The loaner - 2020 cherokee

Clubbs

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 15, 2008
Location
Blounts Creek
My ram is in the shop for the abs light warranty thing and I've been in this Jeep Cherokee loaner for a couple days. Way dissapointed with the fiat engineering. Not only is it nowhere near what the old Cherokees where from utility and capability but the whole integration is poorly done.

The thing has a 9 speed trans based on the manumatic gear indicator on the dash. I expected a cvt trans, but it has clear shift points. Anyway it can't hold 65mph on flat ground in 9nth gear, struggles in 8th. Maybe if it wound out to 140 mph it could use 8th or 9th, but it doesn't feel like it could get there. Is fiat imagining someone drafting a real truck down the autobahn at 130 and that's why they added the high gears? Just seems like a very poor useless design of a vehicle.

Ok, I feel better now
 
seems like most manufacturers go with highway gears in the differential, and use the steep 1st and 2nd gear of these 8+ gear transmission to get the vehicle moving....but rarely have the torque to keep the vehicle locked in the double overdrives.

My ram with 8 speed had 3.92 gears and would hold 8th gear above 55~60mph, those with 3.23 would say the same truck was constantly shifting in and out of 8th.

Blame off the shelf engineering, many of the designers are constrained by specific rpm at specific road speeds, all while using an off the shelf transmission (i.e. no ability to specify gear spacing or ratios).

If you want to talk crap fiat engineering, go for a ride in a renegade....what really got me was how the design team vomited the 7 bar jeep grill on everything! Seemed odd for a fwd rig!
 
Yup drove a renegade last months while truck was in the dealer for the same problem.

Not that my old 80's vintage amc's and mopars are perfect but it seems they at least had more thorough engineering collaboration on a project - all the pieces seemed to belong together.

And they pulled it off back then with hardly any computational benefits of cad back then. Bunch of greenhorn button pushers - get out of school, go to work, put a screen in everything with tip top user interface then order all the drivetrain from Amazon arrange the 3d models into a Kia looking blob and send it to tooling - huge success!
 
That's true. Jeep used to not be a "me too" brand though. The various "wrangler" platforms generally holds true to the more capable wheeler mentality, but everything else they produce targets the kia/Hyundai/ Honda crowd. Why even bother if your engineering what is already available in mass numbers then stamp your brand ID on a product that largely counters the dna of the brand and waters down the overall appeal.

I've wasted enough brain cells trying to understand what fiat is doing to an American icon that they clearly under estimated the potential in targeting the adventurous side of the buying public. We all know the vast majority of jk's sold never see dirt, they cost a fortune and are one of the best selling lines in the fiat lineup. So why not expand on that to other models instead of building a santafe knock off.
 
Clubbs said:
That's true. Jeep used to not be a "me too" brand though. The various "wrangler" platforms generally holds true to the more capable wheeler mentality, but everything else they produce targets the kia/Hyundai/ Honda crowd. Why even bother if your engineering what is already available in mass numbers then stamp your brand ID on a product that largely counters the dna of the brand and waters down the overall appeal.

I've wasted enough brain cells trying to understand what fiat is doing to an American icon that they clearly under estimated the potential in targeting the adventurous side of the buying public. We all know the vast majority of jk's sold never see dirt, they cost a fortune and are one of the best selling lines in the fiat lineup. So why not expand on that to other models instead of building a santafe knock off.
Click to expand...

While I mostly agree with what you're saying, and the Cherokee is a travesty only because they used a revered nameplate on it, Fiat hasn't really changed the direction of Jeep all that much from the Daimler Days... Remember it was under that leadership that we got things like the original Liberty and the original Compass... If you look at the entire Jeep Line right now, you'll find that in the particular segment each vehicle lives in, the Trailhawk versions are the most capable off-roaders in that class of vehicle, Even the aforementioned Cherokee, and the bottom line Renegades, Compasses and Cherokees helps keep the Jeep coffers filled through rental fleets.
 
ManglerYJ said:
9 speed automatic transmission is way better than a 4 speed automatic. Because it's got more.

Click to expand...

I bet I reference that scene at least once a week. :D
 
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