Gadgetory

and they redid the Jeep Cherokee they redid the Jeep Cherokee bring it back with a completely new face an interesting new transmission a very different sort of powerplant and orientation let's find out if change is good now the niche Araki goes up against Ford Escape onto CRV and Hyundai Tucson and remember this is a unibody car they haven't done body-on-frame since the early 80s on a Cherokee or Liberty so get over that and keeping with its modern routes it's available front-wheel drive all wheel drive or real gutsy four-wheel drive there's a difference now spotting a Cherokee you don't need my help nothing looks like that this is the most dramatic styling departure in the history of the Jeep brand and a rather controversial by the way these are not the headlights they print as such but these are your turn signals and markers the headlights are down here basically in the bumper the fog lights below that now the first thing you're going to notice in this new Cherokee is nothing in the dash it's under your butt these seats are really comfortable in an era when car seats and if you noticed airline seats are getting harder and harder these are super soft you just never see that anymore and it's it's kind of cool now the first thing I look for after I get comfy in here is do they keep doing that ww2 Jeep theme and as you can see they don't this is a very urban sleek interface the only two things that call back to their heritage are a tiny little embossed since 1941 down here and the oddest thing look up there at the bottom of the windshield it's a little silhouette cut out like almost like an Easter Egg it's so small of a jeep going over a rock I think they realize that that ww2 stuff may as well be war of 1812 for the audience they're targeting here now to the main event the 8.4 inch Chrysler UConnect head unit this is an outstanding interface and we feel that way every time we run across it it's simple I believe now the touch response is faster than ever you hit that screen it responds right now very quick which is more than just a nicety that's how you end up getting quick in and out of the screen and not being distracted now all the great media sources are here that you care about iPod or bluetooth streaming both with good if not perfect metatag way notice that CD is optional on this car and we don't even have it on this one you can add it for like two hundred bucks but they're starting to say forget it you don't need anymore now the navigation systems right the best place to get a feel for why this thing wins Awards in JD Power surveys for ease of use this is simple and clear and clean where things fall down is when you go to the voice command button and it's much less intuitive notice address sorry I didn't get that you can say things like destination 1 Main Street Detroit Michigan or find nearest gas stations cancel so on some screens you say what's on the screen on other screens you say what's on the screen and it doesn't know what you're talking about that's a weird mix of expectations that is not good UI and then when you get to this you connect apps logo you can go to the you connect store starts to get confusing here but it's powered by 3G which is built in that I applaud but it's 3G that I don't applaud forget it it takes forever and then you get a disconnect notice take my word for it once you get in there there's a $20 fee telematics app that lets you access and control your car but oddly enough Yelp is baked into this unit without any extra technology so it's a weird hodgepodge now aside from this big boy right here which by the way comes with or without navigation that is an optional extra to this you've also got a really nice color LCD between the gauges again something kind of special in a Jeep I like how it's full bleed it goes right out to the curved edges of the speedo on the tech they really utilize that area in there is a whole variety of vehicle information screens and it's highly configurable down to absurdities like deciding what goes in the upper left and upper right corner and how you want your gear position displayed but I guess choice is better than none last thing I want to show you in here are the drive controls now one choice only 9-speed automatic we'll talk a little bit more about that wiggle up to the engine bay right adjacent to that because we have a trailhawk which is the most trail ready a multiple terrain response controller you've also got the ability to do some pretty serious crawl in this guy down to a 50 6 2 1 crawl ratio and because this guy's a real four-wheel drive not just an all-wheel drive you've got a four-wheel drive low mode and you've got rear lock now under the hood this is part of the indication that we're in modern Jeep age the engine right off the bat MultiAir 2.4 liter sidesaddle inline-four that by default just drags the rear ends around in front-wheel drive configuration MultiAir is Fiats hydraulically driven technology for variable valve event control now the numbers on this engine are 184 horsepower 171 foot-pounds of torque but it gets there without any clever tricks notice I didn't mention any turbos you don't see any here and there is no direct injection on this car it uses kind of old-school 1980s ish multi-port fuel injection so nothing tricky here in full four wheel drive locking drivetrain trim as this one is you just barely tip two tons in weight zero to sixty a little under nine seconds mpg and four-wheel-drive is twenty one twenty eight go front-wheel drive you get up to twenty to thirty one now the gearing all this hooks up to as I mentioned one choice only 9 speed automatic no paddles instead they use the back of the wheel for audio controls interesting the top four gears top four of that transmission are all overdrive I've never seen that before and this is they say the only four-wheel-drive crossover they can unlock the rear and freewheel it when not needed for fuel efficiency let's see what all comes together on the road okay the good news on this Cherokee is that the engine note is quite nice and the ride quality is quite nice and as I mentioned nice comfy seat so things get off to a really good start but you know my little trick when I first drive a car that comes into seen that first thing I do is do no research and drive it for an hour or two and try and guess what's under the hood and underneath the chassis and this one I thought had a CVT transmission in fact it's a 9 speed automatic as we now know that's no complement to the automatic this thing is kind of slippery and vague and wandering therefore taking what is already a small engine for the package and putting it at a further disadvantage I just don't like driving this vehicle there's enough power there but not responsiveness okay let's price our 2014 Jeep Cherokee trailhawk basically top-of-the-line with real four-wheel drive with locking and low range 30,500 with the 2.4 liter for that as you can tell I'm not hugely fond of so I've got to drive that v6 before I make any other move in the showroom and that'll add 1,500 now the options to go CNET style the big one is the tech package for 2200 bucks you get adaptive cruise control including stop and go brake assist Auto high beams blind spot and cross traffic technology lane departure warning you get the idea 1900 for the convenience package that includes automatic temperature control headlights and turn themselves off and on a rear camera you want that power liftgate power driver's seat only and remote start navigation as I mentioned is an $800 add-on to that you connect head unit CD player 195 bucks you can upgrade the audio for 400 to add more speakers and better amps add a dual pane glass sunroof for 1400 now you're at around 37 for all in stilwell shy of 40 grand for a vehicle that you got to give it credit has some real off-road skills my downside as you can imagine is that powertrain at least with this engine I find driving it to be a mixed