by Frank S. Washington

AUSTIN, TX – It is a wolf in sheep’s clothing; the 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT.

With any SRT: Chrysler, Dodge or Jeep, the news is under the hood. So it is with this Jeep that can get from zero to 60 mph in a blistering 4.8 seconds. It can do the quarter of a mile in the mid 13 seconds range, has a top speed of 160 mph and it can get from zero to 100 mph and then back to zero in 16.3 seconds.

I don’t know why anybody would want to do that, much less where it could be done outside of a race track. What’s more, braking power can bring this most powerful of Jeeps to a halt from 60 mph in 116 feet.

All that oomph is supplied by a 6.4-liter HEMI V8 that makes 470- horsepower and an almost matching 465 foot-pounds of torque. As if anybody is going to tow anything in this jet-like Jeep, hauling capability increases by 44 percent to 7,200 lbs. The last Grand Cherokee SRT could tow a bit more than 5,000 lbs.

All that power was transmitted to the pavement through an all-new eight-speed automatic transmission, the first eight-speed gear box in a sport-utility. It was fully electronic and featured on the fly shift-map changing, although we never tried it on our way to the Circuit of the Americas Formula 1 race track here.

The Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT featured the new Eco Mode that optimized the gear box’s shift schedule and extended the range of fuel saver technology that shuts down four of the engine’s eight cylinders when conditions allow. We didn’t try that either.

Instead, we tried shifting our Jeep Grand Cherokee manually with the paddle shifters. They worked well. I tried some aggressive acceleration on the two lane surface streets (the rural stretches) that lead from downtown to the track. Our Jeep SRT could get up to 100 mph without breaking a sweat. And the SUV speedster’s brakes worked well in getting our test vehicle back down to legal speed before we were noticed by anybody wearing a badge.

The sheep trait of the wolf that is the Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT comes in the form of its sheet metal. Jeep says the SRT’s exterior styling has been enhanced, maybe so. But you’ve really got to know your Jeeps to distinguish the 2014 SRT from a regular 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee.

Its seven-slot grille had a black insert, the bi-xenon adaptive headlamps were slimmer than those on the normal Grand Cherokee and they had a black background. Variances continued in the rear.

The 2014 Grand Cherokee SRT had larger LED tail lamps. They too had a black surround. The new one touch liftgate was emblazoned with a new SRT badge without the engine cylinder reference number.

SRT adornments continued with the interior. The display screen showed exclusive SRT performance pages that included track times, lateral acceleration and zero to 60 mph times. The data could be shared with other SRT enthusiasts with a 3G WiFi connection.

UConnect included music streaming, internet searches using Bing and voice texting. The SRT had a new leather wrapped T-shifter that felt good in my hand and it also featured the SRT exclusive heated three-spoke steering wheel with a flat bottom.

There were SRT badges on the seats, carbon fiber trim on the front door interior panels and instrument panel. And then there was the acoustics that said the 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT was something special, right down to its 825 watt, 19-speaker audio system.

Prices start at $63,990.