Today's test car, the 2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8, gave me the Willys.
I can explain. One of my richest Jeep memories is of riding in my grandfather Royal Adam Ford's Willys Jeep wagon on washboard country roads in Danbury, N.H., in the late 1950s.
Jeeps have also played a key role in wars, and I remember Hau Thai-Tang, who headed up the design of the new Ford Mustang, telling me that the first American car he saw growing up in Vietnam was a Jeep rolling through his neighborhood.
A more recent Jeep memory involves me coaxing the new Wrangler over the tortuous Rubicon Trail in California's high mountains.
I'm rummaging through these pieces of the past, far and near, to make a point about the Grand Cherokee SRT8: It is far removed from these scenes. This Jeep, with its 20x9-inch, aluminum forged wheels with low profile tires is best suited for being seen at stoplights, the suburbs, the ski house, and on the highway.
It's bound to attract attention, and not just because of those bling wheels. While the SRT8 is obviously a Jeep, it is certainly an atypical one. It has twin exhaust pipes exploding from the center of the rear bumper. And there's a black grille mesh that looks sinister, but not as sinister as the lowered front air dam.
This step in a new direction is Jeep's way of bumping heads with the
Chrysler LLC's Street and Race Technology group got its hands on the Grand Cherokee and decided to challenge its full-time all-wheel drive system with not only horsepower - 420 - but also steel-stressing torque at 420 lb.-ft. They also gave the exhaust a cacophonous roar. Returning to New Hampshire at 1 a.m. after a long flight from Phoenix, I turned a corner aware that a police officer in a parking lot was waiting like a hunter in a tree stand. I was not going fast, but he pulled me over anyway. It "sounded" like I was going fast, he told me.
The SRT8 has a five-speed automatic transmission with a manual option, electronic stability control, Brembo brakes, a spacious interior that allows five people to travel in comfort, and a cargo area loaded with tie-down eyelets for gear, hooks for grocery bags, and a webbed storage bin. The rear seats fold flat and, in a wonderful touch, the headrests fold out of the way automatically.
The interior is well-designed, with storage crannies in the center console, nice metallic trim on the gauges, big buttons for controls, and seats that are comfortable and yet firm in their bolstering.
You'll need that bolstering if you push this car hard.
I recommend the optional manual mode because it seems to let the engine run far higher than a strict automatic does (Of course, you will also reduce fuel economy), and you don't have to go through a series of downshifts as you approach a stop sign - it drops into first gear on its own when necessary.
Considering the competition, the best news about this Jeep may be its price. It can be bought for less than $40,000: Unless you go for extras such as a DVD navigation and backup camera ($1,645) and a long list of SRT group accessories ($2,095) that include remote start, Sirius satellite radio, power front seats, an auto-dimming outside mirror for the driver, rain-sensitive wipers, dual-zone air conditioning, heated front seats, and hands-free communication, among other goodies, you can keep the cost down. Our test car came with those expensive add-ons.
Even in the base model, you'll still be able to ramble in speedy style, sit low and relatively flat in corners, pass at will on the highway, and journey down country lanes.
Just don't plan on doing what my grandfather used to do with his Willys: jack up the rear end, put a tireless wheel on one side, run a belt from the wheel to a massive saw used to cut wood for the winter, crank up the engine, and run the saw off the Jeep.
Although, I guess you could - wicked fast!
Royal Ford can be reached at ford@globe.com.
