Topic: My one month with 2014 Cherokee.

[jamie1]

This is not my daily driver, I only get to drive it on the week-ends, but here are my Pro's and Con's of some of features.
 Pro's- Uber comfortable. Very smooth and quiet.
LOVE the heated steering wheel. Very welcome feature in Edmonton, especially when you can hit the remote start and have the heated seats and wheel already be warm when you get in.
The leather is very soft, not the usual Chrysler fair.
The U-Connect is very easy to navigate. Even though I work for a Chrysler dealer, I really have never played with it. Wife took to it like a duck to water.
Adaptive cruise control. Very nice to have.
Blind spot monitoring is sure nice, as is the cross traffic detection. Sure, you can live without, but it is nice.
The back up camera with front and rear park sense is wonderful. No worries you are going to hit something.
The panoramic sunroof. Wow.
Using the snow mode setting in the terrain select really plants the Cherokee to the road. We got to use this feature 3 weeks ago on the way to Hinton,AB. We ran straight into snow storm with white out conditions. The Cherokee was as sure footed as a mountain goat.
The 9 speed transmission shifts are buttery smooth. You feel the 1-2 shift and that is about it.

Cons-I guess my only cons would be with that said 9 speed transmission. In auto mode, it does shift to highest gear as soon as possible. And once it get there, it is very reluctant to down shift. In "sport" mode it does down shift quickly and is very nice for doing some spirited driving, but for daily driving, it just holds the gears too long. Also it is marketed as a 9 speed, but you will never legally see 9th. At 110km, the RPM is barely above idle in 8th gear. Maybe the diesel in Europe will see 9th. The new 200 will use this transmission as will Honda, so maybe they will see 9th.
The self park feature. it can parallel park as well as perpendicular park Not really what purpose of this is. If you cannot park a car,than perhaps you shouldn't be driving.
It does a very slight wobble you can feel when taking off form a stop on a harder accel. This is a known problem and Chrysler is working on a fix. The wife,who this is her daily driver,cannot feel it but I can.
Over all, we both love it. Having said all that, my daily driver is now the Acura TSX, and that car still after 5 years puts a sh!t eating grin on my face every time I drive it.

[sailor723]

Nice review...sounds like you are a happy buyer which is always nice to hear.

I was interested in your comments on Sport vs Eco mode for the tranny. I find the some of the same issues with our BMW. As it's just a matter of programming you'd think the manufacturers would give a "Normal" mode as well as sport and eco and solve these issues.

[normancw]

Great review. 

LOVE the heated steering wheel. Very welcome feature in Edmonton, especially when you can hit the remote start and have the heated seats and wheel already be warm when you get in.

That is a great feature.  Is the remote start a factory option? 

[jamie1]

Great review. 

LOVE the heated steering wheel. Very welcome feature in Edmonton, especially when you can hit the remote start and have the heated seats and wheel already be warm when you get in.

That is a great feature.  Is the remote start a factory option?

Yes it is a factory option, so the range is about as far as you can spit. lol In the US, you can use the U-Connect to link with your smart phone and start your vehicle from anywhere.

[normancw]

Great review. 

LOVE the heated steering wheel. Very welcome feature in Edmonton, especially when you can hit the remote start and have the heated seats and wheel already be warm when you get in.

That is a great feature.  Is the remote start a factory option?

Yes it is a factory option, so the range is about as far as you can spit. lol In the US, you can use the U-Connect to link with your smart phone and start your vehicle from anywhere.

U-Connect looks pretty cool.  So U-Connect Access is not available in Canada?

[mrthompson]

Thanks for the review.  I'm warming up to the new Cherokee.

[dkaz]

Thanks for the review. Nice to hear about the interior. I love soft leather.

Some American freeways have speed limits of 80 MPH+. At that speed, the wind drag is huge and running the engine at low RPMs is likely providing negligible benefits to fuel economy. Try driving 130 and see what noise is more prominent. I know the freeways of Edmonton are riddled with photo radar vans but you should be able to sneak 130 in on the QE2.

Where are all the naysayers who said this thing would never sell?  *Guilty*

[blotter]

thanks for the update Jamie!

this is still a serious option for me and it's nice to get an update.
how do you think the transmission would handle towing 4,000lbs?
(or even the Jeep itself?)

[Northernridge]

I've seen one or two new Cherokees on the road now...still getting used of the narrow (shallow?) headlights but overall the vehicle looks pretty good.

[jamie1]

thanks for the update Jamie!

this is still a serious option for me and it's nice to get an update.
how do you think the transmission would handle towing 4,000lbs?
(or even the Jeep itself?)

I don't think I would want tow 4000lbs.

[aquadorhj]

thank you for the update Jamie1

i really kinda like this car as well.  does get somewhat expensive loaded (still comparable to competitors) but i think this car was done right.  hope this continues with chrysler.

[blotter]

thanks for the update Jamie!

this is still a serious option for me and it's nice to get an update.
how do you think the transmission would handle towing 4,000lbs?
(or even the Jeep itself?)

I don't think I would want tow 4000lbs.

rats!  but thanks.
is it the entire package that doesn't seem fit for the listed capability or something more specific.
I'm guessing the transmission might hunt a lot and have issues towing, or maybe just simply a lack of power?

[mrthompson]

rats!  but thanks.
is it the entire package that doesn't seem fit for the listed capability or something more specific.
I'm guessing the transmission might hunt a lot and have issues towing, or maybe just simply a lack of power?

One would usually turn OD off when towing, and could also downshift to 7th gear (or lower) for hilly terrain.

[jamie1]

thanks for the update Jamie!

this is still a serious option for me and it's nice to get an update.
how do you think the transmission would handle towing 4,000lbs?
(or even the Jeep itself?)

I put a shout out on one of the other forums I'm on. There are guys on there that have 3000lbs, 4300lbs with no issue. So I guess it will tow that.

[blotter]

thanks for the update Jamie!

this is still a serious option for me and it's nice to get an update.
how do you think the transmission would handle towing 4,000lbs?
(or even the Jeep itself?)

I put a shout out on one of the other forums I'm on. There are guys on there that have 3000lbs, 4300lbs with no issue. So I guess it will tow that.

thanks!  It would be nice to know.  Obviously one can't try towing in a test drive.   

[Snowman]

Thanks for the report Jamie. I'm seeing more and more of them around Okaville and I suspect they are selling well.

[jamie1]

Chrysler issued a flash update for the transmission a week ago. I did on the wife's Jeep yesterday. Made a very pleasant improvement. The wife thought it shifted fine but I didn't like the 1-2 shift.  Cleared that up as well as some other issues. One being the reluctance to down shift. A pet peeve of mine.  Chrysler has a LOT riding on this transmission as it will be going into a lot of our products.