Rough riding and fun-driving on the Jeep Grand Cherokee

The most fun drives for me are the ones that are not scheduled. I love it whenever a friend asks me if I can drive to a destination I’ve never driven to.

And, so it happened a little before 2015 ended.

The destination: Nasugbu, Batangas. The time of departure: 5 p.m. — to catch an event that was to be held there at 7 p.m. And the ride: the Grand Jeep Cherokee.

Challenge accepted, and heart racing with so much excitement.

Drive Away

My friend and I met up in Magallanes, by that time I had “Wazed” the route we would take and, as is it is with Waze, the estimated time of travel was two hours — no sweat, I thought to myself.

I arrived early at the meeting point and, as is my wont, gave the Cherokee a once over (although, I had been driving this wonderful SUV for a few days within the city).

Comfort is one of the words that come to mind when I think about the Cherokee. After all, Jeep Grand Cherokee is among the premium SUVs available on the market.  Matter of fact, the Jeep Grand Cherokee has established itself as one of the most luxurious five-seat SUVs around. 

From the inside, the Grand Cherokee is everything that grand is about. 

To start off, sitting in the cockpit of this SUV made me feel like I was the queen of the road. Seat adjustment options made it easy for me, a small driver, to adjust it to just the right height. And, when one is driver, a big SUV sitting comfortably matters a lot.

The leather, upholstered seats with accent stitching are really cool, for starters.  Seats are comfortable and supportive; and, as a great big SUV, the Grand Cherokee offers plenty of room for everyone, no matter where you sit or what your size is.

Matter of fact, I thought to myself about just how much thought the designers of this SUV put into the comfort of the driver.  Just think, I could drive it out in the mud or take a spin in the city: it would be comfy and oh so much fun to drive either way. 

With every knob for the controls within easy reach and easy to handle, there was nothing I felt I couldn’t control or do on the road — no matter what roads I chose to travel on this Jeep Grand Cherokee.

Let me just add that the Jeep Grand Cherokee includes more than 70 safety and security features as well as an array of advanced user-friendly technology features, such as the award-winning Uconnect 8.4-inch touchscreen radio with integrated climate and infotainment controls, a 7-inch customer configurable multiview display cluster, and up to a 19-speaker system by Harman Kardon for the SRT8 and Summit variants.

What a ride: The cockpit of the Jeep Grand Cherokee (above) and the spacious trunk space (below).

What more could I ask for?

One Last Look

As I waited for my friend, I took a good look at the hunk that this SUV is. There was nothing flimsy or weak about this beauty  — and I was in love. Funny, how I find it so easy to fall in love with SUVs that are not only lookers but also that are built strong and muscular.

The Grand Cherokee’s exterior looks are bold, but with enough finesse that nothing comes off as tacky. The signature Jeep seven-slot and LED tail lamps in back add a little dose of pizzazz and style, and differentiate this Jeep SUV from competitors in the segment.

The ride is made smooth by its class-exclusive Quadra-Lift air suspension system. This features five height settings for optimum ride performance. I sat on the curb and checked out the settings, which included: Normal ride height (NHR), which offers improved fuel economy as well as improved aerodynamics during on-road driving. There is the Off-road 1 option, which lifts the vehicle an additional 1.1 inches from NRH for added height in clearing obstacles; Off-road 2, which offers off-road capability and provides an additional 2.2 inches from NRH for 10.4 inches of ground clearance and up to 20 inches of water fording depth; the park mode, which lowers the vehicle 1.6 inches from NRH for easy ingress/egress and the Aero Mode, which lowers the vehicle 0.6 inches from NRH — add to that, that the vehicle will also lower to Aero Mode when in Sport Mode.

So many options, so little rough roads to conquer. But, as I read on, my excitement built up and so did my hope that there would be some rough roads ahead as we drove to Nasugbu.

Drive Time

Finally, my friend arrived.

We left Magallanes at 5 p.m. We were buckled up inside and I started the engine and heard it roar.

The drive to Nasugbu was uneventful at the start, as we had to traverse through the smooth roads of SLEX. Yet, as we talked about life and its many distractions, I kept my eye on the road and continued to notice just how smooth and comfy the ride was. And, how much I enjoyed the feel of being “queen of the road” even as the big provincial buses and the ten-wheeler trucks tried to make their presence felt.

When we exited the Star Tollway, the rough — okay, a little rough — road driving began. By rough road I mean that there was quite a bit of roadwork being done, so the streets were slightly muddy, as it had rained out there on that day.

I must add that we also had to pass some small and narrow roads as Waze suggested routes with less traffic.

The smaller town roads offered a challenge to me, as this hunk of an SUV needed a little more space to get ahead. Nonetheless, I was a happy camper in the cockpit because never at any time did I feel that I would lose control. No matter how close many of the smaller cars came.

When one is at the wheel of a big SUV it is always little easier use the size of the vehicle to get ahead.

As we neared Nasugbu, there was a bridge under construction — and lots of rocks and mud to pass through. I smiled as I drove through because the ride was still smooth — as if I was still driving in the city — no matter the depth of the mud holes I had to drive over.

The best part of course was the winding roads I had to get through to finally make it to Nasugbu. I loved how the Jeep Grand Cherokee follow my every driving command and kept us safe through the zig and zags of the winding road. All these done streets that had minimal lighting — yes, it was dark.

And, one drives like these, one cannot help but be grateful to be behind the wheel of an SUV that makes one feel totally in control and truly safe.

We arrived at the beach resort by a little after 7 p.m. 

My friend was happy because she made it to her event, and just in time for her to deliver her opening remarks.

I told her to go ahead as I parked the Grand Jeep Cherokee.

Finally, it was time for me to alight from my ride. Although I was a bit tired from the drive (blame that on my being a little older), I was more than happy that it was the Grand Jeep Cherokee that I had driven.

As I sat in the lobby of the resort and listened to the waves of the sea lapping on the beach, I said a prayer of thanks to the good Guy upstairs for a safe ride. I also asked Him to keep us safe on our drive back to Manila.

Oh, I also thanked Him for the gift of the drive on the Grand Jeep Cherokee, because it remained stable while on the highway and even when I had to make sudden turns to avoid obstacles.