TrueDelta Reviews the Seat Room and Comfort of the 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee
2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee Seat Room and Comfort: Pros
Year
Comment
2013
You can buy a BMW X5 or Porsche Cayenne with tame front seats, but not the Grand Cherokee SRT8. In the Jeep, SRT's signature buckets are standard. Large, firm bolsters provide excellent lateral support even to those of us with slender builds. Yet they're also comfortable, with enough padding to avoid park bench references. The four-way adjustable lumbar didn't do much for my back, but your experience may vary. Moving to the back seat, the Grand Cherokee's growth adds a couple of badly needed inches to legroom. With this improvement the Grand Cherokee only matches other similarly sized SUVs, so it's not a reason to buy. But rear seat legroom is no longer a reason not to buy, so it bears mentioning.
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What Our Members Are Saying about the Seat Room and Comfort of the 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee
2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee Seat Room and Comfort: Pros
Year
Body/Powertrain
Comment
2014
4dr SUV 290-horsepower 3.6L V6 8-speed shiftable automatic AWD w/low range
The cabin is a very serene place to be, aided by the comfortable front seats. With the leather seat option, both front seats and two rear seats came with seat heaters. Also, both front seats are power adjustable, including height and lumbar. The lumbar support is great for long trips, allowing you to change wear the seat contacts your back for less overall fatigue.
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TrueDelta Reviews the Seat Room and Comfort of the 2013 Dodge Durango
2013 Dodge Durango Seat Room and Comfort: Pros
Year
Comment
2014
The Durango's relatively narrow width, a plus for handling, has the opposite impact on interior room. These are very much two sides of the same coin. Because the Durango's cabin isn't terribly wide it feels more agile than wider SUVs. But three passengers in the second row don't have as much space to spread out--those in a Nissan Pathfinder enjoy a couple more inches of shoulder room--and only two people can sit in the third row. (The Honda Pilot, Toyota Highlander, and GM's large crossovers all have three belts back there.) Leg room in the Durango is much more competitive, but still a few inches short of class leading.
This said, comfort isn't only a matter of interior dimensions. Both of the Durango's rear rows are well-upholstered and positioned higher off the floor than the three-row crossover norm. This benefits both thigh support and outward visibility. The Hyundai Santa Fe isn't far off in this regard, but the Nissan Pathfinder's seats are much closer to the floor, and less hospitable to adults as a result. Among the three, I'd prefer to be a rear seat passenger in the Dodge. Among large conventional SUVs, the Ford Expedition has a more comfortable third row, but the Chevrolet Tahoe (which retains a live rear axle despite a comprehensive redesign for the 2015 model year) doesn't come close. And the foot-shorter 4Runner? Its XXS third-row seat is best saved for emergencies.
On the other side of the ledger, the Durango does have a higher floor than the typical car-based crossover. Getting in and out isn't as easy. This vies with curb weight as the top disadvantage of the Durango's conventional SUV configuration.
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What Our Members Are Saying about the Seat Room and Comfort of the 2013 Dodge Durango
2013 Dodge Durango Seat Room and Comfort: Cons
Year
Body/Powertrain
Comment
2012
4dr SUV 290-horsepower 3.6L V6 5-speed shiftable automatic AWD
There was very little bolstering on the sides of the seat bottoms. I was not able to find a comfortable seating position in the Durango
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