Chrysler Jeep Cherokee
Jedlicka’s auto world at large: Sport/utility vehicles are all the rage, and Jeep’s Cherokee and Wagoneer four-wheel-drive (4WD) sporty/utility vehicles are among the best.
Sold as two- or four-door hatchbacks, these two near-identical vehicles are now from Chrysler’s Jeep/Eagle division, not the defunct American Motors.
The Chrysler Jeep Cherokee and Wagoneer have good 4WD systems, behave well in both on- and off-road situations, offer plenty of people and cargo room and are car-like.
But they’re not cheap, with prices ranging from $12,538 to $23,153.
And engine choice is critical. They should be equipped with the 4-liter, 177-horsepower in-line six-cylinder engine if you want good acceleration, especially if hauling a load or towing.
The six-cylinder has a wonderful, 1950s-style name: “Power Tech Six.” It’s the most powerful engine of its size in the light truck market.
Standard for some Jeeps is a 121-horsepower, 2.5-liter four-cylinder, which doesn’t have much punch. If you must have the four-cylinder, order it with a manual transmission. It works lazily with the automatic.
Fuel economy is just so-so with either engine.
The six works splendidly with the four-speed automatic, which has shift modes for either “power” or “economy.”
In the power mode, under hard acceleration, the transmission upshifts at higher engine revolutions per minute, downshifts more rapidly and is more sensitive to throttle position.
I tested a Chrysler Jeep Cherokee Laredo model equipped much like the posh, top-line $23,153 Cherokee Limited. It was loaded with equipment, ranging from a bunch of power-operated accessories to a gauge package with a tachometer.
Available for the Jeeps are two 4WD systems: Selec-Trac or Command-Trac. It’s simple to shift in or out of four-wheel drive with either.
Selec-Trac is best because it’s a full-time system that can be used at high speeds on smooth, dry pavement. Command-Trac is more limited, meant to just keep you comfortably going under poor traction conditions.
Handling and braking of my test Chrysler Jeep Cherokee Laredo were decent, but its ride was a little stiff; after all, this is a truck.
The power steering was too light and vague.
Visibility from the Chrysler Jeep Cherokee Laredo is excellent, and parking or garaging is a snap because the vehicle is compact.
There’s plenty of room for four 6-footers, or five tall adults in a pinch. And cargo room is especially good with the rear seat folded forward. No matter what they’re driving, motorists wearing contact lenses soon learn a problem with a lens is dangerous when they’re at the wheel.
A speck of dirt under a lens can feel like a knife.
“Quickly and safely get off the road and remove the lens if it creates a problem,” advises veteran Chicago optometrist Eugene Cutler.
“Keep going and you’ll not only continue with eye discomfort, your eye also will tear and excessively blur vision.”
Still, Cutler is an advocate of contact lenses for motorists.
“They provide better peripheral vision than glasses,” he said. “They also allow better depth perception, crucial for safe driving, for those highly nearsighted or farsighted.
Cutler said contact lenses can be especially valuable for those over 40 with typical deteriorating near-vision because they can be fitted to allow persons to easily see both dashboard and the road far ahead.
“In that situation, one lens is fitted mainly for near vision and the other for distance,” Cutler said.
Summer is fast approaching, and he recommends wearing “driving” sunglasses with UV400 lenses because they cut the higher amount of ultraviolet rays being experienced due to atmospheric ozone layer deterioration.
“Also, I recommend sunglasses with gradient density lenses – those with a clear lower third of the glass, because they allow greater ease in seeing the dash,” Cutler said.
