If you\'re looking for a great all around family vehicle, towing vehicle, trip vehicle, and off-roading vehicle, then the newly redesigned Jeep Grand Cherokee is an excellent choice.

With independent front and rear air suspension with 4.1 inches of height travel, optional 5.7L Hemi V8 power and a rated tow rating of 7200 pounds makes this an excellent vehicle for the adventurous family.

We bought our 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland just over a year ago and have had it on many trips so far.  The main trip I will refer to is the trip up to Silver Lake Sand Dunes in Western Michigan. 

Our family has a 25 foot boat that we tow behind this Jeep.  The trip to Silver Lake is approximately 400 miles from where we live.  One would think that towing such a large boat behind a Jeep Grand Cherokee would be a difficult task....they\'d be wrong, because it isn\'t!  When the 6900 pound boat/trailer is hooked up to the back of our Jeep, you would barely notice it is there other than when it comes to make a tight turn in a city.  The air suspension levels out the load of the boat and all the passengers and luggage in the vehicle, the \"tow/haul\" mode programs the Jeep to maximize its power for towing.  The Hemi V8 has plenty of power to move the vehicle on the highway and even at 75MPH, the rig feels very stable.  This is all done while still averaging 15 miles per gallon!

Once we arrived at our destination, we of course had the \"itch\" to take the new Jeep out on the sand dunes for a little test to see how it would do.  With 5 passengers in the car and a bunch of beach gear, we set off.  Upon first getting to the dunes, we set the \"select terrain\" setting to \"sand/mud\" which engages the rear differential lock.  No matter what speed we went and where we went, this Jeep managed to keep moving.  I would recommend to keep it in the \"off-road 1\" ride height as \"off-road 2\" is higher but a much stiffer ride.  The only thing we did not do with this Jeep was take it up what is known as \"test hill\" as it is pretty rough and its hard to convince yourself to take a $45,000 brand new vehicle up a hill that could possibly make it go airborne!