GTP Cool Wall: 1984-2001 Jeep Cherokee

[GranTurismo916]

1984-2001 Jeep Cherokee nominated by @Custom878

Engines: 2.1L Turbodiesel I4 (Renault J8S), 2.5L Turbodiesel I4 (VM Motori 425 OHV), 2.5L I4 (AMC), 2.8L V6 (GM LR2), 4.0L I6 (AMC/AMC H.O/AMC PowerTech)
Power: 91-190 hp
Torque: 132-225 lb-ft.
Weight: 1250-1524 kg
Transmission: 4-speed manual, 5-speed manual, 3-speed automatic, 4-speed automatic
Drivetrain: Front engine, rear wheel drive/Front engine, four wheel drive
Body Styles: 2-door SUV, 4-door SUV​

Spoiler: Additional Pics

 

[Adamgp]

Simple, cheap, rugged. Pretty good off road even when stock.

SZ.

 

[Roger the Horse]

I didn't know they made a three door version.

 

[SlipZtrEm]

Unpretentious. Can take a beating. Looks precisely like what you think of when you hear SUV. Probably taking a family to their New Hampshire cottage as I type this.

Cool.

 

[LivingWithGames]

Finally a decent looking Jeep. Even if it's not the Wrangler, this Cherokee could remain a second place for me.

Plus, a 3-door version, that I never knew. I'll be nice to this car, it's back then when Jeep meant business. SZ.

 

[Wiegert]

Slowly getting cooler with age (especially with each subsequent model looking less and less handsome). But at this rate I doubt they'll ever be as cool as they are likeable. The three-door is already a guilty pleasure for me, though.

Uncool.

4.0L I4 (AMC/AMC H.O/AMC PowerTech)

Should be 'I6'.

 

[Dagger311]

SZ. I'd have one as a first car, but it seems as though Jeeps never depreciate.

 

[Sage Ages]

Understated, no-nonsense SUV.

Cool.

 

[Doog]

Unpretentious, unassuming, understated, yadda yadda yadda, all the things car guys wax poetic about because SUVs with actual styling are bad. That's not to say I don't like these, but in their stock form they're just too bland and basic. They're cool when lifted, but you know how judging a car's coolness based off possible modifications goes...

Meh.

 

[Joey D]

I'm conflicted once again on one of these cool wall posts. The off road capability, simplistic design, and it's icon status make it cool, however I think I know more people that have one of these that are your typical "Jeep Brah" then not..or at least a Jeep Brah in training. I think I'll go with a low cool on it just because it isn't a Wrangler, which is the ultimate Jeep Brah vehicle.

 

[JAHHAJ]

I do like the fact that it's a good off road car but, the simplistic design, in my opinion is too bland, uncool.

 

[Jason115]

The definitive SUV. Uncool.

 

[TheCracker]

Good honest, useful sized 4x4. Would have got one had the Forester not been that little bit better at what I needed it for. Low cool.

 

[Tornado]

It is amazing that poor, misguided, wayward AMC (albeit with lots of Renault money/help) managed to make something that completely kicked everything Ford and GM made to the curb for the next... well, until it was discontinued, and without major changes throughout its life either. They suffer badly from the Jeep Tax as a result, but in this case it's really kind of deserved. I loved my Blazer, but I was never under any illusion that this (once it got the big AMC six) wasn't better in pretty much every way; and since they didn't all completely grenade their transmissions like the first generation Exploders all did...

 

[Heldenzeit]

It's either "Jeep Bro" or mom mobile. Neither of which are cool.

Uncool.

Well, except my coworker's Jeep actually.

 

[edawg456]

No. Just no. The amount of custom Jeeps where I live just has ruined the name for me even for the the stock ones.

 

[synchromesh]

Cool, my brother had one that looked like this:

 

[TheCracker]

It's amazing how the same car is treated in different countries. This generation of Cherokee was pretty common in the UK (and you still see plenty around now) But I can safely say that I've never seen one even slightly modified. Not even a different set of wheels.

 

[Parker]

Sub Zero. I never really understood how many people liked the Cherokee until I bought one. Every where I go I have people wave at me or give me a thumbs up, when I'm stopped somewhere I have people come up to me and give me compliments and talk about how much they love the XJ.

Here is a (bad) picture of mine before I plastidipped the wheels black. It is parked slightly uphill, the rear end doesn't sag on level ground.

 

[Leonidae@MFT]

Just Empty Every Pocket SUV. Seriously Uncool.

 

[SVT Cobra GT]

Simple design, good cheap Land Rover alternative. Meh.

 

[Stotty]

Unpretentious, simple well proportioned styling & functional... low cool (as long as not modified - raised suspension and big wheels look ****).

 

[homeforsummer]

Unpretentious, simple well proportioned styling & functional... low cool (as long as not modified - raised suspension and big wheels look ****).

This. They're even relatively compact by modern standards, which is quite a nice feature. An absolutely immaculate example, preferably in black as that works best for the styling, it's a low cool.

 

[Liquid]

An American Range Rover? An offroader taken over by school run mums. This gen is rather handsome. Lovely AMC straight-six. I'd love to go do some camping around the mountains in one. But echoing what Wiegert said, it's not quite cool yet. Could well become a classic in the future.

Uncool

Just as an aside, is it true that the reason Chrysler bought AMC was pretty much for the Jeep brand? Because it was very profitable, so I heard. AMC, Hudson, Nash and whatever were secondary or even tertiary in Chrysler's plans.

 

[Cano]

As good a car as it is, and as well proportioned as it is, and as much as I'd love to have one, It's still not cool. Maybe in another ten years.

 

[Joey D]

An American Range Rover? An offroader taken over by school run mums.

Maybe the latest generation is a soccer mom vehicle, but I don't think this one ever was.

 

[Tornado]

This debuted the same year the Chrysler minivans did; and was sandwiched between the last two mainstream wagon models that had any decent sales impact (the GM A-Bodies and the Taurus/Sable). It took at least a decade before all of those became uncool enough that people began actively defecting from them.


Granted, this was still on sale then, so it definitely benefited from it; but so was the Grand Cherokee and that was the one people really wanted at that point.

Just as an aside, is it true that the reason Chrysler bought AMC was pretty much for the Jeep brand? Because it was very profitable, so I heard. AMC, Hudson, Nash and whatever were secondary or even tertiary in Chrysler's plans.

They wanted the Jeep brand, but more specifically Iacocca wanted the Grand Cherokee that he knew was under development; and he wanted it bad. He knew that Chrysler couldn't develop it, he knew Ford couldn't develop it, and he knew GM wouldn't develop it. That the Cherokee was already making money hand over fist (and even the eldery Wagoneer making a tidy sum) and the Wrangler already had been completely redesigned on AMC's dime simply made Jeep even more desirable. Nothing else AMC had in terms of cars to Chrysler were valuable since Renault had already killed everything but the Eagle and Alliance; and Chrysler only kept up production of the brand new Premier because they were obligated to purchase a set amount of engines for it and Renault had footed the bill developing it anyway.


The secondary goal was getting the brand new, state of the art AMC factory that Renault had built in Canada; and the bonus was getting the engineering and executive staff that Renault had spent most of the 1980s putting into place (who Chrysler quickly essentially replaced their staff with).

 

[Slash]

The 4.0L is a great engine. I have good memories in these. Great offroad even stock. But the Jeep douche crowd absolutely destroys this thing. Meh.

 

[axletramp]

Love these. Compact and simple styling which looks best in black. Cool.