JEEP TRACKHAWK

But while the Jeep engineers aren’t certifiably insane; their aim to take on the top performers in an SUV is borderline obsessive. 

They appear hell bent on pushing the boundaries to deliver an entirely new level of driving exhilaration and performance for their many loyal fans and customers. 

Enter the beast, the Grand Cherokee Trackhawk.

It’s fitted with Hemi’s legendary Hell Cat engine that normally launches the Dodge Challenger SRT and Dodge Charger SRT.

This engine might make a Maserati Levante burst into tears.

Not content with a mere 5 to 10% increase in power over the Cherokee SRT; the Trackhawk roars with 50% more power! 

While the engineers plucked out the SRT’s 6.4L Hemi and slipped in a subtler 6.2L… they bolted on a supercharger. 

Purely in the interest of efficiency, I’m sure.

This engine is astonishing, not only on paper but in the real world behind the wheel. It produces 707hp (522kW) and a merciless 868Nm of chassis-twisting torque.

The Hell Cat power plant will hurtle this behemoth wagon from standing start to 100kph in a spine flexing sub 4 seconds. 

Oh yeah… now Euro’s finest have spun their wheels around and are watching the track with bonnets agape in a disbelieving “What the…?” as the Trackhawk missile blasts across the finishing line with a deafening boom… completing its 400m run (the old school quarter mile) just shy of 200kph in an intimidating 11.6 seconds.

If that doesn’t lift the hair on the back of the neck of a passionate motorhead, then nothing will! 

Of the available 868Nm of torque, 560 is available at only 1200rpm, just above idle. This Hell Cat’s crankshaft has to be forged steel construction with induction hardened bearing surfaces to withstand the phenomenal explosive forces generated during combustion at around 1,600psi.

So now you’re excited about what’s likely to happen when you get behind the wheel, let’s have a quick walk around the beast. 

Our test vehicle was finished in ubiquitous black, absolute street sleeper apparel. So subdued was the exterior that only an enthusiastic car spotter would have taken a second glance and noted this was no standard SRT.

Choose a brilliant red finish and I’d bet all the sporty changes would be more eye-catching. The front fog lights are replaced by two huge air induction vents—one feeding the engine, the other an oil cooler.

But I felt the 6.2 Hemi badge on the front quarter guard could be subtler. 

The gargantuan supercharged Cherokee decals on the doors destroyed the outward appearance of elegance, and the Trackhawk badge on the tailgate reminded me of a cowboy’s belt buckle.

Speaking of the exhaust; you’ll never be able to sneak off in dawn’s early light. Hit the start button and the tacho abruptly jumps with an assertive baritone roar before the engine settles back down into a forceful grumble. Your neighbours will peer through the curtains at the ruckus to see if you’ve awakened a velociraptor with a cattle prod. Reserved this beast ain’t!

With sufficient practice, it is possible to master self-control for throttle modulation and enable the Trackhawk to complete any daily driving duties in a subdued manner. But why have the power of a nuclear reactor and never use it for more than a run to the local shops?

Around town in stop-start peak hour traffic; the 8-speed box can become disorientated. In a succession of stumbling up shifts, it valiantly tries to quell any indulgent and unnecessary rpm splurges to delude you into thinking you’re getting some level of fuel economy, which could be described as abominable at best.

Get out of the city limits and the Trackhawk begins to breathe a little easier. Ease onto the throttle and the once indecisive 8-speed reveals its potential with smooth well-matched upshifts exploiting the Hell Cat’s seductive 868Nm torque curve.

For more fun, select sports mode and the suspension reaction, steering response and transmission shift times adjust for a more engaging drive. 

Through a succession of winding bends, short straights, descents and climbs, the Trackhawk unleashed its playful side.

What began to impress was the relative ease with which the Trackhawk could move briskly through the corners with surprisingly well-balanced body control given its hefty kerb weight of 2,400kg. It’s got a well sorted suspension setup with long arm short arm configuration up front and multilink rear end, coils all round and Bilstein’s impressive Adaptive Dampening Suspension (ADS) system. 

The Pirelli 295/45ZR’s wrapped around 20” rims offered impressive levels of grip.

Push harder and the Trackhawk continues to respond with a level of on-road dynamics that confirms a significant depth of engineering underpins this road-registered ballistic missile. This vehicle is so much more than a straight-line predator. It contradicts the accepted engineering philosophy of what defines a good performance sports car. To be fast and nimble, you need to be light and low—but the Trackhawk is tall and heavy.

It didn’t take long before I realised I wasn’t testing the Trackhawk as much as it was testing me.

Nail the perfect line through a series of sweeping bends, hit the apex on the last exit and release the Kraken!

As the deep growl of the exhaust ignites into an explosive roar, the Trackhawk exerts a monumental force onto the ground to increase the rotational speed of the planet momentarily. Acceleration is redefined by the Trackhawk’s ability to pick a point in the distance and instantly transport itself to there.

If that’s not enough, if you can get access to a track, you can experience the Trackhawk’s ability to thrill on smooth fast surfaces. On the road, track mode is too harsh and aggressive to be enjoyable.

But then I began to stare at the launch button on the console with dubious apprehension. Finding a straight stretch of lonely road with maximum legal road speed, offered the safest environment to experience this vehicle’s pièce de résistance.

There’s a small opportunity to draw breath before peak power carries the tacho needle to the red line and up shifts, firing the Trackhawk forward in a visceral sling shot launch from standstill to 100kph in a blistering 3.7s.

I couldn’t help but pity the driveline, accepting the barbarous torture inflicted by unleashing that much power in one almighty surge. But fear not; the eight-speed torque-flight auto monitors engine torque, longitudinal and lateral acceleration, grade changes, both throttle-induced kickdowns and heavy breaking downshifts.

The transfer case runs large, forged steel sprockets and a wider chain for durability. A strengthened rear tail-shaft and driveshafts send the torque to those massive 20” rims via beefed up 8-ball CVs rather than the standard 6-ball configuration. Jeep installed a new four-point mount system to hold the rear differential in place. Even the geometry on the crown wheel and pinion has been altered, presumably to reduce the propensity for the pinion to exit the differential.

I can now appreciate what early pioneers experienced when testing the effects of jet propulsion on the human body in rocket powered sleds bolted to rails! 

You don’t so much sink into your seat as you get hit from behind.

Whilst your internal organs slowly resume their normal position and your senses try to process what just happened, it’s impossible not to smile and do it again.

The Trackhawk will find your limits, well before you reach its boundaries. Without an autobahn, you’ll need a racetrack to appreciate the long legs of the Trackhawk’s top speed of 289km/h—but you’ll get to maximum road speed satisfyingly fast every time. With such slippery performance on tap, it’s far too easy for the speedo to creep north of permitted road speeds unless cruise control is engaged.

Given how much fun it was on the road; we didn’t tackle much more than a nicely graded gravel road. But the Trackhawk does run Jeep’s Quadra Track system with that significantly beefed-up transfer case to handle the huge power output. It also has an E-LSD at the rear capable of transferring 100% of the available torque to a single wheel.