The Epitime of small SUV's?

Author's Rating:

Pros: Everything.

Cons: Except for the spartan interior, poor stock tires (goodyear) and poor radio.

Handling And Control:

Author's Review
In 1983, AMC (jeep) released the first Small, 4 Door sport utility vehicle anywhere, and completely reinvented the 4x4 market. In 1999, this same vehicle is still one of the most popular SUV's selling; and though it created the market, it breaks all the rules.

Lets look at what an "SUV" is supposed to be these days:

Big - The Cherokee has very good cargo space inside, but it's physical size is less than most sedans.
Heavy - The Cherokee weighs in at only 3,500 pounds, possibly the lightest 4 door SUV available, but still plenty tough.
Lumbering - I find the Cherokee to be quite nible in it's performance; on the road and off. (It will actually out-accelerate and out-corner the Subaru's that advertise better handling than "SUV"'s.)
Truck-Like Ride - Ok. so it's not perfect.
Fuel Innefeciency - See Above.

The two "Down-Sides" of the Cherokee:

Truck Like Ride.
The stock ride is quite bumpy, compared to a Sedan. Fortunitly, I did not want a Sedan. I wanted an SUV, so I can live quite happily with the ride. When I replaced the stock shocks with some RS-9000 (Adjustable, Air-controlled gas shocks), the ride smoothed out immensely. Many people whom I have driven have commented the ride is alot smoother than they had anticipated. I hear Bilstien shocks help alot as well, but I reccomend the RS-9000's if you're going to be doing anything that might be considered "Heavy Duty"

Fuel efficiency: with the monster 4.0 Litre Inline-6 cylender engine, the cherokee can be something of a gas guzzler. However, I've found that driving with a light pedel can still net you fairly high gas ratings (I average 25mpg on the highway, 28 on road trips if it's not too windy). City performance is still only around 18mpg.


The "Up-Sides" of both of these, are an absolutely phenominal off-road performance. Factory Cherokees WITHOUT the off-road package have been known to tackle some very serious trails (4+'s out in Moab, the Rubicon, etc, etc). I've personally taken mine around some difficult trails in Colorado and Arizona, the only "modifications" being the RS-9000 shocks, and a set of 30 inch BFGoodrich A/T Tires. I would not reccomend keeping the stock goodyear tires any longer than neccicary.

The most important attributes of an off-road vehicle are Ground Clearence, (the Cherokee has 10" stock, which is very good), Approach/Breakover/Departure angles (Again, the Cherokee scores top-marks here) and Articulation (with the Cherokee's live-axle setup, a stock one will hit around 700 on the RTI, 1000 being a perfect score. No stock vehicle has ever made 1000, the closest has been Land-Rover's 35,000 doller Defender 90, with a score around 800.)
Mind you, this is after you remove the anti-sway bars, which is not reccomended for people who do not know how to handle a 4x4 very well.

Acceleration with the 4.0 liter is impressive. At any altitude I'm able to pass slower traffic with ease, and merging onto the interstate is a no-brainer.

It's also one of the only smaller-sized SUV's with a 5,000 pound tow capacity, which leads me to state that the Cherokee is all engine.

Braking could be better, it's front disc/rear drum setup is somewhat antiquated, but it still does a more than sufficient job of stopping the vehicle with a 4,000 pound trailer behind it. In the mountains, no less.

Some of you may have recalled how in my test drive of another SUV, I was able to maintain a 55 mph cruise up I-70.
I was also able to keep the Cherokee at 55. With that same 4,000 pound trailer hitched behind it. Without the trailer, 75 is not a hastle.

Both Transmissions for this vehicle are quite good, something of an oddity for a Chrysler, who has had transmission problems as long as I can remember; But with the Cherokee, they decided to outscource. Both the 5 speed and the 4 speed automatic are made by Aisen Seiki in Japan (the same people who build transmissions for Toyota). I have found both transmissions to be, in a word, bulletproof. The 4 speed can hesitate for a few moments before shifting, but the shifting is smooth, and confident. The 5 Speed is also quite good, but lowers the tow rating to 3,000 pounds.


Four Wheel Drive:
The Cherokee also breaks the normal rules of SUV 4wd. An Suv is only supposed to have part-time 4wd, which is, you engage it only on slippery surfaces, or you risk damaging the drivetrain (turning on dry pavement with a part time transfer case is a big no-no.)
So, in addition to the (NVG-231) Command-Trac part time transfer case, the Cherokee can also be had with the (NVG-242) Selec-Trac, Full Time 4wd Transfer case. This transfer case has a lockable, limited slip center differential, which allows it to be placed in 4wd on any surfaces. And unlike most full time 4wd vehicles, it will transfer power front and rear where neccicary (IE, if your rear wheels start sliding, the front will receive more power to keep you moving). Considering this is the same transfer case they use in the Hummer, It also has a bulletproof reputation. (quite literally in this case).

Both cases are lever-activated, allowing you to directly control the transfer case (instead of a push-button which can jam or short out, leaving you stuck out of (or in!) 4wd.

The Command-Trac has 4 positions: 2wd, 4wd, Neutral (disconnects the drivetrain from the transmission) and 4wd Low Gear, which adds an aditional 2.74:1 gear lowering for more torque, and better "Crawling Power" for bad snow days or bad "rocks-the-size-of-honda-civics" days.

The Selec-Trac has 5 positions: 2wd (for more fuel efficiency), 4wd Locked (part time) 4wd, (full time) Neutral, and 4wd Low (locked part time), also using a 2.74:1 low gear.

Allthough the Interior was touched up in 1997, it can still be described as "Spartan" unless you go for the more expensive ($28,000) packages, and one of the most common problems with the vehicle is the radio. I have never heard of a Jeep Radio lasting more than a year, except in the more expensive Grand Cherokees. I highly reccomend you get either the very basic radio, to get the speakers, and just buy a nice CD deck for $100 at your local electronics store, they last much much longer and are generally better quality.

It also rattles and squeaks (mostly the tailgate, a problem that I've seen fixed before by filling it full of insulating foam, but it's not worth it to me), but you never get the feeling anything is going to fail on you.

Many say that the cherokee is a very old design. This is true - it IS a Very old design, but it's going to be very hard to improve on something that allready approaches perfection for the role it was designed to play. So it's not "Old", it's a CLASSIC, and for the price of $20,000 for a basic model with the MUST-HAVE 4.0 I6, it's a very hard combination to beat, particularly if you're a young college student or graduate who wants a reliable, affordable vehicle that can perform several roles, and perform them well.

*Update* I have just had the opportunity to drive a 2001 Cherokee at one of Jeep's "How to drive in 4wd" classes. The vehicle is essentially unchanged since 1999, though the engine seemed to have a bit more pep than the 99 I tested. I will have to drive them side-by side to see if it was just the weather effecting it, (slightly cooler than when I had driven the 99 *shrug*) since the numbers on HP/Torque remain unchanged.
Also, the tailgate no longer squeaks or rattles when going over large obsticles. I understand they redesigned the tailgate during the last major overhaul to correct this annoyance.

I highly reccomend the cherokee to anyone looking for a true Utility vehicle.