Jeepn'stuff: 2014 Jeep Cherokee

Welcome to the Jeepn'stuff blog. This blog is an open forum to talk about all things Jeep related from new car releases, to antiques and trail riding. To introduce this blog, an open discussion is going to be created in light of many of the recent changes at Jeep since Fiat as acquired majority control of what was Chrysler LLC. With Fiat's leadership, all Chrysler brands have seen some major changes, some being both arguably good and bad. This leads to this post's topic of discussion, the now released 2014 Jeep Cherokee.

2014 Cherokee Limited courtesy of boldride.com

On paper the Jeep Cherokee is impressive with its 9-speed transmission and abundance of amenities from features such as the parking assist which can park the car on its own without the driver to integrated navigation and media systems. It is clear the Cherokee is meant to compete with many of the competitors in the small SUV/CUV market. The SUV seems to be catching on and Chrysler's sales are up. Is the Cherokee really changing the game and taking a chunk of the market? This remains to be seen. In addition, the question that was raised when photos were first leaked of the new Jeep, the appearance. Is the look of this Jeep acceptable, appropriate and what consumers are looking for. Many Jeep enthusiasts would argue not, as the Jeep is very nontraditional looking and based off of the same platform as the Dodge Dart, a compact car. The Cherokee spiked controversy from the beginning, especially among those who loved so dearly the previous model which had an impressive run with minimal changes from 1986-2001, before being replaced by the Liberty for the 2002 model year. It will be interesting to see how it competes with other similar vehicles.