← Tech

5.2 & 5.9 Magnum V8

The eight-cylinders that made the Grand Cherokee fly

When the Grand Cherokee ZJ wanted to play in the big leagues, Chrysler dropped in its Magnum V8s. The 5.2 made it fast; the 5.9, from the legendary 1998 5.9 Limited, made it —for a while— the fastest production SUV in the world.

The Magnum family

The Magnums are the fuel-injected evolution of Chrysler's old small-block V8s (the "LA" family). They're OHV (cam-in-block), cast iron, with sequential multi-point injection, hugely torquey and blessed with that fat American soundtrack. In the ZJ they were a statement: the first mid-size SUV to offer an optional V8.

The 5.2 (318 cu in) was the entry V8, offered from 1993 to 1998; it started at 220 hp and in 1995 rose to 225 hp and 300 lb·ft. The 5.9 (360 cu in) showed up only in 1998, reserved for the wildest version.

The 5.9 Limited: a speed record

The 1998 ZJ 5.9 Limited made 245 hp and 345 lb·ft, ran 0–100 km/h (0–62 mph) in about 6.8 seconds and crowned itself the fastest production SUV in the world —a record no Grand Cherokee would touch again until the SRTs nearly a decade later. It came with functional hood louvers, a mesh grille and even subwoofers in the rear doors.

The V8 was paired with the 46RE automatic and, almost always, the aluminum Dana 44 rear axle with Trac-Lok limited slip and a 3.73 ratio.

The 5.2 in Argentina

The Grand Cherokee Limited that Chrysler assembled in Ferreyra, Córdoba ran exactly this 225-hp 5.2 V8, and —a fact confirmed by Jeep itself— came with the rear Dana 44 in that configuration. It was one of the few big gasoline V8s assembled in Argentina in those years.

Specifications