Video: Saying Goodbye to Our Long-Term 2023 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4xe Trailhawk

Now, sometimes this can be a bit sad as we often grow fond of our long-term test vehicles. This is not one of those times. We're saying goodbye to our long-term 2023 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4xe Trailhawk, and I don't think anyone on staff is sad to see it go. (upbeat music) We named the Grand Cherokee, our best SUV of 2023, and we bought the 4xe Trailhawk because we thought it best represented the Grand Cherokee lineups combination of luxury, technology, and capability. We've done a lot with the Jeep Grand Cherokee since we bought it two years ago, but one of the things we haven't done quite as much as we planned was drive it. That's because we've spent literal months in and out of dealerships getting repairs done for some self-inflicted injuries and various recalls. Even filming this wrap up video was delayed by a recall for the hybrid system's battery pack, which posed a risk of fire and required us to park it outside of structures and away from vehicles, and also keep the battery depleted, so we had to take it in again. Now that we have a clean bill of health, we're doing this as quickly as we can before anything else goes wrong. The low light was the over $7,000 in damage done to the Jeep. We assume, during our loan attempt at off-roading it, we were so excited to have an off-road ready long-termer, and we were plotting all sorts of comparisons and fun events to attend, and then it broke after five months out of service, and a $7,200 bill, we got our Jeep back, and then had to take it back in for another serious repair after that to fix additional broken suspension components that left our alignment out of whack. Things got so bad with the Jeep that we actually deemed it newsworthy when we didn't take it in for repairs for a few months. Staff complaints also focused on the 4xe powertrain, which can be clunky and unrefined. We found our best driving experiences occurred in either all-electric driving or all-gas driving using the eSave mode that uses the gas engine to provide power and restore battery charge. Hybrid driving, however, especially when the battery was low, was a pain point, with jerky and clumsy transitions between gas and electric power. Our total cost of ownership after nearly two years is over $10,000. That includes repair bills, consumables, fuel costs, and electricity to charge the plugin hybrid, and that's a bit on the high side for a long-termer, at least in my memory. But usually, we don't rack up seven grand in repair bills, and we don't always keep long-termers for almost two years so they can rack up more charges. Speaking of fuel costs, over almost 15,000 miles of driving, we've spent $3,021.68 on just under 658 gallons of gas. By our calculations, our average fuel economy was 21.6 miles per gallon. That's below the 4xe's 23 miles per gallon combined rating, but not that far below. According to the Jeep's trip computer, our average fuel economy was a slightly lower 21 miles per gallon even. Those numbers are likely skewed by a long stretch of being unable to charge the Grand Cherokee because of the aforementioned battery recall. Without being able to use the plugin hybrid system, we were driving around with significant dead weight. It hasn't been all bad though. Our staff appreciated the Jeep's ability to comfortably carry cargo and people, and praised its luxurious high tech interior that's held up fairly well despite our abuses. As you can see, it is not very clean, but it's also not very creaky either. Ultimately, our ownership experience was a frustrating mix of highs and lows and delays as it seemed like our Jeep was just constantly in the dealership for service. So would we buy a Jeep Grand Cherokee 4xe Trailhawk again? No, all of our staff gave that a resounding no. But some were so put off by the experience that they're wary of any Jeep purchase for our next long-termer. While others were more forgiving, but probably not looking at another 4xe powertrain. Personally, I'd be fine with a Grand Cherokee with a gas engine, but I might wait for the next generation because there's a chance that it could get the Hurricane inline-six cylinder, which would go a long way to replacing the discontinued V8. Now, if we're not gonna get a Jeep, but we are thinking about an off-road SUV, what would we get instead? The Toyota 4Runner and Land Cruiser? The Land Cruiser is actually our best SUV of 2025, came up multiple times, and there was a general willingness to consider a hybrid powertrain, but a conventional one, not a plugin hybrid. And now it's time to bid goodbye to our Jeep, or as some of my colleagues might say, "Good riddance." For more on what's next with our long-term test fleet, you can find it all at cars.com/news.