We drove a $58,000 Jeep Grand Cherokee and a $65,000 Land Rover Discovery to see which is the better SUV

December 31, 2018

We drove a $58,000 Jeep Grand Cherokee and a $65,000 Land Rover Discovery to see which is the better SUV — here's the verdict

Jeep Grand Cherokee HEMI

Jeep and Land Rover are two of the most experienced brands in the world when it comes to building SUVs.
With the Jeep Grand Cherokee and the Land Rover Discovery, car buyers can get a dose of rugged off-road capability with everyday luxury.
At the end of the day, the Land Rover Discovery's modern design and superior driving dynamics came out on top.

Jeep and Land Rover. Few can rival the duo when it comes to building rugged SUVs. But with the SUV market surging, everyone is jumping into the pond. As a result, that pond is quickly filling with posers — passenger car-based crossovers masquerading as the "real deal." Let's just say you might not want to take one of these vehicles down a rocky trail.

Fortunately for the off-roading faithful, the Jeep Grand Cherokee and the Land Rover Discovery aren't just surviving. They are thriving.

The current fourth-generation Jeep Grand Cherokee has been a critical and sales success since it debuted in 2011. It's widely considered to be the best and most complete vehicle to ever carry the vaunted Jeep badge. On the other hand, Land Rover's fifth-generation Discovery arrived new for the 2017 model year. It's been a solid hit for Jaguar Land Rover's burgeoning lineup of premium SUVs.

With the Disco and the Grand Cherokee, off-road ruggedness is also complemented by a healthy dose of luxury, which is becoming more and more prevalent these days. After all, the vast majority of these SUVs will never see anything more rugged than an unpaved driveway.

Over the past year, we were able to experience both the Grand Cherokee Summit and the Discovery HSE Luxury on the roads in and around New York City. So which one is better? The grizzled veteran or Britain's newest hot shot? Let's take a look at the Grand Cherokee and the Discovery:

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Up first is the Jeep Grand Cherokee.

Our test car was a posh Summit edition. It's one of the 10 trim levels offered by Jeep. The base Grand Cherokee starts at $30,695, while our luxurious Hemi-powered Summit edition with four-wheel-drive starts at $57,790.

In case you're wondering, the top-of-the-line 707-horsepower Trackhawk starts at an eye-watering $86,000.