When Jeep (re)launched itself onto the Australian market back in 1994 it put the proverbial cat well and truly amongst the pigeons with the Cherokee.

Sized right, priced right, with an unbeatable image and above-average performance, the boxy Yank off-roader stole sales from the medium-duty Japanese 4x4s and put a scare into Discovery dealers right across the nation.

The excitement of being able to buy a brand new Jeep soon wore off though. Sure the Cherokee was fast, sure it did the job off road, and sure it had heaps of street cred, but its build quality came nowhere near the standard we’d come to expect from Japanese-built 4x4s and, not to put too fine a point on it, it was starting to show its age in both the looks and the engineering departments.

A $280 million rework helped things along in ‘97, but by that time Jeep had already raised the bar by bringing in the Grand Cherokee - an upmarket Austrian-built version of the Cherokee with more rounded styling, a more modern interior with improved ergonomics, and a full-time 4x4 system dubbed (in Jeep-speak) ‘Quadra-Trac’

Just about everything came in for a rework on the Grand Cherokee, including the venerable 4.0-litre straight six, but with an extra 300kg over the ‘ordinary’ Cherokee it was actually about a second slower over the 0-100km/h sprint than its little brother.

What everyone wanted, of course, was the V8 version, but Jeep steadfastly refused to bring the big bent eight into Australia … until now.

To say that it’s been worth the wait is an understatement, because the all-new Jeep Grand Cherokee V8 is an absolutely brilliant bit of gear.

‘All new’ is no exaggeration either. Jeep reckons only 127 parts are carried over from the previous model, and with a new body, new engine, new transmission, and a whole new four-wheel-drive system the Grand Cherokee is very definitely a new generation Jeep.

The slate wasn’t wiped entirely clean before Jeep’s engineers and stylists began work though.

It might be smoother looking—some say it looks like a space buggy up front—but the Grand Cherokee is still readily identifiable as a Jeep and still firmly targeted at the medium wagon segment. In fact you might even suggest that it’s sized so as not to scare off buyers that don’t like big 4x4s … it’s higher, wider and longer than its predecessors, but while it’s slightly wider than a Pajero it’s actually smaller (especially visually) in both height and length.

Where the Jeep makes its mid-size competition look puny is in the under-bonnet department.

Nestled up front is a 4.7-litre V8 that produces 162kW at 4700rpm with 390Nm of torque at 3200rpm. By way of comparison, the 3.5-litre V6 that Mitsubishi slips into the Pajero pumps out 140kW and 303Nm while the 3.4-litre V6 in the Prado produces just 132kW.

Comparing V8 apples with V8 apples, the Land Rover Discovery’s 4.0 V8 gives 132kW and 320Nm, the Range Rover’s 4.6 V8 produces 150kW and 380Nm, and the 4.7 V8 Toyota fits to its GXV SandBruiser delivers 170kW and 410Nm.

Weighing in around 1800kg the Jeep has the wood on just about everything else with four-wheel-drive. And it’s helped along in the straight-line stakes by a trick electronic four-speed auto (sorry, no manual available) that features not one but two second-gear ratios—a 1.67:1 ratio for the stop-light grand prix and a 1.50:1 ratio for smoother kick-down. We never really noticed it, but with a 3.0:1 first gear we can vouch for the fact that the V8 marches out very smartly indeed!

It goes around corners pretty good for a 4x4 with live axles front and rear too. There’s ample adhesion from the 245/70 rubber, turn-in is more than acceptably sharp, and you really have to push quite hard before you start understeering into the scenery. The rear end sometimes gets a little thumpy and starts to feel a tad on the ‘light’ side, but apart from that we’d have to rank it as one of the most chuckable 4x4s on the road.

We’d also have to rank it as one of the best 4x4s off the road too. Ground clearance isn’t that fabulous but Jeep’s new ‘Quadra-Drive’ system has got to be the best full-time factory 4x4 set-up available.

The system uses speed-sensing torque transfer diffs in the transfer case and both the front and rear axles—most full-time 4x4s only run an ‘open’ diff up front so the added traction in the Jeep’s is a real bonus. Jeep, in fact, claims that as long as one wheel has grip you’ll keep moving forward. We believe it.

Most Cherokee buyers probably won’t be doing too much off-roading, but while those who do might enjoy roughing it with a night out under the stars, the vast majority of buyers will be more than happy to live in the lap of luxury that the V8’s interior affords.

With electric everything, leather seats, dual-zone climate control, cruise control and a 10-stack CD, the standard equipment list offers a pretty impressive read and, with good NVH suppression and reasonable ergonomics, translates into a very pleasant driving experience.

If you wanted to be picky you could criticise the lack of lateral legroom (wide transmission tunnel) and slightly offset driving position but that’s about it. Even the price, listed at just under $67K, can’t draw complaint because the Jeep outclasses the opposition either side of the price point in performance and/or equipment depending upon which vehicle you choose to compare it to.