Originally Posted by chrisnation

Driving a Jeep Cherokee has nothing to do with being manly. Whether I am or not when driving mine is neither here nor there. I care not a whit. Up close and personal with some toothsome female is where my manhood is on the line. I think there was an irony-free moment there, from our correspondent, whilst reading that bit.

A vehicle that does 35mpg on the m/way cruising at 75mph cannot be described as a gas-guzzler. I believ you must be thinking about the various petrol versions of these Jeeps, the Cherokee 4 litre and the V8 Grand Cherokee. And the big BMW/Merc/Volvo equivs. Gas guzzlers every one, to be sure. Wouldn't touch one with a barge pole.

Whether any vehicle of any type drives or parks on a pavement is nothing to do with the vehicle and everything to do wth the nut behind the wheel. I never do it in my Jeep but 5 million Parisians do it every day in every car known to man. In fact, in my experience, from Calais to Peshawar, Pakistan, the smaller the car, the more likely it is to park on the pavement.

And the Cherokee is not amongst the undoubtedly bloated beasts that so excercise the anti-SUV brigade. Get out your measuring stick or check it out on line but you'll find that a Cherokee is smaller both in length and width than a Mondeo estate. I went to the trouble of checking this out when a friend of mine started foaming at me for buying my Jeep, not realising that some vehicles that look similar in shape to other vehicles of which she deeply disapproves are not necessarily the same size.

An of course, the fact that Chrysler went bust has no bearing on its merit, good or bad, as a vehicle either. R-Royces are VWs and Bentleys BMWs. Lotus is part of some Indian car manufacturer. So what?

Ironically again, the Cherokee is not a 4x4! It has occasional 4x4 capability in some forms but unless modified by the mud-plugging mob, it is not recommended to engage 4x4 except on suitably loose or slippery surfaces.

In sum then, the Cherokee is a Mondeo-sized estate car [as my insurance co describes it] giving reasonable mpg, a high level of equipment on most models, tough, easliy serviced, comfortable and very cheap to buy 2nd hand. It will sell for about the same as you bought it, even after years and 10's of 1000s of miles of ownership, as long as you don't beat it to bits. Just right for our man heading south. Now, who'se going to spring me the dosh for a Fiat Maranello - I mean Ferrari Maranello.