Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8, a ‘shine runner’s dream: Motoramic TV

Chrysler’s non-Viper SRT cars are all variations on a simple formula: add big power, big brakes and firm suspension to mainstream vehicles to create factory hot-rod sleepers. And the Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 is the biggest sleeper of them all.

The Jeep is unique among SRTs in that it offers standard all-wheel-drive. Drop a 470-hp Hemi into a Dodge Charger or Challenger and you get a vehicle that wants to do a burnout for three blocks every time you stomp the gas. In the Jeep, though, that 6.4-liter V-8 deploys its power with ruthless efficiency. When I climb into the SRT, the onboard performance computer shows that someone cracked off a 0-60 run in 4.2 seconds. And this is a 2013 model—next year brings the eight-speed ZF transmission, which will make the big Jeep even quicker. Might we see a Jeep running sub-four-second 0-60 runs? That seems entirely possible.