Faults:

There is a rattling in the trunk area that increases in speed when at higher speeds. I still have no clue what it is, it may not even be defect.

The factory stereo system was nothing too special, but I installed an indash CD player and the sound quality improved exponentially.

General Comments:

I was expecting to be let down because I have been dreaming about getting a Cherokee for years and thought that the truck could never live up to my expectations. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it not only met my expectations, it exceeded them greatly.

There is nothing that this truck cannot do. It handles like a dream in snow and I have yet to meet a Washington DC pothole that it cannot take with ease.

The engine is worth it's weight in Big-Macs. I had five people (including myself) in the car and a load of camping gear and I couldn't even feel it on the hills.

The only drawback is that the 4.0L engine takes a lot to keep it going, this truck drinks like a Russian sailor, especially in four wheel drive.

Long story short: I pay more for gas than I ever though possible, but I wouldn't sell her for anything.

Faults:

We bought this, our 2nd Jeep Cherokee August 2002, it has only been 1 year and there are so many issues.

Main oil seal leak, fixed under warranty. There was nothing visually leaking, but the leak was confirmed by the dealer. After a week of driving a rental car I picked up my lemon and had to again return with two new problems! Not only had the oil seal gone bad it was now pouring onto the ground. There was also a very loud noise whenever you accelerated. So back to the shop for another 5 days.

Problem numbers 2 and 3 were "noises" and of course those noises don't make themselves known when we are at the dealer. So back and forth to the dealer until the heat of the summer helped to uncover them.

Noise #1 is an "errrrr" squeal when you turn the wheel to the left. This had been occurring occasionally since the first month, and had gotten worse. Service tells me they've seen this problem on the Grands and it has to do with the differential. Huh? This noise is coming from the steering!

Noise #2 is that wheel screeching, like when someone peels out onto slick pavement at a high speed. The problem is this happens when making a turn at a low speed (5mph). Especially in the summer. The hotter the day, the louder and the more it squeals.

So service decides, "Heck, we'll just replace the steering column". Even though this is just a guess of a solution. Well it's cold and fall time and lets just say I won't know if this was the solution until next summer.

It doesn't end there! After the steering column is replaced, I notice immediately my turn signals are not clicking off. Then the whole steering wheel is moving up and down. Mind you this has tilt steering, but it isn't locking into place! We have a 2 year old riding in this our only vehicle, is this safe???

PLUS there seems to be a problem with tire wear. We are repeatedly told "You don't need an alignment". The weather here in Washington turns wet and I'm hydroplaning! The tires were that bad, from uneven wear.

I'm hoping nothing else goes wrong as our 3 year warranty is up, and I will just scream.

General Comments:

We bought this Cherokee for a second time since we liked the body style so well.

Tell me though, why-oh-why do people buy newer cars?

Not to drop boat loads of money in repairs into them!

Our warranty was up in September 2003, and I truly believe the vehicles that have repeated problem should be extended free of charge!

Why should I have to spend out of pocket for a bad model year? I wasn't the one who manufatured this piece of crap! I only bought into the idea of a nice, reliable, vehicle with a "quality" name.

Our first Jeep Cherokee (1998) had problems as well. We bought it 2 years old, with 18,000 miles. We noticed a leak, turned out to be a transmission pan. At that time we were also told they were going to replace the airbags since there was a recall for failure to work properly. Less than 2 weeks later we rolled this Jeep and totaled it. (Over corrected a turn on a rocky forest service road) Luckily we only had it a couple months and weren't out much $$$.