Introduced the new Jeep Cherokee Limited 2.0 JTDm-2 170 4x4. Our full road test on the car was about as bristling with praise for this troubled compact SUV as you’d expect of a two and a half star verdict. Among very few causes for hope was the more powerful diesel version, available exclusively with a nine-speed ZF automatic transmission, this is the car under inspection here.
It's a good two seconds quicker to 60mph than the 138bhp manual version and capable of towing half a tonne more on a braked trailer. It's also fitted with no fewer than four overdrive ratios for economical cruising. So the Cherokee JTDm-2 170 automatic certainly appears to present stiffer competition to other premium SUVs. But it isn’t. In fact, it’s got greater failings than the cheaper, slower manual.
A lack of apparent substance and thoroughness in
the car’s engineering is its chief failing. The 168bhp diesel is every bit as
clattery and coarse as the cheaper oil-burner and offers little more overtaking
pace on the road. It’s short on torque compared with most of its competition,
and it feels like it.
The first time you press the brake pedal, you’ll
also realise that Jeep’s right-hand drive conversion has left the brake servo
on the opposite side of the car. It's connected to the pedal by a steel bar
that crosses the bulkhead, which thuds in a dull fashion every time you release
the pedal, while the servo’s hisses and shudders can clearly be heard. Hardly
the stuff of premium-brand meticulousness, that, although it’s a particular
‘Heath Robinson’ solution still used in other Fiat Group products, among them
the two-pedal, right-hand-drive Fiat 500.
With the exception of marginally improved motorway
economy, the nine-speed transmission singularly fails to enhance the Cherokee’s
performance. The powertrain is slow to auto-restart, slow to kick down,
unresponsive in manual mode, indecisive when left in D and delivers hurried
gearchanges with all the smoothness of an angry van driver. Hold the car
stationary on the aforementioned brake pedal and you can also feel that the
driveline doesn’t fully disengage, but strains gently against the driveshafts,
making the body shimmy and shake with every few crank revolutions.
The car’s other dynamic shortcomings are shared
with the cheaper version. Its steering feels leaden, inert and full of
unpleasant friction, the handling is competent but soft and remote and the ride
is quiet but poorly resolved, with lots of initial body movement and poor
rebound damping. This is dynamic deportment done as was common in 4x4s two
decades ago – and not done well even by that mark.
Inside the cabin the Cherokee is fairly roomy,
comes with plenty of kit and is adequately well appointed and constructed. Its
off-road capability is far from exceptional, though; there’s just 157mm of
ground clearance here, which is barely enough to cope with a rutted track.
There isn’t a car like it that delivers a less
refined or competitive powertrain, or a less well-mannered driving experience –
in return, let’s not forget, for a proper premium SUV price. If Jeep expects to
be taken seriously by buyers who can afford a Land Rover, BMW, Audi or Mercedes-Benz, it simply must do better
Summary details: Jeep Cherokee Limited 2.0 JTDm-2
170 4x4 Automatic
Price £35,695; 0-62mph
10.3sec; Top speed 119mph; Economy 48.7mpg; CO2 154g/km; Kerb
weight 1878kg; Engine 4 cyls, 1956cc, turbodiesel; Power
168bhp at 4000rpm; Torque 258lb ft at 1750rpm; Gearbox 9-spd
automatic
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