2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee: Operation Moose Hunt

For thousands of people in our country, moose hunting season is a time-honoured tradition. But since hunting means travelling to remote locations, you need a vehicle that can cope with bad roads and get you back home, hopefully, with the game.

The Car Guide entrusted a Jeep Grand Cherokee to two moose hunters headed to Clova in northwestern Quebec. Their mission was to try to bring back some huge antlers. Several vehicles were available, but this choice was motivated by the relative luxury of this model, its overall handling and, of course, for the qualities intrinsic to every Jeep: to drive over daunting back roads and trails.

Montreal to Clova
Since there aren’t any moose wandering around downtown Montreal, our two hunters made their way toward Clova, Quebec. Clova is a village located where the Haute-Mauricie and Abitibi regions meet 320 km north of Mont-Laurier and 30 km south of the Gouin Reservoir. Founded at the beginning of the 1930s, CIP Forest Products and the railroad helped it establish itself permanently. At its height between 1950 and 1970, there were about 600 villagers. At that time, many services existed for the good of the community. Then, the company pulled out and now this town is practically a ghost town where only a few service businesses subsist. Interestingly, electricity for the village and the outfitters is provided by diesel generators, and all day long you can hear their constant hum.

Before hitting the road, they loaded the vehicle with all the gear you might need for this type of excursion, including a trailer carrying an ATV. It’s about a five-hour trip from Montreal to Clova and, throughout the trip, the two travel companions were impressed by the Jeep’s comfort, handling and ability to tow the 500-kg (1,100 lbs.) trailer. They could barely even tell it was there since, with the 5.7-litre V8 Hemi, the maximum towing capacity is 3,500 kg (7,700 pounds). Also note that the Limited version is equipped with a towing stabilizer that helps reduce trailer sway.

What’s more, the test model came with leather seats that were both heated and air conditioned. In fact, even the second-row seats are heated. And on such remote roads, radio reception was not an issue, thanks to the Sirius satellite radio. It certainly helped fill the long hours of silence.

With a 360-hp engine, the accelerations impressed our two travellers, even with the trailer hitched to the back. On back roads, passing can sometimes be dangerous, but given the Grand Cherokee’s pick-up, passing other vehicles was very safe.

Of course, with engine displacement and power like this, fuel consumption is going to suffer. However, despite the fact that the vehicle was heavily loaded, average fuel consumption was 17 L/100 km, which isn’t bad. Note that it has a variable-displacement engine with cylinder deactivation technology when the vehicle doesn’t have a heavy load. The model used was a 2011 version. For 2012, the automatic gearbox has been modified and will feature six speeds instead of five, which should help lower the vehicle’s overall fuel consumption.

To the woods!

To get to the outfitter, they had to take a dirt road that, although still maintained, would definitely pose a problem for normal cars. Once more, the Jeep made it without the slightest problem. The suspension turned out to be relatively comfortable while the steering was sufficiently precise. In fact, throughout the excursion on the outfitter’s territory, the Grand Cherokee was always up to the task thanks to its Select-Terrain programmable all-wheel drive system that allows you to optimize traction according to driving or surface conditions. You can set it to Sand/Mud, Sport, Snow, Auto or Rock. Furthermore, our test vehicle was equipped with the Quadra-Lift pneumatic suspension that helped adjust its position according to conditions. Thus, you can raise the vehicle by 104 mm (4 inches) depending on the situation.

Just one problem

Basically, the test itself went swimmingly. The Grand Cherokee surpassed our two hunters/test drivers’ expectations. They were impressed. Sure, the dashboard isn’t very original and could use more storage spaces, but the overall evaluation was very positive. Its handling on the open road is nearly irreproachable and they sang the praises of the efficiency of its all-wheel drive.

Unfortunately, the hunt itself wasn’t as successful. Indeed, the trip took place at the start of the hunting season and temperatures were still too warm. Way too warm! It was 30 degrees Celsius hundreds of kilometres north of the city! In short, there were no moose to be found and our hunters came back empty-handed. Is it mean to rub it in? Maybe, but don’t forget that these same two individuals didn’t have any success when we sent them fishing either. Fortunately, thanks to their vehicle’s comfort, the return trip didn’t seem as long as it might have.