The 2012 Ford Explorer and 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee are the latest versions of two of the most popular SUVs ever. The Explorer and Grand Cherokee are two staples of suburbia, doing duty dropping kids off at school, commuting and hauling groceries more often than they see dirt, mud and towing. Because these SUVs are used for more on-road adventures than off-road ones, both have been redesigned for this generation as unibody crossover-style SUVs, rather than body-on frame truck based ones (the Jeep Grand Cherokee has always used unibody construction, but like the Explorer, this generation is more road-oriented than the last).

The standard V6 engines in the 2012 Explorer and 2012 Grand Cherokee are nearly identical. The 2012 Ford Explorer is comes with a 3.5-liter V6 engine with 290-hp and 255 lb-ft of torque that gets 18-mpg city and 25-mpg highway. The 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee’s 3.6-liter V6 is also rated at 290-hp, but has slightly more torque with 260 lb-ft. The Grand Cherokee is rated at 17-mpg city and 23-mpg highway. The Explorer is also available with a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine with 240-hp and 270 lb-ft of torque rated at 20-mpg city and 28-mpg highway.

The 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee

The 2012 Ford Explorer is larger inside in every way. The Explorer has 41.4 inches of front head room, 40.6 inches of front leg room, 57.3 inches of front hip room and 61.3 inches of front shoulder room. The 2012 Grand Cherokee has 39.9 inches of head room, 40.3 inches of leg room, 58.7 inches of shoulder room and 57.0 inches of hip room in the front. The back seat in the Explorer is also larger, with 40.5 inches of head room and 39.8 inches of leg room to the Grand Cherokee’s 39.23 inches of head room and 38.6 inches of leg room.
The Grand Cherokee does have more cargo area and more ground clearance than the Explorer, with a 35.1 cubic foot trunk compared to the Explorer’s 21.0 cubic feet of room and 8.6 inches of ground clearance to the Explorer’s 7.6 inches.