Jeep Cherokee road tests and consumer car reviews

Jeep Cherokee 2.4 Sport 2005

I love this car! It’s an extremely easy ride. I’m on average a pretty fast driver and have never felt the car anywhere near to rolling - which for a 4x4 is great. As well as loving its elegant and smooth lines, I love the fact that it’s spacious without being too huge, length and width wise, making it an easier car to handle and park than other 4x4s e.g. Nissan X-Trail, Grand Cherokee, Land Rovers etc. Have just lost car due an accident, but looking to buy another one again. Have looked at a whole bunch of other cars, but nothing beats the Jeep Cherokee! ADVANTAGES: 1) Very comfortable. Two bottle holders at the front and one on each door at the back. Speakers front and back. Window control for both front and back in middle of front car seats. 5 seat belts. 2) For its weight (around 2 tonnes), it’s an incredibly nice drive. You don’t really feel the weight of the car except when you’re going uphill, but I still drove up to 70mph quite easily, and as long as you get a bit of experience driving it, it soon become a pleasure to deal with. It is definitely not a cheap car to run - getting around 26-28mpg for the speeds I drive it at, however, the pleasure it gives you makes up for it. This is a great car for long journeys too! You can relax and chill quite easily in it, without feeling the stress of a long journey. 3) Recently had a very serious car accident. The car held stiff - in fact, it definitely saved our lives! For the kind of accident we had, in any other car would have had the front cave in and crush driver and passenger. As it was, the front held stiff and saved us. It is now a total write-off for all sorts of reasons, but all to do with the type of accident rather than stability of car. NEGATIVES: 1) Bought the car 2 years ago second hand, with a 1 year warranty. 13 months after purchase we discovered that it has some manufacturing defect on the clutch which caused bottom part of the engine to be replaced, as you can imagine an expensive job (£3500 in 2009) so if you’re buying a 2005-6 car, I would enquire about manufacturing defects and do as much research as possible! Was not able to find anything on the internet to confirm this but 2 of the garages that we went to (one of them Jeep) to get car fixed confirmed it as manufacturing defect. The other issue was the Jeep/Chrysler refused to pay towards cost of replacing enginer/clutch, so beware! 2) If you’re moving from an ordinary car to a 4x4, it can seem extremely heavy to drive, but you soon get used to it. 3) Passenger seat: on the left side of the passenger seat, near the right leg, there’s an area which takes up a bit of the leg room so it can sometimes be a bit annoying to keep butting into it with your leg. It may hold the air con system but not sure.