For all that, we're still inclined to think of the Cherokee as one of
the better SUV buys going, particularly with the 190-horsepower six-cylinder
engine. It's brisk on the street--with a five-speed manual transmission,
it's one of the very few sport-utilities capable of reaching 60 mph in
less than eight seconds--and it's thoroughly capable when the pavement
ends.
No surprise there. It is, after all, a Jeep. However, a look at the
window sticker for our tester, a '97 Cherokee Sport four-door, made us
realize that the value factor erodes quickly if you're not cautious when
you start checking the option boxes.
Our Cherokee Sport tester weighed in at $27,000-plus, which is a little
more than we had in mind. Next Page