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Off Topic - Jeep Cherokee

Crispin

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Despite my best efforts, my wife wants to get a Jeep Cherokee. :twisted:

Anyone know anything about? I appreciate this is not a Jeep forum but any horror stories like "Stay away because the thing catches fire" etc?
I'm not against them and seeing as there are so many on the road it can't be all that bad. Wait, there are a lot of freelanders on the road as well.

The 2.8 diesel is the probable engine choice.


CP
 
Generally gets rated quite highly, a pretty capable machine and haven't heard of any specific problems with the 2.8 CRD engine. Drive train again haven't heard of any problems. My next door neighbour where I used to live had one (a 2.8 CRD) and loved it and never had any problems in the year I knew about it before they moved.

I've had a Cherokee in the past (in the Middle East where the fuel cost for the 4L petrol engine wasn't so frightening and it was a great machine although the back axles on the old XJ model were a bit fragile as proved to be the gearbox (I went through 2 of them) but it was an amazing machine to drive and went like a mad thing (probably why I killed two boxes on it :lol:.

Jeep do make nice machines.
 
Thanks Andy.

As for off-roading and being capable - it would need to climb the pavement outside our house. This proved a challenge in the snow for the Alpha but that's as adventurous as it gets (I am banned from "testing" it on the local lane)
 
I think that engine (2.9l rather than 2.8l?) is a Merc-derived unit. Obviously Jeep being American has no great track record of making diesels. So it should be a good engine, although I do recall some chatter about the straight 6 Merc t-diesels having some problems with the crank and main bearings that was causing a fair few failures and Merc were doing their best to keep it hushed up. The engine in question was the 320 TD so maybe a completely different family of engines :think:
Of course I could have the bull by the udders altogether here, so do some research before you take my 2c too seriously :lol:

The top-spec Cherokee is a very nice car but is a soft-roader at best. I am sure for Mrs P's use, it will be fine. And it can't be less reliable than an Alfa!
 
A friend of mine has one, a 2005 version with the 2.8CRD in it and she is not too keen on it!

As for the Jeep:

it's not that it can't do anything because its a pretty capable child hauler and all round mum wagon but it would seem that bits do spontaneously fall off from time to time. Bits such as trim, wheel arches, rear view mirrors to name a few! Also she moans that it's not as big as it looks from the outside, she is a single mum with 5 year old and when she drives down to see her mum the whole thing is packed out.

As for Jeep:

Her other issue is that Jeep's aftersales have been appalling, really pro-active and attentive till they had her money and then nothing but apathy.

Having said that, she did bring it up salisbury plain once with me and Ecky and although it wasn't too wet it kept up fine including the tank tracks.


:think: :think: :think: :think: :think:
 
Andrew Prince said:
I think that engine (2.9l rather than 2.8l?) is a Merc-derived unit. Obviously Jeep being American has no great track record of making diesels. So it should be a good engine, although I do recall some chatter about the straight 6 Merc t-diesels having some problems with the crank and main bearings that was causing a fair few failures and Merc were doing their best to keep it hushed up. The engine in question was the 320 TD so maybe a completely different family of engines :think:
Of course I could have the bull by the udders altogether here, so do some research before you take my 2c too seriously :lol:

The top-spec Cherokee is a very nice car but is a soft-roader at best. I am sure for Mrs P's use, it will be fine. And it can't be less reliable than an Alfa!

I think the 2.8 CRD is a VM unit rather than a Merc derived unit and is generally well regarded - not the torquiest lump in the world but reasonably reliable.

Yes trim hasn't always been the strongest point on American cars (I had a Camaro once and something new used to fall off every day - that being said the mechanicals were bomb proof).

Aftersales seems to be dealer driven - some dealers are good some are frankly atrocious.

Interior on next door's was really nice, lovely soft leather and actually for me everything well laid out which was a change for Jeep - the XJ was pretty much a joke when it comes to ergonomics.

As a soft roader I think it is one of the better ones.

Might also be worth looking at the Kia soft roaders which actually are very good.

I would have to say, if I didn't have a Land Cruiser I'd have a Nissan, and if I didn't have that I'd have a Jeep.
 
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Next door to us has a diesel Jeep of about 2005/6 vintage that seems quite nice and he's happy with it. It does seem quite cosy inside but I think they're a smaller truck than a landcruiser anyway?
 
I had one as a hire car a few years ago in Canada (as we all know hire cars are the fastest, toughest cars in existence) it was a V6 petrol I think.
My wife and I took it on a small adventure into the Algonquin National Park in what turned out to be about 4' of fresh snow, I did really well.
One scary experience was to stop in what looked like a nice car park to find it was a frozen lake :o
We did a couple of thousand miles in it and it drove well on the road, it is not huge but it was OK
 
Yeah but we all know that the fastest and toughest hire car of all is a white Renault Clio - does about 190mph and can demolish small factories with a glancing blow - well put it this way that's how they drive them in France :lol: :lol: . It's taken over from the 2CV as a Bugatti Veyron beater.
 
I was offered a y reg auto 6 cylinder Jeep Cherokee for £1500 as an interim measure when looking for my truck but declined as it was petrol. I also did some net research and found they seemed to have a common rear diff issue which would cost between 400-1200 pounds to fix. Funny you should mention horror stories involving fire - they are under investigation.

I decided to wait. Andrew St. Pierre White (and Tom Sheppard) like their quadra-trac system. Here's his video:
[youtube:22wdi6ay]o1TqECPDCTM[/youtube:22wdi6ay]
 
Thanks folks.

It's the little one she is looking at. (not the Grand) Think it's a '55 plate with 49k on the clock. She said "It's cool and the back door window goes up and down" Bless.... I also got the call "What's this other gearlever with H2 H2 L2 L4 do? ;)
Will take a look tomorrow at it. Stealer can't find the service book but is sure it had one. Looked very busy trying to find it. Hmmm :hand:

As for it's abilities, pavement hopper.

Want to try the rav4 as well...
 
Crispin said:
Want to try the rav4 as well...
Steph's is tiny but not bad to drive except it feels like a go kart compared to a cruiser. Surprisingly capable 4wd on the older ones like Stephs (2001) but I'd check that on the very latest ones because a little voice in my head says they spoilt that.
 
Interesting....

Offside mirror all but fell off when I bumped it.
Coolant bottle empty, rad full of rusty water. Engine warmed up within about 3 minutes of driving.
Some bearing on the serpentine belt squealing like a banshee.
Oil was not showing on dipstick. Opened 710 cap while engine running and there was little sign of oil in the rocker cover.
Service book missing,
V5 says it's petrol, last two Mot says "Details changed from Diesel to petrol" (Stealer says it must be a mistake)


I could go on......

Anyway, the greasy guy just looked too much like a......

The hunt continues.
 
Jon Wildsmith said:
Steph's is tiny


coming from a guy who drives a 100 ;)

They seem to be more expensive (for a reason I guess) vs the Jeeps. Also looking at them though.
 
:lol: it's tiny compared to a 120 as well. It's typical Toyota built quality though which probably accounts for the price. The back seats are pretty flexible for making the most of the load space, you can slide them, fold them or just un-clip and remove them and are a 50/50 split.
 
Years and years ago we looked at a RAV4 for Nickie. Back then the rear door did not open the full 90* let alone slightly past. This made loading large things into the boot very difficult. Have they fixed this on the later ones?

Ian
 
I haven't measured the angle Steph's door opens to but it hasn't struck me as not opening enough. I'll have to check next time we use it now :)
 
My daughter Claire, (Tommo's missus), had a RAV4 and changed it for an older SWB 90.
Very nice and smooth with the 2.0D4D but not what you would call an inspiring car. In fact very boring, but maybe that's just my take on them.

I have just replaced a front driveshaft on a Cherokee for a mate. They have a rubber insert, built to take up the drive smoothly. You have to replace the complete shaft when one of these rubber things goes and a shaft cost £440 +Vat. This car has 53,000 on the clock and has never to my knowlege been off road (far too clean and tidy underneath).
 
I don't find the rav4 particularly inspiring but I've sat in worse :lol: Steph's had to have the black leather interior :roll: but it does make it nice inside compared to a newer cloth model I also looked at. Also depends which version you're talking about of course.
 
Ian Rubie said:
Years and years ago we looked at a RAV4 for Nickie. Back then the rear door did not open the full 90* let alone slightly past. This made loading large things into the boot very difficult. Have they fixed this on the later ones?
They haven't fixed it on Steph's although we've not been limited by it. You can't really get 'large' things in anyway it's too small :mrgreen:
 
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