New tow rig - Jeep Grand Cherokee

[cancan]

Well stage one of a possible expanda purchase is done...have replaced our tow car with something that has a bigger towing capacity, namely 2011 V8 Jeep Grand Cherokee limited with luxury pack and quadra lift.
Have been looked at every possible tow vehicle for the last 12 months I decided to replaced the wifes car (old tow car) with a diesel jeep, but when the dealer mentioned that they didnt have any to sell let alone test drive but we have this V8 sitting here, the wifes ears propped up and said "I loved our last hemi" (had a Dodge Durango in the Middle east a few years back, petrol was 27c per lt), "let me at it".
I did find a diesel at another dealer but by then I had no chance, more so when they said we had to wait a few months for delivery so back to the first dealer and here we are.

I started the first mods...debaging but got caught by the wife so just removed ugly rear badges and leaving the side trim on.
The dealer was excellent (although never had a bad dealer pre payment), found a few little misdemeanors but nothing they wont fix in the post delivery service in a months time.
Need to get the front windows tinted and uv tint on the rest; a bit of wiring (anderson plug and brake controller, plus maybe a dedicated cig plug for the fridge) and a couple of tablets for kids entertainment (parents sainity), shark fin radio aerial (to clear garage door opener) and a set of dump pipes to appreciate the sweet sound of the V8 (as if that will happen).

pics below (we found the wipers work well since it rained most of the day)

 

[Klugerclan]

Quality motor, been reading bucks for bang they are scoring very well. How much can the petrol / diesel tow ?

 

[cancan]

3.5 ton limit and 350kg tow ball limit.
V6 is a lot less.
Quadra lift suspension is self levelling as well so will be interesting to see how it tows although from what i have read it should all be good.

 

[Moto Moto]

Congrats on the new car, looks awesome, bet it goes even better

 

[cruza driver]

Very nice, Ive noticed quite a few new ones on the road lately. :thumb:

 

[Moto Moto]

One flew past me on the highway towing an enourmous van going up hill. My poor Patrol had no chance..............oh yeah i wasn't towing either:scared:

 

[randl007]

I do like the look of them I wonder what they are like off-road and what mods are available so far. should check out ARB and see

 

[Matty4]

Congrats cancan,
this post couldn't come at a better time for me too. I took a Limited CRD for a test drive today as I too need a new tow car.
It will be great to get some feedback on yours.
I will be most likely ordering an Overland CRD in the next few weeks, but there's no way I could justify another V8, even though I'd love it, the 20lt/100 around town is frightening, let alone what it will do towing 2.5T of Expanda.
CRD all the way for me this time (my current Territory Turbo Ghia petrol does 23/100 towing now...)

I've become a bit of a diesel convert in the last month, just bought my wife a new Focus Titanium diesel to replace her Volvo XC90 V8..

 

[cancan]

My choice was the diesel but my wife is not a fan of waiting and our old car was running out of warranty and rego so the v8 it was and happy so far one weekend on.
We done just under 500km over the weekend with a mixture of city and motorway driving and averaged 13.8 lt/100 km so not that bad.
Off to the auto electrician on Wednesday so may take the camper trailer up the coast for the weekend...I think the sunshine coast caravan show is on this weekend so a good reason for a road trip

 

[cancan]

had the brake controller and anderson plug wired up the other day...fixed it up today.
The Anderson plug was screwed to the plastic bumper so I made up a bracket that hangs off the tow bar and put a bit of conduit over the cables.
The Brake controller came out of the old car so that was wired up by the sparky but because of the knee air bags I had the controller put inside an enclosed pocket in the console.
I stuck the controller down with velcro in case I need to take it out although had to put the mount upside down so have taped the controller to this for the time being. Will check I am happy with it before fixing it more securely
Also had the sparky put a batter isolater on the anderson plug line so I don't drain the battery if I have a pitstop on voyage

 

[relgate]

Thanks for the pics. Looks like a nice set up

 

[Matty4]

Such a shame that they screwed the Anderson plug straight to the plastic..
Overall it looks like a good install.

Still looking for mine...hehe

 

[cancan]

I have to admit...I am loving the Jeep.
Towed the caravan to Roma on Monday and the Jeep pulled the 2.5t or so effortlessly although it was thirsty work at 24Lt/100km.
It peaked at 28Lt but tapered off as I got closer to Roma.
I sat on the speed limit most of the way which is a mixture of 100km and 110km, top towing speed was 130 which was when I was overtaking other caravans or road trains a couple of times and sat on 80km going up the Toowoomba range which it done comfortably.
Coming home was a different story as I had the freedom of no van to tow....I also discovered that there is a lot of downhill driving which may be why going up was so uneconomical.
any how coming home I sat on 107 or 118km/hr (depending on the limit)...had a lot of roadworks which included stops and 80 or 60 zones (cant complain about roadworks as they keep me employed) and also done a lot of overtaking and some of these were in excess of 160km/hr so I didn't really take it easy and the fuel economy ended up being 10.8Lt/100km. I do wonder what it could have been if I nursed it but wanted to get home.
For a heavy car the acceleration was great and it handled the roads with ease.....and part of the road is pretty crap (not the region that I am involved with of course).
All up enjoyed the trip back and now hanging for Fraser to see how it goes on the beach and compare towing the CT to the van.

 

[Bargie987]

I have this same setup (V8 Petrol) and have just rolled over 60,000km and I must say I have been very very happy with the Jeep. Absolutely no problems and just tows effortlessly!

 

[gerrybrisbane]

How is the Jeep off-road?
I'm getting my MY15 Overland in a couple of weeks (arrived in-country today!) but i'm keen to hear how it goes!

Most things i've read have been good, but there is a lack of off-road stories like Fraser...

I'm like a kid in the run up to xmas!

 

[Drover]

You shouldn't have any problems with it..................................check out www.ausjeepoffroad.com for the best info.

 

[twscoot]

There are many Jeeps GCs without the LSD rear diff and off road pack too so take that into consideration.
Mine (Laredo) has quadralift and quadradrive and is fabulous. Not much off-road but it chewed up the sand on straddie last year. Awesome tow vehicle too which is really why I purchased it. Check out jeepgarage too.