You know why performance SUVs get a bad rep among enthusiasts? It’s because they take themselves far too seriously. (Well, that and their preposterous weight and size.) Remember when Porsche sprinkled some GT magic on the Cayenne Turbo? Or the first time BMW slapped an M badge on the X5? Sure, they and many others defied physics to bring fast fun to the whole family - but maybe they would've been better received if they didn’t try so hard to garner the respect of the track day crowd.
Something’s got to be working, though, with demand so stratospherically high manufacturers can barely keep up. But if were up to me (and thankfully it isn’t), there’d be a whole lot more super SUVs like this Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk. And while it may have been positioned as a track-honed family bus (the clue being in the name), the reality is that much of Jeep’s attention was spent on making as fast as a supercar in a straight line, and worrying about the bits that make it good in the corners once the development budget had all but dried up.
Needless to say, rapid SUVs had been around long before the Trackhawk’s arrival in 2018 - including from Jeep itself with the 477hp Grand Cherokee SRT - but even by today’s standards, the flagship is an absolute lunatic. You’re looking at a five-seater, 2,433kg off-roader (I know that’s a bit of a stretch) that’s packing a gargantuan 717hp and a 645lb ft of torque. Those felt like ridiculous numbers back then, and only a handful of high-powered high riders have beaten it since. And to rub salt into the wound, Jeep didn’t have to try all that hard to reach such heady numbers. It simply plucked the 6.2-litre supercharged Hemi V8 from the Dodge Challenger Hellcat, dropped it in the Cherokee and called it a day.
Of course, dumping big V8s into anything that moves is the bedrock of the American performance car industry, and there’s no denying it worked a treat. Acceleration was ferocious, hitting 62mph from a standstill in a mere 3.7 seconds and it could complete a quarter mile in only 11.6 seconds. Matt Bird drove one back in 2019 and said the Trackhawk delivered its power with “violence and force”, with the combination of immense traction, weight and grunt creating a “sense of the world around being consumed by the car and its power”. He also said it sounded “awesome”, which isn’t hard to believe.
Don’t think of it as a one-trick pony, either. The Trackhawk earned itself adjustable dampers with multiple modes to flick between, though the consensus is that you’re essentially choosing between ‘very firm’ and 'extremely firm.’ That was all in the name of keeping just shy of 2.5 tonnes in check, as were those massive (and supposedly highly effective) brakes. So no, it’s not a sophisticated car, but that’s why we love cars like the Trackhawk. And while it made little sense back then, it arguably makes a bit more sense now given how many manufacturers have followed in its tyre treads.
Surprisingly, Jeep went to the effort of homologating the Trackhawk for right-hand-drive markets, though less surprising is the fact it only sold 24 of them. This is one of them, having been bought in 2019 by presumably a complete legend and driven 41,000 miles over six years. It’s got a full service history and a couple of minor upgrades, including aftermarket Vossen wheels and a carbon inbox. Oh, and carbon gel plates. Might want to move those on when you get the keys. And while it ain’t cheap at £79,995, it’s a good £10k cheaper than it was new and far less expensive than buying an Aston Martin DBX707 or Lamborghini Urus S with similar power. Having said that, this Jaguar F-Pace SVR 1988 edition is a mighty tempting alternative. Shame it’s a bit down on power…
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