The Cars

Another view of my new Jeep Cherokee, the first weekend I owned her. Before any body parts had been replaced.

My Jeep, camouflaged with snow. Sitting in the local commuter lot where she spent a lot of time, pre-Pandemic era.

Jeep hauling my kayak. It was a bit tricky hauling a kayak due to the back overhang (didn’t want to put weight on a fiberglass overhang), and the roof antenna. I figured out how to load the kayak from the side, then swing it around on the roof and strap it down. Unfortunately, over a period of time, the rubber coating on the antenna broke.

I also discovered that I could not open the tailgate with a kayak on the roof. Actually, I could, but if the kayak wasn’t strapped down, the raising tailgate would flip the kayak forward down the windshield and into the street…

We also towed our utility trailer a lot. The one issue with the Jeep was the Class III hitch socket was in the rear bumper, not hanging below the way it was with the Rodeo. This higher elevation meant the straight hitch I had with three different sized balls was high enough that the trailer had an unsafe up-angle. I solved that problem by using a second hitch with five-inch drop, which kept the trailer level. I still used the heavier hitch for boat.

In this photo we’re hauling our Eton Moped off to a new buyer. We hauled a lot of different things in this utility trailer; everything from household items, a moped, building materials, trash, soil compost, and even horse manure.

With factory-installed towing system, towing was a real joy. A problem I had with previous vehicles was the electrical hook-ups. The Jeep, with its factory installed wiring harness never gave any problems with electrical issues.

This is the Jeep towing my 2010 Bayliner 175BR “Sea Dragon” when we moved across town in December 2021.

Another shot of the Jeep loaded up with kayak. This is at the house we moved into in December 2021.

The Jeep Cherokee brochure is a lavish 49-page production, with foldouts. Had they put a hardcover on this, it could easily be a fine coffee table book.

Inside cover with long list of all the goodies these Jeeps include.

Inside semi-transparent artwork sheet. As mentioned, this brochure could be a coffee table book.

More gratuitous artwork. Starts to build the brochure theme of adventure and freedom as related to the Jeep.

We’re on page 6-7 and they finally start getting to the point. More gratuitous artwork and a bit of text.

Now they start to describe the Jeep models starting with 4×4 drive and the computerized transmission options.

Next set of foldouts discuss the engines. The 3.2L in my model offered plenty of power and surprisingly fuel efficient for the size. Also made towing easy.

The 9-speed automatic transmission was also nice but had a few quirks. It tended to “surge” at low speeds or starting up from a stop sign, getting me accused of “bad driving.” But it was otherwise very smooth shifting. I did especially like the control for shifting different four-wheel options.

And the towing capabilities. This shows a boat about the same size and weight as my runabout, along with a shot of carrying a kayak. Exactly how I used my Jeep.

A quick discussion on suspension and handling.

A discussion on the auto traction modes. My Latitude Model only had four modes – no “Rock” option. Which was fine, those four modes were plenty for my driving. I used the “Snow” mode for wet slippery roads as well as snow. I used the “Sand/Mud” setting when pulling my boat out of the water, for that low-speed traction.

The driver display was slick and showed off the advantages of electronic systems. I liked having the options for checking different engine functions, but particularly liked how the display integrated with the Navigation system. When using GPS, when I’d come up to a turn, I’d see the display right in front of me. M default setting was the digital speed display, which I suspect helped me drive closer to speed limits.

Note this brochure page has a half-page insert. Very slick.

Next, a brief discussion on the interior layout. It was nice and did have handy little storage niches tucked away all over.

This jeep was a software-controlled behemoth, quite possibly smarter than me. The 2015 model year had a huge screen display in the center of the dash, which I loved for large GPS map displays. I noticed in later model years this screen display was smaller.

Another interior shot, with a better view of the center dash screen display. I found the controls were nicely laid out and easy to find everything.

Note another half-page insert in this brochure. My scan doesn’t show behind the half-page, but it’s a different view of the screen, this time with the radio display.

Close-up detail of the door panels. I had the pattern shown here.

The large sunroof was wonderful, especially as it was electric operated. The interior sunshade was also electric. my only worry was hitting the wrong button and inadvertently opening the sunroof when all I wanted to do was open the sunshade.

Another pitch for the excellent interior storage.

A few shots of the cargo-carrying capacity. In truth, the cargo capacity isn’t bad, but much less in comparison to the 2004 Isuzu Rodeo. The Rodeo, with rear seats folded down, had as much cargo space as a regular pickup truck. The Jeep, much less, but it was adequate for our needs.

Every brochure includes a discussion of safety features. This Jeep is loaded with airbags, something near and dear to my heart. I can also attest to just how tough the framework is, after seeing the results of my second accident.

A pitch for some of their numerous Jeep accessories

More Jeep accessories. I managed to not buy any of these, but I did add roof racks. Surprisingly enough, the Jeep roof racks as sold by the dealer were actually Thule-brand racks.

Back cover spread. Note the postcard-sized addon on last page. This is a fold-out with all the Jeep Cherokee’s features, specs, and color combinations. Interesting way of displaying these.