Interesting how she felt the V6 was underpowered. Guess it depends on what you came from. We came from a 2012 Focus automatic so we love the 274 HP that Jeep claims to "give" us. As for MPG, getting about 22 MPG right now but that is with less than 2k on the clock. Looking at the window sticker we are hitting in the middle of the range and this is with a 40 mile commute and the vehicle on cruise at 70-75 and with the tow package. Without the tow package people have been reporting closer to 30 MPG.

But in the end, good you found this out before signing. Good luck with your search... There is that SRT Grand Cherokee. You won't be hurtin for power in that. LOL

 

Thanks. We rented a Focus in Europe last month and it had a start/stop feature for the manual. Something new for me, but evidently nothing new for the locals over there. I think that is much more doable than the auto. You had to be stopped, in neutral, depressing the brake, and foot off the clutch - then the car would shut off. If you let off the brake, it'd stay off as long is it didn't start rolling. If you pushed the clutch in, it'd start right back up. I can see issues with the automatics with a start/stop for those of us that want to get off the line one second ago...causing possible transmission issues. Manual, you control your own trans. Anyways, I'll be staying away from any start/stop cars as well.

 

My wife and I were initially looking at a JKU when living in Houston in '14. After seeing the price-tag of JKU's, we ended up getting a great deal on a '14 Cherokee Sport w/ 800 miles. Obviously, I wanted the Trailhawk, but we were looking closer to $20K, not $30K. We liked our KL, but we still had the itch to get the JK, so we sold our other car and got a JK 2-dr and now we're a happy Jeep family. But now that we've moved to Portland and only need 1 vehicle, we're looking to sell the KL and just keep the JK. It's nice and all, but the FWD ain't cutting it for getting us to snowboarding trips, off-roading or anything else the Jeep will satisfy. Sure it's got more space and is more 'economical,' but the JK is just too much fun and selling the KL will allow us to do more upgrades to the JK

 

We rented a Cherokee in montreal this fall. We loved it. Comfortable, quiet, great milage. We had the north edition. We were going to get one this spring. However, A deal I could not refuse fell into my lap. I killed two birds with one stone. I traded my POS Harley on a new 2015 patriot altitude. I have owned a patriot in the past, but the only thing that made me get rid of it was the crappy CVT. Now they ditched that and we got a real 6 spd, the pat is an awesome rig. We do not regret not getting the Cherokee. We love the pat. the no brainer price is awesome as well. The most capable cheap vehicle in the market place now.

I always laugh at the "IT'S NOT A JEEP" crowd. My idea of JEEP branding is More capable off road than any other vehicle it competes with. and EVERY Jeep does that in spades. Not everyone needs a rig with 37" tires, solid axles and piss poor gas milage. But LOTS of people want a rig to pack full of gear, get out in the back country and explore. THATS JEEP!

 

My fiancé has a 2014 Trailhawk with the 4cyl motor. She got one of the first ones off the line when they first came out. She commutes with it and in 2.5 years of ownership has about 78K on it. It gets along fine with the 4 cyl. I'll admit I was not impressed especially with the trans shifting but dealer updates to the computer have corrected that.
The most interesting thing was that just recently we had an issue where the car would just die. No warning...no indication....just cut out. At first it would start right back up but quickly started taking 3+ minutes or so to start and was an obvious hazard. Given the extensive electronics in it we took it straight to the dealer, dropped it off and grabbed a loaner. They called us about 2-3 days later and said they would have the Jeep a while....they are installing a new motor in it. Apparently there were issues with the piston rings...but either way, they took care of everything including the loaner and our Trailhawk now runs better and stronger than it ever did.
The next interesting thing was the brakes. After 78K she was due for brakes so I ordered rotors and ceramic pads online for the front and rear. The only options listed were if the Cherokee had either a 4cyl or 6 cyl motor. I ordered the 4cyl parts....turns out that our Trailhawk is a 4cyl model with 6 cyl brakes. I asked the dealer why this is and they just shrugged their shoulders...said " we don't know", "maybe at that point during the start of assembly they only had 6 cyl parts available".

That all being said, my fiancé loves the Jeep, I'd rather have a 6cyl and if she gets a newer one in the next couple years it will be but she is thrilled with it. I have to say for what it is designed for it is great. We have not had it offroad but it rides onroad really nice, handles beautifully, and handles like it is on rails in the snow.

 

I would say they put the bigger brakes for the trailhawk package. Everyone keeps comparing the Cherokee, renegade etc to the wrangler. That's not what they are going after...the wrangler is the most off road capable rig available off the floor, however, its on road manners are somewhat lacking....Jeep sees this and makes rigs to fill this area too...great on road, mild trail running rigs that give up some hardcore off road ability to leave that to the Wrangler.

 

We are about to trade my truck for a Cherokee. It will be the DD for my wife. I'm taking the wrangler.

 

2016 Cherokee 75th Anniversary (hers) and 2015 JKUR (mine).

 

Where in Oregon are you. ? I'm in SW Portland

 

I'm in Lyons, 30 minutes east of Salem.