The most popular vehicle-type in America is now the compact crossover, which is a name that somewhat obscures the fact that none of the compact crossovers currently for sale in the United States are actually compact. They’re all growing, and the new hybrid Jeep Cherokee has grown the most.
This is a good thing. The last Cherokee managed to underdeliver as a regular crossover for normies, or as a true successor to the beloved XJ. While an off-road-friendly version is surely coming, the new Cherokee doesn’t make the mistake of trying too hard to be a Jeep and, instead, tries hard to be something you can reasonably cross-shop with a RAV4.
It could probably try a little harder, but for a first attempt at a vehicle from the re-re-organized company now known as Stellantis it’s not bad. Most of the ideas here are sound. The basic premise makes sense. It’s the execution that’s imperfect.
The Basics
Engine: 1.6-liter turbocharged inline-four hybrid with two AC motors
Transmission: CVT
Drive: all-wheel drive
Output: 210 horsepower (combined) and 230 lb-ft of torque (combined)
Fuel Economy: 35 mpg hwy, 39 mpg city, 37 mpg combined
Base Price: $36,995
Price As-Tested: $43,590 (including $1,995 destination charge)
Why Does This Car Exist?
That bit about the execution being a little iffy is unfortunate given how competitive this class is. The Toyota RAV and Honda CR-V have been in a constant state of iteration for years, which shows in the extremely high quality of both of those products. Every few years whatever version of Chrysler exists decides that it needs a smaller unibody CUV to slot in under the Jeep Grand Cherokee.
Sometimes, in a flurry of excitement, the company will make a bunch of smaller CUVs (Liberty, Renegade, Compass). None of them carry as much emotional and historical weight as the Cherokee badge. For most people, the Wrangler is the Jeep-shaped thing with no roof, and the Cherokee is the Jeep-shaped thing with a roof, usually available in two sizes.
The last Cherokee was based on the Fiat Chrysler-developed platform that also underpinned the Chrysler 200. That product went away in 2023 and we’ve waited almost three years for a replacement, this time based on a platform created by Stellantis and using a motor shared with a bunch of Peugeots and Citroëns. Honestly, that’s not that big of a deal. The XJ Cherokee started with a batch of Renault motors. French powertrains run deep in this American crossover.
Like many other automakers, Jeep resisted electrification and pursued plug-in hybrids. Then, suddenly, Jeep embraced electrification and built a very expensive EV that few customers seemed to want.
The Cherokee is sort of a vehicular mea culpa for a bevy of past sins, offering up a legit good hybrid powertrain in an overall legit usable package.
It’s A Crossover That Crossovers As Well As Your Average Crossover
I used the Jeep Cherokee as it was meant to be used: A thing to move kids and other people around the ‘burbs. It was more than sufficient at the task.
If you’ve been in any previous Cherokee, the first and most obvious realization is that this is much larger. Here’s a photo of my press car next to a Grand Cherokee. While the Grand Cherokee is grander, it’s by a much smaller degree than in the past.
Trunk space is good, the rear passengers get more room for their legs than in the KL, and everything feels nice enough. It’s like the Jeep planners looked at the highly competitive segment and aimed for somewhere in the middle. Is it as big as a CR-V or as efficient as a RAV4? Nope. Is the design up to spec with the Mazda CX-5 or Kia Sportage? Of course not. Does it compare favorably with the Nissan Rogue, GMC Terrain or Volkswagen Tiguan? Absolutely.
Rather than offering up two big, flat screens, Jeep designers integrated the flat-panel gauge cluster into the upper dash and the center 12.3-inch infotainment system (with UConnect 5) back where an old double-DIN might go. This makes both screens easy to read and is a much more elegant solution than just slapping an iPad-shaped tablet in front of the driver and calling it a day.
Nothing here is trying to do too much and, therefore, doesn’t disappoint. While Uconnect 5 isn’t the best infotainment system available, it’s far from the worst. I don’t love that the seat controls and HVAC buttons are all touch-capacitive. It could be worse, they could all be screen-based controls. Beggars, choosers, et cetera.
The French Hybrid System Is Also Quite Good
Some version of this 1.6-liter “Prince” motor has existed going back to the Obama Administration, and has been featured in everything from the Peugeot RCZ to the Mini John Cooper Works GP.
This latest iteration is American-built and designed for hybrid applications, pairing the high pressure turbo motor (up to 38 psi of boost) with a two-motor system not unlike what’s used in most hybrids these days. Backed up by a 1.03 kWh lithium ion battery, the system puts out a combined 210 horsepower. It’s got an “electronic variable transmission” which is just another name for a planetary gearset.
The Cherokee also does the very smart thing of using the lithium ion battery to support the 12V battery so you don’t kill the smaller battery while you’ve got a much larger battery right there. It’s a good system, and it felt like I had more power than my CR-V in most situations. It also returned a very good 37.7 MPG in a week of mixed driving, which edged out my hybrid crossover. When it worked, it was barely noticeable as a hybrid at all.
What’s That Sound?
Yeah, so, bad news for the first model year Cherokee buyers. I’m not sure if it was just my Limited 4×4 trim or not, but there were a few refinement issues with the vehicle that happened frequently enough that it’s worth pointing them out for anyone in the market.
The most obvious and unnerving one was an unpredictable and loud intermittent clunk when braking in the Cherokee. I couldn’t perfectly replicate it, so my best guess is it’s something in the planetary gearset when the motor quickly switches from propulsion to generation under certain conditions. Whatever it is, no other new hybrid I’ve driven does this and, while it doesn’t seem to impact drivability, it made me uncomfortable every time it happened.
Also while braking I noticed that the tuning on the regen felt off to me. Trying to predict the braking force necessary to slow the Cherokee was difficult, and I found myself overdoing it and underdoing in roughly equal measure.
I was also disappointed to find out that the Cherokee had electronic doors for no real obvious reason and, as Jason wrote, the rear doors don’t have an emergency release (and instead use supercapacitors for emergency power). The action on the doors didn’t feel as fluid as on other vehicles and it overall just seems very un-Jeep to me. It’s as if the product planners noticed on one else in the class had similar doors and thought it would be fun to offer them. It’s not fun. The next update of this vehicle should just ditch them altogether.
Is It A Jeep?
This is the question that David asked me when I told him I was driving the new Cherokee and I’m not sure I have a great answer. The otherwise attractive wheels (which echo the old Chrysler pentastar logo) have little WWII Willys Jeep caps in the center. That feels very try-hard to me.
On paper, the Jeep does have a few of the necessary requirements. There are multiple modes for different terrains. The approach and departure angles of 19.6 and 29.4 degrees, respectively, are the best in this class. The eight inches of ground clearance are about in the middle of what’s available, but I suspect the more off-road-oriented variants will improve on that. It did absorb bumps very well, and the AWD system has a mechanical connection to the rear wheels instead of a motor, as with some hybrids.
There are hints of previous Jeeps in the very square proportions, even if those proportions feel a little tacked on to the crossover. On the inside, there’s nothing about this that says Jeep to me.
In fact, I asked my wife what she felt after going on a few trips in it with me and she didn’t even realize it was a Jeep until I told her.
Is It Good Enough?
This wouldn’t be the first vehicle I’d buy in this class, but it wouldn’t be the last one I’d buy either. It really does find itself perfectly in the middle of the older, non-hybrid vehicles like the Nissan Rogue and Volkswagen Tiguan and the newer offerings from Honda, Toyota, and Kia.
Middle of the range is an ok place to land, but in this class you still need to be close to perfect. There are too many good options. The other option is to be a value play. The Cherokee, on paper, is too expensive. Just going off the MSRP, the $43,000 you’d spend on a Limited equipped like mine is enough money to buy you a TrailSport Hybrid CR-V, which is a much better vehicle.
My guess is that most people will not actually be spending that kind of real money on the Cherokee. This is a vehicle destined for consumers looking for a deal and, likely, those folks will be able to find a Jeep dealer happy to make that happen.
As a first attempt at making a third attempt (or fourth, depending on how you count things), it’s not bad, and I’m hopeful that Jeep can eundertake the kind of iterative improvements that other vehicles in this class get to enjoy. A 2026 Cherokee is a decent car. Unfortunately, a decent car isn’t good enough for compact crossover in the Year of Our Jeep 2026. Bring on 2027!
Top graphic image: Matt Hardigree
I think you summed it up. It’s perfectly adequate and agreeable, especially styling- and performance-wise. But it doesn’t move the needle for the segment and it’s going to sell at steep discounts off of sticker. That’s not what Stellantis needs right now in an important volume segment and, frankly, Stellantis USA cannot continue to keep releasing such products and survive.
Looks like the new Liberty or Patriot to me. Fine enough for hauling junk kids and whatever just not a Cherokee not that the last was great either. Very European they seem to think as jeep as a premium to luxury name plate not doing great off road is par the course. It’s just not very jeep. The bill Clinton eagle won’t save it either.
They should’ve respected the wishes of the Cherokee Nation and retired the name, calling this car the Eagle.
They probably wanted Americans eagle but buying the rights would eat too far in to their ai budget.
They should have saved the nameplate for something more special. Call this the new Compass or something and we’d all be fine with it.
If you’re Stellantis and you’re trying to capitalize on the Jeep name to create the rare successful model in your portfolio, do you:
A) make a true successor to the XJ Cherokee and infuse it with the refinement and efficiency penalties that requires, or
B) Fight for a thin slice of the absolutely enormous generic crossover pie and introduce milquetoast on a shared transverse/EV platform
Obviously not A.
I like the styling of this new Cherokee and would be willing to give it a go if it was notably cheaper than the CRV and RAV4 and then 100% dump it before the powertrain warranty expired. But that’s the only way I’d go for it.
I had a rental Euro Compass a few years ago and it was just fine. Drove ok and the interior was frankly far nicer than I expected. It was a “nice little car” and if the price was right and it didn’t break then there’s nothing to be ashamed of.
You can wear the same clothes that your partner’s celebrity crush wears, you can get their haircut and even subscribe to their workout routine, but I would advise against getting a tattoo of their face next to your face for comparison.
This comment is about the Willys badges.
TFL tested one of these recently, it did terrible offroad. It simply would not put any power down to the ground while trying to climb a steep slope.
I like the look of the interior, and the cargo space looks pretty good due to the boxy shape. Other than that, I don’t have many good things to say about it. As others have mentioned, lots of head shake worthy decisions made here.
MPG seems good I guess, but I’d probably rather buy a Kia Sportage hybrid for something with that mileage.
Along with the electric door handles I wonder what the rationale was for the electric hood popper? I know there’s a mechanical backup, but it’s still silly. As for the good; that’s a very handsome dashboard.
It makes sense being a Stellantis product. The hood will need to be opened often.
In this extremely competitive class, “not bad” is indeed, very bad.
I rag on this company a lot and I will stop, but why do they do this:
Seriously they are the only company who completely removes a nameplate from the market for a period of literal years only to bring it back later. All that does is give people who have expiring leases or who need a new car an excuse to go look at a competitor. Like they keep the same platform in production for decades but somehow are never concurrently developing its subsequent generation. This has just always baffled me.
Let’s see, Carlos not-pictured-above Tavares ran the company from 2021 to 2024…2023…yep, story checks out.
I mean, I know he’s not the only one in Stellantis history who made a stupid product decision, but he seems to have been responsible for more than his fair share.
Stellantis’ new tagline “ It’s the execution that’s imperfect.”
It may not be the best looking vehicle in its class, or the most efficient, well-made, or designed, but at least it’s very expensive.
If you hate it now, wait till you drive it!
There are a few minor missteps but it is a better-looking vehicle than its competitors.
Is that a Stevie Wonder quote?
Well, Peugeot let Ray Charles drive a ’94 306 Cabriolet out in the desert somewhere in what is a really charming ad. As far as I know, they didn’t ask him how it looked.
Ray Charles conduit une 306 cab, pub 1994
It will be interesting if Jeep bring this to the UK where we have it’s Stellantis platform mates from Peugeot, Vauxhall/Opel and Citroen, plus then we have Honda, Toyota and now a 100 makes of Chinese imports too.
This Jeep doesn’t really look all that attractive unless you really want a Jeep…
The rear view looks like something from the 80’s and it’s a hard pass on the door handles from me.
I looked at this at the Toronto Auto Show… and on the surface, it looked like a decent vehicle for the money. Would be nice if there was a plug-in hybrid version though.
Does this thing have an actual CVT or is an eCVT?
And I’ve heard some bad things about the Prince engine… particularly in the 2nd gen Mini. Anyone know if the Prince engine has gotten better since then?
And then its a case of execution. Will there be a bazillion recalls in the first year or two like with the 4XE hybrid Jeeps?
I’ll be watching the Consumer Reports and other places for reliability/durability data with interest.
But I won’t touch one of these until they’ve been out for a while.
Planetary = eCVT.
I’ve been waiting to see a review of these. Not because I want one, but because they hit lots about a month ago and had no reviews out there whatsoever. To me that was a huge red flag. Stellantis knew the reviews wouldn’t be as kind as they wanted, so they waited until after it was out to let reviewers touch it.
Le Cherokee ist évalué pour les sentiers
Le Cherokee est évalué pour les
sentiersseniors. FIFYI had a Cherokee as a company car before my current Equinox.
It did some things very well. It was more comfortable than the Equinox, the ride was smoother, and it was quieter (you’d expect the little 1.5T to be louder because it’s more often scurrying to get going unlike the pentastar, but there was also less road and wind noise in the Jeep). It got similar gas mileage to the Equinox, despite having 100 more HP. And both being top trims, the Jeep had nicer materials inside.
The downsides were reliability and electronic issues (surprise) and that despite feeling larger, the space wasn’t well utilized. Specifically, the height of the trunk opening and trunk itself were a couple inches short than the Equinox, making it hard to fit bulky cargo like appliances.
Finally there’s the price. Mine was a 2021 and the window sticker said $33k. That same spec vehicle in 2023 was $39k. Now this one is STARTING at that price. And i’m not optimistic they’ll have solved the electronics and reliability issues, sooooo……
Another chapter in “How is Stellantis still in business weekly.”
To be fair, the price jump is in line with most other price jumps. The old Cherokee was never the cheapest either and surely that has some padding to advertise cash incentives off sticker too.
Behold! Plato’s Jeep!
When Plato defined humans as “featherless bi-peds”, Diogenes The Cynic plucked the feathers out of a chicken and yelled “Behold! Plato’s human!”
This comes off like the plucked chicken of Jeeps. I’m not sure what makes this a Jeep other than the badge on a middle of the road offering CUV. This should have been a Chrysler or a Dodge.
When the specs first came out on this, my first thought was “wow, this won’t be reliable”.
Reads this…
Ah, the turbo Mini motor from the late ’00s with 38(!) lbs of boost, mixed with the complexity of added electric motors and typical Stellantis build quality? Yeah, starting to think that my first reaction was on the money.
Also, this car has missed leg day. Interested to see if they remedy this with the offroad version.
Yep. It doesn’t seem bad per se, but this needs to be priced like a RAV4 or cheaper, not like it’s some sort of premium product, because it isn’t.
It seems large enough, the powertrain is competitive, it looks pretty nice for what it is? Interior seems alright? Cargo space actually looks pretty darn large. But after foisting multiple horrifically low quality and unreliable products on the masses, Jeep needs to price this thing more competitively in hopes that customers will give them a second chance.
The MSRP and the actual price on a Jeep are no where near each other. I bet these have 5K on the hoods in 6-8 months. Maybe more.
And I think this ancient practice continues to scare modern shoppers away, who mostly shop for cars online and only go to dealerships once they’re sure they want a test drive of something they’re likely to buy.
If someone like say, my brother, was shopping for a new car, he would Google each one of them to get information on them, including the expected MSRP range, etc. He’s going to see the Toyota RAV4 hybrid starts at just under 33k excluding destination. The Cherokee will pop up starting at 37k (including destination, to be fair). He’s going to conclude the RAV4 is cheaper.
Stellantis’ ongoing obsession with JC Penney pricing tactics isn’t doing them any favors.
I would argue the JC Penney model works just fine. Some customers absolutely love that they get “7k off” on a vehicle that is “more expensive” on paper than a competitor, and therefore it “must be premium.” It also builds dealer loyalty, because that’s who arranged the “deal” for them.
The real problem for CJDR / dealers has been the total product lineup mismanagement that led to zero vehicles to sell in several important segments. The most critical being a replacement for the Dodge Journey. Those customers just went down the road to Kia or Nissan for a Rogue or whatever.
Hopefully this new Jeep fills the Journey-sized hole in the lineup.
It won’t since it doesn’t have a 3rd row
Yeah it’s not perfect, but it’s a lot better than the Hornet.
I think that model works for older generations. For my peers (not that I’m that young lol) and younger, when we see supposed discounts offered by dealers, we default to the pessimism of “I wonder how these fuckheads are going to screw me despite their marketing”. If there’s one thing that young people have become increasingly good at, it’s filtering out bullshit (comes from being bludgeoned by the constant oppression of bullshit from the internet, I’d imagine).
My inlaws love to buy cars and always believe they walked away with a great deal (they never have, trust me). I know a lot of boomers that love this system, the irony being that most of them are getting absolutely boned by it. Every one of my friends know that the dealer is there to fuck us, and that they hold the cards, there’s no “beating up the dealer till I reign supreme”. There’s only minimizing the damage.
Going back to using my brother as an example, if he sees a RAV4 listed at say, 34k, and a Cherokee at 37k (but you can haggle!) he’s going to go to the RAV4 every time.
Yeah. I mean, I totally agree with you, your brother, and this take. I hate haggling, just give me the price, dammit. But I also have no intention of buying anything from a CJDR dealer, so how much is my opinion really worth?
I still think they can hold onto the pricing model if they at least state their promotions aggressively online. The desire to haggle may have died with the younger generations, but the feeling of “getting a deal” while being screwed is eternal!
I’m trust the marketing visionaries at Stellantis will make the right choice….
Jeep’s (along with Dodge and Chrysler) pricing strategy for the last 3-4 years is clearly “we need to make more profit so just raise the prices”. Being competitive in the market is not on their radar when pricing vehicles.
I get that someone at Stellantis believes that Jeep somehow has the cache to upcharge people for image. But there seems to be a shrinking number of people willing to pay more for “RAV4, but it breaks a lot”.
As I’ve said 1000x, if they want to succeed, they need to bring the prices down to compete with what they’re actually competing with, OR do the obvious, bring back the long warranties in an attempt to convince people their next generation products are worth trusting.
I can see a value proposition in charging a little more than a Rav because it’s more “outdoorsie” and more off-road capable on every trim. Subaru does a great job of getting a bit of a premium on their vehicles that way. It’s what’s hot right now, so go for it.
BUT, well, there’s a lot of buts. Reliability is becoming more of a well known issue. They killed the nameplate for 3 year so now they have to remind people it exists. It has a tiny turbo engine (jeep bros aren’t going to like that). Everyone else offers soft-roading trims now. Etc. Etc.
Are any Jeep products there?
Your brand might be in trouble if you think you need to make cars that don’t fit your brand in order to sell cars. I get that not everything needs to be a Wrangler, but if the only reason for the non-Jeeple to buy your car is because it’ll be sitting discounted on dealer lots…oof. That’s Nissan energy.
Boy, that’s a lot of boost.
More turbo boost than an Indy car but less than Formula 1.
Everything is designed to be in the middle.
Has the hybrid version of this engine been in anything yet? 38psi is a lot, and its not like Jeep has had a good track record with their hybrids….
Jeep makes mid-runners so hardly surprising that it falls there. Following the truly excellent XJ, the Liberty, Compass, KL Cherokee were all mid-pack in their day too, but sold like hotcakes on price and reputation. Jeep (and all Stellantis realy) have been pricing themselves out big time in an attempt to move up market. But seems nobody told them they should make a better product before trying to ask higher prices. Their reliability as of late –especially with hybrids– has been abysmal. So if Stellantis can keep their wits, not pump this out before its bugs are worked out, and not price it 10k too high, they’ll steal the whole lower end of the market. I wouldn’t hold my breath though.
Is it a Jeep-thing to complain that a new car, that’ll spend 99-100% of its time on paved surfaces, doesn’t work as well offroading as an old Wrangler?
But you’re on-point: this needs to undercut the CRV/RAV4 list prices, and it needs to do so substantially. Otherwise there’s no value proposition.
Then, on top, it also needs prove to be reliable enough that people will want to come back to buy another one – not because it says “Jeep” but because it was a good car.
Stellantis needs to do a lot to make up for the Dodge Hornet and Jeep 4xe.
TFL took it on a mild off road trail and it overheated to the point of putting itself in limp home mode multiple times and spun it’s tires a lot.
Maybe it wouldn’t overheat in the snow, but it would almost certainly get stuck.
The electric door handles already eliminated it from consideration, but overheating and getting stuck multiple times on an easy trail definitely would as well if the door handles were normal.
The electric door thing is one more example of “new and different for the sake of being new and different”. I hate anything that fits in this category of ‘upgrades’.
The fun thing about snow is it packs in around the mechanical bits and blocks airflow, thus causing even more overheating!
For half a second I was impressed by the mechanical AWD and still scoring over 36 mpg, but then I remembered this is still a Stellantis.