How so? It's bigger to compete with the other vehicles in its class, and it'll have a 3rd row seating option, again to compete with everything else in its class.

So it's got IRS, so what? Everything else it competes with in the market has IRS already anyway, so it stands to reason they'd put it on the Grand Cherokee as well. It's not like there's lots of people who buy NEW Grand Cherokees and lift them, and with all the sophisticated traction control systems it's not like you need the kind of suspension articulation you get with solid axles (I'd even wager the new GC will have more wheel travel than the current WK).

If you want 4 doors and solid axles, buy a Wrangler Unlimited. Just about as much room as the current Grand Cherokee and available with just about all the same wiz-bang features, other than a V8 and full-time 4WD. A Wrangler will be far better suited for off-road use anyway.

Now, all that said, yeah, I wish all Jeeps had solid axles front and rear. I also wish Jeeps were only available in 4WD (hey, it's worked for Land Rover and HUMMER...). Realistically though, Jeep has to compete with the other SUVs on the road, whether it's with the Ford Escape and the CRV or the Nissan Pathfinder and the Chevy Traverse. Chrysler isn't big enough to support Jeep as a specialty niche brand, though that would be nice. If that was the case, then they should just get ride of everything but the Wrangler, since that's the only Jeep model truly suited for real off-road use, especially now that they've got a 4-dr Wrangler model in the line-up.

Personally, I think that always going bigger with SUVs is a mistake. Every new redesign simply makes the vehicles bigger and bigger. I can't see how the 3rd row in this new GC will be any better than the 3rd row that was in the Commander, which was awful, unless you put someone back there with no legs. Maybe I will be proven wrong.

As for your comment: "Realistically though, Jeep has to compete with the other SUVs on the road, whether it's with the Ford Escape and the CRV or the Nissan Pathfinder and the Chevy Traverse. Chrysler isn't big enough to support Jeep as a specialty niche brand, though that would be nice."

I completely disagree. Leave the grocery getters to Dodge or Chrysler. I dont see the reason for a stretched out GC with 3 or 4 rows of seating.

I think they should have gone for a better interior on the existing GC, and left the size the same or even smaller (yes smaller) and improved the off road capability.

Of course this is coming from someone with an 07 GC that takes it offroad, camping etc. I have a GF and a dog, but no kids. So I am biased....

You are probably right that this will be my last GC. I would have gotten the 4 dr wrangler, but the engine choice and MPG, and quality of the interior on the Wrangler turned me off completely.

I hope this new GC is a big success for Jeep. Lord knows they need it. I just think its the wrong direction, and a wrong direction that SUV makers have been traveling down for a long time. I figured Chrysler would have realized this... but I guess now.

I second that. Bigger, bigger, bigger... they're driving the company off a cliff.

LOL Solid axels are the way to go. Independent s good but manly Jeeps have solids. Lol no offence to anyone that has IFS