Charles A. Sherwood wrote:

I can't say from first hand experience, but about a month ago I started
asking around my usual mechanic (yea, I'd love to do it myself but no
time) as to vehicles to avoid. Almost in unison, 4 mechanics said
"cherokee".


Well, Jeep makes a Cherokee and a Grand Cherokee. Significantly
different vehicles. which one were they refering to?

I own a 96 grand and several of my neighbors own or have owned
grand cherokees. One guy ran his grand to over 170K before getting
rid of it.

I think the ABS on the grand cherokee is just amazing.

chuck

I'm 70k miles into my second 'regular' Cherokee (a Chrysler 1998 model),
with no undue problems with either. The first (a 1985 AMC original) got
to 165k miles, and was still running great, but the Michigan road salt
had done it's work on the body. Overall, I thought, enough of the first
to buy the second. I also looked at the 'Grand" when I bought the second
Cherokee ... matching feature for feature (as much as possible) it was
$4K more than the regular model in 1998. I wasn't THAT impressed. While
larger overall, the "Grand's" rear cargo space was actually SMALLER than
the regular Cherokee, with a smaller tailgate (a problem for some of
what I haul).

Unfortunately, the Cherokee is now history, replaced by the new (and to
me unimpressive) "Liberty' model. The Liberty does have more interior
headroom, but seemingly less ground clearance, and is substantially
taller than the Cherokee. Why is everyone now obsessed with taller
narrower SUV's? It would seem they're less stable at a time when the
'breed' is getting bad publicity for just that.

The Cherokee (and the newer Liberty) are among the few 4WD vehicles that
offer (optionally) BOTH conventional 4WD and AWD, selectable as the
situation may warrant. I've had good luck with the 'combo'.

The "Grand" offers only one, or the other, not both. The "Grand's" AWD
is more sophisticated, HOWEVER, than the regular model's AWD.

I've heard, but can't substantiate, that Grand Cherokees (a different
vehicle) have more problems.

Dan Mitchell
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