Discussion on the unibody compact Cherokee  

esanchez:
Discussion on the unibody compact Cherokee

Hi
Did I miss some thing, what discussion.............

The XJ, the orginal SUV is still much loved, the replacement I don't know much about the KJ, does it perform as well as a stock XJ ?

Lets take a look at the criteria for a "truck" first. It needs to be around 100" wheel base, have full or part time four wheel drive system with a locker or LSD rear. Ideally have coils all round with solid axels and be able to dissconnect sway bars (antiroll). Engine wise you need a diesel engine, over 100 bhp .........

Now apart from the coils, and that was down to Jeeps station wagon design, the XJ Limited SE ticks all the boxes. In Europe we got the diesel engine, all be it a VM with alloy heads. Note not all models got LSD, or no rear sway bar.
Because of the uni body or monoque construction there is no heavy ladder chassis to lug around, and the engine power goes to where it is needed. For a comparison on this the Disco (the XJ's main competion in the UK) has 40 bph per tonne of GVW, the Cherokee has over 50. I think I read some where there is a coil kit for XJ rear ends too, though I dunno if it works or not.

So given the above would you choose a 2001 XJ over the competion and if so what, a KJ ?

Low Gear

96 XJ 2.5TD
UpCountry plus one.
Disconnects.
Detroit Heads with all steel seals.
Custom roof rack.

http://www.thecherokee.com