Onto the last vehicle of the reviews. A 2021 Jeep Grand Cherokee. The 2022 versions are not out yet. They haven’t been announced either. Crazy right? Of the 3 vehicles, this is the only one that was a 2021. This is my dream car for those of you who don’t know. One of them anyway. I have always wanted one.

Before I headed out, I went to the jeep website and built and priced my desired vehicle, as I did with the other two vehicles. Check it out https://www.jeep.com/vehicle-selector.bmo.html Sadly, Jeep has wayyyy too many trim levels for my liking, so I settled on the Limited trim due to the pricing. They start at $41,805 for a 4×2 and it appears to have everything I want. It’s cheaper than the Volvo but more expensive than the Hyundai.

So I head to the dealership with this information. Once I arrived I was partnered with salesman Alex. I let him know exactly what I wanted in my future vehicle and he gave me his recommendation. What was recommended to me was a limited trim level. There are many different options for the limited trim level, so I decided to trust his recommendation.

They rolled out a Granite crystal metallic limited Jeep for me test. I was ecstatic to see it. Before we jumped in, I prayed that the ride would be smooth. There is nothing worse than getting the opportunity to drive your dream car and it being a complete and utter letdown. Since this was in the middle of a pandemic, Alex informed me that we had to test drive alone. This was new. Debbie and I jumped in the SUV and went for a ride. I loved it. I had the biggest smile on my face.

The Jeep accelerated well. I hit 70 before I even realized it. Thankfully it braked just as smoothly as it accelerated. The handling was smooth, while the steering wheel was comfortable under my hands. We went 5 miles up the road and back, in rush hour traffic. We were gone for about 15 minutes. Upon returning to the dealership, I snapped a few photos, jotted a few notes for this review, and headed for home in my rental.

Now let’s get to the review that I know you are just dying to read.

Let’s start with the color. It’s called Granite Crystal, a dark gray. It’s a metallic clear coat. The limited trim has chrome door handles, mirror caps, wheels, and grill slot bezels. Even the Grand Cherokee badging on the front door is chromed out. The SUV comes with fog lights and a dual-pane panoramic sunroof. The tires are 20″ Pirelli performance all-season tires. Not sure what that means for the NC seasons, but better to be prepared. The car does come with a remote start both in an app and on the key fob. This is huge as Hyundai only offered it in an app and you had to pay for it. Hell no.

All in all, the exterior of the limited gets an 8/10. This may change if the salesman can deliver on his promises.

Let’s jump inside and review the interior.

Once you get inside, the interior is nearly all black. The seats are black leather-trimmed bucket seats stitched in white. The front and back seats are both heated and ventilated and they are oh so comfortable. The front dashboard is black matte vinyl, which is fine for this NC heat. The door panels mirror the seats with black vinyl and fabric with white stitching. So far so good. The media console is gorgeous. It comes with an 8.4″ Uconnect touchscreen. Mind you I was coming from a 5″ screen that controlled just the radio and the navigation system. This thing controlled nearly everything; the radio, the heated and cooled seats, and the wireless internet (yeah that’s right). I was impressed but it’s not hard to be when the car you’re coming from is over 8 years old. The temperature, radio volume, and tuning can all still be controlled by buttons, so that’s perfect. Everything else was standard. There was a decent-sized glovebox, two standard cup holders, and they even offer floor mats. The center console has two storage compartments.

I noticed a few things missing. Notably missing was the absence of auto-hold and auto high beam lights. There also wasn’t an easy way to switch the automatic tilting of the side view mirrors when backing up. On the Jeep, it’s a box you check on the touch screen so that the mirrors always tilt down or they don’t. That’s burdensome. I mean there are times when you need the mirrors to tilt down and other times not and having to navigate a touchscreen each time is cumbersome.

Let’s slide to the back seats.

There is nothing special about them. They are spacious, comfortable, and heated. Gotta love it. There is plenty of legroom The one thing missing is window shades but I guess since the windows are factory tinted, its not necessary, but it is nice to have the extra protection. The back seats do offer USB and car adapter plugs. The seats do fold down rather quickly and come back up just as quickly.

The truck space is quite a decent size. I have no issues as long as it can hold my golf clubs. The SUV does come with a trunk cover. Its used to cover valuables. Its pretty spacious for a mid-sized SUV offering 37.7 cubic feet. Once the back seats, there is 70.8 cubic feet of cargo space. I looked up both of those numbers. No way I could recall that from memory. A trunk release button is on the driver’s side in the cargo area. Blink and you’ll miss it. It is in a weird place.

Overall, the interior gets a 9/10.

Now I have to take all the information from the three reviews and compare them to figure out my next car.