Do You Think Jeep Cherokee Prices Are Too Outrageous?
Overview
The 2020 Jeep Cherokee is most certainly going to sweep you off your feet, with its comfortable and spacious interiors. The 2020 Jeep Cherokee has 5 variants on offer, which are the Latitude, Latitude Plus, Limited, Trailhawk, and Overland.
The 2020 Jeep Cherokee offers three different engine options, the base 2.4-liter engine, the off-road spec 3.2-liter V6 engine, and the powerful 2-liter turbocharged engine on higher variants. All engines come paired to a standard nine-speed automatic gearbox, with a front-wheel-drive or all-wheel-drive setup, depending on the variant.
This compact SUV brings along spacious interiors and a decent set of features in a package that is second to none, especially in the off-road compact SUV segment. Read further for 2020 Jeep Cherokee Review
What's new?
Jeep had given the Cherokee a mild facelift, as a part of the 2019 model year, and the 2020 model carries forward this design without any changes on the outside. This has helped the aging Cherokee gain some sales in a segment that has become really competitive in recent times. The Cherokee does continue with a similar list of features as the 2019 model, thus making the car nearly identical to the older vehicle.
The pre-2019 Cherokee was quite sparse in terms of features and the facelift does remedy things by offering a good amount of additional features as standard.
How well does it perform?
The 2020 Jeep Cherokee comes standard with a 2.4-liter four-cylinder that is controlled by a nine-speed automatic gearbox, which features quick shifts and well-defined gear ratios for a more relaxing drive. The larger 3.2-liter engine adds more power and standard all-wheel-drive, and is exclusive to the Trailhawk variant only, while the smaller but more potent 2.0-liter turbocharged engine is available in both front-wheel-drive and all-wheel-drive, but only on higher variants.
The 2020 Jeep Cherokee has made significant strides when compared to its forgettable first-generation model and now has a wide choice of engine options, which helps make the vehicle more appealing to a wider set of buyers. Except for the base 2.4-liter engine, the other engines offered with the Cherokee offer a decent amount of power, which helps the Cherokee feel powerful and spirited.
The SUV’s sophisticated all-wheel-drive system Jeeps are known for distributes power in a 50:50 split, by sending 50% of power to the vehicle’s rear wheels, while going through difficult terrain, especially in the Trailhawk version.
The nine-speed automatic gearbox provides smooth and precise shifts across all engine options, thus helping all the engines deliver their power in a proper manner.
The estimated MPG of 2020 Jeep Cherokee models is 20 mpg in the city, 27 mpg on the highway, and 23 mpg combined.
Trims and Features
The 2020 Jeep Cherokee offers an updated design, that has helped it freshen up, in the light of newer competitors with newer designs. As standard, the Latitude trim offers LED headlights, 17-inch wheels, 60-40 split-folding rear seats, 7-inch touchscreen infotainment system, two USB ports, Android Auto, Apple Carplay, a rearview camera, a six-speaker music system, and Bluetooth.
Stepping up to the Latitude Plus adds leatherette upholstery, a power-adjustable driver seat, leather-wrapped steering wheel, satellite radio, another USB port, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, rear parking sensors, passive keyless entry, and push-button start.
The Limited trim further adds leather upholstery, 8.4-inch touchscreen system, larger color MID in the driver’s gauge cluster, heated front seats and steering wheel, nine-speaker music system, dual-zone climate control, an auxiliary power outlet, a power liftgate, auto-dimming rearview mirror, and remote start.
The Trailhawk and Overland offer all-wheel-drive as standard along with a lot of off-road based enhancements which do increase the car’s off-roading capability. The Trailhawk gets similar equipment like the regular Limited, but further adds Active Drive II, Active Drive Lock, larger wheels with beefier tires, off-road suspension, increased ground clearance, a locking differential, hill ascent, and descent control, skid plates and additional tow hooks. The Overland does without the hardcore off-roading equipment, but further adds on the Limited trim by offering driver seat memory functions, wood inserts, premium leather upholstery, ventilated front seats, heated rear seats, navigation, and HD radio.
This SUV is available in a wide range of color options, which include Billet Silver, Blue Shade, Bright White, Diamond Black Crystal, Granite Crystal, Hydro Blue, Light Brownstone, Olive Green, Sangria, Spitfire Orange, Sting-Gray and Velvet Red.
The 2020 Jeep Cherokee features a comfortable cabin with enough room for five adults in absolute comfort and luxury. The seats also feature added luxuries like heating across the first two rows and ventilation in the first row of seats, which does help in making the car feel much more luxurious than it looks like on the outside.
Coming to the practicality, the Jeep Cherokee provides cargo space of 25.8 cubic feet when all the seats are up and 54.7 cubic feet when the rear row is down.
While the base variant comes with cloth seats, you get significantly better material for your seats, as you step up the range. The Latitude Plus upgrades the upholstery to leatherette, while higher variants further upgrade to plush and premium leather, which does significantly increase comfort inside the cabin. Depending on the variant, you also get a powered driver’s seat, heated seats for both rows, and ventilation for the front row and memory functions for the driver seat.
Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity are offered as standard across both touchscreen systems, along with Jeep’s Uconnect system that barely features any kind of lag, when compared to its competitors. Both the standard 7-inch and the upgraded 8.4-inch screens offer excellent display quality, along with a range of features, which does contribute to a better in-cabin experience when compared to its rivals. The standard six-speaker music system has decent audio quality, while the immersive 9 speaker music system helps in improving in-car audio quality to a whole other level, but is only available as an additional option.
Safety
The 2020 Jeep Cherokee offers most of the safety kit you’d expect from a modern vehicle, which includes blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, rear parking sensors, and a rearview camera. While the rearview camera is standard across all variants, the other features are only available from the Latitude Plus variant.
All the variants also come with driver and front passenger airbags, a driver knee airbag, driver and front passenger seat-mounted side airbags, and front and rear side curtain airbags, which adds up to seven airbags.
All models also offer standard vehicle stability safety systems which include Anti-lock Brake System (ABS), Vehicle Stability Control (VSC), Electronic Brake Distribution (EBD) and Brake Assist (BA), while the off-road equipped Trailhawk takes things further by offering hill descent control and hill climb control.
Warranty
Jeep offers the Cherokee with a three year/36,000 mile basic warranty, which can be extended up to a 6 year/100,000 mile warranty, which does give better peace of mind during the ownership experience.
Should you buy the 2020 Jeep Cherokee?
The Jeep Cherokee might have fallen quite behind its competitors in terms of features on offer, but Jeep did work on fixing this to a slight extent with the introduction of the 2019 facelift. Sure, it misses out on some other active safety features that you’d get with its rivals, but that doesn’t diminish the Cherokee’s safety by any means since it has been able to score a decent four-star rating, which is safe enough by modern standards.
The 2020 Jeep Cherokee does offer a decent feature set, but it still does fall behind its competitors, since the Cherokee doesn’t feel as well equipped. However, one area where the Cherokee trumps its competition is in terms of sheer value, since most Jeep dealerships have massive discounts on the current car, thus helping one save quite a lot of money while buying a Cherokee. Very few vehicles offer this many features at its price point, making the Cherokee an absolute no brainer if you’re looking for a decent budget SUV. For an in-depth look check out 2020 Jeep Cherokee review,