- Doors and Seats
5 doors, 5 seats
- Engine
3.0DT, 6 cyl.
- Engine Power
184kW, 570Nm
- Fuel
Diesel 7.5L/100KM
- Manufacturer
4XD
- Transmission
Auto
- Warranty
5 Yr, 100000 KMs
- Ancap Safety
NA
2017 Jeep Grand Cherokee Trailhawk new car review
Watching the barge appear through the misty early morning sunrise for the 15-minute water crossing gives an inkling of the adventure ahead.
Our waiting area is the beach we camped on the night before, not far from Steep Point, the western-most point of mainland Australia. Our target is Dirk Hartog Island in Shark Bay, mid-way up the Western Australia coast.
Only a decade ago this place was pastoral land, once leveraging global demand for wool. Prior to that it was used for pearling, among other industries.
But its history runs deep – 401 years deep.
In 1616 Dutch explorer Dirk Hartog made the first recorded landing of Europeans on Australia, leaving an inscribed pewter plate signifying his visit.
These days the adventure is made more by road than sea.
Our mission is to explore an island slowly turning to tourism, in a low-key way.
Stretching more than 80km north and up to 15km across, only 20 cars are allowed on the island at one time and the only way to get them here is by boat.
It’s remote, harsh and sparsely populated, three things Australia does very well.
Trail blazing
Our chosen ride is the Trailhawk version of the Jeep Grand Cherokee, a car with aspirations of unsettling the likes of the Toyota Prado or Ford Everest.
The Trailhawk is from the biggest four-wheel drive brand from the most powerful country in the west.
Jeep in Australia has been through a testing period in recent years, watching sales tumble as the tide quickly turned on stratospheric and, ultimately, unsustainable growth.
The Trailhawk is at the pointy end of an imminent product offensive that includes a new entry-level Compass and a replacement for the most iconic of Jeeps, the Wrangler.
It’s the most off-road capable of Jeep’s most luxurious model.
What better place to test it than the most westerly point of Australia and one of the harshest and most remote corners of a country known for being tough on cars?
First things first
Even getting to Dirk Hartog is an adventure. It’s almost 900km north of Perth on generally great 110km/h highways.
But the last hundred-odd kays is gravel that’s occasionally thick in corrugations interspersed with patches of soft sand.
The closest fuel stop is 180km away, so fuel management is crucial; once you get off the island you have to make it 180km back to a bowser.
With a 93-litre tank, the Trailhawk gets off to a good start. Claimed fuel use is 7.5 litres per 100km, something achievable during gentle cruising but a figure that gets into double digits over rougher terrain.
Still, that allows a couple of hundred kilometres of exploring on DHI without having to carry extra.
Sea to land
Rolling off the single-car Hartog Explorer gives the Trailhawk its first test.
Raising the air suspension to its highest setting ensures the bumpers won’t scuff the soft sand.
It’s also a first taste of the Quadra-Drive four-wheel drive system, which incorporates a limited slip rear differential for added traction. But it’s the nicely tailored electronics helping trudge through the bogginess that make progress that little bit easier.
We’ve got tyre pressures lowered to about 22psi, enough to allow them to bag out slightly, increasing the surface area – and, therefore, traction.
The 274mm of ground clearance also means there’s no chance of the belly scraping, although if it does there’s plenty of solid chunks of metal to brush it away.
Back to basics
While it’s a dot on the Australian map, an hour of meandering through rutted sandy tracks, often overhung with vegetation, reinforces that this is a big island.
Devoid of bitumen, it’s the domain of proper off-roaders.
While soft-roaders could tackle plenty of the trails, especially towards the southern end, the variability and unpredictability means high clearance is required at least some of the time. Especially if you want to divert from the script.
Driving is largely limited to formed tracks, but some aren’t marked on the basic map outlining the highlights.
A diversion across rolling sand dunes has us at the highest point of the island, in turn heading to the western edge. Along the way is a spectacular wall of sand that looks like a wave frozen as it is breaking.
Despite the immense natural beauty of DHI it’s a stark demonstration of nature at its harshest.
Trees are non-existent, with hardy shrubs and spikey grasses clawing into the dry sand, somehow surviving against often blustery winds.
There’s a harsh beauty to the landscape, one truncated at its boundaries by clear, pounding water.
North and west
On our first full day we hit the road north towards Cape Inscription, named because it was once the location of the plaque that is now housed in a museum in the Netherlands.
There’s the occasional smoother, flatter section where you can top, say, 60km/h.
But corrugations, dips and rocky patches prevail, making for slow – albeit steady – progress.
It pays to keep an eye on the Trailhawk’s air suspension, which lowers from its highest setting above 40km/h; press a button and it’s heading skyward again.
Now carrying less gear – we offloaded some at our overnight digs - the Grand Cherokee’s rump is less susceptible to bouncing in the rear, as it was when more heavily laden.
The views at Cape Inscription and nearby Turtle Bay are spectacular, something we soon realise is the domain of so much of the island.
Peering off the high cliffs makes you think not much has changed here in hundreds of years.
The original pewter plaque is gone, but in its place a replica reminding of the history of a location visited by other explorers, including Willem de Vlamingh in 1697.
Turning point
There are also constant reminders of the pastoral heritage of the island.
An abandoned shearing shed and old machinery lays decaying, some of the many relics.
It’s in contrast to the lighthouse and nearby quarters at Cape Inscription, which are in excellent condition.
Blame it partially on the makeup of the island these days.
Most is under the control of WA’s Department of Parks and Wildlife, but the northern tip is heritage listed so falls under a different classification.
Then there’s freehold, including the patch owned and managed by Kieran Wardle, great grandson of former Perth mayor Sir Thomas Wardle, who purchased the leasehold back in 1968.
Wild and free
Three generations of Wardles have managed the island, with Kieran turning to eco-tourism in the 1990s as it became clear farming would not survive.
That relative immaturity as a tourist destination is partly what makes DHI so appealing.
It’s no Noosa, not even a Simpson Desert, yet it’s loaded with natural beauty - and teeming with marine life.
At many points north and west there are glimpses of migrating humpbacks – sometimes a dozen or so in view. You may see an orca or, at certain times of the year, dugongs and turtles.
At Surf Point in the south-west corner is a bluff with (more) stunning views looking down on a shallow bay packed with reef sharks.
Wading out in knee deep water is an experience few parts of Australia – or the world – can provide, but one I wasn’t about to miss. They look menacing but are, ultimately, timid.
The plethora of marine animals is something that could soon be matched by wildlife on the land.
By the end of this year hundreds of animals once native to the island will have been reintroduced as part of the Return to 1616 plan to restore the island to its pre-European state.
The monumental effort to eradicate goats, sheep, feral cats and other pests has created a unique sanctuary that over the next decade will see native animals translocated with the hope of building populations.
High and low
Having an off-roader means you can explore almost every corner of the island.
From the cliffs that tower on the western fringe to the more protected eastern side and the rolling sand dunes in between.
The Grand Cherokee traverses most of it with ease. Its 3.0-litre V6 turbo diesel is muscular and smooth, although over tricky off-road sections it requires careful modulation of the throttle so as not to unleash the full 570Nm torrent. The Kevlar-reinforced Goodyear tyres are a handy backup against punctures.
On more challenging side trips it might kick a wheel in the air, a product of its independent suspension that doesn’t allow as much droop as some off-roaders, albeit ones more compromised on-road.
The only section that stops it is a vast section of soft, exposed dunes.
More pace and more right foot likely would have got us through, but it wasn’t worth the risk, especially with so much else to explore.
Besides, help out here could be days away. And because of the limitations on traffic you can go for hours without seeing anyone, so getting stuck doesn’t hold much appeal, even with our flashy red tow hooks that are included as part of the Trailhawk package.
Home sweet home
Accommodation on DHI is limited, with bush camping or dedicated camp sites alongside the main homestead still owned by the Wardle family.
Or it’s shacking up at the main Island Lodge, a rustic strip of rooms on a secluded beach with its own tiny island within a decent swim of shore.
Everything is laid back and relaxing. And it doesn’t take long to understand Kieran has a deep passion and connection with an island he has seen undergo a significant transformation.
Australia calling
Driving back to the beach for the barge trip back to the mainland is a reminder of how special Dirk Hartog Island is.
It’s also a reminder of how comparatively easy modern off-roaders have made it to experience some of the wildest, most spectacular and remote parts of the world.
The Grand Cherokee is not perfect – no off-roader is – but it has proved a trusty companion for this adventure.
Next step for Jeep is convincing more Australians that the likes of the Trailhawk are suited to terrain such as this.
2017 Jeep Grand Cherokee Trailhawk
Price: $74,000, plus on-road costs
Engine: 3.0-litre V6 turbo diesel
Power: 184kW at 4000rpm
Torque: 570Nm at 2000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto, four-wheel drive
Fuel use: 7.5L/100km