Grand Cherokee Sport Mode – What’s Good And Bad In It?

Jeep Grand Cherokee is a big SUV that is made for multi-purpose use. People buy thousands of Jeeps every single month. About a quarter million Grand Cherokee cars are sold each year in the US, Statista says. This makes the vehicle one of the most popular models in America. And this is not only because it's made in the US.

The Grand Cherokee is not a bad car at all. It's powerful, it's not that expensive, it offers a luxurious interior. The car also has pretty good engines and long-lasting transmissions. If you maintain your Jeep well, you will drive it for years with no major problems. Of course, it still has some troubles, but they are not very expensive to cope with.

Today, we'll be speaking about the following:

1. General facts about the Grand Cherokee in the US.
2. What's the sport mode in Grand Cherokee and how does it work?
3. Why using the Sport mode is not a very wise idea?
4. When is it advisable to use the Sport mode?

Let's get started!

Jeep Grand Cherokee - engine and transmission options

The Grand Cherokee is actually an American national SUV. In 2022, it's being sold for $40,000 or a little less than that. This is the cheapest trim called Laredo. The most popular Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited will cost more than $47,000. But the most expensive trims are Summit and Summit Reserve - they cost up to $65,160. So, the price difference between the cheapest and the most expensive option is around $25,000 which is a Honda Civic, for example.

Here are the engines you can get in your new Grand Cherokee:

• 3.6-liter V6 engine with 293 horsepower is a standard option - the cheapest engine available;
• 2-liter hybrid engine supported by an additional electric engine offers 375 horsepower;
• The 5.7-liter V8 engine is the most desirable, it offers 357 horsepower and wonderful longevity.

The latter option is available optionally in Summit, Overland, and Trailhawk trims. If you want a 5.7-liter gasoline engine, you will need to pay much more than you even expect to pay for this vehicle.

So we recommend opting for a hybrid if you want better fuel economy, or just for a standard 3.6-liter engine which is not bad at all.

Of course, you may choose between 2WD (rear-wheel drive) and 4WD options in the cheapest trims. But the higher trims are all 4WD. Apparently, you will not want a 2WD Jeep Grand Cherokee.

What about the transmission?

You should know that the transmission plays an important part in the overall pleasure of driving a car. Jeep Grand Cherokee offers the same transmission type for all powertrains. This is a well-known traditional automatic 8-speed transmission. It's a marvelous gearbox that is designed to deliver power and torque from the engine to the wheels of your Jeep with no reductions on the way.

The transmission is pretty reliable. The engines are all good, too. We can predict that a 2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee will go at least 250 000 miles or even more without major problems. Some expensive problems can occur with a hybrid powertrain, but again, not so soon. The hybrid powerplant is really good in terms of power and fuel consumption, so you will save up a lot of money until the powertrain will require some expensive maintenance or repair.

What is the Sport mode in your Cherokee?

The sport mode is now available in nearly all automatic transmissions. The function of choosing a terrain type is pretty common for all modern SUVs. So it's not a surprise that the Jeep Grand Cherokee will come with several modes of transmission. We know that many owners think that the sport mode is something like unleashing the full power of the engine. But it's not true. This mode works pretty well with the transmission settings and it barely touches ECU settings for the engine.

Here are some things you will get with the sport mode:

1. The transmission will start shifting the gears in higher RPM. Normally, your transmission will shift at around 2000 RPM or even sooner to save some fuel. But in Sport mode, the transmission will allow the engine to rotate faster.
2. Also, the Grand Cherokee will allow the engine to rotate up until the red point, it won't limit the rotations of the engine much. This will allow for higher top speed which is also important.
3. The vehicles with adaptable suspension will change the settings and make their suspension stiffer in order to allow for sharper turns at higher speeds. This improves the handling when speeding.
4. Also, some settings of the transmission change when you press the gas pedal. Once you press it hard, the transmission will quickly go down one or two gears to let you accelerate like a bullet.
5. Some vehicles in higher trims will also change the way you feel the steering wheel. It will become sharper but easier to turn. These changes are hard to feel if you don't have much experience with your Jeep Grand Cherokee.

So, you may see that the Grand Cherokee offers a lot of changes in Sport mode. When its transmission starts shifting with another pattern, you will get more power, more torque, better acceleration. But you shouldn't think that there are no disadvantages in Sport mode of transmission. Unfortunately, some people who love fast driving, turn on the sport mode and keep it on all the time when they are driving. Now we'll try to explain why it is bad.

What's wrong with Sport mode in your Grand Cherokee?

You should know that the producer of your Jeep had a lot of brilliant engineers to think about the most appropriate modes for the transmission. And they came up with the standard mode that is both fast and economical. But to market their cars properly, they offered different additional modes like Sport, Mud/Sand, Snow, etc. The system is called Selec-Terrain and it works quite well. But!

Here are some reasons why you shouldn't always drive in Sport mode:

• the transmission starts overheating because of higher RPM and higher loads;
• the engine will also experience extreme loads and will wear faster, much faster;
• your brakes will not be able to work efficiently, you are likely to brake sharply;
• the suspension will get more impact just because of the higher speed and less careful steering;
• fuel consumption will get higher, sometimes you will burn twice more fuel which is not so good for your budget;
• some powertrain units will experience higher loads and will need replacement sooner than in other Grand Cherokees.

These are the main problems you can experience. And you shouldn't think that your car is special and it won't experience intense wear. It will, and you should know it. The sport mode is provided for a short period of active driving. If you keep driving your vehicle in Sport mode all the time, you will have to repair it every single month. Jeep Grand Cherokee is not the most long-lasting SUV in the world anymore, and it's absolutely not cheap to repair which is also important to remember.

How to use Sport mode properly?

The sport mode is aimed at temporary use. If you know that you are going to drive your Jeep Grand Cherokee on a narrow road where you will have to overtake a lot of other cars, please use Sport mode. This will help you overtake much faster because your transmission will not shift to higher gears for the sake of fuel economy.

But in all other cases, you should avoid Sport mode. Want some active driving? Just press the gas pedal as hard as you can. Your transmission is quite smart and it will start shifting at higher RPM giving you more torque and faster acceleration. Remember that the sport mode may affect the longevity of your vehicle. You will drive approximately 100 000 miles instead of 250 000 miles on your Grand Cherokee if you use the sport mode all the time.

This is a good reason to avoid turning on the sport mode. Also, you should know that the V6 3.6-liter engine is the most vulnerable, in this case. It may just die because of trying to actively drive at all times. The hybrid engine is not made for speed, but the electric part of the powertrain will give marvelous acceleration. The 5.7-liter engine will be OK in sport mode, but the transmission may suffer a lot.

Final words

If you want to use Sport mode in your Jeep Grand Cherokee, you should be careful with the consequences. Some of them are not positive. For example, you may reduce the lifespan of the powertrain units. Also, you may find your car drinking up all the fuel from the tank much earlier than expected. Be very careful with all the Selec-Terrain modes of transmission. They may affect the lifespan of your vehicle and lead to really bad breakdowns. Use them wisely.