Pulled this off jeep.com re supporting data underlying the Trail rating of the current vehicle lineup. I was somewhat surprised to see where the KLs stack up in terms of maneuverability. I can tell that my Trailhawk does not turn as tightly as the Grand Cherokee I drove for 14 years (based on where I end up on the road when pulling a U from the curb in front of my house), but I wasn't expecting it to be nearly 50% greater.
I don't know about numbers but turn radius was the very first thing I noticed, five seconds into my test drive on this KL (limited) vs. my 2002 Grand Cherokee (WJ) - the WJ was a lot more maneuverable. I went to turn a corner to exit the dealership and pretty much tried to take the line I would have in the WJ I drove there in... and noticed I wasn't going to make it. Bleh.
I noticed that first also! My old Liberty turned on a dime and I took a u-turn in the new Cherokee and almost slapped a curb. I assumed it would take the same space as the Liberty.
Lol honestly I thought my TH had awesome turning radius, I came from a ram 1500 though, couldnt turn worth a darn with that. Still not as good as my 08 Subaru wrx though! That thing could turn on a dime
Anyone know why turning radius big? Not a large car.
I think vision out of the Cherokee is pretty good, but is difficult to judge where wheels are when turning a corner -- and that's not good if turning radius surprisingly large.
My 2012 Ram 2500 Cummins had a great turning radius for a truck due to the live axle up front. Anything with IFS has a bad turning radius. My 2011 Frontier SV 4x4 had a HORRIBLE turning radius. Just the angles at which the suspension and steering can turn. But I do not have many issues with my Trailhawk. It does what I bought it for, minus liking to hide 1st, 2nd and 9th gears.
Even with the typo fixed its still a foot larger than the 2 door Wrangler. Is that right? I was kinda hoping for it to have a better turning circle than the Wrangler its replacing
(And a good few inches larger than the Grand Cherokees)
The turning radius on the THawk is slightly better than it was on our Mitsu Outlander, a fwd/ 4wd suv with about the same wheelbase. A week ago we took a narrow shelf trail up a steep mountainside (4.7% grade) with no problem whatsoever, except for collecting a pinstripe, and the turns were very tight. - Ted
I pull into the same parking space all the time... pulling almost a U-turn to do so.
The radius has always felt about the same as my old Patriot.
Maybe I just didn't have the Patriot fully turned and now I do with the TH.
hmm.
I had a Mitsubishi Outlander work car for a few years (2009 model) amd whenever I jumped in the JK and pulled into a car park I had to slam the brakes on suddenly realising it doesnt turn as well as the Mitsi. Now the TH is worse.again... sheesh.
And yeah Mark is spot on. I currently have a 2 door JK that Im trading in on the TH in a few weeks
I thought the turning radius was good- I do sharp u-turns all the time, and the TH is similar to my Honda FIT in this aspect of maneuverability. It is a wide vehicle, so one must adjust in tight turns.
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