2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee Cheaper by Over $3,000; Wrangler Gets Pentastar V6

Jeep has just announced that the fourth-generation Jeep Grand Cherokee will see a big reduction in price for the 2012 model year. In addition, the engine range of the popular SUV will get a few tweaks to help optimize fuel economy, while the Wrangler now comes with the award-winning Pentastar V6 engine at no change in price.

The 2012 Grand Cherokee, on sale next month, will reportedly drop $3,220 off the base price of the Laredo trim level with two-wheel drive model that will retail for just $26,995. As Kicking Tires reports, they’ve dropped the eight-way power driver’s seat from the 2012 model, a feature that was standard on the 2011 one. In addition, the Laredo's leather seating package now costs a whopping $5,300 instead of $4,000.

The 5.7-liter V8 model now comes with a six-speed automatic transmission that replaces the old five-speed. The model equipped with the 3.6-liter Pentastar V6 will now come with electro-hydraulic power-assisted steering.

New fuel economy figures for the V8 have yet to be released, but the V6’s figures show a gain of one city mile per gallon in the case of the RWD model and one highway mile per gallon for the AWD one.

As for the Wrangler, the rugged off-roader will now come with the new Pentastar V6 giving it a full 290 horsepower to play with. The only problem is that the five-speed automatic has been kept. The updated model can now report both efficiency and power increases, while the base price for the Wrangler remains $22,045.