"TOO soft, too small and drives too American-like." These were some of the criticisms levelled at Jeep's previous-generation Grand Cherokee. Enter the third all-new incarnation of the iconic US luxury SUV, however, and the old Grand Cherokee stereotypes are crushed, giving critics an all-American one-fingered salute. Actually, as a product of US-German auto giant DaimlerChrysler, the Grand is no longer 100 per cent from the USA - and the CRD version tested here borrows its excellent 3.0-litre turbo-diesel powerplant from the just-launched Mercedes-Benz M-class. But trading a bit of American machismo for German know-how isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, with Jeep's latest CRD, the result is excellent.