Of course you can turn a Japanese turbodiesel SUV into a van to get it registered, priced and taxed as a commercial vehicle in the Netherlands, but there are options at the other end of the spectrum too.
Something like this smokin’ powerhouse.
Nothing unusual so far.
Yet I bet you haven’t seen a Jeep Grand Cherokee two-seater before, with a full divider directly behind the front seats.
Rear seats and seat belts out, divider and cargo floor in. Note that everything is reversible. That is, as long as you don’t use the van to haul the seats etc. straight to the nearest dumpsite.
It would be a nice ride for a moonshine runner (granted, in a less outstanding color). Or for Dr. Pol. Jim Klein? Anyway, it’s possibly the world’s fastest road legal delivery van.
That divider looks like its from the factory, is it? If not where did you get it?
Multiple companies supply / build conversion kits for SUVs available on our market. Can’t tell which company did this one.
Do you know if these conversions qualify these SUVs for registration as a “LKW” in Germany?
Sorry Dirk, I’ve no idea.
I’d say FCA did this one, judging from the use of “Jeep” on it. It’s probably somewhere in the Mopar parts catalog.
That Jeep looks great. Is it just me, or is that Jeep interior nicer than what is presently available in the Charger/Challenger?
Nah. If you sit in the Jeep and the Charger/Challenger (especially in the SRT trims), they are pretty comparable. It is definitely better than the lower trims of the Dodges. The Summit/Overland trims are a bit nicer, probably the nicest of all the FCA interiors. A touch above the 300C interiors.
I dunno about that, they’re pretty comparable. The biggest issue I have with some FCA interiors is the pervasiveness of these suede type seats. Looks and feels too similar to cloth. When I was shopping Challengers, the suede SRT interiors and the mandatory 20” wheels (to clear the 6pot Brembos) gave me reason to lean hard towards the more classic look of the R/Ts and pocket the savings. My R/Ts black with light grey leather center leather seats have a timeless look and feel. Id love a 6.1 Hemi as a stand-alone upgrade though.
I also have an aversion to seats covered in genuine suede (or more often these days, “Alcantara,” which is actually cloth), but for a very different reason: These materials may look great, feel great, and grip the occupant better than smooth leather or vinyl, but eventually the nap or pile is prone to develop permanent impressions in the nap, and “bald spots” from abrasion and wear.
I’m glad you showed the engine and this wasnt just the diesel version dressed as the SRT, that would be one quick delivery van though I bet his rates would be a bit unattractive to cover the fuel bill.
Pretty sweet all around! Id like to see it go a step further: weld up the rear doors and blank the side windows for a full on panel truck conversion. Although I’d be perfectly happy with keeping the rear doors functional but still blanking all the side windows and shaving the rear handles. Basically an exact copy of the Chevy HHR panel’s setup. Pretty much a dream rig for me, whether it’s a GC SRT or a Hemi Trailhawk.
FYI, Jeep GC Trackhawk van.
More pictures: https://topgear.nl/autonieuws/jeep-trackhawk-is-ook-een-snelle-bestelbus/
The blanked and welded-up jobbie Mopar describes – and which I can instantly picture – is hardly a dream rig for me personally, but damn, it would for sure look very fine indeed.
And offer rather speedy delivery.
This feels more like a tax dodge than a real work truck, but there is plenty of precedent. There was a van version of the original 2 door Range Rover with fixed side glass and no rear seats sold in Denmark and Portugal. I’ve also seen two generations of Landrover Discovery Van with no side glass for the UK market. I think they also met Dutch regulations for vans as well. The ultimate in wacky tax evasion is still the Finnish Camaro pickup conversion, which basically replaced the rear hatch of a 3rd generation with a fiberglass bed and rear window. .
Some of us readers recall a similar type of tax dodge in the US that was recently performed at the manufacturer level, with the Ford Transit Connect (but to be fair, other manufacturers have done the same thing, in various ways).
Until a Federal appellate court effectively closed the loophole earlier this year, Ford imported these from Turkey as passenger vans with rear windows and rear seats, and paid a 2.5% tariff (versus the 25% “chicken tax” levied on trucks and cargo vans). Then, once these hit our shores they were almost immediately stripped of their rear seats, and the rear windows were popped out and replaced with painted metal panels. Then the seats and glass were shredded and recycled. It cost a few hundred dollars to do this conversion, but it saved Ford thousands.
A similar scam existed in NZ years ago that saw commercial vehicles get much more lenient finance terms lots of things wagon were stripped out and sold as vans the removed interior fittings and windows were available as extra cost options, We have among others Ford Cortina Vauxhall Viva and Hillman Avenger vans that were simply not on anyone elses market.
I clearly remember the days that subcompact hot hatches were converted into vans. Rear seats out, blinded rear side windows, and that was that. Anyone could take advantage of the regulations as they were.
Not anymore. The cargo compartment has to meet certain minimum measurements. And you must run some kind of business in order to take full financial advantage (purchase price, road tax, insurance costs).
SUV-vans are quite common. Naturally they are largely outnumbered by the factory panel vans (anything from a small Fiat Fiorino to a huge Iveco Daily).
While I do like the current Grand Cherokee (despite its age) as a respectable choice for a non-luxury brand midsize SUV, these SRT versions do nothing for me. I know high-performance SUVs have sadly taken the place of high-performance sports sedans like the M5, but they’ll never compare to me.
I’ve had the chance to drive many of these vehicles like the Range Rover Sport SVR, BMW X5 M, AMG Mercedes-Benz GLE 63 S, and this Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT and while impressive for SUVs as far as power and sound, they can’t replicate the high-performance sports sedan driving experience.
Unfortunately few actual buyers care, but there are some things a sedan can do that an SUV will never be able to.
X2. Herd mentality…
The X2 is barely the tip of the iceberg though. It’s these larger, high-performance SUVs that are the most cringeworthy.
I can’t imagine what it takes to keep one of these things on the road in the Netherlands (or really anywhere else in Western Europe), between the cost of fuel, taxes and insurance… Wow!
Does the ‘work truck’ exemption make that much of a difference?
Just imagine that us poor sods have to sell our houses to drive anything with more than four cylinders.
And then no-one wants to buy the house as it’s below sea level and under a windmill.
Currently, it’s 0.92 Euro a litre for petrol and (at most) about 1,700 Euro per year for insurance for an older (40+, no claims) driver, and 600 Euro per year to register. These aren’t tiny costs, but not horrific. What, roughly, would these costs be in Holland, do you think?
Alright.
Road tax for this beast (curb weight 2,285 kg) is € 143 per 3 months. If it were a non-van-SUV, that would be € 416 per 3 months (in my provence).
Type of fuel doesn’t matter for a van. Gasoline-diesel-LPG, all the same road tax. It’s all about its curb weight. For a non-van-SUV, however, diesel and LPG are much more expensive when it comes to road tax (at the same curb weight).
Now to the more interesting part, the fuel costs.
Regular gasoline € 1.74 per liter
Diesel € 1.47 per liter
(LPG € 0.81 per liter)
A diesel SUV of this size does around 9 liter/100 km. This SRT? About 20 liter/100 km, I guess.
Can you see why we usually prefer a Jeep Grand Cherokee 3.0 CRD van?
As an aside, see ad: this SRT van has only driven around 11,000 km a year. That’s nothing. Diesel-SUV-vans mostly drive 30,000+ (or 40,000+, or 50,000+) km a year.
That’s goodbye Big Time to gasoline…
Bloody hell!
My semi-guessed quote for insurance in Aus was for coverage for damage to one’s own SRT 8, and the compulsory state registration covers hitting someone else and their personal injuries (ie: one, state or rego, covers personal injuries, two covers damage to your own car and the other car).
As for comparative fuel costs, sir, I shall never complain again.
And ofcourse, thankyou for your detailed answer.
…oh yes, I forgot. It’s obvious why V8 US pickups (always registered as a commercial vehicle, just like the SRT van) get an LPG fuel system.
I promise to never complain about the $3.13 a gallon for 93 octane I spent at Kroger yesterday for my 5.7L Hemi Grand Cherokee…it idles so much nicer on nice gas. That divider would be great for keeping my labradoodles in the back seat…one likes to ride shotgun.
Since shortly, regular gasoline contains up to 10% bio-ethanol here. That used to be max. 5%. The octane rating is still RON 95, that’s about AKI 90 in the US.
I don’t want that crap in my classic ride, I only fill it up with premium gas, RON 98 (around AKI 93). More importantly, these premium fuels are free of ethanol. For the time being, no guarantees for the future.