a ‘Supercharged’ badge on both of the front doors.
The SUV also receives a set of new wheels that measure 20×10 inch at all four corners and can be ordered in either cast aluminum or forged aluminum, an option which drops weight by 12 lbs.
Moving to the inside and the Trackhawk retains all the luxuries of a typical Grand Cherokee. That includes an 8.4-inch Uconnect touchscreen that includes Apple CarPlay and Android Auto but now, it includes a number of performance parameters unique in the Trackhawk Performance Pages menu. Other features include a dedicated Valet mode that limits horsepower, torque, engine speed, disables launch control, locks out first gear, puts the ESC on full and disables the paddle shifters. Oh, the speedometer also tops out at 200 mph.
Official pricing details have yet to be announced but the Trackhawk should start at around $85,000. Sales in the U.S. will commence in the fourth quarter of this year.
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