I was out and about the other day just driving around testing a new car when I suddenly looked in my rear view mirror to find a very angry looking man in a BMW 5 Series about 10inches from my rear bumper
and flashing his lights in a way that I could only assume he was trying to communicate with me in some sort of random Morse code. Also, as he continued to get closer and closer to my rear bumper I was almost at one point able to tell if he had brushed his teeth that morning.
Let’s be honest here; no amount of flashing your lights or behaving like a complete idiot will help the situation – in the end though, I just pulled over and watched him fly by while he attracted my attention with what can only be described as an assortment of selective wording coming out of his mouth. As amusing as this was to see – I think he needed to understand that unless I was using ‘Radar’ I have no idea what he was actually shouting at me.
Maybe – he was trying to tell me my car was on fire, or maybe he was asking me how I voted in the EU referendum or maybe he was even shouting ‘I am considerably richer than yow’ because he owns a BMW 5 Series which makes him feel like he is a millionaire.
Maybe then this is why BMW owners never use indicators when changing lanes or turning a corner – and because they have a BMW this gives them a automatic pass to ignore The Highway Code as much as possible.
Personally, I think that all new BMW owners should be asked to attend a national training centre somewhere outside the EU where they will be taught how to find the stalk that actually makes the electricity travel to said flasher.
BMW could also offer a tailgating advice line number too. This of course would be automatically activated if the car gets closer than two inches to the car in front.
On activation – a member of BMW customer service team will remotely take over control of the car – thus bringing the car back to a safe distance from the car in front and avoiding an impending accident. I am sure BMW can come up with some sort of anagram of this feature. For instance -: Personal Remote Access Technology. Of course that’s a rubbish try, but please feel free to send me your own. Send your best efforts to the usual address.
Or if that fails – we can continue to assume that most BMW drivers will never adapt to this modern way of interacting with other road users and will at still continue to franticly turn at any given moment without any warning whatsoever.
Of course BMW owners are not on their own with their faults – there are others: For instance: Peugeot owners breakdown on purpose- just so they can hold you up on the motorway for days; Ford Fiesta ST owners just seem to race anything that happens to be moving in the same direction as them and Subaru Impreza owners seem to think that fitting a tailpipe the size of the moon is fun and will make their car sound good – and then just to top the list off – most Nissan owners have absolutely no idea where they are actually going at any given moment and will drive around for sometimes days outside Post Offices & Supermarkets without ever actually attempting to get out.
This of course brings me neatly onto my road test of the Jeep Cherokee 2.2 Limited.
Power and Efficiency:
Good news here, Jeep have ditched the old 2.0L -170hp model and fitted the Cherokee with a new 2.2 MultiJet II engine that delivers 200 hp at 3500 rpm and has a torque rating of 440 Nm at 2500 rpm – making it one of their best engines to date.
I drove the 170hp version a while ago and I was not impressed, but with the new unit tied in with that innovative nine-speed automatic transmission all is once again happy in Jeep land.
Top speed comes in around127 mph and it can accelerate from zero to 62 mph in around 8.5 seconds. Average combined fuel consumption figure comes in at decent 49.6 mpg and CO2 emissions of 150 g/km.
Off Road:
I will steer away from my normal on-road review and talk a little bit about how the Cherokee faired off the tarmac. Actually – It did rather well. It will never beat a Range Rover – but it was pretty good I have to say. Jeep’s Active-Drive four-wheel-drive system is very good and did not really struggle in most places off road. Sometimes the gearbox took too much time to decide what one wheel was doing compared to the other – but this is not the only 4X4 that suffers with that problem. If I had to choose a 4X4 and the Range Rover was not one of those I could select on the list – but the Jeep was – then I would have to pick the Jeep Cherokee as my first choice.
Interior & Technology
Inside the Jeep looks ok, but I just don’t get the sense of feeling cocooned. Yes it’s nicely set out and that – but it just doesn’t make me think Wow!
Don’t get me wrong – the seating and materials used inside are of a good quality and I would be very happy if I had bought one, but I just feel the Cherokee is missing that little bit of ‘soul’ the feeling is a bit like thinking you are going on a date with Salma Hayek and when you arrive you find out that actually you have been misinformed and your new host will be the one and only Dot Cotton.
Some of the standard equipment on the Cherokee Limited includes; Keyless entry, rain sensitive wipers, Automatic HiD Bi-Xenon headlights, cruise control, next generation front airbags, Dual Zone Climate Control, leather interior, 9 speakers with subwoofer (Alpine), Uconnect 8.4” DAB Radio with integrated Bluetooth and integrated voice command with USB.
Safety:
The Cherokee also has a 5-star Euro NCAP safety rating which makes it class leading among the Mid-Size SUV market. My test car was also fitted with the option of the ‘Technology Group’ pack. This pack includes Advanced Brake Assist, Lane Departure Warning Plus, Smartbeam automatic main beam dipping function, Full Speed Forward Collision Warning Plus, Adaptive Cruise Control, as well as Start&Stop, mirror with Blind-Spot Monitoring function, and a rear parallel parking assist system.
To sum up:
The Cherokee is a decent 4X4 with the attraction of its high specification levels and a decent ride that is quiet and refined– I just wish Jeep could give the Cherokee a little bit more ‘soul – then I would be happy to give it 5 stars.
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Price: (from) £41,610 OTR as tested – including fitted options. By Anthony Yates
