2026 Jeep Grand Cherokee -- The Hurricane Approaches
Stellantis seems bent on putting a Hurricane engine, cylinders six or four, in just about every product. The 2026 Jeep Grand Cherokee is next.
I kid, of course, about the company's product plans -- the Hurricane six is a pretty dang good motor, although it's not the one planned for this Jeep. And the new engine's insertion into the lineup won't be the only change to the venerable GC.
This Hurricane isn't the familiar 3.0-liter, twin-turbo inline-six we've seen in various Stellantis (Stellanti?) products. This one lops off two cylinders and a liter of displacement, as well as dropping a turbo -- it's a 2.0-liter, turbocharged four-cylinder.
Jeep projects power numbers of 324 horsepower and 332 lb-ft of torque, with a max towing capacity of 6,200 pounds and a fuel range of 506 miles.
The motor uses something Stellantis calls Turbulent Jet Ignition. A small bit of fuel goes into a cup-like prechamber above each cylinder, and the burning fuel then expands and "jets" into the combustion chamber, which is supposed to create a faster and more complete burn of the air-fuel mixture. In turn, combustion is supposed to be cleaner and more efficient, which should improve fuel economy without any loss in power. Or so says Jeep.
The turbo is a variable-geometry unit, with the intent of providing a lot of boost low RPMs. Jeep claims 80 percent of the peak torque is available at 2,300 RPM, with the peak being available at 3,000 to 4,500 RPM.
Jeep, perhaps sensing the current political winds, made a point to mention in its press release that this engine will be built in Dundee, Michigan.
The ironhorse Pentastar V6 will remain available, as will the 4xe plug-in hybrid powertrain. The Grand Cherokee will remain available in two-row, three-row, and L long-wheelbase variants. Four-wheel drive, of course, remains available -- with the Selec-Terrain system being available on the base trim for the first time.
Other changes include a refreshed interior design, available new 12.3-inch infotainment screen and system, an available 10.24-inch passenger display screen, and available premium McIntosh audio with 19 speakers. Also available is Jeep's Active Driving Assist.
On the outside, the grille is updated, though it retains the seven-slot look. The headlights are new, the rear and lower fascias are tweaked, trim finishes are new, and three new colors are available.
Jeep has simplified a dizzying array of trim levels -- seriously, I occasionally use the build and price tool for work purposes and the amount of choices is way too much -- down to three. Now the choices are Laredo, Limited, and Summit.
There are packages, too, so there's still complexity afoot. You can get a Laredo Altitude, which includes the 12.3-inch infotainment system standard, along with traffic-sign recognition and intersection-collision assist.
Limited trims offer Limited Reserve and Limited Altitude. The Reserve gets you 20-inch wheels, dual-pane sunroof, Nappa leather seats, cooled front seats, digital rearview-mirror, off-road camera, and more. The Altitude has 20-inch black wheels and darkened accents, among other things.
Other optional/available features, trim dependent, include the aforementioned off-road camera, a 360-degree camera, and a night-vision system.
When it comes to options, there's more, again depending on trim -- Palermo leather seats, chrome interior accents, suede headliner, massaging seats, interior camera, and Quadra-Trac II four-wheel drive with an air suspension.
Other available features include heated seats, heated steering wheel, rear-park assist, active lane management, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-path detection, automatic emergency braking, sunroof, power liftgate, and a wireless charging pad.
See More Photos Of The 2026 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Laredo and Laredo X trims get the 3.5-liter V6. The 4xe will be available in Limited, Summit, and Trailhawk trims. The L will offer a second-row bench seat.
The next Grand Cherokee will go on sale later this year, with pricing to be announced soon. The GC will be build at two Stellantis plants in Detroit -- Jefferson and Mack.
[Images: Jeep]
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Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.
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Sorry for the language, but no fuuuuuucking way Stelantis, am I ever going to tow with a 4 cylinder turbo car even if Stelantis thinks it can tow over 6,000 lbs. Its doubtful that a T-4 banger can maintain 65 mph while towing that camper up and down the steeps of Appalachia, let alone the 5 and 10 mile long up and down steeps of the the Rockies.
Seriously folks, can you see this thing crossing the plains westbound towing a camper with over 30 sq feet of flat vertical frontal area? I've driven Interstates 90, 80, 70, 40 westbound when towing 7500 lbs of camper. Its a long slow uphill clime from the Mississippi to the Rockies. Add the afternoon westerlies, a 20 to 40 mph headwind, and have fun with that lil engine. IF it can maintain speed, its likely doing so at screamingly high RPMs, making for a noisy ride and a short lived engine.
Sure for a few tens of thousands of miles the turbo is going to do better at altitude than a normally aspirated engine. But adding a turbo to a tiny gas engine that has to work hard most of the time, like a real truck? Well that ain't going to last long. Maybe 100,000 if your are super lucky, cross your heart, pray to Mary, or any other god you worship, cause its just as likely that God will be able to fix it for less than 10 large when that engine bows its top.
"See TFL's Ike test"
Maybe there is a generic I4 that would be fine but compared to every other utility I4T I can think of this has less displacement, higher pressure and higher output. It also makes its peak outputs at (slightly) higher RPM than most other turbo-4 engines. Plus, Stellantis had cooling issues on their last turbo-4. And this dual-combustion setup has apparently only been used on Maseratis and Formula 1 cars in the past.
I also don't get the sudden faith. It is the same company. If they can't build a satisfactory oil cooler or camshaft then why have confidence in the reliability this time?
Also, if we are talking about towing videos the GM 2.7L didn't look especially good here (or in its prior test). Although ironically for a daily driver it might be the most reliable option.