JEEP MERIDIAN

Jeep Meridian is an amazing machine from the American automobile giant Jeep. It is a seven seater SUV. It is the larger version of the Jeep Compass in actual. It has a length of 4769 mm, width of 1859mm and the wheel base of 2782mm. The price of the Meridian starts at Rs.30 Lakh and goes up to Rs.37 Lakh Ex.showroom. This vehicle is available in two trims-Limited and Limited(O).

 From the front the SUV looks very bold and stylish. It's seven-slat piano black finish with chrome embellished grill is very attractive. LED projector headlamps are provided. Small fog lamps provided at the bottom of the front bumper looks nice. There are lot of chrome is used at the front,back and sides of this vehicle.

From the sides we can see those 18" wheels,finished in Aluminium and piano Black colour.The square wheel arches with black cladding cements it's SUV posture. Black and aluminium finished roof rails are provided on Meridian. MERIDIAN badge is provided on both sides of the vehicle.Side rear view mirrors are also finished in black colour. From the sides it looks really bigger and longer.

At the back, we can see beautiful eye-catching LED tail lamps of the Meridian. It is very attractive. It has the powered boot door with memory function. There is only 170liter of boot space with the third row seats up, but it can be increased by folding these third row seats. These are 50:50 split seats.

It has a premium interior with brown and black colour theme. By entering in the Meridian you will immediately notice the 10.1" infotainment system,it is similar to the one available in the Jeep Compass.  This system has many features including wireless Android-auto and Apple Carplay connectivity. As in the compass we can find a 10.25" instrument cluster in front of the steering wheel. The steering wheel looks premium and is leather wrapped. Front seats are ventilated. These seats can be electrically adjusted for the comfortable sitting. Two zone A/c is provided. Wireless mobile charging pad is provided at the front of the gear lever. One C-type and an A-type charging points are also provided.

The gear lever looks beautiful, switches of Electronic Parking Brake, Traction Control, Hill Decent Control and switches of 4 wheel drive systems are placed on the sides of the gear lever. There are lot of storage spaces are provided in the Meridian. Small bottle holders are provided on all four doors. The Meridian comes with panoramic sun-roof which can be operated electrically.

The second row of the Meridian is very spacious. Seats are very well cushioned and is very comfortable.There are adjustable headrests on these seats. Leg room and head room are excellent. A/c vents and mobile charging points are also provided in this row. The centre arm rest have two cup-holders. It can accommodate three people comfortably in the second row. But the third row is cramped, this row is ideal for small children upto the age of 10. Cup holders and A/c vents are provided in this row too.

Drivability: The adjustable driving seat and the commanding view to the out side helps us to find a good driving position in this SUV. All the controls of the vehicle can be easily accessible to the driver. It has a very refined 1956CC Diesel engine,available in Manual and Automatic transmissions. No petrol engine on offer. Lower variants of the Meridian comes with 6-speed manual and 9-speed automatic transmissions where as the top end 4X4 model available in 9-speed automatic only.

The 2.0L Diesel engine produces Max Power of 179bhp @ 3750rpm and Max.Torque of 350Nm@1750-2500rpm. The power comes in a linear manner which helps a gentle cruise on highways. The steering well weighted. Vehicle gives good ride comfort even though it has a ground clearance of 203mm. Body roll is very well contained with various suspension and damper settings like, Independent suspension,Frequency Selective Damping (FCD) and Hydraulic re-bound stopper. It has four traction modes-Sand,Mud,Snow and Auto. Auto mode is the recommended traction mode as the vehicle will automatically detect the road conditions and handle it efficiently.

At the safety front, the car comes with 6 Air bags, Auto dimming day night mirrors, Automatic headlamps,ABS, EBD, ESC, 360 degree camera, Hill start assist, Hill Decent Control and many more. Here I have listed some important safety features only. As a Jeep, it's build quality is excellent.

Meridian is an all-round vehicle with the capability to handle any terrain comes infront of it with ease and lure it's passengers by providing the comfort of a luxury sedan. In one word- Meridian is a powerful SUV having all the comfort of a sedan.

Happy driving.

Don't mix alcohol with your drive.

Note: All the pictures used in this blog are taken from jeep-india website for presentation purpose.