We've had our long term Jeep Cherokee for an entire year. Here's what it has been through.
Transcript[CAR STARTING]
ADAM MORATH: Hey, everyone. This is Adam Morales with our new editor-in-chief Mike Austin--
MIKE AUSTIN: Hi.
ADAM MORATH: --and we are in the 2014 Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk which is on long term loan to Autoblog from the automaker.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
ADAM MORATH: You've kind of jumped in this car sort of midway through its time with us.
MIKE AUSTIN: Yeah. I've been in it a few times. And I have a 50 mile commute so I get-- I get plenty of time that I get to play with the gadgets.
ADAM MORATH: This Cherokee Trailhawk that we're in is really fully loaded. You've got the lane keep warning. You've got the smart cruise, collision avoidance. And what I found interesting is, depending on who was driving it before, the systems are either turned on or off.
MIKE AUSTIN: I have a highway commute so I'm not looking for any frills. And I want to know how these things work from one car to another, so I always turn them all the way on. And, like, the lane departure in this is not so sensitive that it's an annoyance.
ADAM MORATH: This is really one of the first, kind of, mass market vehicles I got in that made me realize how close we are on some of these autonomous technologies.
MIKE AUSTIN: You know, with the electric power steering, when it does the lane keeping, it's actually moving the wheel. It's not-- it's not like hauling on a brake or-- it's making-- it's physically moving the wheel to a direction, which is really crazy if you're not used to that.
Autonomous cars are coming. We're not just going to magically have an autonomous car. It's going to go bit by bit. And cars like this show us that it really is here. You can drive for hours on the highway without putting a foot on the brake or gas.
ADAM MORATH: All right, Mike. I've been kind of hogging the driver's seat here. You want to take a turn?
MIKE AUSTIN: Yeah, my hands are cold. I need to get on the heated steering wheel.
ADAM MORATH: Cool.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
ADAM MORATH: Pretty much anything we post on the Cherokee just ends up being this whole war in the comments over the styling, and I've kind of flip flopped on it. Initially I was disappointed when I saw it, just because I was so in love with the old Cherokee. I love to see more reference to that in the vehicle.
But the Jeep designers talked about, you know, if they want to be a responsible company and Jeep's all about the outdoors, they have to make fuel efficient vehicles. And, you know, this is a very modern vehicle designed in that way. And you can see it with the LED daytime running lights and everything about the shape of it. But, kind of, where do you fall?
MIKE AUSTIN: When I first saw this, I was-- I thought, you know, wait, this is going to work. I think it's going to win people over. It won me over. But I just like it because it's different. Everyone-- I don't want all these generic jelly bean midsize SUVs that everyone's driving, so I was, you know-- at first I was like, even if it's ugly I don't care because it's different. I think the Trailhawk trim goes a long way to improving the looks.
ADAM MORATH: Oh, for sure. And looking at this as a whole, my takeaway is this is one of the most high tech jeeps that you can get into. Especially if you're able to afford all the upgrades for all the driver assist technologies, the nicer, larger Uconnect screen. And in terms of the styling and of it being kind of forward looking as well, it's a really high tech, big step for Jeep.
MIKE AUSTIN: Yeah, so this Jeep is one of the few cars on the market that has parallel parking and perpendicular parking automatically. It's called Active ParkSense here. So you just push the button--
ADAM MORATH: Yeah
MIKE AUSTIN: --and it starts looking for a spot. So we're going by.
[DING]
ADAM MORATH: Oh.
MIKE AUSTIN: All right, so it says, space found. Remove hands from the wheel. Shift to reverse.
[BEEPING]
ADAM MORATH: And you've got the screen here that's showing you the rear view.
MIKE AUSTIN: Yeah, and I'm just, like, you easing on the brake.
ADAM MORATH: Yeah.
MIKE AUSTIN: You put in a little gas if-- if it needs to move more. And then this is my favorite part, when it just madly spins the wheel.
ADAM MORATH: Nice.
MIKE AUSTIN: Well that's in one move.
ADAM MORATH: Yeah, yeah that's pretty good.
MIKE AUSTIN: Yeah. I already know how to parallel park. I've done that. I have-- I have my little merit badge, so I'm-- I'm ready to let someone else do it if it's a case where it's going to be better or easier.
ADAM MORATH: Cool. All right, well thanks for watching and check back on Autoblog for more updates on our long term 2014 Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[CAR STARTING]
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