The Cherokee doesn't serve up the intimidating bulk of the Hummer, but you can still enjoy some of the big guy's hardships. You step way up for entry, then crawl in through half-size doors.
Watch your head! The rear doors are laughably small for a vehicle this size unless you're trying to get out. The seats have the sumptuous foam feel of a Kmart sofa, and the materials inside are, let's say, not suitable for mood enhancement. Rear-seat comfort and space are at the bottom of the charts; don't go there.
What the Jeep does provide is capital-T torque at very low revs, making it impressive on the snowy slope. Pull the lever down into four low, squeeze on just a feather touch of power, and it goes, crunching up on the loose snow and easing along on top with nary a trace of tire spin.
With the other vehicles and their smaller engines, more throttle was necessary, and as soon as their tires slipped, they dug themselves in like determined Jack Russells. The Jeep never got stuck -- it acted as though it never would -- so we quit our slippery-slope trial before the backing-out distance topped a half-mile.
The 4.0-liter in-line six is no slacker on the road, either, clocking 0 to 60 mph in 8.4 seconds, thereby splitting the Ford twins. It makes rustic, slow-breathing sounds at idle, rather in the character of trucks it hung out with when it was young. With a solid axle up front, the Jeep is casual about steering accuracy on the interstate.
The ride is trucky. "My head never stops bobbing," wrote one tester. The driving position is confined. There's no place to rest your left foot. The driver does have a high viewpoint, but the horizon line of the hood is also high, Hummer-style, so you can't see the road any closer to the front bumper than you can in the low-rider Subaru Forester
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