2020 Jeep Grand Cherokee vs Ford Everest

What's the difference?

We honestly weren't expecting the Trackhawk to be such a complete package, knowing words would fail to describe its sheer brutality off the line. That's not to say it's the best handler in class, because it's not, but it's a lot better than we had anticipated.

Then, of course, its Grand Cherokee origins come into frame, with tough styling and strong practicality the obvious hallmarks, so this combination makes for unrivalled bang for your buck. Count us in! We're ready to get familiar with our local petrol station's staff.

The Everest Trend remains an appealing value-for-money seven-seater 4WD wagon. It’s roomy, comfortable, nice to drive, packed with standard features and makes for a decent platform as an off-road tourer.

I’ve driven Ford Everests, 3.2 and 2.0-litre 4WD Trend and Titanium, on and off road, and I’ve towed with those vehicles as well, on different road and track surfaces – and it’s always been a safe, fuss-free and comfortable experience.

The Everest is a proven open-road and dirt-track adventure vehicle, more than capable of conquering weekday duties for a suburban family and then tackling hard-core off-roading on a bush-camping holiday. 

There is no mistaking the Trackhawk for anything but a Grand Cherokee, and that's a good thing because it's a great canvas to work with.

Your eyes are immediately drawn to the model-specific front fascia, which improves aerodynamics and increases cooling, both of which are handy for a muscle car on stilts.

Furthermore, the familiar adaptive bi-xenon headlights and LED daytime running lights get dark bezels to up the visual ante alongside a blacked-out version of Jeep's signature seven-slot grille.

However, the star of the show up front is the sports bonnet, which not only protrudes, but has functional air vents. Needless to say, you'll want to get out of the way.

Around the side, the Trackhawk's sporty 20-inch alloy wheels (with 295/45 run-flat tyres) come intro frame, with yellow Brembo brake calipers tucked behind. And of course, there's the obligatory badging.

The rear is a lesson in subtlety, with the darkened LED tail-lights looking the business, but not quite as much as the diffuser element, which houses the sports exhaust system's quad tailpipes that are finished in black chrome and measure 102mm in diameter.

Inside, the Trackhawk is the absolute best expression of the Grand Cherokee, with its flat-bottom steering wheel, racing-inspired front seats and sports pedals obvious highlights.

However, it's the choice of materials that really excites us, with Black Laguna leather with Tungsten stitching covering the seats, armrests and door inserts in our test vehicle, while red seatbelts add a pop of colour.

It only gets better in our test vehicle, though, with Black Nappa leather covering the dashboard, centre console and door shoulders and bins. And then there's the black suede headliner. It's all very luxurious.

But fear not, the Trackhawk also acknowledges its performance-focused nature, with carbon-fibre and aluminium trim used liberally throughout.

Technology-wise, the Trackhawk does quite well for itself, with its 8.4-inch touchscreen powered by FCA's familiar UConnect multimedia system, which is among the best.

Even the 7.0-inch multifunction display wedged between the tachometer and speedometer is an all-rounder. Yep, aside from some cheaper switchgear, there's not much to dislike here.

The Everest is an impressive looking beast, if you’re into chunky SUVs.

Over the years it’s had a few style tweaks – including freshened-up grille, and revised bumper and fascia design – but it’s mostly stayed pretty consistent in terms of appearance, and that’s for the best, really.

As always, I advise you take a look at the accompanying photos and judge for yourself whether the Everest Trend floats your boat.

Being a Grand Cherokee, you already know the Trackhawk will be very practical.

Measuring 4846mm long (with a 2915mm wheelbase), 1954mm wide and 1749mm tall, the Trackhawk is definitely a large SUV, which is a good thing.

Cargo capacity is huge, at a claimed 1028 litres (presumably to the headlining), but can expand to an even larger 1934L with the 60/40 split-fold rear bench stowed. Either way, the boot floor is completely flat, and there's even no load lip to contend with!

This, of course, makes loading bulkier items easier alongside the boot's tall and wide aperture. Then there's the four tie-down points and six bag hooks. It's all made very easy. Oh, and let's not forget the 12-volt power outlet on hand.

Rear occupants are also treated to plenty of room, with four inches of legroom available behind our 184cm driving position, while decent toe-room and more than an inch of headroom are on offer, too. Yep, the panoramic sunroof doesn't impact the latter much.

And the low transmission tunnel means three adults won't be left competing for space, so the Trackhawk really can seat five in comfort. It can also easily accommodate child seats, with two ISOFIX and three top-tether anchorage points available.

In cabin-storage options are okay, with the glovebox and front cubby both on the smaller side. Of note, the latter is partially occupied by two USB-A ports, an auxiliary input and a 12V power outlet.

The deep central storage bin almost makes up for them, with it containing a shallow tray and another 12V power outlet. We'd be making the most of its versatility.

Meanwhile, a pair of illuminated cupholders reside to the left of the gear selector, while the front door bins can each accommodate one regular bottle. Their rear counterparts, however, can only take one small bottle each.

Passengers in the back do have another option, though, as the fold-down centre armrest has another two cupholders, so it's not all bad news on that front.

Rear occupants are also treated to two USB-A ports at the rear of the centre console, which are positioned below the central air vents. There are also storage nets either side, attached to the front seat backrests.

It’s a roomy and functional leather-appointed cabin with a claimed 30* stowage areas, totalling 48 litres, spread throughout the space. (* I obviously didn’t count them all – are you bloody ridiculous?! – but it’s easy enough to see that there are sizeable bins, bottle holders in each door, as well as cupholders for one and all; even the third row gets cup-holders and receptacles for their bits and pieces.)

The electrically-adjustable front seats are supremely comfortable. Those in the front have access to two 12-volt sockets and two USB ports.

All control displays up front are easy to read, Sync3 is simple to use and operate, and organising your phone connectivity (in my case, Android Auto) is quick, even for this luddite.

Even though cabin space feels maximised everywhere, the second-row seat is on the wrong side of tight for three adults, especially in terms of hip and shoulder room for larger chaps, but it’d be fine with slighter adults and even ever-growing teens. 

Second-row passengers get a pair of pop-out cupholders in the arm-rest, and can control their air con temp and fan speed, as well as open or close their air vents, and use a 230-volt or 12-volt socket from their seat.

The second-row has a 60/40 split-fold seat back; third-row has a 50/50 split-fold. There are five child-seat anchor points, and two ISOFIX anchor points in the second row.

Third-row seats in the Trend can be manually deployed or stowed away. The third row is for kids only with shallower room all-round, I reckon.

There’s a claimed 1050 litres of cargo space with the third row stowed away; and 450 litres with that row up and in use. 

The area behind the third row has bag hooks each side, and luggage tie-down points on the floor. There is also a 12V power outlet in the rear cargo area.

The Trend has a hands-free power tailgate.

Our test vehicle – a Trend 4x4 2.0-litre – costs $61,790 (excluding on-road costs). The rear-wheel-drive 2.0-litre Trend costs $56,490.

The Trend variants are $300 more expensive than their predecessors, and the only notable difference is the introduction of high-performance bi-LED headlights (with automatic high-beams), and a windscreen-mounted USB port dash-camera connection. 

The standard features list is a lengthy one and includes seven seats, an 8.0-inch Ford SYNC 3 touch-screen multi-media system (with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto), keyless entry, push-button start, leather-accented seat trim, eight-way power driver's seat, leather-trimmed gear shifter, hands-free power tailgate, reversing camera, rear parking sensors, as well as AEB, adaptive cruise control, lane-departure warning, lane-keep assist, parking sensors, trailer sway control, hill launch assist and hill descent control.

It has 18-inch alloy wheels.

A tow pack ($1000) is an option for the Trend.

As the most powerful SUV on sale in Australia, you'd expect the Trackhawk to have some seriously impressive headline numbers, so try 522kW of power at 6000rpm and 868Nm of torque at 4800rpm on for size.

Yep, these ridiculous outputs are produced by the Trackhawk's 6.2-litre supercharged Hemi V8 engine, which is aptly dubbed Hellcat.

The engine is mated to an eight-speed torque-converter automatic transmission and Jeep's Quadra-Trac on-demand four-wheel-drive system with a full-time single-speed transfer case.

With launch control engaged, the Trackhawk sprints from a 0-100km/h in a scarcely believable 3.7 seconds while on the way to its top speed of 289km/h.

And maximum braked towing capacity? 2949kg, of course.

Our test Trend has the 2.0-litre four-cylinder twin-turbo diesel engine, producing 157kW at 3750rpm and 500Nm at 1750-2000rpm. It’s paired with a 10-speed automatic transmission.

This Trend has full-time 4WD with low-range gearing and an electronic diff lock. It also has Ford’s Terrain Management System, which includes Normal, Grass/Gravel/Snow, Sand and Rock driving modes.

The Trackhawk's fuel consumption on the combined-cycle test (ADR 81/02) is unsurprisingly very high, at 16.8 litres per 100 kilometres, while its claimed carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are 385 grams per kilometre, which also isn't great.

In our real-world testing, though, we averaged 22.6L/100km over 205km of driving skewed towards highways over city traffic. Yep, that's not a typo; the Trackhawk likes to drink more than its fair share, so be prepared to pay the steep price required to keep its thirst quenched.

For reference, the Trackhawk's 91L fuel tank takes 98RON petrol at minimum. Like we said, your wallet will hate you.

This Everest Trend has a claimed fuel consumption of 7.0L/100km (on a combined cycle) but we recorded 9.4L/100km after more than 300km of driving, some of that in low-range 4WD.

It has an 80-litre fuel tank.

Before we even got behind the wheel of the Trackhawk, we knew it would be a monster in a straight line, so what we really wanted to know was what it's like as an overall driving package. Turns out it's pretty good at most things.

Firstly, the electric power steering system is surprisingly direct and well-weighted, progressively getting heavier as you sample its other two settings.

That said, it's not exactly the first world in feel and requires a few too many turns of the wheel to perform low-speed manoeuvres, such as parking.

Secondly, the independent suspension (double-wishbone front and multi-link rear axles with Bilstein adaptive dampers) serves up a shockingly comfortable ride on most types of road surfaces.

Hear us out here. There's no denying its firm tune, which is particularly noticeable over potholes, but its more than liveable, even for families. Of course, this quality does start to deteriorate when putting the shocks in their sportier settings, but you don't really need to.

Of course, the whole point of this varied stiffness is superior handling, because the Trackhawk has the word 'track' in its name after all, so it has to good around corners.

While having to manage a tare weight of 2399kg around bends sounds like a daunting task, the Trackhawk is actually reasonably tied-down when pushed hard. That said, there is no denying physics, with body roll a consistent variable.

Either way, grip is ironically plentiful thanks to the aforementioned four-wheel-drive system, which is complemented by a rear electronic limited-slip differential (eLSD) that's frankly necessary.

This set-up progressively becomes more rear-biased as you as explore its more aggressive settings, which makes for entertaining handling characteristics and therefore some oversteer-induced nervousness.

Overall, corner-carving isn't really the Trackhawk's thing, but savage straight-line acceleration certainly is. It's absolutely brutal off the line, hunkering down before (super)charging off towards the horizon.

And the sound it makes. Oh, the noise is incredible. While the piercing whine from the engine bay is undeniable, so too is the ferocious bark from the exhaust system. This combination is so good your neighbours will hate you from day one of ownership.

At the same time, though, the Trackhawk is able to be driven easily around town by just babying the throttle, a skill that doesn't take that long to master. However, build engine speed up above 2000rpm and the supercharger will literally unleash hell.

The transmission is an almost-perfect dancing partner, relaxed and relatively slow-shifting by default, which actually plays well into the Jekyll & Hyde narrative.

That said, shift patterns and times can be markedly improved by choosing one of the two angrier settings. Doing so ensures exposure to the Trackhawk's full potential. And there are, of course, paddle-shifters if you prefer to take matters into your own hands, literally.

Given how high the level of performance is, you'd be hoping the Brembo brake package (400mm front slotted discs with six-piston with calipers, and 350mm ventilated rear rotors with four-pot stoppers) washes away speed with ease. Good news: it sure does.

It’s nice to drive, very comfortable and refined so the Trend is certainly easy to live with as a day-to-day commuter and people-mover. 

For a large 4WD wagon it feels very nimble too. Its electric power steering is consistently sharp and precise, but the wheel itself is only height-adjustable, not reach-adjustable. There ie some understeer and minor body-roll around corners but overall it feels pretty settled.

Any lingering doubts over the 2.0-litre Everest’s should have been dispelled ages ago. It’s a lively little unit – it’s more than capable of delivering smooth power and torque at low and high speeds – and it easily manages to punch the 2387kg 4WD along at a fair clip. 

Working off the 10-speed auto, the 2.0-litre Trend always feels more than adequately zippy and has ample go to accomplish even under-pressure overtaking moves when on the open road. It’s most comfortable though simply cruising along a highway.

NVH levels are good; there’s a subdued quiet about the 2.0-litre’s cabin, although engine noise does penetrate with heavy acceleration.

The Everest's coil-spring suspension yields a smooth, stable ride and controlled handling. It’s not too firm and, with the Trend wearing Bridgestone Dueler H/Ts (265/60R18 110T) tyres, it’s better suited to most surfaces, whether it’s traversing well-kept blacktop or chopped up back-country gravel tracks.

All variants have a maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating from testing conducted in 2015. Standard safety gear includes seven airbags (driver and front passenger, side front, side curtain – to third row – and driver's knee), AEB, adaptive cruise control, lane-departure warning, lane-keep assist, reversing camera, parking sensors, trailer sway control, hill launch assist and hill descent control.

It has five child-seat anchor points and two ISOFIX anchors in the second row.

Like all Jeep models, the Trackhawk comes with a five-year/100,000km warranty, which falls short of the seven-year/unlimited-kilometre standard set by Kia. Interestingly, it also gets lifetime roadside assistance – so long as it is serviced by an authorised Jeep technician.

Speaking of which, the Trackhawk's service intervals are every 12 months or 12,000km, whichever comes first. Capped-price servicing is available for the first five services, with each visit costing $799.

Needless to say, despite the relatively short warranty and service intervals, that is a really strong aftersales package for a vehicle with that level of performance.

The Everest has a five year/unlimited km warranty. Service schedules are set at every 15,000km/12 months. 

Visit the Service Price Calculator in the owners' section of Ford.com.au, where Ford owners can input their model to get specific up-to-date servicing costs.