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03/03/2008
By EWAN KENNEDY
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New Jeeps have been popping out of the factory seemingly every few months, but most have been soft-road pretenders, not real 4WDs as defined by the purists. And few are more pure than the full-on Jeep lovers.
 So we announce with pleasure that the all-new Jeep Cherokee is the real thing. A tough vehicle aimed at hard off-road running.
In its latest guise the body of the Cherokee is substantially longer than before, yet the overall length of the vehicle is marginally less than the superseded model. This apparent contradiction is due to the fact that the spare wheel is no longer mounted on the back door, it’s now under the rear of the vehicle.
This has enabled the Cherokee to be significantly stretched in the wheelbase as well as in the cabin. In particular, the rear seat is now much more spacious and is more than capable of accepting tall adults. The boot is also longer than ever, but is relatively high off the ground, so loading isn’t all that easy and the overall interior height has been compromised.
You never get something for nothing in this world – the high boot floor has been caused by the need to mount the spare wheel as high as possible under the body in order to give it the sort of departure angle a proper 4WD needs. A compromise that works well in the minds of those who love their Jeeps.
 If you really want good headroom in the back, Jeep offers what it calls a Sky Slider roof option. This huge sunroof, far and away the biggest on the market, opens almost the complete upper surface of the big wagon. Leaving only a small cross bar towards the rear to brace the vehicle and put back most of the strength lost by removing the roof. The Sky Slider is made from canvas and can be opened to the rear or the front and concertina folds as it slides. It adds $3000 to the price and we anticipate many buyers spending the extra cash.
Styling of the new Jeep Cherokee is oh-so right. From the seven-slot front over the large bonnet to the squared off sides and rear it could be nothing else but a Jeep. It has a fair bit of Jeep Commander in its shape, but somehow the smaller vehicle works a lot better aesthetically than its bigger brother.
Cherokee is powered by an uprated version of the existing 3.7-litre V6 petrol engine, now producing 151 kW and 341 Nm. It’s mated only to a four-speed automatic transmission, there's no longer a manual option in any Jeep Cherokee.
A new design turbo-diesel, heavily based on a Mercedes powerplant (though the two companies are no longer partners) has power of 130 kW, and far more torque – 460 Nm at 2000 rpm. It comes with a more refined five-speed auto that’s definitely superior to the four-speed unit in the petrol.
At this stage all our driving has been done in the turbo-diesel CRD unit that has plenty of performance. We would expect the performance of the 341 kW petrol engine to be somewhat less and it may struggle at times in harsh 4WD conditions.
A lot of our driving at the press launch was done on the world’s largest sand island. Fraser Island off the Queensland coast is a favourite destination for four-wheel drivers from many countries. Jeep's Australian representatives were as brave as always, choosing tough routes that really challenge all vehicles. Several got bogged, usually through operator error, and had to be towed out, but on the whole the Jeep Selec-Trac II system allied to a new Brake Lock Differential that can brake individual wheels electronically, worked well.
 We did have one major problem. Our CRD turbo-diesel damaged what appeared to be its ‘bash’ plate, but which is in fact a sound-reducing shield intended to reduce the incidence of diesel engine rattle entering the interior. Sand had got between the shield and the sump and eventually built up to the extent that the thin plastic shield could no longer take the strain.
We were initially embarrassed by this – until we discovered that close to 50 per cent of Cherokees on the trek suffered the same damage. The world’s greatest sand island had claimed several more victims. Lesson learnt: remove the Jeep diesel’s undertray before tackling deep sand.
Jeep's new Cherokee is an example of the longtime excellence of the American company in the field of off-road driving. And will appeal as much for its style as much as for its competence.
The full Jeep Cherokee range, with prices (excluding on-road costs) is:
Cherokee Sport 3.7-litre V6 petrol: $39,990 (automatic)
Cherokee Sport 2.8-litre turbo-diesel: $43,990 (automatic)
Cherokee Limited 3.7-litre V6 petrol: $45,990 (automatic)
Cherokee Limited 2.8-litre turbo-diesel: $49,990 (automatic) |
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