Jeep Cherokee

The interior layout of the Jeep Cherokee too has remained unchanged in all these years, with both the variants of the SUV being offered with an all-black premium leather upholstery as standard. There are gloss black inserts and surrounds for the AC vents and centre console, which further uplift the ambience of the cabin.

With a round-edged trapezoidal centre boss, the three-spoke multi-functional steering wheel of the Jeep Cherokee has a wide instrument console behind it. Surrounded by dark chrome lining, this instrument console has twin rounded pods with chrome surrounds and a 7-inch TFT MID in between them. The upper centre console of the dashboard has a wide design with vertically aligned trapezoidal AC vents and an 8.4-inch touchscreen infotainment system between them.

The lower part of the centre console has physical buttons for the automatic climate control, while the transmission tunnel rising from it houses the gear lever and electronic parking brake switch. Other features available in the Jeep Cherokee include powered front seats, rear AC vents, engine push start-stop button and more.

The current fifth-generation version of the Jeep Cherokee has been on sale around the world for a decade now, and while Jeep has made consistent efforts to update the Cherokee with new-age features, there is no denying the fact that the Cherokee is now showing its age. Nevertheless, for a midsize SUV, the Jeep Cherokee still has a good road presence with a crossover-like stance.

The front profile of the Jeep Cherokee has a slightly slanted bonnet, which is a rare thing in the Jeep lineup which has SUVs with upright and tall stances. This sloping bonnet flows to the sleek-looking fascia, which includes slim wing-like headlamps comprising LED projectors and daytime-running LEDs. The Altitude Lux variant has a body-coloured front bumper with trapezoidal housings for fog lamps, whereas the Trailhawk variant has a blacked-out front bumper with tiny fog lamps on the upper corners and red-coloured tow hooks on the lower sides. The Trailhawk variant also has contrasting black decals on the bonnet.

From the side, the Jeep Cherokee has a stance more of a crossover rather than an SUV, with a slanted bonnet and slightly lower ground clearance compared to the other Jeep SUVs. Both the variants of the Jeep Cherokee come with wheel arch mouldings and side body claddings, which are slightly thicker than the Trailhawk variant. Both the variants also come with 17-inch alloy wheel options as standard, though the Altitude Lux variant also has an option of an 18-inch alloy.

The rear profile of the Jeep Cherokee looks quite conventional with the SUV having a slightly raked rear windscreen and wide trapezoidal tail lamps with LED inserts positioned on the lower corners of the windscreen. With the last facelift, the license plate housing has also moved up on the boot lid. The rear bumper here also gets thick body cladding, with the Trailhawk variant having an offset red tow hook in addition.

Both the variants of the Jeep Cherokee share their independent multi-link suspension at front and rear, but it is the Trailhawk variant which stretches the bars of abilities with a more hardcore off-road-oriented setup. This variant of the Jeep Cherokee has trail-rated capability with a Selec-Terrain traction management system with five terrain modes, an off-road Jeep Active Drive Lock 4x4 system with rear lock, a 1-inch raised ride height and a towing capacity of over 1800 kgs.

Both the variants of the Jeep Cherokee are powered by the same 2.4-litre four-cylinder Tigershark petrol engine, but the state of tune is different in both. Paired with a 9-speed automatic transmission, this engine churns out 180 PS and 232 Nm in the Altitude Lux variant and 270 PS and 400 Nm in the Trailhawk variant.

Despite being a relatively old product, the Jeep Cherokee is equipped with several safety features like six airbags, ABS with EBD, front and rear parking sensors, a blind spot monitoring system with rear cross-traffic alert, forward collision warning with active braking, lane departure warning with lane keep assist, adaptive cruise control with stop and go and parallel and perpendicular park assist with full stop.

The Jeep Cherokee might be a bit long in the tooth, but it still can impress with its driving manners, fit and finish levels, amazing performance and excellent off-road abilities in the Trailhawk variant.