DrivenMind
11-05-2007, 08:06 AM
My Corolla's been down for a while, and as of recent; I've driving a 2 door, 1995 Jeep Cherokee to get around to school and such. Never in my life have I had such an unabashed hatred for an automobile. It had just under a 100,000 miles before I got it, and at one point I actually thought that, that was pretty low mileage for a '95. Unfotunately I failed to realize at the time, that 90,000 miles on a Jeep is about the mechanical equivalent to 500,000 miles on a Honda.
A few months ago I took some time, and wrote about my thoughts on the Cherokee. They were as follows;
"The Handling:
Awful. The car rolls in corners, as if it would rather negotiate them on its roof. The suspension feels soft at first, but somehow manages to be terribly far from it. This thing crashes over bumps, and minor imperfections in the road surface like a Model T with wooden tires. Any attempting to change lanes faster than the sidewall can stop flexing, results in the vehicle darting unexpectedly toward the obstacles lining the street.
Understeer is a predominant handling characteristic, and will have you unexpectedly squealing those big, dumb ass front tires, much to the furious delight of suburbanites, and panicing elderly everywhere.
My Jeep was blessed with an open differential, which means that in the rain, anything over a quarter throttle will have you spinning the inside tire all the way up the block. Great if you want to impress your NASCAR loving neighbors in the trailer park, but not so great if you actually want to accelerate, not cause a scene, and merge with traffic.
The Steering:
The steering isn't so much of a driver input device, as much it is a ponderous, driver suggestion box. As you turn the steering wheel in the direction you wish to head, the vehicle begins to head in a direction that is somewhat similar to that of what you suggested, but not entirely the same. In typical SUV fashion the steering is vague, over-assisted, and lacking almost entirely of feedback.
The Powertrain:
The engine housed under the Jeeps enormous shapeless hood is an AMC 4.0 liter inline six cylinder. According to Wikipedia.com "This is one of the best off road engines ever made." a statement I won't totally disagree with, as it delivers lots of torque at low revs; but there's one minor issue I wish to point out. Generally speaking, I drive on roads, not off them.
Torque delivery aside, this motor literally sucks. It sucks the life out of your wallet, when your on a budget while you're helpless but to watch the gigantic 4.0 litre, inline six cylinder devour more gas than a Corvette Z06 doing hot laps around Laguna Seca. It sounds like a high mileage 1960s Mercedes diesel at start up, and is rumored to be prone to overheating. Throttle tip in isn't obtrusive, but like the rest of the car, it's uncommunicative, and slow to react to driver input. The soundtrack provided by this engine is akin to listening to a U.S tank climb a sand dune in Baghdad. This endless monotonous, droning will have you stomping the pedal after stop signs, and intersections just to check for signs of life in the engine bay. A reminder that stomping the gas pedal in this truck, causes it to net a breathtaking 10 miles per gallon, and you'll be back listening to the droning Sherman tank soundtrack in no time.
The transmission shifts as though it's got straight cut gears, designed by Getrag for use in a rally race, somewhere other than anywhere near civilization, and paved roads. One of the first things a Jeep Cherokee driver must adapt to, is easing out of the throttle just before a shift in an only partially successful attempt to avoid the transmissions kicking and banging as it shifts.
The Interior:
I've never had to function inside of a cockpit designed by someone so stupid, and ergonomically brain dead until these past few months. Nothing inside the Jeep makes sense, or invokes confidence in it's driver. The climate controls are typical of American automotive products, and feel as though there's a good chance they're going to break, or fall off when you use them. The automatic turn signal seems to only shut off if you've actually hit steering lock, in the process of negotiating the previous corner. Otherwise, you'll be riding around like my grandmother, and confusing the **** out of other drivers in no time; as you're headed straight down the road for miles before realizing the turn signals been on the entire time.
The dash, and center console feel as though they were fastened to the body of the car using Gorilla glue, and shoe string. The windshield wipers, occasionally think for themselves, regardless of the weather, and after it stops raining good luck trying to shut them off.
The seats are flat, shapeless, and poorly cushioned, just like the typical American ass; No doubt a match made in heaven. The glove compartment looks as though it could be the saving grace with it's enormous ****ing door, until you open and realize it's about the size cubic capacity as your standard mail envelope.
There is no tachometer, temperature gauge, voltmeter, trip meter, or oil pressure gauge to speak of, only meaningless lights that come on in the event of a catastrophic failure, to confirm your suspicions, after that fact, that you are in fact experiencing a catastrophic failure. Instead of a tachometer to the left of the speedometer, there is only the gigantic fuel gauge which is about as accurate, as it is fun to watch when your getting 4 miles per gallon in a poorly designed American SUV."
I know there's a mechanical means to fix all these problems, but my god, I want nothing to do with it. I recently had to replace the AC Compressor after the pulley seized up, and the Jeep found it had a taste for serpentine belts. After that I tried to charge my cell phone in the car, and managed to blow 3 fuses simultaneously; a feat which left me not only agitated, but slightly astonished, and partially amused. The only way to replaces fuses, is to hope you have a drivers manual, or a repair manual, and scan the pages for the fuse layout, as Jeep didn't feel in was necessary to actually print one in the car. You know... in case you wanted to replace one in a hurry or something.
Who knows I gotta get the Rolla legal asap, so I can ditch this automotive paper weight, in a river, or off a bridge. JK, I'll just take it back, and suggest that it get sold to someone who actually who needs an open diff Cherokee. You know like maybe a militia towing SAMs, in a third world county.
Driving these pieces of **** on the highway, to get from point a to point b is an automotive sin; and should be punishable by imprisonment in a recently topped off Pinto.
A few months ago I took some time, and wrote about my thoughts on the Cherokee. They were as follows;
"The Handling:
Awful. The car rolls in corners, as if it would rather negotiate them on its roof. The suspension feels soft at first, but somehow manages to be terribly far from it. This thing crashes over bumps, and minor imperfections in the road surface like a Model T with wooden tires. Any attempting to change lanes faster than the sidewall can stop flexing, results in the vehicle darting unexpectedly toward the obstacles lining the street.
Understeer is a predominant handling characteristic, and will have you unexpectedly squealing those big, dumb ass front tires, much to the furious delight of suburbanites, and panicing elderly everywhere.
My Jeep was blessed with an open differential, which means that in the rain, anything over a quarter throttle will have you spinning the inside tire all the way up the block. Great if you want to impress your NASCAR loving neighbors in the trailer park, but not so great if you actually want to accelerate, not cause a scene, and merge with traffic.
The Steering:
The steering isn't so much of a driver input device, as much it is a ponderous, driver suggestion box. As you turn the steering wheel in the direction you wish to head, the vehicle begins to head in a direction that is somewhat similar to that of what you suggested, but not entirely the same. In typical SUV fashion the steering is vague, over-assisted, and lacking almost entirely of feedback.
The Powertrain:
The engine housed under the Jeeps enormous shapeless hood is an AMC 4.0 liter inline six cylinder. According to Wikipedia.com "This is one of the best off road engines ever made." a statement I won't totally disagree with, as it delivers lots of torque at low revs; but there's one minor issue I wish to point out. Generally speaking, I drive on roads, not off them.
Torque delivery aside, this motor literally sucks. It sucks the life out of your wallet, when your on a budget while you're helpless but to watch the gigantic 4.0 litre, inline six cylinder devour more gas than a Corvette Z06 doing hot laps around Laguna Seca. It sounds like a high mileage 1960s Mercedes diesel at start up, and is rumored to be prone to overheating. Throttle tip in isn't obtrusive, but like the rest of the car, it's uncommunicative, and slow to react to driver input. The soundtrack provided by this engine is akin to listening to a U.S tank climb a sand dune in Baghdad. This endless monotonous, droning will have you stomping the pedal after stop signs, and intersections just to check for signs of life in the engine bay. A reminder that stomping the gas pedal in this truck, causes it to net a breathtaking 10 miles per gallon, and you'll be back listening to the droning Sherman tank soundtrack in no time.
The transmission shifts as though it's got straight cut gears, designed by Getrag for use in a rally race, somewhere other than anywhere near civilization, and paved roads. One of the first things a Jeep Cherokee driver must adapt to, is easing out of the throttle just before a shift in an only partially successful attempt to avoid the transmissions kicking and banging as it shifts.
The Interior:
I've never had to function inside of a cockpit designed by someone so stupid, and ergonomically brain dead until these past few months. Nothing inside the Jeep makes sense, or invokes confidence in it's driver. The climate controls are typical of American automotive products, and feel as though there's a good chance they're going to break, or fall off when you use them. The automatic turn signal seems to only shut off if you've actually hit steering lock, in the process of negotiating the previous corner. Otherwise, you'll be riding around like my grandmother, and confusing the **** out of other drivers in no time; as you're headed straight down the road for miles before realizing the turn signals been on the entire time.
The dash, and center console feel as though they were fastened to the body of the car using Gorilla glue, and shoe string. The windshield wipers, occasionally think for themselves, regardless of the weather, and after it stops raining good luck trying to shut them off.
The seats are flat, shapeless, and poorly cushioned, just like the typical American ass; No doubt a match made in heaven. The glove compartment looks as though it could be the saving grace with it's enormous ****ing door, until you open and realize it's about the size cubic capacity as your standard mail envelope.
There is no tachometer, temperature gauge, voltmeter, trip meter, or oil pressure gauge to speak of, only meaningless lights that come on in the event of a catastrophic failure, to confirm your suspicions, after that fact, that you are in fact experiencing a catastrophic failure. Instead of a tachometer to the left of the speedometer, there is only the gigantic fuel gauge which is about as accurate, as it is fun to watch when your getting 4 miles per gallon in a poorly designed American SUV."
I know there's a mechanical means to fix all these problems, but my god, I want nothing to do with it. I recently had to replace the AC Compressor after the pulley seized up, and the Jeep found it had a taste for serpentine belts. After that I tried to charge my cell phone in the car, and managed to blow 3 fuses simultaneously; a feat which left me not only agitated, but slightly astonished, and partially amused. The only way to replaces fuses, is to hope you have a drivers manual, or a repair manual, and scan the pages for the fuse layout, as Jeep didn't feel in was necessary to actually print one in the car. You know... in case you wanted to replace one in a hurry or something.
Who knows I gotta get the Rolla legal asap, so I can ditch this automotive paper weight, in a river, or off a bridge. JK, I'll just take it back, and suggest that it get sold to someone who actually who needs an open diff Cherokee. You know like maybe a militia towing SAMs, in a third world county.
Driving these pieces of **** on the highway, to get from point a to point b is an automotive sin; and should be punishable by imprisonment in a recently topped off Pinto.