Jeep Grand Cherokee
Published · Researched 2026-09-21
Jeep Grand Cherokee Review — Honest Take, September 2026
The Grand Cherokee is the family SUV you cross-shop against the Explorer and Highlander, except this one has a spring recall that needed three tries to fix. That sentence tells you most of what you need to know. The WL generation — the three-row L launched in 2021, the two-row in 2022 — is a genuinely nice truck to live with, sitting on a powertrain lineup where one choice is honest and the other is a paperwork hazard.
Buy the 3.6-liter V6. Full stop. The Pentastar makes 293 horsepower, pairs with an eight-speed automatic that has forgotten more than most transmissions know, and is the only engine in this lineup with nothing to apologize for. Owners in the big Grand Cherokee Facebook groups treat the V6 as the default correct answer, and the forums back them up. The 5.7-liter Hemi was the fun option at 357 horsepower, but it's gone now — the 2026 refresh killed the V8, kept the V6 in the base Laredo, and moved upper trims to a new 324-horsepower turbo four. That Hurricane has zero long-term owner history as of September 2026, so consider it a first-year engine until the receipts arrive.
The interior deserves its praise. Reviewers and owners agree: this thing rides well, the cabin is a cut above the segment on materials, and the Trailhawk trims keep the family's off-road credibility intact. Road manners are a real strength, not marketing copy. If you want a comfortable, good-looking American two-row that your neighbors won't mistake for an appliance, the Grand Cherokee earns that.
But then there's the rear coil spring recall, and it's the single biggest reason to be careful buying used. An improperly installed batch of rear springs can detach — from the car. The original recall didn't fully fix it. As of September 2026, a third campaign was rolling out covering 328,381 vehicles: 2022–2023 Grand Cherokees, 2021–2023 L models, and 2022–2023 4xe models. Any used WL you look at gets a VIN check against this before anything else happens. Three campaigns for the same defect is not a maintenance story; it's a trust story.
The 4xe plug-in hybrid is the one to avoid outright. Same defect family as the Wrangler 4xe: a software fault that can cause sudden loss of propulsion on 2022–2026 models, a high-voltage battery separator defect with fire risk on 2022–2024s that came with park-away-and-don't-charge guidance, and a casting-sand contamination recall on 2023–2025 PHEVs that can cause catastrophic engine failure — with the remedy unavailable in the recall notice at the time it was retrieved. The 4xe was marketed as the efficient, responsible Grand Cherokee. The paperwork says otherwise. A 2022–2026 ORC airbag software recall, remedy initially unavailable, piles onto the same model years.
The social pulse around this truck is oddly quiet for something this important. The 53,000-member Grand Cherokee Facebook group is active but skews toward older generations and mods — head-unit installs, lift questions, brake-warning-light troubleshooting — with thin direct WL-generation complaint signal in recent samples. The recall record fills that silence. The 2026 refresh looks good in press coverage, but new engine, new trim walk, and a fresh launch year means you're paying to beta-test again.
Value call: 2026 refresh pricing runs roughly $39,990 to $65,000-plus. On the used side, the smart buy is a 2024 gas V6 — settled-down model year, pre-refresh simplicity — with the spring recall verified complete on the VIN. Avoid 2021–2022 launch years, avoid every 4xe, and treat 2023 as guilty by association with the spring-defect window. A Grand Cherokee L against a Highlander is a lifestyle bet, not a reliability bet, and the price should reflect that.
The honest bottom line: great family SUV, one great engine, one recall that needed three attempts, and a hybrid you should not touch. Check the springs, buy the V6, and let someone else debug the new turbo.