The Jeep Cherokee is a comfortable, spacious, practical crossover that comes with an endless list of features, particularly in the Limited and above trims. It achieves a respectable 21/30 mpg rating coming from a 2.4 liter 4 cylinder engine making 184 horsepower and 171 lb. ft. of torque. The Cherokee also takes some riskier styling cues compared to many of the other options in the segment, and I personally think the 2019 refresh makes the Cherokee look far more premium and elegant compared to the pre-facelift model. I’m also really impressed with the interior quality on modern Jeeps, as the Cherokee’s interior looks stunningly high quality in person, with comfortable seats, smooth leather wrapped surfaces, and “just enough” piano black trim. The interior of this car makes the Cherokee look and feel more expensive than it really is. The Uconnect system is among the best in terms of car infotainment systems as well, with stunning graphics, quick touch response, and menus that are easy to navigate. The Cherokee makes a very good first impression.
Outward visibility in the Cherokee is really good. Typical of an SUV, you get a higher seating position that gives you more confidence on the road, and the styling doesn’t really intrude on your exterior viewing angles. The front hood looks a little blocky from the driver’s seat, but it slopes down nicely and doesn’t really get in your way at all. You have a very tall and open windshield, the side mirrors are massive, and the rear window frames the rearview mirror perfectly, giving you a crystal clear image of the road behind you.
I suppose the first thing I noticed when I got the Cherokee out on the road was the somewhat harsh sounding engine note coming out of the 2.4 liter 4 cylinder engine. The actual engine noise remains fairly quiet in the cabin, but you immediately notice that the engine doesn’t sound quite as polished or refined as some of the other entries in the segment. The Cherokee’s base 4 cylinder sounds unexpectedly coarse and grainy even in low RPMs, which may have been a fairly common characteristic of 4 cylinder engines from years ago, but it seems a little out of place in today’s marketplace. The engine itself is pretty good, but the engine note wasn’t my favorite.
The power band of this engine is nice and linear, but the low end torque is lacking. You don’t really feel like you’re going anywhere until you push the engine between around 2700-3700 rpm, at which point the Cherokee delivers a smooth wave of torque and you’re greeted with decent pep. Most people will be fine with the amount of power the base 2.4 delivers, it’s really not that bad of an engine in terms of real world driving. The overall feel of this engine actually reminds me of Honda’s K24 4 cylinder engine, used in products like the Accord up until 2012. It has a similar feeling of smoothness in the power delivery with peppy mid-range pull. You can wring the engine out all the way to its redline and still feel completely confident in what you’re doing. You won’t be winning drag races, but you have enough power to do whatever you need to do in your everyday commute. The Cherokee could stand to feel more eager off the line, but the torque curve comes on in a linear and eloquent fashion. Once you get a feel for the car, it’s very easy to kind of modulate the RPMs and plant the engine in its sweet spot. The Cherokee doesn’t feel fast, but the acceleration still feels smooth, brisk, and decently satisfying. Other cars like the Equinox, Escape, and the Rogue (all in base engine form) just don’t feel as smooth, nor do they enjoy the higher revs as much as the Cherokee’s 4 cylinder.
I spent a good chunk of time driving the Cherokee around town, and I didn’t really find myself having any issues with the 9-speed automatic transmission. I tend to be picky about things like transmission shift quality and logic, too. The 9-speed hesitates once in a while, it sometimes upshifts early in the rev range for fuel efficiency, and it isn’t very eager to downshift into its passing gear. That’s about the worst of it, and really, most of the people buying these things aren’t going to care. I actually thought the shift quality in the Cherokee’s 9-speed was pretty smooth, and the shift logic is fairly intuitive for the most part. The actual speed of the upshifts is on the slow side, as the engine kind of pauses while preparing to shift into the next gear, but you don’t feel jarred or disrupted from the shift quality at all. Each gear seems to give you the right amount of power that your foot is telling it to. Under normal acceleration, this transmission definitely shifts more compared to your typical 6-speed automatic, but the gears seemed to be spaced out decently well in providing you with seamless power delivery from the 2.4 liter engine. The 9-speed is still a little quirky in some areas, but I couldn’t really see myself fussing over it if I owned this car and drove it daily.
Sometimes the 9-speed will hesitate. If you’re rolling at parking lot speeds and then hit the gas, the transmission takes about a second to engage and put the power down. Even when you’re driving at normal speeds (say you let off the gas around a corner, and then get back on the gas when exiting the corner), the transmission will still hesitate for a second or two before engaging. The transmission does feel slightly laggy and clunky when it does this, but it’s never really outright jerky or unrefined. It’s only when you’re driving it like a sports car where you notice a lag as the transmission engages. It’s definitely there, but it’s not extremely obvious nor is it something that ruins the driving experience in any significant way. I’ve driven plenty of other cars that performed similar in these situations as well. In fact, I thought the 8-speed automatic used in the Toyota Camry handled these situations significantly worse than the Cherokee’s 9-speed, with an extremely prevalent, persistent lag and clunking sensation in the Toyota that would happen almost every time you hit the gas (particularly in low speed scenarios), yet the Camry’s 8-speed receives almost no negative press. I generally think that the automotive industry has a bias towards this ZF 9-speed, because for all the negative press that it gets, it really isn’t that bad of a transmission. There are plenty of modern cars out there that are worse in terms of shift quality and gear logic.
Sometimes the transmission unexpectedly upshifts early for fuel efficiency, but I was able to lessen that once I get used to working the throttle in this car. The 9-speed still has a tendency to upshift early, but this transmission will usually put you in the engine’s primary torque curve when you ask it to.
Probably the only area that I have to truly fault this 9-speed automatic is its reluctance to downshift. For having 9 gears, the transmission is pretty stubborn when delivering any sort of passing gear. It also seems as though there are only two passing gears: too little, or too much. Upon requesting passing power, this transmission just doesn’t seem to give you the “correct” gear you really need, which again, is kind of inexcusable for having 9 entire gears. You’ll need to shove the accelerator to get a downshift, and then it takes a second or two before slowly shifting into its passing gear. It was annoying at first, but after a while I started to get used to it. There’s something about the throttle mapping in the Cherokee that just makes the 9-speed feel predictable, even in its stubborn moments. The hesitant passing power will feel unusual when you’re first driving the car, but I think that it’s something you get used to surprisingly quick.
The overall handling of this car definitely leans more towards the comfort side of things, but the Cherokee doesn’t really handle all that bad for what it is. In cramped parking lots and tight maneuvers, the Cherokee does tend to feel a little big. However, when you’re actually out on the road driving at normal speeds, the Cherokee seems to disguise its weight pretty well. The Cherokee actually felt lighter and more airier than I was expecting. You do feel the weight shift around corners, and you can usually tell that you’re in something with a higher center of gravity, but overall you don’t feel much body lean and the chassis retains a good level of control. The AWD system glues all 4 wheels to the road as well. So yes, you can push your Cherokee around the jug handle of the mall parking lot entrance and come out of it just fine. You won’t feel encouraged to drive the Cherokee fast around twists and turns, but if you do decide that you’re in a hurry and want to drive just a little quicker, the Cherokee will do it without breaking a sweat. The handling is still quite neutral and not necessarily best in class, the chassis is nice and predictable and the vehicle feels lighter than it looks. When you’re cruising at highway speeds, the Cherokee feels planted and hunkered down.
The steering in this car is definitely geared more towards comfort, aiding to the comfort-oriented experience of the Cherokee. To my surprise, the steering of this car feels lighter compared to most other FCA products. It is a very numb steering feel, and you don’t feel any sort of communication to the road, but I think the general light nature of the steering helps the Cherokee feel more maneuverable. It’s a little mushy at initial turn in just as you would expect, and the steering is a little slow to react, a typical trait of most modern crossovers with electric power steering. However, the steering wheel responds with fluid and linear motions, and the Cherokee feels smooth and precise while rounding corners. There’s nothing in terms of vibrations or unnecessary road feedback transmitted into the steering, nor does the steering wheel track unexpectedly with lines and indents in the road. It is a little too “isolated” for my taste, and it’s not always crystal clear where the front tires are pointing, but it’s easy to plant the Cherokee wherever you want it on the road. The Cherokee points straight as an arrow when the steering is on center, and the steering feels decently weighted when cruising at higher speeds. The steering response isn’t sporty, but it does a good job at giving the Cherokee a more solid and buttoned down feel. Overall it’s a very refined, intuitive, comfortable steering feel, despite feeling numb and having some vagueness here and there. The steering wheel also feels really nice to the touch, with smooth premium leather and thick bolstering.
The Cherokee strikes a nice balance between handling and ride quality as well. The ride of this car is really good, it’s probably one of the smoothest riding crossovers in its class. I think the ride quality can get slightly jarring over really rough pavement, but for the most part everything feels well dampened. The Cherokee even feels pillowy soft at times, but as I mentioned above, the chassis still retains a decent amount of assuredness, and you really don’t feel that much body roll through the corners.
Road noise is nice and muted as well. On the highway I felt like I was getting about normal levels of wind noise in the cabin, but around town you really don’t hear much of anything. It’s a very peaceful and isolated cabin. The Cherokee definitely seems quieter than the Nissan Rogue that I drove.
In terms of throttle response, the Cherokee does really well on that end too. The accelerator feels loose and a little mushy, but it’s very predictable. You feel like you have good control over the engine RPMs, and it’s easy to plant the tachometer needle right where you want it. The accelerator doesn’t respond extremely quick, and you will need to put your foot down if you want to accelerate a little harder, but there’s nothing in the way of numbness or dead pedal travel. You feel the engine responding as soon as you tap the accelerator, and I appreciate how the pedal has this looser yet high resolution feel.
Braking response is definitely more vague than I would have expected. The brake pedal resistance is on the light side and the bite feels a little mushy, which is somewhat unconventional for a modern Mopar product. That said, stopping power is still very smooth and refined. The brakes don’t transmit any harshness or vibrations into the cabin, and it’s very easy to modulate the amount of braking power that you need for any given situation. There is a little bit of jerkiness in the drivetrain upon nearing a complete stop, but that’s more of a minor quirk that most people won’t notice.
And that about covers it. The Cherokee is a very refined car to drive. Smooth ride quality, hushed road noise, and great interior comfort. There’s just nothing really inherently bad about the driving experience. Sure, the 9-speed has its quirks, but personally I thought the 9-speed performed fine in everyday driving. It’s not the most intuitive, but the shift quality feels refined and everything just performs as advertised. I also thought that the base 2.4 had enough pep to satisfy most buyers, although I am really glad they offer a 2.0 turbo and a 3.2 V6 in the Cherokee. There are just so many available options and upgrades in this car, and it’s really easy to configure it to exactly how you want it. Longevity of FCA vehicles is definitely a concern, so I’m not sure that I would personally own a Cherokee, but it is still a compelling choice in the segment with its luxurious dynamics and competitive feature content. The Cherokee feels far more balanced on the road compared to the Nissan Rogue, and the ride quality and road noise reaches into Lexus territory. The Mazda CX-5 will handle better, but the Cherokee provides a more relaxing and toned down experience without many sacrifices.
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