We review the Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 from price to economy and all its features

IF you want an outrageous performance SUV you would think of a Porsche Cayenne, BMW X5M or Range Rover Supercharged.

But this is one of America’s finest — for a fraction of the price. This is the stonkingly quick Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8.

The SRT stands for Jeep’s Street and Racing Technology team and they have added a huge 6.4litre HEMI V8 to Jeep’s flagship off-roader, so it now produces 461bhp and can sprint from 0-62mph in five seconds — not bad for a car that weighs almost 2.5 tonnes.

For that sort of performance, you would have to pay £30,000 more than the SRT8’s £58,995 asking price for a Porsche Cayenne Turbo.

OK, admittedly we are still talking Lottery- winning money — but if I were the Bayfields, who just scooped £148million, I would be thinking of getting this SRT8. It’s as much fun as you can have with your clothes on.

You would have to pay at least double to get this sort of acceleration experience in a Ferrari or Lamborghini.

Whack down your right foot and it roars all the way to 62mph in a blink of an eye.

Not only does the G-force glue you back into the seat but there’s an earthquaking roar from the V8 that rips into your soul.

Perhaps even more amusingly, when you are even just sitting at traffic lights the V8 still rumbles at you, almost in frustration.

If you somehow don’t hear it coming, you won’t be able to miss it. The SRT8 has the look of an American footballer rushing at you at an alarming pace. The standard Grand Cherokee is already bulging with bundles of muscles. But the SRT8 is its bad boy brother that has overdosed on steroids.

It has huge air ducts in the bonnet, a more aggressive bodykit, LED running lights, a rear spoiler and a pair of whopping exhaust pipes. This is the little brother of an American truck.

Underneath the new body beautiful, Jeep have added an active damping system that incorporates four different selectable driving modes ranging from Auto to Track.

No matter which mode you opt for the comfy ride of the standard Cherokee has evaporated. In its place is a much firmer set-up that does manage to deal with potholes pretty well.

‘Sport’ and ‘Track’ modes firm everything up even more but deliver impressive handling for a car this size. There’s a hint of body roll but plenty of grip, and while the steering is well weighted it feels a little slow to respond.

The only thing that wipes the permanent smile off your face is the economy figures. As you might expect from the 6.4litre V8, fuel consumption is eye-watering at under 20mpg — that’s despite a clever system that shuts off half of the engine’s cylinders under light acceleration.

But in context with the sticker price of its chief rivals Porsche, BMW and Range Rover — which have the same mpg figures — it doesn’t seem that bad after all.

And there’s the fact that it comes loaded with enough kit to fill a Comet store. It gets part-leather seats, a dual-pane sunroof, a 19-speaker stereo, sat-nav and adaptive cruise control.

Like the 300C, there won’t be many of these on UK roads so you get exclusivity. The only thing that is lacking is the luxury feel you would get in its premium rivals and, crucially, their badge kudos. But this SRT8 is still a lot of bang for your bucks.