2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee Long Term Road Test

Edmunds.com

2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee Long Term Road Test

Looking at the interior and convenience features of the 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8.

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joelill2

Or you could buy two or three Hyundai Elantras that have rear heated seats for the same price! I am of the thought process that if an Elantra offers them, every luxury auto manufacturer should. Like how I feel Xenons should be standard on many more luxury models.

quadricycle

@joelill2: I have never had any desire to own a Hyundai/Kia, mainly because some of their products seem to be copies (especially earlier models), and I have always felt that they overrate their engine specifications. The latter somewhat proved rather rece

greenpony

Your Optima turbo should have had heated rear seats. For, what, $30 grand?

snazziest

It's true that what defines luxury and exclusivity is becoming less and less content driven and more a matter of brand management.

the $600 option of a push button start in a Mercedes is standard in many non luxury cars with an MSRP under $20,000. As someone who has owned a fully equipped luxury sedan, it rankles to load a series of expensive options that are 100 percent profit to the manufacturer, and standard on a non-luxury vehicle.

Whether it's double length roof windows, ultra sound deadening, heated and ventilated seats, and any number of other "luxury" features, they're all available from non luxury brands as either standard features or options at a much lower cost than their luxury counterparts.

It's true that luxury makers will introduce new technology or styling innovations, but what used to take years to trickle down to mainstream companies now get incorporated in one design cycle.

While most - not all - luxury brands are more refined and techinically advanced than their mainstream counterparts, the gap between quality and content has been getting increasingly narrow over the past five years.

Luxury car marketing is already becoming increasingly like the fragrance business. It's more about the packaging and fuzzy prestige,and less about tangible superior content and material quality.