TriShield
05-21-2008, 02:50 PM
Startling Sound, True Speed and Not Trail-Rated
http://a332.g.akamai.net/f/332/936/12h/www.edmunds.com//media/roadtests/roadtest/08.hennessey.jeep.grand.cherokee.srt530/08.jeep.hennessey.srt530.act.front.500.jpg
While Hennessey did much to increase the SRT530's straight-line acceleration, nothing was done to improve braking. And like an unmodified SRT8, the Hennessey dives like an attack sub under braking.
By Scott Oldham, Inside Line Editor in Chief
Date posted: 05-19-2008
530 horsepower - Zero to 60 in 4.6 seconds - 12.9-second quarter-mile
The guy in the Prius is actually afraid. It's in his eyes. Fear. Pure fear. No, wait, that's not fear. It's disgust. Pure disgust.
Perfect.
We're driving Hennessey Performance Engineering's SRT530 version of the Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8. Compared to the company's ludicrous 1,000-horsepower, twin-turbocharged version of the Ford GT we drove in April, this 530-horsepower Jeep is like getting a back rub, but to the optimist in the glorified golf cart it's the end of the freakin' world.
Must be the satanic rumble coming from our truck's two Howitzer-size exhaust pipes. This puppy isn't stock, and Al Gore in the next lane ain't happy about it. Apparently, an all-wheel-drive SUV with a 500-plus-horsepower 6.1-liter V8 and 20-inch wheels and tires doesn't fit into our friend's version of the world. It's too loud. Too fast. Too thirsty. Oh, and too much fun.
Don't worry, buddy. The light will turn green any second now and it will all be over. We'll leave you and your NPR podcast in the dust.
Classic Hot-Rodding
http://a332.g.akamai.net/f/332/936/12h/www.edmunds.com//media/roadtests/roadtest/08.hennessey.jeep.grand.cherokee.srt530/08.jeep.hennessey.srt530.act.prf.1.500.jpg
It looks like the box other Hennessey tuner vehicles come in, but the SRT530 will shoot itself to 60 mph in just 4.6 seconds without the help of turbochargers or nitrous.
This truck's creator, John Hennessey, has spent his career pissing off the Greenies. He swells Viper V10s so big they swallow up the atmosphere in country-size gulps. Then, when that isn't enough, he adds turbochargers, with turbines so enormous they ought to be hanging under the wings of 747s. He's king of the Silver State Classic and lord high chancellor of the Texas Mile. No matter how stupidly fast a car is from its original factory, Hennessey is sure he can make it faster. He even has an active tuning program for the Bugatti Veyron.
With its 420-hp 6.1-liter Hemi engine, the Grand Cherokee SRT8 already qualifies as the most ridiculously overpowered production Jeep ever. It's also clearly the quickest, slashing to 60 mph in just 5.2 seconds and thumping through the quarter-mile in 13.49 seconds at 102.24 mph. For a vehicle that weighs in at 4,788 pounds and has the aerodynamics of an adobe hacienda, that's blazing.
Still, Hennessey knew the Jeep could go faster. Much faster.
Get Wrenching
http://a332.g.akamai.net/f/332/936/12h/www.edmunds.com//media/roadtests/roadtest/08.hennessey.jeep.grand.cherokee.srt530/08.jeep.hennessey.srt530.act.f34.1.500.jpg
As capable as the SRT530 is at turning, understeer is still the truck's dominant handling characteristic.
To find speed, Hennessey ports the cylinder heads and punches the Hemi's compression ratio up from 10.3:1 to 10.6:1. On the intake side a cold-air induction system keeps it fed with chilly oxygen. Meanwhile, exhaust is handled by stainless-steel long-tube headers, stainless-steel midpipes feeding high-flow catalytic converters and, finally, 3-inch stainless-steel pipes capped by 4-inch polished tips.
More suck. More squish. More bang. And more blow. It's a formula that has made horsepower for more than 100 years. But today you've got to bust out the laptop to make it all work, so Hennessey also cracks open the Jeep's engine management computer and reprograms it.
All those tweaks, twangs and tickles are enough, says Hennessey, to knock engine output at the crank up to 530 hp at 6,000 rpm and 530 pound-feet of peak torque at 4,200 rpm. That torque claim is particularly impressive, since the stock SRT8 produces its 420 lb-ft peak while the engine is spinning 600 rpm faster.
http://a332.g.akamai.net/f/332/936/12h/www.edmunds.com//media/roadtests/roadtest/08.hennessey.jeep.grand.cherokee.srt530/08.jeep.hennessey.srt530.act.front.500.jpg
While Hennessey did much to increase the SRT530's straight-line acceleration, nothing was done to improve braking. And like an unmodified SRT8, the Hennessey dives like an attack sub under braking.
By Scott Oldham, Inside Line Editor in Chief
Date posted: 05-19-2008
530 horsepower - Zero to 60 in 4.6 seconds - 12.9-second quarter-mile
The guy in the Prius is actually afraid. It's in his eyes. Fear. Pure fear. No, wait, that's not fear. It's disgust. Pure disgust.
Perfect.
We're driving Hennessey Performance Engineering's SRT530 version of the Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8. Compared to the company's ludicrous 1,000-horsepower, twin-turbocharged version of the Ford GT we drove in April, this 530-horsepower Jeep is like getting a back rub, but to the optimist in the glorified golf cart it's the end of the freakin' world.
Must be the satanic rumble coming from our truck's two Howitzer-size exhaust pipes. This puppy isn't stock, and Al Gore in the next lane ain't happy about it. Apparently, an all-wheel-drive SUV with a 500-plus-horsepower 6.1-liter V8 and 20-inch wheels and tires doesn't fit into our friend's version of the world. It's too loud. Too fast. Too thirsty. Oh, and too much fun.
Don't worry, buddy. The light will turn green any second now and it will all be over. We'll leave you and your NPR podcast in the dust.
Classic Hot-Rodding
http://a332.g.akamai.net/f/332/936/12h/www.edmunds.com//media/roadtests/roadtest/08.hennessey.jeep.grand.cherokee.srt530/08.jeep.hennessey.srt530.act.prf.1.500.jpg
It looks like the box other Hennessey tuner vehicles come in, but the SRT530 will shoot itself to 60 mph in just 4.6 seconds without the help of turbochargers or nitrous.
This truck's creator, John Hennessey, has spent his career pissing off the Greenies. He swells Viper V10s so big they swallow up the atmosphere in country-size gulps. Then, when that isn't enough, he adds turbochargers, with turbines so enormous they ought to be hanging under the wings of 747s. He's king of the Silver State Classic and lord high chancellor of the Texas Mile. No matter how stupidly fast a car is from its original factory, Hennessey is sure he can make it faster. He even has an active tuning program for the Bugatti Veyron.
With its 420-hp 6.1-liter Hemi engine, the Grand Cherokee SRT8 already qualifies as the most ridiculously overpowered production Jeep ever. It's also clearly the quickest, slashing to 60 mph in just 5.2 seconds and thumping through the quarter-mile in 13.49 seconds at 102.24 mph. For a vehicle that weighs in at 4,788 pounds and has the aerodynamics of an adobe hacienda, that's blazing.
Still, Hennessey knew the Jeep could go faster. Much faster.
Get Wrenching
http://a332.g.akamai.net/f/332/936/12h/www.edmunds.com//media/roadtests/roadtest/08.hennessey.jeep.grand.cherokee.srt530/08.jeep.hennessey.srt530.act.f34.1.500.jpg
As capable as the SRT530 is at turning, understeer is still the truck's dominant handling characteristic.
To find speed, Hennessey ports the cylinder heads and punches the Hemi's compression ratio up from 10.3:1 to 10.6:1. On the intake side a cold-air induction system keeps it fed with chilly oxygen. Meanwhile, exhaust is handled by stainless-steel long-tube headers, stainless-steel midpipes feeding high-flow catalytic converters and, finally, 3-inch stainless-steel pipes capped by 4-inch polished tips.
More suck. More squish. More bang. And more blow. It's a formula that has made horsepower for more than 100 years. But today you've got to bust out the laptop to make it all work, so Hennessey also cracks open the Jeep's engine management computer and reprograms it.
All those tweaks, twangs and tickles are enough, says Hennessey, to knock engine output at the crank up to 530 hp at 6,000 rpm and 530 pound-feet of peak torque at 4,200 rpm. That torque claim is particularly impressive, since the stock SRT8 produces its 420 lb-ft peak while the engine is spinning 600 rpm faster.