Aside from the
aggressive exterior design to most obviously include heat-releasing hood vents,
LED DRL’s (daytime running lights), a set of 20’s with red Brembo brake
calipers revealed and five-inch black dual exhaust tips on the back end–the greatest
thrill of all while testing the 2013 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 came when a guy
at a red light in the next lane over challenged me to a race.

Now, I must
admit that his initial intentions when winding down the window were to give
props concerning the hot whip I was harnessing. But from behind the wheel of
his beautifully buffed, black and brand new 5-series BMW, the look on his
face suggested he believed he had the upper hand. Naturally, the testosterone
kicked-in and the next thing you know, there I was, edging him on to declare
that an SUV would surely leave his Bimmer in the dust. With
testosterone being what it is, he accepted the challenge. The light turned
green and he got, well, “whooped” shall we say, by an SUV. But not just any SUV,
no sir! We’re talking true beast here…Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8!

So there I sat
at the next traffic light, grinning from ear to ear. And only because he and I
are friends did I roll the window down to gloat even further.

Once we reached
our destination, of course he wanted to check out the SUV that left beat the
crap out of his 5-series BMW. It was right then and there that I let the cat
out the bag. In order to dance with the SRT8’s big ass 6.4 liter V8 HEMI,
boasting 470 horses under the hood and 465 lb-ft of torque for 0-60 in 4.8
seconds, he needed to be pushing either the 560 hp 5-Series M! But with his
550i’s 407 hp 8-cylinder turbo, the power just wasn’t there, despite the
heavier load I was carrying. Out of it all, we a good laugh was shared as he
continued to explore both the stunning exterior and interior.

At the base
price of $60,295, Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 is like no other domestic SUV out
there! Sure, it offers every conceivable creature feature you could think to ask
for in a whip, even down to a heated steering wheel, cooled and heated seats,
rain sensing wipers and a kick ass 19-premium speaker Harmon Kardon sound
system to Bluetooth music from Pandora of your phone. Its safety features
include several warning systems including forward collision warning to
calculate stopping distance, as well as blind spot and cross path detection and
tons of air bags and more, all of which is itemized at www.drivesrt8.com

Most impressive
of all is the handling of this standard size beast of an SUV. Sure, it drinks
gas like water (12 miles per gallon city / 18 highway / 14 combined), which I
wonder if could be corrected if the transmission had more than five speeds. But
with performance tuned steering for superfluous maneuvering, active damping
suspension and Jeep Selec-Track’s five options for conditions (auto, sport,
tow, track, snow)—which I totally fell in love with while driving in “Sport,”
driving this baby is all about feeling good! In fact, in a recent comparison
test by Edmonds, it danced circles around Porsche’s mere 420 hp, $125,615
Cayene GTS. All that and more has made Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 THE most
awarded SUV the auto industry has seen.

Bottom-line for
my hombres out there with a thing for flexing your muscular prowess behind the
wheel, this whip’s definitely for you!