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Why Mopar won't release a factory lift kit for the new Jeep Cherokee

The Jeep Cherokee Dakar concept showed off at the 2014 Easter Jeep Safari made a lot of online friends, even the Cherokee naysayers assenting that there's a monster Jeep underneath the Cherokee's skin if you're willing to go in and get it. But after reading Road & Track's write-up of what went into creating the Dakar, particularly its lift, you'll understand why you'll probably never see the components for it in the Jeep Performance Parts catalog.
The concept's press release mentions a "prototype Jeep Performance Parts lift kit, and additional suspension modifications." The short-story explanation is that the front struts on the standard Cherokee weren't engineered to accept any amount of lift, so the long story begins with the phrase, "an entirely new suspension." Head over to RT to read the details, and don't be afraid to ogle the Cherokee Dakar gallery and another awesome Jeep fancy that won't likely crawl over the hurdles imposed by production reality.

Massachusetts man charged $48,000 for a tow [w/video]

Tow truck operators are right up there with landlords and IRS auditors on the list of professionals you don't want to deal with. A man in Massachusetts has all the more reason to avoid a tow after he was hit with a $48,000 bill, Fox 25 reports. Joel Ramer and his girlfriend were off-roading in Walpole, MA last week when they wandered were they shouldn't have. They landed in a mud pit on private property. Ramer said it took Assured Collision towing company 12 hours to free his vehicle from the muck. But when he got the bill for the tow, he thought the accounting department must have been off by a decimal. "When I went to pick up the vehicle from Assured Collision, he'd informed me there was some damage done to the vehicle, but didn't get into details. He also informed me the bill was $48,000," Ramer told Fox. "I thought they made a mistake." The phrase 'some damage' was putting it lightly. Ramer says Assured Collision totaled his Jeep. "Frame is broken, leaf spring is broken, drive shaft is broken," Ramer said. The itemized bill showed Ramer exactly what he was paying for. Assured Collision charged him $16,000 for an on-scene supervisor. That's $1,250 an hour. The Statewide Towing Association told Fox 25 that the actual industry standard is $175-$325 an hour. The company also claimed that power lines put them at risk, calling it a "hazmat situation." That allowed them to tack on another $5,000 fee for dangerous condition liability insurance. Finally, there was an extra $10,000 fee for an off-road recovery incident response unit. Insurance won't help with the cost of the tow, so Ramer's broke Jeep is in Assured Collision's hands. On top of the enormous bill and busted Jeep, Ramer was arrested and cited for trespassing on land owned by a utility company and disturbing the peace. Boston News, Weather, Sports | FOX 25 | MyFoxBoston

Jeep Grand Commander three-row crossover SUV revealed in Beijing

Jeep has finally revealed its first three-row SUV since the Commander, and the new one is called, as we expected, Grand Commander. And it looks just like we expected from leaked images and patent drawings. It pulls a bit of inspiration from the Jeep Yuntu concept, but it generally looks like a much bigger, stretched-out Compass. We do see a bit of Renegade inspiration in the D-pillar, though. Interestingly, the Grand Commander isn't really bigger than our Grand Cherokee. The Grand Commander is just under 192 inches long, which is only 2 inches longer than the Grand Cherokee. But the Grand Commander's wheelbase is four inches shorter. It's also about two inches narrower than the Grand Cherokee. This is all interesting considering the Grand Commander's greater passenger capacity. Also interesting is the Grand Commander's powertrain. It's only available with a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder, likely lifted from the Jeep Cherokee and Wrangler. If so, it's been detuned, and it now makes just 231 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque as opposed to the 270 horsepower and 295 pound-feet in the other Jeeps. The Grand Commander's four-cylinder is also paired to a nine-speed automatic, and it can be had with either two-wheel or four-wheel drive. The question of course is, will the Grand Commander come to America? It would fill a gap in the Jeep lineup, since the brand has no three-row vehicles. There have been many rumors of a three-row Jeep, possibly called Grand Wagoneer, as well as Grand Commander prototypes running around the U.S. But the size of the Grand Commander has us questioning whether it would be brought here, or if Jeep would develop a larger three-row, maybe based on Durango, for our market. Related Video: Featured Gallery Jeep Grand Commander View 10 Photos Image Credit: Jeep Beijing Motor Show Jeep Crossover SUV