2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT

Many a spring vacation starts and ends with a pile of overstuffed suitcases and backpacks crammed along with their respective owners into the family minivan, sedan or sport-utility vehicle. It's either for a round trip to the local airport or a long slog to and from a beach locale somewhere in the (hopefully) warmer and sunnier South.

Once at the destination, the vehicle—whether driven from home or rented on arrival—becomes an afterthought, an appliance that sits parked until the beer cooler or the SPF 50 runs low, or unless it's called upon for a run to a theme park or local entertainment establishment. Regardless, you've probably given much more thought to your destination than your choice of spring-break wheels.

We propose a compromise—try thinking of your motorized travel partner as an integral and equally important element of a successful spring trip. If sloth and gluttony are your goals, along with a substantial dose of sunshine and saltwater, pick from the plethora of utilitarian vehicles available. If economy is your primary driver, you, your tent and your hybrid will make out just fine. But if you choose a more active vacation—where quick bursts of speed, hard cornering and sudden stops are a big part of the postcard—only a proper performance vehicle will do.

For our spring snow-sports adventure to the mountains of Colorado, we knew we'd want a vehicle with utility to spare but also one with high-performance credentials—a vehicle as capable of hauling a load as it would be hustling from 0 to 60. Knowing that we'd be spending the week driving cross-country and then running through a gauntlet of twisty mountain roads, powering from peak to peak in search of white gold, we wanted a vehicle that promised solid SUV functionality and long-haul driveability, along with the kind of handling and performance we'd need in a high-altitude environment. From the very short list of high-performance sport-utility vehicles on the market (see sidebar), we chose the all-new 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT as a keen example of the segment. Did we mention that we needed to carry skis?

The 2012 Grand Cherokee SRT is the latest of the breed, built on the fourth-generation Grand Cherokee that debuted as a 2011 model (and promptly claimed our inaugural Autoweek Best of the Best/ Truck award). Our vehicle of choice came dressed to the nines in brilliant black crystal paint, with only the SRT badging, wicked blacked-out grille and dual-vent hood hinting at the monster hidden beneath. Our tester was accessorized by Mopar with a beefy Thule roof rack ($276) and ski/snowboard carrier ($172), and a Mopar-option, dealerinstalled Wi-Fi wireless kit ($508) tucked under the front passenger seat.

In SRT trim, Jeep upgrades the engine to a Godzilla-level 6.4-liter, 470-hp, 465-lb-ft V8, hooked to a paddle-shifted five-speed automatic transmission sending power to all four wheels via Jeep's Moab-tested Quadra-Trac four-wheel-drive system. The SRT powertrain massaging assured that the vehicle would easily hit our requirement for quickness: Chrysler says the Grand Cherokee SRT is its best-performing Jeep ever, running from 0 to 60 mph in 4.8 seconds and the quarter-mile in the 13s, with a top speed of 160 mph.

The Jeep's chassis also gets the SRT treatment that effectively turns the Grand Cher-okee from capable mountain goat into a taut and muscular mountain lion. At the center of it all is the SRT's Selec-Track system, which allows five settings (automatic, sport, tow, track and snow) for stability control, damping, transmission shifts, torque proportioning, throttle response and electronic limited-slip differential performance.

Special steering tuning and Bilstein adaptive damping provide a claimed 0.90 g of cornering force, while bright red Brembo calipers (six-piston fronts, four-piston rears) clamp 15-inch front and 13.8-inch rear vented rotors to bring the 5,150-pound SUV (6,500 pounds fully loaded) to a halt from 60 mph in just 116 feet. We ran on standard-issue Pirelli Scorpion Verde All-Season P295/45ZR 20-inch run-flat tires mounted on factory-forged aluminum wheels. Jeep recommends Pirelli P Zeros for maximum warm-weather grip, but we shied away from the three-season rubber in the hope of running into a spring snow squall.

The cabin of our machine came with standard SRT trim —deeply bolstered leather SRT seats with suede inserts, a heated, leather-wrapped, flat-bottomed steering wheel, carbon-fiber accent trim and plenty of space for four to spread out. We skipped the available rear-seat entertainment system and instead relied on the Wi-Fi system to keep laptops, game machines, phones and iPads wirelessly linked to the Inter-net and all the media options it has to offer. Multiple power ports (12-volt DC and 110-volt AC) kept everything running, while the built-in navigation system kept us on course.

Having traveled many miles with various forms of built-in or carried-on entertainment systems, it's safe to say that your money is best spent on Wi-Fi, even with a monthly cell-service fee.

Unlike factory entertainment systems that usually force everyone to watch the same programming, Wi-Fi lets each passenger choose how to while away the miles. Games, movies, social media, e-mail—everything you can access from your home or office is available while winging across the expanses of Nebraska at 80 mph. The hardship of long-distance travel melts into the background as miles fly by with nary a complaint. A bonus: Without the ceiling taken up by a TV screen, our SRT had a massive dual-pane sunroof that allowed us wide-open views skyward.

We were pleasantly surprised to see that the latest SRT comes with trailering capability, unlike the original, which took up the hitch zone with twin exhaust outlets. The 2012 model moves the tail-pipes, allowing Jeep to restore the hitch point—and gives the SRT up to 5,000 pounds of towing capacity. We didn't come close to that limit, but we did install a tailgate cargo rack that allowed us to punt some of the bulkier gear out of the cabin.

Though our 2,924-mile journey included mind-numbing hours of cross-country interstate travel, there were few complaints from passengers or pilots. For such a high-strung vehicle, the ride was smooth and steady, thanks in part to the settling effect of a full load.

The active cruise control garnered high praise, not only for keeping a steady pace but also for automatically slowing with fellow motorists when the inevitable state trooper appeared on the horizon.

Most surprising was the amount of time the big V8 spent in eco mode, with four cylinders deactivated. Chrysler says an improved active-valve exhaust system allows cylinder shutdown over a wider rpm range, upping fuel economy by as much as 13 percent and pushing range to 450 miles from the 24.6-gallon tank, or about 18 mpg. We never achieved that kind of mileage —our best average for a tank was 16.6 mpg (did we mention that we had skis on the roof?), while economy plummeted to 12.7 mpg in mountain driving. Overall, we posted 14.8 mpg, just bettering the EPA combined estimate of 14 mpg.

Automatic ride mode carried us across the Great Plains, but sport was our setting of choice in ski country, where it provided a just-right level of responsiveness without tacking all the way to track mode. Gear holding on grades via the steering-wheel-mounted paddle shifters was great, as was roadholding even when light snow and wet pavement loosened the traction. Braking was instant and linear, a critical commodity when corners come quickly and are at the bottom of steep downhill grades.

Though quick reflexes and surefooted handling are important in mountain driving, we gave our highest marks to the pure power we could summon from the big Hemi under the hood. In a region loaded with wheezing 18-wheelers, overloaded rental rigs and more four-cylinder Subarus than we've ever seen outside of Japan (or maybe Vermont), being able to obtain dragster-level thrust on demand is an attribute that cannot be underestimated. When that power comes on just as strong on a 6 percent grade at 10,000 feet as it does at sea level, it's nearly as joy-inducing as first tracks in knee-deep powder.

Spring trips always end too soon, but we didn't dread loading our bump-run battered bodies back aboard the SRT for the 1,200-mile ride home. With equipment loaded and locked, electronics running hot and the Grand Cherokee SRT ready to roll, what most would consider a brutal “are we there yet?” 24-hour trip back home beckoned us as just another chance to drive.

Can we go now?