MotorMouths

Is the Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 fast? Even though straight-line speed is not the most interesting thing about this vehicle, the answer is oh, yeah, immoderately so. And if this isn’t the best-built American vehicle, you’ll have to show me one better.

The only thing this Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 shares with the previous generation is the name. Everything else is better. Gloriously faster, stronger and all around funner.

See, it even inspires fake words.

By any rational measure, the Grand Cherokee SRT8 is about as necessary as a single-pronged fork. But it’s also a 5,150-pound hunk of hurtling, bombastic fun.

Silly, yes, but when the BMW M5 is celebrated as two cars in one, a luxury cruiser and a sports car, all for just $90,695, the Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 throws in SUV capability and cuts a third off the price.

The Grand Cherokee SRT8 epitomizes an innovative product that nobody knew they wanted—a Jeep allergic to rocks and gravel. Everything is functional, and the smooth ride lends the GC SRT8 every-day potential.

The 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 deserves consideration if a super ute is what you craven. At times we wish it were as ridiculously quick as those other super utes, but something has to give with such a low base price, and anyway, where would you use the extra horsepower?

The 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 is not better than a Porsche Cayenne Turbo. Everyone with a brain knows it. The Cayenne Turbo also starts at $108,750. The Cayenne S is a more reasonable $65,860, but it’s just not as mean as the $58,290, nicely-loaded Jeep.