Just did my first long trip in the Jeep Grand Cherokee Diesel. Just short of 800 miles. It was quite comfy, though the driver seat was a little hard. But oddly, my back didn't hurt when I stopped and got out like it always did in the Highlander. Usually, I walk like Walter Brennan in 'The Real McCoys' when I stop after 4 hours or so, but not this time. Could just be coincidence, and time will tell.
Very stable on the highway, with slower steering than the Highlander when going straight, which is a good thing at highway speeds. Softer ride than either 4Runner I used to have, but a little firmer than the Highlander. Much firmer than our Odyssey. None of which is surprising, of course.
Visibility was fine. Controls were easy enough to use when trying to keep attention on the road. The cruise control buttons under the right thumb are nowhere as easy to use (or even find) as the stubby stalk on the right side of the wheel (attached to the wheel) that all Toyotas use.
The louder (than gas) diesel engine was drowned out by highway wind and road noise for the most part, and gone with the radio playing loud enough to be heard. Hill climbing with cruise control didn't even cause a downshift - it just kept going, which is a noticeable departure from most gas engines, though I don't know what the big hemi's would have done.
Mileage eventually hit 32 mpg on the dashboard display on the outbound trip with the trip meter reset when I filled the tank at the start, going east (with prevailing winds) and south (all downhill - look at a globe if you don't believe me
), so some local driving is included in that. On the way back, it started dropping, eventually showing 28.7 mph for the whole trip, with 30 miles or so of local driving with lots of starts and stops. Highway driving was almost all NYS Thruway, Mass Pike, and I-91 in CT, with a little I-95 thrown in there just because I miss living there so much.
65 mph using cruise control, and only a couple of times up to 70 to pass something. On a long trip, I'm in no hurry to save 10 minutes when I'm in it for 7 hours anyway (with a stop or two).
I used 26.8 gallons, and drove 788 miles, for a calculated quotient of 29.4 mpg, though there's bound to be a little error in there, as I filled it until the nozzle tripped, so some variation is bound to happen. But it more or less confirms the on-board fuel mileage readout. It's also a little gratifying that the EPA mileage estimates actually seem a little low (28 mpg highway for the 4x4), whereas in the past they were always very optimistic.
None of which has anything to do with actual towing, but 99% of it's use is without a trailer, so performance, comfort, and mileage are important to me without the boat. I previously reported that it towed the boat well, and I'm curious what sort of mileage it'll get with the Mac in the back. I'll be happy if it gets half what it gets without.
Assuming there's a MMOR this year, that'll probably be the first long trip with the boat. Hint hint.
Oh, and the only bits of that instrument cluster that are real are the fuel and temp gauges on the right, and the tach on the left. The whole middle is a screen. The center of the speedo can be set to show many different things, including turn-by-turn when using the nav system, temperatures (oil, trans), maintenance, DEF level, real-time mileage (like a Prius does), and so on. I don't know what it does when the speedo is set to 'digital', as the giant speed numbers take up the whole middle of that area, but I like analog better anyway, so I'll probably never know.
But definitely mo' money.