Compare the2022 Audi A4 AllroadVS 2021 Jeep Grand Cherokee

Safety
Warranty
Reliability
Engine
Environmental Friendliness
Transmission
Tires and Wheels
Suspension and Handling
Chassis
Cargo Capacity
Ergonomics
Recommendations

Safety

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For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Audi A4 Allroad have pretensioners to tighten the seatbelts and eliminate dangerous slack in the event of a collision and force limiters to limit the pressure the belts will exert on the passengers. The Jeep Grand Cherokee doesn’t offer pretensioners for the rear seat belts.

The A4 Allroad’s pre-crash front seatbelts will tighten automatically in the event the vehicle detects an impending crash, improving protection against injury significantly. The Grand Cherokee doesn’t offer pre-crash pretensioners.

Both the A4 Allroad and Grand Cherokee have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The A4 Allroad has power child safety locks, allowing the driver to activate and deactivate them from the driver's seat and to know when they're engaged. The Grand Cherokee’s child locks have to be individually engaged at each rear door with a manual switch. The driver can’t know the status of the locks without opening the doors and checking them.

The Audi A4 Allroad has standard driver and front passenger side knee airbags mounted low on the dashboard. These airbags helps prevent the driver and front passenger from sliding under their seatbelts or the main frontal airbags; this keeps them better positioned during a collision for maximum protection. Knee airbags also help keep the legs from striking the dashboard, preventing knee and leg injuries in the case of a serious frontal collision. The Grand Cherokee doesn’t offer a front passenger side knee airbag.

The A4 Allroad has a standard Secondary Collision Brake Assist, which automatically applies the brakes in the event of a crash to help prevent secondary collisions and prevent further injuries. The Grand Cherokee doesn’t offer a post collision braking system: in the event of a collision that triggers the airbags, more collisions are possible without the protection of airbags that may have already deployed.

To provide maximum traction and stability on all roads, All-Wheel Drive is standard on the A4 Allroad. But it costs extra on the Grand Cherokee.

The A4 Allroad’s standard lane departure warning system alerts a temporarily inattentive driver when the vehicle begins to leave its lane. A lane departure warning system costs extra on the Grand Cherokee.

The A4 Allroad Premium Plus/Prestige has a standard Top View Camera System to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The Grand Cherokee only offers a rear monitor and front and rear parking sensors that beep or flash a light. That doesn’t help with obstacles to the sides.

Both the A4 Allroad and the Grand Cherokee have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, height adjustable front shoulder belts, plastic fuel tanks, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, daytime running lights, rearview cameras, available blind spot warning systems and rear cross-path warning.

A significantly tougher test than their original offset frontal crash test, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety does 40 MPH small overlap frontal offset crash tests. In this test, where only 25% of the total width of the vehicle is struck, results indicate that the Audi A4 Allroad is safer than the Grand Cherokee:

	A4 Allroad	Grand Cherokee
Overall Evaluation	GOOD	MARGINAL
Restraints	GOOD	ACCEPTABLE
Head Neck Evaluation	GOOD	GOOD
Head injury index	171	172
Peak Head Forces	0 G’s	0 G’s
Steering Column Movement Rearward	0 cm	5 cm
Chest Evaluation	GOOD	GOOD
Hip & Thigh Evaluation	GOOD	GOOD
Femur Force R/L	1.3/.4 kN	4.9/2.3 kN
Hip & Thigh Injury Risk R/L	0%/0%	3%/0%
Lower Leg Evaluation	GOOD	MARGINAL
Tibia index R/L	.42/.52	1.06/.54

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does side impact tests on new vehicles. In this test, which crashes the vehicle into a post at 20 MPH, results indicate that the Audi A4 Allroad is safer than the Jeep Grand Cherokee:

	A4 Allroad	Grand Cherokee
	Into Pole
STARS	5 Stars	5 Stars
Max Damage Depth	12 inches	13 inches

New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.

Warranty

The A4 Allroad comes with a full 4-year/50,000-mile basic warranty, which covers the entire car and includes 24-hour roadside assistance. The Grand Cherokee’s 3-year/36,000-mile basic warranty expires 1 year or 14,000 miles sooner.

The A4 Allroad’s corrosion warranty is 7 years longer than the Grand Cherokee’s (12 vs. 5 years).

Reliability

The Audi A4 Allroad’s engine uses a cast iron block for durability, while the Grand Cherokee’s 3.6 DOHC V6 engine uses an aluminum block. Aluminum engine blocks are much more prone to warp and crack at high temperatures than cast iron.

For smoother operation, better efficiency and fewer moving parts, the A4 Allroad has an overhead cam design, rather than the old pushrod design of the 5.7 V8 in the Grand Cherokee.

A reliable vehicle saves its owner time, money and trouble. Nobody wants to be stranded or have to be without a vehicle while it’s being repaired. Consumer Reports rates the A4 Allroad’s reliability 38 points higher than the Grand Cherokee.

J.D. Power and Associates’ 2021 survey of the owners of three-year-old vehicles provides the long-term dependability statistics that show that Audi vehicles are more reliable than Jeep vehicles. J.D. Power ranks Audi 20th in reliability. With 14 more problems per 100 vehicles, Jeep is ranked 24th.

From surveys of all its subscribers, Consumer Reports’ January 2021 Auto Issue reports that Audi vehicles are more reliable than Jeep vehicles. Consumer Reports ranks Audi 5 places higher in reliability than Jeep.

Engine

The A4 Allroad’s 2.0 turbo 4-cylinder hybrid produces 13 lbs.-ft. more torque (273 vs. 260) than the Grand Cherokee’s standard 3.6 DOHC V6.

Environmental Friendliness

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) certifies the Audi A4 Allroad as an “Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle” (ULEV). The Jeep Grand Cherokee is only certified to “Low Emissions Vehicle” (LEV) standards.

Transmission

The A4 Allroad offers a standard sequential manual gearbox (SMG). With no clutch pedal to worry about and a fully automatic mode, an SMG is much more efficient than a conventional automatic but just as easy to drive. The Grand Cherokee doesn’t offer an SMG or a conventional manual transmission.

The A4 Allroad’s launch control uses engine electronics to hold engine RPM’s precisely in order to provide the most stable and rapid acceleration possible, using all of the available traction. The Grand Cherokee doesn’t offer launch control.

Tires and Wheels

The A4 Allroad’s tires provide better handling because they have a lower 45 series profile (height to width ratio) that provides a stiffer sidewall than the Grand Cherokee’s standard 60 series tires. The A4 Allroad’s tires are lower profile than the Grand Cherokee’s optional 50 series tires.

Suspension and Handling

The A4 Allroad has a standard driver-adjustable suspension system. It allows the driver to choose between an extra-supple ride, reducing fatigue on long trips, or a sport setting, which allows maximum control for tricky roads. The Grand Cherokee’s suspension doesn’t offer adjustable shock absorbers.

The A4 Allroad Prestige handles at .85 G’s, while the Grand Cherokee Summit 4x4 pulls only .72 G’s of cornering force in a Car and Driver skidpad test.

The A4 Allroad Premium Plus executes Motor Trend’s “Figure Eight” maneuver 2.5 seconds quicker than the Grand Cherokee Summit 4x4 (26.3 seconds @ .69 average G’s vs. 28.8 seconds @ .59 average G’s).

Chassis

The Audi A4 Allroad may be more efficient, handle and accelerate better because it weighs about 650 to 1400 pounds less than the Jeep Grand Cherokee.

The A4 Allroad is 10.5 inches shorter in height than the Grand Cherokee, making the A4 Allroad much easier to wash and garage and drive (lower center of gravity).

The design of the Audi A4 Allroad amounts to more than styling. The A4 Allroad has an aerodynamic coefficient of drag of .33 Cd. That is significantly lower than the Grand Cherokee (.371) and many sports cars. A more efficient exterior helps keep the interior quieter and helps the A4 Allroad get better fuel mileage.

Cargo Capacity

A low lift-over trunk design makes loading and unloading the A4 Allroad easier. The A4 Allroad’s trunk lift-over height is 26.1 inches, while the Grand Cherokee’s liftover is 32.4 inches.

Pulling a handle automatically lowers the A4 Allroad’s rear seats, to make changing between passengers and cargo easier. The Grand Cherokee doesn’t offer automatic folding seats.

To make loading groceries and cargo easier when your hands are full, the A4 Allroad’s available liftgate can be opened and closed just by kicking your foot under the back bumper, leaving your hands completely free. The Grand Cherokee doesn’t offer a hands-free gesture to open its liftgate, forcing you to put cargo down if your hands are full.

Ergonomics

The A4 Allroad Prestige has a standard heads-up display that projects speed, warning and navigation instruction readouts in front of the driver’s line of sight, allowing drivers to view information without diverting their eyes from the road. The Grand Cherokee doesn’t offer a heads-up display.

The A4 Allroad’s power parking brake sets with one touch and releases with one touch or automatically. The Grand Cherokee’s parking brake has to released manually.

The A4 Allroad’s front and rear power windows all open or close fully with one touch of the switches, making it more convenient at drive-up windows and toll booths, or when talking with someone outside the car. The Grand Cherokee’s rear power window switches have to be held the entire time to open or close them fully.

If the windows are left open on the A4 Allroad the driver can close them all at the outside door handle or from a distance using the remote. On a hot day the driver can lower the windows from a distance using the keyless remote. The driver of the Grand Cherokee can only operate the windows from inside the vehicle, with the ignition on.

The A4 Allroad’s rain-sensitive wipers adjust their speed and turn on and off automatically based on the amount of rainfall on the windshield. This allows the driver to concentrate on driving without constantly adjusting the wipers. The Grand Cherokee’s standard manually variable intermittent wipers have to be constantly adjusted.

Heated windshield washer nozzles are standard on the A4 Allroad to prevent washer fluid and nozzles from freezing and help continue to keep the windshield clear in sub-freezing temperatures. The Grand Cherokee doesn’t offer heated windshield washer nozzles.

To help drivers avoid possible obstacles, the A4 Allroad has standard cornering lights to illuminate around corners when the turn signals are activated. The Grand Cherokee doesn’t offer cornering lights.

To quickly and conveniently keep personal devices charged without cables tangling and wearing out, the Audi A4 Allroad Premium Plus/Prestige has a standard wireless phone charging system (Qi) in the center console. The Grand Cherokee doesn’t offer wireless personal charging.

Recommendations

Consumer Reports® recommends the Audi A4 Allroad, based on reliability, safety and performance. The Jeep Grand Cherokee isn't recommended.