Grand Cherokee Needs Better Mileage Numbers

2009 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited

model as tested $40,615

Test Drove 12/11/08 – 12/18/08
reviewed by Courtney Messenbaugh

I think of the Jeep Grand Cherokee as the original SUV; it’s the SUV everyone had before everyone had SUVs. It’s still popular today with plenty of moms. The Grand Cherokee provides ample room for a family of four without being too cumbersome. It’s comfortable and stylish without being obnoxiously overloaded, and it has a reassuring steadiness under the toughest road conditions. 

I do have one major issue with the 2009 Grand Cherokee, though, and that’s its fuel economy, estimated at 14/19 mpg city/highway (and realistically below that). I had to fill ’er up twice in one week, and that did not make this mama happy. My test car was flex-fuel capable — meaning you can fill it with E85 ethanol — but even that didn’t inspire warm fuzzies. When using ethanol, the Grand Cherokee’s fuel economy is an EPA-estimated 9/13 mpg. Not good. The whole ethanol situation needs to be tweaked a few hundred times before we consider it as the savior to our fossil-fuel dependency. I’m not counting it out entirely, I’m simply suggesting that some work needs to be done.

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