Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT Vs. Trackhawk: What's The Difference?

When Jeep debuted the Grand Cherokee for the 1993 model year, the vehicle was met with almost universal adoration by consumers. The vehicle's reception wasn't entirely a surprise, of course, as it hit the street heralded as a luxury-minded version of Jeep's beloved Cherokee 4x4. The vehicle lived up to that billing in the early 1990s, and continues to live up to it today. So much so that the Grand Cherokee has long-surpassed its predecessor as the big dog in Jeep's greater Cherokee lineup.

As Jeep fans no doubt know, the Grand Cherokee has undergone several generational upgrades, each upping the ante in terms of style, power, and luxury. But in regard to that second factor, some might argue that Jeep's design team took the Grand Cherokee places nobody could've anticipated with the performance-minded SRT and Trackhawk builds. Those Grand Cherokee models debuted in 2006 and 2018 respectively, and each dramatically changed the game for the build in terms of raw, under-the-hood power.

That design approach likely surprised even the most ardent of Grand Cherokee faithful, as horsepower and performance were never exactly the primary purpose of the sport utility vehicles. But fans quickly became enamored with the performance packages, with each becoming favorites of the Grand Cherokee lineup. As members of that lineup, the builds, understandably, looked a lot alike from the outside, making it difficult for some to distinguish them on the road. That's because it's what's under the hood that sets these two high-powered SUVs apart.

We'll begin with the Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT, as it preceded the Trackhawk by nearly a decade. If you are wondering what, exactly, that SRT stands for, those letters are an acronym for Street Racing Technology, meaning this Grand Cherokee was indeed built to burn up the asphalt when the need arose. No, the SRT was never officially a racing vehicle, but with those first gen models packing 6.1L Hemi V8 power, they could surely hold their own against any similarly souped-up builds of the day.

If you're curious, that Hemi V8 could pump out a whopping 420 hp, giving the Grand Cherokee SRT almost unrivaled output in the sport utility vehicle sector. Those beastly SUVs were also outfitted with Brembo brakes, Bilstein shocks, and track ready tires, giving them a formidable presence on the freeways and suburban streets of the world. 

The speedy SUV enjoyed a five-year run in the Grand Cherokee lineup until Jeep paused the program in 2011. The SRT package didn't stay dead long, with Jeep bringing it back in the 2012 model year, doing so with an even more powerful Hemi V8 that pushed the ponies up to 470 hp. In 2024, the SRT is still available on Grand Cherokees, though the 470 hp Hemi V8 is no longer the only engine option for the package, with Jeep also offering the 3.6L Pentastar V6 under the hood and even making a punchy hybrid model. While the Pentastar's 293 hp is nothing to shake a stick at, the hybrid version's 375 hp is beyond impressive, and even delivers a punchy 470 lb-ft of torque to boot.  

If you thought Jeep's engineering team had gone overboard in giving the Grand Cherokee Hemi V8 horsepower, your jaw probably hit the floor in 2018 when the brand introduced the Hellcat powered Trackhawk. You read that correctly, Chrysler actually lent Jeep the fabled Hellcat for use under the hood of the Grand Cherokee. Especially, with the aptly named Trackhawk using that supercharged engine to best the SRT in the horsepower department by more than 230 hp. 

Yep, when all was said and done the 6.2-liter supercharged Hellcat V8 delivered a mind-blowing 707 hp to Jeep's beloved luxury-minded sport utility build, making it one of the fastest production SUVs to ever hit the roadways. In fact, Jeep was touting the Trackhawk as a low-key track-tuned build by 2021, with the vehicle backing that big talk up with a 0-60 mph time of just 3.5 seconds. 

Yeah, we don't really know what any Grand Cherokee driver would actually need with that sort of power output, either. But we'd also be beyond curious to get behind the wheel of such an SUV, particularly one with so much get up and go, as the Hellcat was also delivering 645 lb-ft of torque. For the record, that mix of power and torque also gave the track-ready Trackhawk the ability to pull up to 7,200 pounds. Unfortunately, Jeep stopped making the Grand Cherokee Trackhawk in 2022. Nonetheless, the vehicle's legacy is as strong as ever, with used models still selling for more than $80,000.