Grand power-up for Cherokee

To create the Grand Cherokee SRT8, the Street and Racing Technology team had to redesign Jeep's four-wheel-drive system.

The Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 has arrived in New Zealand with a reputation as the most powerful Jeep ever and one of the fastest in its class.

This new addition is priced from $91,990.

So how fast is it? It will scorch from zero to 100km/h in less than five seconds, and complete a quarter mile (0.4km) in less than 14 seconds.

That puts the Jeep deep into supercar territory.

The Grand Cherokee SRT8 is the product of the Chrysler Group's performance centre, Street and Racing Technology, hence the SRT name.

The go-fast specialists have developed vehicles including the Dodge Viper SRT10, Dodge Ram SRT10 (both powered by V10 engines) and the recent Chrysler 300C SRT8.

The new Jeep and the Chrysler SRT8 models have one thing in common - their 6.1-litre V8 HEMI engine, the source of their performance.

This engine delivers a 25 per cent power lift over the 5.7-litre V8 used in the standard Jeep Grand Cherokee.

In addition to having 313kW (420bhp) of power on tap, it also provides 569Nm of torque.

"On paper, the Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 numbers are simply staggering and the anticipation for this vehicle among our customers has been extraordinarily high," says Brett Aspden, general manager for the Chrysler Group of DaimlerChrysler NZ Ltd.

"We have already sold our initial allocation and dealers are ordering more stock to meet demand."

In creating the Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8, the Street and Racing Technology team had to redesign Jeep's four-wheel-drive system to handle the extra oomph.

Engineers developed a purpose-built transfer case with heavy-duty electronic full-time four-wheel-drive system components.

"We wanted acceleration characteristics that only four-wheel drive can provide," says SRT director Dan Knott. "Our goal was to have a well-balanced vehicle with a high fun-to-drive percentage. The electronic four-wheel-drive system is perfectly suited to this."

Ride height is 24mm lower than other Grand Cherokee models, which lowers the centre of gravity and aids stability.