Test drive Jeep Cherokee (Liberty) 2001 - 2005 SUV

The front form

Jeep brand cars are known primarily as strong rides. In other words, these are old soldiers who do not know the words of love. When looking at the updated Cherokee, such reasoning may seem incorrect or at least outdated.
A car with an original, perhaps somewhat frivolous appearance gives the impression of a SUV, which is good on the asphalt, but can drive a little along the field. In a word, a pleasant guy, polite and gallant, who has the courage to walk in the evening with a girl in the park, imagining that he is performing an important combat mission in the jungle of Vietnam. And the girl will have to admire his courage and manners.
 
Pink glasses disappear, you just have to chat with a sweet boy for a couple of minutes. Appearance is only a ceremonial form that does not change anything but the first impression. Cherokee, like his ancestors, remained an army jeep. Of course, in the cabin, depending on the configuration, there may also be leather seats, there is a definition of air conditioning and other comfort attributes. A convenient steering wheel, a pleasant and well-readable instrument panel, you can safely bring a car into an asset, but the front seats are still flat, with short pillows, the lengthening of which was 5 mm seriously. The back is also not particularly spacious, although the space is now a little more, but landing on the restyled machine has become even more vertical. But the volume of the trunk increased, and when folding the backs of the rear seat, the luggage gender becomes almost even.
 
And on the road, Cherokee finally forgets all secular nonsense. The suspension of the car is quite stiff. This allows the car to be quite stable and not very hard in corners, but when the body almost with the wheels repeats the profile of the road, passengers sitting quite high, it gives little pleasure. For some 100 km on the Central Russian Asphalt Road, it is so that there will be no joy from the trip. The suspension of the suspension of 200 mm is not particularly a lot, the same amount of rally machines in gravel specifications. But there are different speeds, and the crew is located much lower, which is why the amplitude of the oscillations is almost half. And here we approach the main thing: Cherokee is not a SUV at all, it is built in order to go everywhere and do our job. The disadvantages are turned into pluses, you just have to move off the asphalt. A hard suspension, annoying passengers on the highway, holds the blows on broken lanes well. A short base and a high center of gravity, because of which passengers on the asphalt have to perform completely unrequisited fluctuations, significantly increase geometric cross-country ability. And in the end, where the SUV passengers will remain comfortable in their car on the road, Cherokee can easily have fun of their riders, demonstrating what to ride on truly off -road. Yes, he often is tough, he does not particularly seek to adapt to his interlocutors, sometimes jokes rudely, and can take a walk in the park only from great boredom, diligently suppressing yawning. But when it comes to business, there are all -wheel drive and lowering the gear with a very serious gear ratio of 2.72, and the rear differential of high friction. And if the asphalt fisles decide to play catch -up, they can also be put in place. At least the power of a 3.7-liter engine with a margin is enough for the back axis with a screech to overtake the front. Therefore, the gas pedal must be treated thoughtfully, and if the road is wet or slippery, do not forget to turn on all -wheel drive.
conclusions
If you need an SUV to drive around the city, then Cherokee is unlikely to be the first in the list of applicants. If you often drive long distances along Russian roads, you are also unlikely to be delighted with this car. But if you want your car not to look like an uncouth servant, but at the same time it would allow you to climb into a real wilderness, and not just move out on the grass, Cherokee seems to be a fairly interesting option. There are not many relatively small SUVs that have such powerful motors in service with 3.7 liters of Cherokee gasoline. And the turbodiesel version of competitors even less. When giving money for Cherokee, you need to clearly imagine that you pay not only and not so much for your appearance as for a fair margin of safety, laid in a suspension and transmission, and for much greater opportunities compared to classmates who have grown out of cars. Unless, of course, you need these opportunities.
Some technical characteristics of Jeep Cherokee 3.7
(manufacturer data)
Dimensions, mm 4500x1824x1819
Base, mm 2647
Front/back, mm 1524/1519
Clearance, mm 233
Equipped mass, kg 1829
Benzine engine type V6
Working volume, cubic meter. cm 3701
Max. Power, L.S./rpm 210/5200
Max. moment, nm/rpm 319/3600
The transmission is automatic 4-band
Rear wheel drive/full with lowering
Tires 235/70 R16
Max. Speed, km/h 180
Acceleration time 0100 km/h, with 10.8
Fuel consumption (EU), l/100 km 18.0/10.0/13.0
Tank volume, l 77.6
Leonid Klimanovich
Photo by Peter Gotsuba
 
  
 
 
   
 

Source: Avtopanorama magazine