I recently traded in my first Jeep, a 1994 Jeep Cherokee for this beauty. I fell in love with this vehicle during the test drive but I wanted to wait until I had a chance to take it out on a road trip before writing a review on it. So I wrote a review on the Jeep I had traded in first.

The 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo is definitely my favorite vehicle that I have ever owned and I have owned way more than most people by the age of… ahem, well suffice it to say I have had my share.


The 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo

I still do not know the exact difference between the Laredo, Sport and Limited Edition but I am assuming that the Laredo is the luxury model since mine has just about every feature available. This is by far the most comfortable ride I have ever had. As I stated in my Cherokee Sport review, I am a large man and do not fit in a lot of vehicles comfortably. The Grand Cherokee I bought has more than enough room for me in the driver’s seat and my legs are not cramped.

The model I purchased is indeed a beautiful work of machinery. It is coal black with grey panels at the bottom that wrap all the way around and become the bumpers. It has a chrome grille and headlight frame and aluminum alloy rims. It was well cared for by the original owner and only has 86,000 miles on it. It literally looks and drives like a new vehicle.


Interior

The interior is in immaculate condition and absolutely gorgeous. It has leather electric seats that adjust forward and backward as well as up and down. The angle of the back of the seat and the lumbar support are also electronically adjustable. The back seats are also very roomy and just as comfortable.

The windows are electric and have a lock on the driver’s door so that no one can open a window except the driver if so desired. This feature is nice if you have small children like my son who was infatuated with the electronic window controls. He kept rolling the window down and up until I locked it. Then he said, “Uh oh… umm... dad? I think I broke your window.”

It has electronic locks and child proof locks on the rear doors. Once the doors are locked the rear doors cannot be unlocked except from the front doors. The doors can be unlocked from either the driver’s or passenger’s door in the front.

The aesthetics of the interior are just awesome. It is absolutely beautiful inside and reminds me very much of my fathers old Mercedes 300D sedan. The dash is laid out in a nice way and with easy access to everything. There is a center console that can hold two drinks and has an arm rest that opens to hold 10 CDs as well as a built in change holder. The arm rest is large enough for both driver and passenger to use.


Special Features

The 2000 Grand Cherokee Laredo offers a lot of features that got my attention at the dealership. First thing I noticed was the wide leather seats, very comfortable and very roomy. The front seats are electronically adjustable in every way.

The next thing that caught my eye was the dashboard. It is grey textured plastic with a strip of imitation curly maple across the length of the dash. The dashboard drew my eyes to next feature, the stereo.

The stereo is the Infinity Gold system and it is one of the nicest factory stereos I have ever heard. It has a CD player as well as a tape deck and AM/FM radio. The stereo can be controlled from the steering wheel so you don’t have to reach across the dashboard while driving. You can adjust the volume and track/station select from the steering wheel. There are two 2” tweeters in the top of the dashboard, two 6”x 9” speakers in the front doors and two 6 1/2” speakers in the rear doors. It has a very full sound, sharp and crisp with full bass response. It is also very loud when you want to rock out.

It also has cruise control and tilt steering. The cruise control is nice but I stopped using it on the road trip when driving through hilly or mountainous areas. When going up hill it does a great job of keeping the vehicle at a steady speed but it makes the vehicle downshift hard and jerks the vehicle abruptly. When on flatter ground it does just fine. I also noticed that it does a pretty good job keeping the vehicle speed steady going downhill. If you set it to 60mph you might hit 65-66 on a very steep grade. Steep grades longer than a mile may get you up to 70 so you have to use the brake a little.

My Grand Cherokee has the same famous in-line 6 cylinder engine as my old Cherokee and a three speed automatic transmission with overdrive. This is nice for me after driving a stick for the last two and a half years. My wife has a bad back and driving a stick is painful for her so she can drive the Grand Cherokee with no problem.

The vehicle has four wheel drive and is well suited for off road expeditions. The four wheel drive system works with three options. You can select Part Time for going through a rough section of road like mud holes or crossing a creek. You can choose Full Time to drive with four wheel drive all the time like during the snow or ice or you can use Four Wheel Low for driving through extremely rough terrain like deep mud or snow over 10”. I have not had the opportunity to use the four wheel low yet but I have used part time and it does wonderful through our friends infamous mud pit of a driveway. This driveway is literally mud 16 inches deep for about twenty yards and if you don’t have four wheel drive you may as well park on the side and walk the rest of the way up to the house.

In the center of the roof just above the rear view mirror there is a travel computer that displays the current temperature outside and the direction you are heading (N,S,E,W, NW, SE and so on). It also can tell you what your gas mileage is that you are getting, how far you can drive till you need fuel, how far you can drive until you need maintenance, and a trip mileage indicator. From this computer you can also set the auto headlamp features for turning on the headlights automatically when it gets dark, when you turn on the windshield wipers, and even the delay for when the headlights shut off after the vehicle is turned off. You can have the headlights stay on for 30, 60 or 90 seconds so you can get inside your house when you park before they turn off. You can also disable all of these features if you wish.

The security system from the factory is decent. The vehicle has an alarm system that incorporates the horn, parking lights and the headlights. There is a motion sensor inside the vehicle that detects intrusion. If you leave the window down and someone reaches into the vehicle the alarm will go off. The alarm is controlled by the key ring and we got two keys and key rings with the vehicle.

There is also a theft prevention system in the vehicle that uses a small chip inside the ignition key. If a copy of the ignition key is used to try to start the vehicle it will not start and if that is tried three times unsuccessfully, the vehicle will not start again until someone from the dealership resets the system.


Cargo Space

The Grand Cherokee has much more room for hauling than my Cherokee did. Literally twice as much in the rear cargo area and the cargo area is higher for stacking items as well. When the rear seats are laid down you get even more space. You could fit a small riding mower in the back with the seats laid down. It also has a luggage rack for light carrying if you need the rear for heavier stuff.

You could fit about twenty bags of groceries in the back without stacking them with the rear seats up and maybe 10-12 more with them down.


The Ride

Driving this vehicle is really a pleasure. It rides very smooth and quiet. In my old Cherokee, if I hit a bump in the road it would toss the passengers around a bit but the same bumps in the Grand Cherokee are just a slight thump. The vehicle literally handles like a luxury sedan. Umm… that is, a luxury sedan with an attitude. Even when driving on rough road or off road the ride is nice and smooth. The suspension handles hard bumps very well making the wheels take the bump so the passengers don’t.

The turning radius is just as good as my old Cherokee making a full 360 in two points on a two lane road. It corners like a car and you can take hard turns at reasonable speeds without feeling like your going to roll over.

Off road the vehicle lives up to the reputation of a Jeep. It goes through mud and small creeks with no problem and even small to mid sized rocks do not phase it. You should be careful driving over rocks in any situation because they could puncture the tires. If you plan to drive where there are rocks in the path you should release about 15-20 lbs. of air pressure from the tires before hand. Just make sure you refill them when you get back on the road.

Driving on the highway is just like driving a luxury sedan. The ride is smooth and comfortable. You may want to roll down the windows and turn up the stereo or you may get so comfortable you could fall asleep (not a good thing).

The Grand Cherokee gets a little less mpg than my old Cherokee but I can live with that. I have been getting exactly 18.4mpg on the highway and 16.2mpg around town. I know this exactly because the travel computer tells me so. The computer automatically resets gas mileage when the tank is filled, so you don’t have to try to keep track of the trip miles and work the math.


The Deal

I was given $1500 trade-in on my 1994 Jeep Cherokee Sport and another $1000 off the sticker which left me with $9,995 plus tax and tags. This is not bad at all but you may even be able to find better in other states depending on taxes and the condition of the vehicle. I checked the blue book value of my old vehicle online and they offered me a fair value for it. The price I paid for the 2000 Grand Cherokee was also very fair for the mileage and condition of the vehicle.

The difference in my 2000 and the 2002 that was on the lot with similar mileage was over $10,000! The difference in the two is nil. The body, engine and transmission as well as all the special features are “exactly the same”. Since the 2000 was in such good shape I could see no reason to buy the newer vehicle with roughly the same mileage for 20 grande.


Conclusion

I have been swept off my feet by the Jeep Grand Cherokee. It is a beautiful machine loaded with testosterone. I have had it just over a week now and have put close to 1,000 miles on it already. I took it on a road trip this weekend and I have to say that I am completely satisfied with my purchase. I have to give it a good wash and wax now that I have christened it with mud and creek water. I believe I have become a Jeep lover for life (as long as they continue to make the Jeep Grand Cherokee).

Thanks for reading,
Gr8ful :-)

Amount Paid (US$): 12995
Condition: Used
Model Year: 2000
Model and Options: Laredo