We’ve been using the 2011 Infiniti QX56 long-termer as our daily driver for the past two months. But if you’re wondering whatever happened to our 2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee, it’s still around. Late last summer, we took a trip down to Sharjah and bought parts worth Dhs 1300 or so to make it look new again.
Few cars we test ever attract an obscene amount of attention from bystanders. But that’d require something like a Challenger or a CTS-V Coupe. So it may be a bit of a surprise that our 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee caused such a ruckus everywhere it was parked.
Chrysler held a two-day media event for the all-new 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee in the UAE. And by “all-new”, we really do mean all-new. Now based on a Mercedes-Benz M-Class platform, that’s where the similarities end between the former siblings, as the Jeep is a completely unique vehicle.
The other day, at a press event for some car here, all of us media people were sitting at lunch together, and they were all excitedly talking about their upcoming free trip to the United States to test-drive the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee. The ironic bit was it seemed like I was the only one not invited, and I was the only one who actually owns a freaking Jeep Grand Cherokee, while Chrysler Middle East knew that about me too. So much for brand loyalty. That international Jeep media event is over now though, and the reports are already coming in.
Something rather weird happened with my 2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee. After the starter motor blew out late last year, I got a brand new one fitted from the dealer. Then over the winter, my fuel consumption started dropping dramatically. As stated by the trip computer, it went from hovering above 17 litres/100 km down to as low as 15.5 litres/100 km, all without any change in driving style. One could attribute this to many other things, like winter weather or a dying trip computer, but neither can be proven definitively. This wasn’t my first winter with the Jeep, and the trip computer seems to be otherwise working fine.
New test results show that some automakers are doing a good job of designing vehicle roofs that perform much better than current U.S. federal rollover standards require. But the roofs on some other vehicles need improvement. In the first U.S. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) roof strength tests of so-called midsize SUVs, six earn the top rating of ‘good’ for rollover protection, one is ‘acceptable’ and five others earn the second lowest rating of ‘marginal.’
Chrysler has issued a recall for six different 2010 models in the United States. More than 40,000 Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge vehicles are affected by a problem where drivers might be able to remove the key from the ignition before the vehicle is shifted into ‘Park,’ which could cause the vehicle to run away on its own.
Since it’s recall season, more manufacturers are getting in on the game. This time, Jeep and Ford are joining Toyota with brake problems.
This urban comparo is about as meaningless as it gets, but for the sake of argument, we’ll give it a go anyway. We’ve had a 2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee V8 since late 2007, and this is the first time that we’ve managed to drive another Jeep vehicle since then. Our Grand Cherokee was the epitome of American 4x4s back in its day, with capable off-road and on-road performance, packed with leather, full-time 4WD and a V8. The Wrangler has always been a simplistic offroader, but the latest generation claims to be the most refined and practical Wrangler ever, with options such as four doors and Bluetooth,
So the Jeep has been running reasonably for the past year. I was also happy that I had a lifted vehicle with full-time all-wheel-drive during the recent rainy weather when many cars crashed and drowned. We have more or less kept up with maintenance, as we will list below. And then a problem started cropping up, with warning signs that we ignored until it was too late.