For a brand that took off with bare-bones military vehicles, it’s pretty wild to think that Jeep is also now a genuine competitor to the likes of Cadillac, Lincoln and Audi among many others. Yes, Jeep is a purveyor of world-class luxury SUVs, and the 2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee L Summit is evidence of that.
Put simply, this jaded car reviewer just kept uttering the same word over and over after opening the front door: “Wow.” It’s because your eyes, and soon your hands, are treated to sumptuous materials over virtually every surface. The dash is upholstered and has swathes of warm, natural-finish wood trim. The seats are covered in soft, quilted leather with contrast stitching. In this case, it’s black leather with tan stitching, but gray and saddle-brown leather options are available. The optional McIntosh speakers have polished metal grilles with illuminated logos that match the other metal accents well, and the giant touchscreen is beautifully integrated, bridging the top of the dash with the center stack.
Things get better when you get your hands on the controls and surfaces. The start button has a stylish textured rim that gives it a sense of place. The shift knob is a heavy, cool chunk of metal with a machined checkered texture around the edge. It’s flanked by additional metal toggles that adjust ride height and change drive modes, and they’re equally hefty and pleasing to use. While not quite as eventful in their action, the climate controls and stereo controls are, thankfully, physical buttons and knobs, making adjustments of these functions quick and easy. And speaking of the climate control, it’s a four-zone automatic system.
The infotainment system is similarly impressive. Graphics are crisp and highly legible. The 10.1-inch screen, standard on the Summit, provides large and easy-to-tap icons, and it’s generally responsive. It does take a few moments for everything to load upon startup, though. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are included along with navigation. The standard audio system is no slouch with more than 500 watts of power, nine speakers and a subwoofer. But if you have the scratch, we recommend the optional and incredible-sounding McIntosh audio system. It even has a nifty feature in its virtual VU meters with blue backlighting that can appear on the infotainment screen, just like you’d find on the company’s home hi-fi systems. The Summit also gets a 10.25-inch digital instrument display that’s chock full of information, should you wish to see it, and has understated graphics like the infotainment screen. Optionally available is a head-up display, which is useful enough that you might not even look much at the big instrument panel. Then again, the head-up display comes with night-vision when added with our tester’s Advanced ProTech Group IV package, so you may still find a use for it.
Seating in the Summit is quite feature-rich. In addition to the beautiful leather, the front seats feature heating and ventilation, massage and 12-way power adjustment with memory. Nappa leather is standard, but our test model came with Palermo leather, which is presumably better. The second row gets heaters along with sliding and reclining adjustments, but that isn’t rare. The option of ventilation is, however, and is included with the Summit Reserve Group package. The cushioning is a bit firm in both rows, though, and they don’t have much shape. As such, it could get a little tiring after a few hours on the road. Head, leg and shoulder room certainly isn’t lacking in either row.
But of course, those aren’t the only rows to talk about. The Grand Cherokee L is the first of the line to offer a third row of seats. Access is pretty easy thanks to the tilting and sliding second-row seats. The accommodations are pretty tight. Adults can squeeze back there, but won’t want to stick around due to the tight knee room and position close to the floor. Still, that’s better than some three-row options such as the Infiniti QX60 and Mercedes GLE-Class .
Cargo space is usable regardless of how many seats are raised. Behind the third row, there’s 17.2 cubic feet, which is about average for the segment. That expands to 46.9 with the third row folded and 84.6 with both rows down.
For all its luxury, the Jeep Grand Cherokee L does command a luxury price. It starts at $62,095 including destination. Our model, with four-wheel drive, McIntosh sound system, head-up display, ventilated rear seats, night vision and more came to $67,090. If you’re feeling particularly flashy, there’s one step above our test Summit: the Summit Reserve, which starts at $66,575. This pricing puts it right on par with competitors from Audi, Lincoln, Land Rover and Mercedes. Aside from arguably less comfortable seats, the Jeep’s interior is just as nice if not better than all of them.
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