wow you had a very unique spec! How are you liking your JGC so far ?

 

I'll be the first to admit that I prefer the look of the Defender - it is unique it it's design and as you know they are still fairly rare to be seen - that's something I like in a vehicle. Beyond that, in my opinion, the JGC with the air suspension is at par with the Defender in ride quality and superior in comfort. I find the seats more comfortable as the seat side bolsters keep me from sliding around - they are far from a "sport seat" but I found the Defender seat too flat and I'd have to brace myself from sliding when taking turns at moderate speeds. I haven't had the JGC off road yet, so no comparisons there, but with the 5.7 V8 it tows well and the throttle response is more liner - the Defender from a stop just had too much "on-off" with the throttle, difficult to feather in gently when you didn't want to have an aggressive acceleration. Some of the "piano black" trim on the JGC is problematic from a dirt and scratching perspective, so I'm having PPF put over it when they do the body. One annoyance I had with my Defender was that the radio control buttons on the steering wheel didn't always respond at the first click. While it seems a bit nit picky, it is something you interact with a lot, and just starts to define your experience with the vehicle. Kind of like the door unlock issue with the antenna on the passengers side (for us here in USA) - not monumental, but a PIA. There is so much to like about both the Defender and JGC - but the fact that I got the top of the line JGC that is comparable to the Defender for $71k verses nearly $100k makes the fact that it is only a Jeep, with 100's of thousands like it on the road, a bit more palatable.

 

Wait ! isn't this the same dealership that tried to stiff the gentleman who was going in deployment overseas, and charge him extra$ ? It was posted here a few weeks ago.

 

It certainly appears so. It wouldn't surprise me. I visited back last February - opening weekend for this dealership - as they had 3 Defenders and I wanted to drive one before ordering. I placed an order that day and between a rookie sales person and smarmy sales manager, they messed up the order and what arrived in June was an 110 X-Dynamic, not a 110 X. Took delivery none the less and placed another order which just arrived this week. Since then the sales person - gone, sales manager - gone, the person who called me was the store manager. Sounds like there's a lot of sh-t going on with that dealership.... There are 2 others in the Phoenix area - Chandler and Scottsdale which might be a better choice for anyone here in AZ.

 

Oh, and update to my original post from November - I have sold the matts and the under body shield.

 

thanks for the write up! Great thoughts in here.

I am myself torn on the defender, as I see it as a much better bronco but a much worse G Wagen. So squarely in the middle. Initially I was going to go for a G550 but they don’t make them for 22 and dealers want 50-100k on top of sticker, and here we thought JLR is greedy.

My spec while not as expensive as yours is right around 65-71k pending the engine selection. Ironically you pointed out the power delivery and the bigger engine seems less smooth than then I4… which frankly seems too small for this gargantuan vehicle. So I’m still on the fence as to which motor to get even though I have had one on order in the “holding pool” for the last 3 months…

 

Jeep is making some great product and I’d be happy with a JGC as well. To the observation about the P400 power delivery being on/off from a start, I think that’s just the level of familiarity with how to work this engine. It can work any way you want it. The P400 supercharger can spin up to 120,000 RPM in around half a second. If you want instant power delivery from a stop it’s right there and the supercharger keeps the boost coming until the turbos take over. If you want smooth acceleration from a stop, it’s equally accessible. It’s neither one nor the other, you can get exactly what you want or anywhere in between. It’s super easy to control. I think the P400 is a fantastic engine.

 

I vaguely remember Kmart (remember Kmart??) was the first company to get hit with a huge lawsuit penalty for false advertising. They would show one price on-line and then a different one at the store. They may want to be careful about a potential bait-and-switch litigation. It's a fairly common practice that causes deceptive retailers to wind up in court.

 

I'm glad you are having better luck with the throttle application than I have! After 7 months and 5,000 miles, I still find it to be too binary in its power delivery. I agree there is a ton of technology in the P400 engine and there are certainly times where it out performs an old-school naturally aspirated V8, but perhaps some re-mapping on my Defender would have resolved the sensitivity of the throttle response.

 

Here's the replacement for the Defender X-Dynamic:
2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee Summit Reserve
Sorry for the in-the-garage pic.
I'm changing out the wheels/tires for a couple sets - road: 21" Vossen VF-3's in bronze with Pilot Sport AS4's and off-road: 18" Fuels with Toyo Open Country AT3's also in Bronze.