The XJ Jeep Cherokee is nothing to laugh at, but something about this retro review of the 1987 model might make you chuckle.
Most of the time when I watch MotorWeek, I do it with wide eyes and a thumb on the remote as I turn the volume up. It was a part of my childhood and a way of bonding with my parents. I have great affection for it and its evaluations of vehicles. However, there’s something host John Davis says in the above video about the 1987 Jeep Cherokee Laredo that made me laugh to myself and shake my head.
It certainly isn’t the fact that the new-for-’87 4.0-liter I6 solved the power problem that the XJ had had for a while. It even boosted towing capacity to 5,000 pounds. That was a cool little Jeep history lesson.
The same goes for the shift-on-the-fly lever for the Selec-Trac four-wheel drive system, which did away with the previous console-mounted vacuum switch. The above video also informed me that some people, at least those at MotorWeek, found the interior of the Cherokee to be evocative of the Range Rover’s cabin. In fact, the Cherokee Limited model was once positioned as a rival to the famous British luxury off-roader.
I found all of those little tidbits and the many others in the video interesting and stimulating to my inner nerd. None of them made me laugh. A statement at the 3:42 mark of the video did, though. I’m not knocking MotorWeek because at the time it didn’t have the 30 years of hindsight that I have right now. I just found this amusing:
“While most Cherokee wagoneers will never go far off road, it’s good to know they can handle rough terrain.”
Yes, because Moab is not that far off road. Neither is the Rubicon Trail. That’s just the name of a store that sells hiking boots, right?
I’m sure MotorWeek has learned in the years since they made the video above just how far many Cherokee owners take their rigs into the rough. The show posts a lot of its content to Youtube. All its people have to do is look up Cherokee videos on another channel to find out.
Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.
After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.
While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.
Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.
