Jeep Grand Cherokee - Opinions please

[AustinTech 0]

More rattles and shakes than Marley's ghost, scuttle shake is tremendous, better with a good used Discovery or Land / Range Rover JMO BIKIR

 

+1

 

 

All I remember from the brief time I owned one was the damn rattling and shaking. Sold it and won't buy another.

[greg_r 81]

Buy a Saab, I've had almost every model from 2.0 Hot 9/3 to Viggen and 9/5 both saloon and estate, get a good set of steel wheels with snow tyres and chains. I used to sweep past everybody including 4x4's when snow was bad in Scotland.

Great cars, I know some people don't like them,but I always had great experiences with them.

 

My major problem is I live on a hill, on a bend, an my drive is about 45 degrees (well not quite but you get the idea). Putting snow chains on (I have a set) is almost impossible. The only vehicle that gets out of our road (a cul de sac) in the snow is the woman down the end with an old Landrover. Not sure about Saab now they're GM eutocar or Chinese or whatever they are nowadays but they did used to have a great reputation in snow.

 

I drive a Saab 9-5 se turbo. It's not as good as my old Audi A8 quattro was in snow and ice (nothing much stopped that), but it ain't far short. I was very pleasantly surprised when I had to go out last week - even on normal tyres I just stuck the thing into Winter mode and let the traction control sort it out. I was expecting all sorts of 'fun', but there was no real bother. Admittedly it helps that I've done a lot of driving in snow and ice over the years, but even so...

 

FWIW Saabs were always decent in snow (this is my 5th), and the GM era ones are no exception. The real limitation, of course, is ground clearance - when it gets really deep, nothing beats a landrover or Toyota landcruiser.

[solkryssare 109]

If it was me, and I had the money for it:

 

 

[Silverspeed 10]

Yes the Volvo XC70's are great and pretty much unbreakable

 

Although not as much ground clearance as the XC90 but in 99% of the time more then enough, plus it's much lighter than the XC90. The best ones are from 2003 and upwards, those versions have the Haldex 4x4

[AustinTech 0]

The Subaroooos are awesome cars. Very good quality, 4 wheel drive, and the new ones look great. They win tons of awards here in the US.

[ebzen02 341]

Had a Black XC90 and I miss that car so much! Just returned an xc70.. Too cramped for two huge car seats! But nice car..solid and built like a tank!

[Silverspeed 10]

Had a Black XC90 and I miss that car so much! Just returned an xc70.. Too cramped for two huge car seats! But nice car..solid and built like a tank!

 

We used to sell tons of them from 2003 up to 2007. When first released there was a waiting list for more than 9 months and it would sell at MRSP + a premium. now since the luxury tax in NL is based on CO2 and the economical crisis you can't give them away

[sconehead 5]

Subaru Forester...:P

[Baldrick 1]

Just to echo what Greg said about Saabs, the new cars are great, I've never seen a Saab dead at the roadside, even the old 900 Turbos seem to go on forever, and servicing is relatively cheap for them, if I ever came back to the UK, I know I'd be headed to my nearest dealer and placing an order for the new 9/5, a great looking car with all that I'd require, I know it's out-with your price range and needs, just some eye candy to chase away the winter blues that you guys have over there just now, we can't all be basking in 36 degrees of sunshine :P

[68 Bullit 0]

Horses for Courses, I have owned 2 brand new Land Rover Discovery's a 2001 SE 4.0 V8 and a 2004 HSE7 4.6 V8. first one wasn't too bad, had issues but all fixed under warranty, second one was never out of the dealers, it was so bad that Land Rover bought it back from me after a lot of aggro. During this time we still owned our Jeep Cherokee Limited 4.0 which both my kids used through college, I am giving it a light restoration and putting it back into everyday use. I have owned 2 Jeep Wranglers and 2 Cherokee Limited and have been very Happy with all of them. Not as good as the Land Rover in true Off Road conditions but certainly more reliable overall.

I am an Ex WRC engineer so obviously not totally ignorant as to what expect from a vehicle, but the price that a good Jeep Cherokee 4x4 can be bought for here and what it delivers is definately good bang for the buck

[prestigewatchco 2]

Looks very nice but will be too expensive to ever consider in Thailand. I don't know how much they are new in UK but year old Saab's are usually great value in the UK

[sconehead 5]

I saw one of those new 9-5's on the hard shoulder last week waiting for the AA...

[greg_r 81]

Subaru Forester...

 

 

Solid, practical, reliable cars with great engines, even greater handling and terminally depressing interiors.... :P

[Baldrick 1]

I saw one of those new 9-5's on the hard shoulder last week waiting for the AA...

 

That was the DT's on your part as you went to the AA :P

 

 

Looks very nice but will be too expensive to ever consider in Thailand. I don't know how much they are new in UK but year old Saab's are usually great value in the UK

True Robert true, I near fell on my arse when I checked out the price of a SangYong on Sukhumvit, 1.6 million baht, ( £34,000 ) for a FUKKING Sang Yong, the Fortuner is a great buy compared to that POS.

[agostini67 0]

Well

 

i can only talk abaout the GC from 2004 CRD 2.7 that i drive now for 220000 km

 

without big problems... (ok i arange me with a stupid climate aggrgate, but this is a problem some have some don t)

 

except be careful with the heating system of the seats, the ones of mine burnt now the second time.

 

everything else is ok and i would buy again

 

 

ok ok i had two Alfa s before (even these two had no really no problems, till i sold it or the other one burnt down...)

 

Cheers Helmut

[prestigewatchco 2]

Yes Baldrick you can only really buy cars here that are assembled here imports are outrageously expensive. Of course when the pound was in the high 60's here these Toyota pick ups and Fortuners etc were great value if paying with English money. I sent loads of Vigo's back to UK when the rate was favourable they were around 11 grand landed when the UK version with the smaller engine was close to 18 grand.

 

By the way BL if you only need a 4x4 for a few days a year maybe cheaper to hire one when you need one. Servicing and fuel costs are much more than a normal car

[Baldrick 1]

Buy an old Defender, keep it at the back of your house or in the garage, ready it up for winter and then hire yourself out to pull people out of the ditches, you'll re-cover your costs in no time.

[Brightlight 0]

Buy an old Defender, keep it at the back of your house or in the garage, ready it up for winter and then hire yourself out to pull people out of the ditches, you'll re-cover your costs in no time. B)

 

Believe me, that has crossed my mind! I've done more (uncomfortable) miles in SWB and LWB Landrovers than I care to think about. If the Range Rovers weren't so heavy on fuel I'd consider one of those, I had one back in the 70s which I bought and resurrected after it had caught fire. It was typically British of the period in that it was spoilt for a hap'worth of tar, first thing you needed was a pair of sliding toilet door bolts to keep the upper rear window from popping open when the body flexed and they were impossible to keep dust out of so on unmade roads you had to keep the windows open in order to breathe! Good vehicles, though they did have one fatal problem, the link from the steering box ran right across the front of the vehicle to the left hand wheel. If you hit an animal, always a hazard in Africa, the bar bent and suddenly both wheels were pointing to the right though the steering wheel was straight ahead, perfect conditions for a roll. The cure was a piece of U shaped steel bar hanging down from the bumper mounts, known locally as a "Goat repellant"! Happy days.

 

Thanks to everyone for your comments, though as I sort of expected they have just muddied the water some more. I think I'm just going to have to make a short list and drive my selection and make sure I have some sort of warranty in place before handing over my hard earned. It's good to hear positive as well as negative experiences of the Jeep, so that will stay on the list, as will the Merc ML, and I think I should consider a LR Discovery or Freelander, though not the V8 unless I can get one running on LPG, the diesels seem a bit underpowered but might be worth a drive. Not sure about things like the Honda CRV and the Toyota Rav which have always seemed 'urban' 4x4s more suited for the school run.

[Member X 91]

New Skoda Yeti is supposed to be excellent to drive and would probably do well on offroad tyres?

 

 

For me...

 

Defender + something like a ST220 Mondeo or Citroen C6 or Vauxhall Insignia VXR for the motorway etc

 

Subaru Forester - 2.5 Boxer engine and suspension from the Impreza mean Q-Car stealth and ability on road tyres but excellent winter driving on winter/offroad tyres

 

Subaru Legacy if you don't want/need the ground clearance of the Forester or the chavviness of the Impreza B)

 

Older Range Rover with LPG conversion