Ever since SUVs became the hottest part of the vehicle market, everyone has jumped in. These days you can buy SUVs from just about any brand. Even Porsche, which has never even produced a sedan before, will offer an SUV soon. But some companies have been making SUVs since before they were hot. These brands carry more cachet because they’re selling SUVs because that’s what they’ve always done. They’re not just offering SUVs because that’s the hot segment right now. They seem more authentic. In this category, Europe has Land Rover and the United States has Jeep.

Jeep not only has many years of experience making off-road vehicles, going back to the Jeeps of World War II. They were also the first to produce the SUV in its now most predominant form, in a relatively compact size with four doors. For the 1984 model year, at least six years before anyone else caught one, Jeep introduced the Cherokee, a downsized SUV with four doors. With few modifications, this is the same vehicle that is finally being replaced for 2002 by the Liberty. Later, Jeep realized people wanted a bit more size and a lot more luxury in an SUV, and for 1993 they introduced the Grand Cherokee. The Grand Cherokee was then further refined and redesigned for the 1999 model year. The most notable styling change were new front headlights that strongly resembled those on many recent BMW sedans. The latest Grand Cherokee manages to look like a Jeep while at the same time looking very upscale. To see if the Grand Cherokee measures up to its looks, I took one for a test drive.

Jeep Grand Cherokee Reliability

Want better reliability information? Want to more clearly know what difference it will make if you buy a Jeep Grand Cherokee rather than something else? My website, truedelta.com, will be providing this information in the form of "times in the shop" and "days in the shop" stats.

From these stats you might learn that your first choice, compared to your second choice, is likely to make 2.3 extra trips to the shop in its first five years. You might decide its advantages compensate for this, or you might not. Either way, you'll be able to make a much better informed decision than you can today.

I aim to provide the highest quality information to as many people as possible. Unfortunately, these goals conflict. If I simply give the information away, few will help provide it. So I'm doing the next best thing: those who have been active participants for at least six months will receive free access to this site's reliability information; otherwise this access will cost $24.95. The average time commitment for someone reporting on two cars will be (at most) 15 minutes a year, so you'll essentially receive $100 an hour for doing your share to help everyone make better decisions.

For the details, and to sign up, visit www.truedelta.com.

Styling and Accommodations

I’ve already touched a bit on the styling. Especially with 17” alloys, the Grand Cherokee looks as good as any other SUV out there. It manages to look at once rugged and refined, not an easy thing to do. If the exterior styling has any weaknesses, it’s too much roundness around the lower part of the rear hatch. They tried to go a bit too aero here, and it makes the vehicle look a bit weak from the rear.

Interior styling is more mixed. I sat in a Limited, the top-of-the-line, in the showroom, but took a Laredo, the next level down, for a test drive. When I took at Chrysler’s minivans I had found the next-to-the-top trim level the most appealing, as well as much less expensive, so I figured this would be the way to go with the Jeep as well. Not. Large amounts of flat black plastic in the dash and leather that felt like vinyl made the Laredo’s interior feel like quite a few corners had been cut. This vehicle costs well over $30k, but this interior is too cheap and rough-looking for a vehicle costing half as much. The extra touches that come with the Limited—better leather and white-faces for the strangely small gauges—help a bit. Probably worth the extra grand or so for that reason alone.

The seats in the Limited are also a bit more comfortable. In any trim level, the Jeep’s seats are softer than those in any other SUV I have driven. You sink into them a bit, especially in the Limited. This combines with the bolstering to provide far more lateral support than you’ll find in, say, a Ford or GM SUV. Overall, the front seats are comfortable and supportive. The view from these seats is also very good, especially to the sides. The Grand Cherokee has a moderately low cowl (base of the windshield), better than the GM SUVs but not as good as the Pathfinder, and a very low beltline (base of side windows).

Things aren’t so good in the rear seat. Jeep believes in making its SUVs compact because this makes them more maneuverable off-road. It’s that authenticity thing. Where this hurts, though, is in rear seat room and cargo room, where the Grand Cherokee falls well short of most of its competition. The rear seat cushion is uncomfortably low to the floor. Worst of all, because of the positioning of the front seats’ power motors there is no room under these seats for the rear seat passengers to put their feet. Children will do fine back there, but men of any size would be much happier in one of the new GM SUVs. In the Jeep’s defense, other SUVs such as the Pathfinder and 4Runner provide about the same amount of rear seat room, but with room for feet under the front seats.

As I noted, the cargo area is smaller than many others in this class. Still, it’s a usable size, and it offers one major advantage. In the past much of the Grand Cherokee’s cargo space was taken up by the spare tire, which was stowed along one side. When the truck was redesigned for 1999, Jeep managed to fit the spare under the cargo floor. Not only does this get it out of the way, but it keeps the spare clean. In many other SUVs the spare is under the truck where it gets very dirty and can be a pain to get to.

On the Road

Where the Grand Cherokee distinguishes itself is on the road. It’s relatively compact size translates into nimble handling. For an SUV, the chassis has great balance. It lacks the sway in quick, hard turns present in many SUVs. The steering is a bit of a disappointment. It’s overly light in effort and slow. My understanding is that the steering is intentionally tuned this way, because it helps handle the SUV more precisely at slow speeds off-road, as in over minor boulders. So maybe Jeep should be cut a little slack for the steering’s less than optimal on-road feel. Ditto the brakes, which have a very long travel and overly soft feel for on-road driving.

The Grand Cherokee’s ride quality is mixed. Body motions are well controlled, but the ride lacks the fluid, luxurious feel present in the new GM mid-sized SUVs and the Toyota Sequoia. Then again, it lacks the quivering over bumps present in the Ford Explorer (the new one as well as the old one). The feeling is more of tautness and solidity (which the unibody helps) than luxury. Possibly those hard core off-road genes again.

Because of its compact size and overall control and solidity, and the tuning of the steering and brakes for serious off-road driving, I suspect the Grand Cherokee is at its best compared to the competition off-road. The latest redesign brought yet another addition to the all-wheel-drive systems offered by Jeep with Quandra-Drive. This sophisticated system automatically shifts power to the wheels that have traction. With less sophisticated systems, a nominally four-wheel-drive vehicle can get stuck if only one or two wheels completely loses traction. This new system, a $550 option on the truck I drove, should enable the Grand Cherokee to perform very well on all sorts of surfaces. If you plan to do serious off-road driving, or even often have to drive through deep snow, this is probably the system to have. Otherwise, the midlevel Quadra-Trac II system would probably do as well. I didn’t actually have the opportunity to check out the premium system's four-wheel-drive capabilities. Despite my aggressive driving, I managed to keep the truck on-road throughout my entire test drive.

Being the driver I am, and because I tested the GM SUVs with their standard 270 HP engine, I drove the Grand Cherokee with its optional 235 HP V8. Though this engine costs $1165 plus another $75 for a different transmission, it includes the Quadra-Trac II four-wheel-drive system, normally a $445 option. However, Jeep charges only $370 (plus $75 fo the transmission) for this engine on the Limited (which has Quadra-Trac II standard--so the discount is really $350), so if you want the eight the Limited may be the way to go.

This V8 engine may not make as much high-end power as the new GM six cylinder engine, but it makes more down low. Coupled with the lower weight of the Jeep and better transmission gearing, it really scoots. Though this engine was new for 1999, it has the sound and feel of a traditional American V8. Lots of low-end grunt—and lots of exhaust roar. Too much of the latter, in my opinion. Perhaps to appeal to whatever adolescent remains in your average premium SUV buyer? I suspect most buyers, like myself, wouldn’t mind more refinement and less volume in the noises this engine makes. It’s fun to drive, especially for an SUV, but I suspect it would get old fairly quickly.

I also wonder how the way this engine lunges forward from a dead stop plays out off-road. Usually, as with the steering and the brakes, off-road you want very progressive responses from the engine. Perhaps the standard 195 HP six does better in off-road applications? Since Jeep stuck to its guns and tuned the steering and brake responses for off-road driving, it puzzles me they did not do the same for the engine. In this case they may have caved in the face of market research that suggested people who paid extra for a V8 wanted to feel the truck lunge away from a stop. Just a guess, but the most plausible explanation I can think of.

Last Words

The Grand Cherokees styling doesn’t really reflect its character on the road. It looks upscale and luxurious. But the actual driving feel has strong elements of serious off-road vehicle with a pinch of good old American muscle car. The engine and chassis make this SUV much more fun to drive than most. It’s driving feel is definitely distinctive. If you plan to go off-road, and like the sort of driving feel I’ve described, then the Grand Cherokee will serve you well. But if you’re really looking for room, comfort, and luxury, the GMC Envoy (which admittedly does not handle as well) is a better choice in this class.

If the Grand Cherokee is your choice, and you want the V8 and leather, then the Limited is the way to go. It's interior is significantly more attractive, and the price difference with the same equipment is not very much because of the lower price for the V8.

A final note on prices. These are expensive vehicles. If you want one of these but want to pay a bit less, you might want to wait until the 2002s are out. Chrysler recently came out with a minivan trim level that had more stuff at a lower price. No surprise, this helped revive sales. In an attempt expand this success, they are supposed to do something similar with many of their other products for 2002. Based on how high Grand Cherokee prices have become, I think there is a good chance that it will receive this treatment in the fall.

To learn more about my reliability research and sign up to participate in it, or to perform thorough, up-to-date new car price comparisons, visit www.truedelta.com. A link to this website and alphabetized links to my other vehicle reviews can be found on my profile page.
Amount Paid (US$): 28000
Model Year: 2001
Model and Options: Laredo V8 AWD