Of course, there are all kinds of automobiles to see at the Auto Show, but there’s also swag to be collected. I have a small library of automotive literature, so of course, I snatched up lots of model brochures. I got a USB plug for my car from the State Farm booth, and some other stuff. To carry all this around, one needs a tote, and it’s foolish to bring one with you from home when there are so many to be had for free at the auto show. I like to use these to haul around tools and groceries, so I grabbed one from every car manufacturer that had them to offer.
Hands down, the best tote bag to be had at the auto show was the Jeep bag. Made of a canvas like material that I’m sure is completely synthetic, with sturdy handles and extra pockets, the Jeep bag was even in my favorite color; green! It was also the hardest bag to get, because you couldn’t just walk right up and grab one. The only way to get the Jeep bag was to wait in line and go on a ride through the Jeep jungle gym course, consisting of some steep inclines and declines, some bumpy terrain, and a ramp that nearly rolls the Jeep. That sounded just fine to me. I’ve taken an interest in the new Jeep Cherokee and wanted to go for a ride in one, anyway. I waited in line, and when it was my turn to go, a Jeep Grand Cherokee pulled up to pick me up. I asked if I could hold back until there was a Cherokee available and let the people behind me in line go ahead. My ride pulled up, and the people at the Jeep booth assumed that I was with the guy and little boy that were now behind me in line, in spite of the fact that I had just previously been separate from them in line, and even though we tried to explain that we were not a couple. They didn’t seem to understand, and so, my not really baby daddy and our five or six year old son for the moment and I piled into the Cherokee. I got to ride shotgun because the little kid was too small for front seat riding, and it would have been weird to ride in the back seat with some stranger’s child while the dad rode up front, even if the Jeep people did think we were a family.
Granted, I didn’t get to drive the Jeep myself, though I’m definitely contemplating stopping by a dealership to test drive one now. Going for a ride was lovely with such a fun course for the Cherokee to romp on. All the Jeeps on the course were “Trail Rated”, which means they are capable of doing all kinds of crazy stuff that their drivers will likely never need to do. Still, if I was going to buy a Cherokee, I’d get the TrailHawk version after this little demonstration.
The Jeep Cherokee has a special place in my heart, because after I totaled my Bronco (see post from about a month ago about glare ice) many years ago, I purchased a used 2 door limited edition Cherokee in black with gold trim (it was a 1988 model, and that color scheme was considered cool at the time the car was made). I loved that Jeep. The black with gold rims, gold pinstripe, and gold badging was something I actually liked because it reminded me of the Trans Am that my neighbor boy’s mom had when I was in elementary school, which was pretty much identical to Burt Reynold’s car in Smokey and the Bandit.
That Jeep got wrecked years ago while I was visiting campuses for graduate school, and I still miss it to this day. It was loaded up with every available option, and was a fantastic little rig that took me on many an adventure. So, because Jeep won the Auto Show tote bag challenge, and because of my fondness for my old Cherokee, for today’s post we’re going to compare my 1988 Jeep Cherokee to a brand new 2014 Jeep Cherokee TrailHawk.
The 2014 Jeep Cherokee is not available in a 2 door configuration, so it’s not a totally fair comparison, but whatever, I’m sure you’ll get over it .
Let’s start in 1988. Back then, a brand new Limited edition Jeep Cherokee 2 door model had a starting MSRP of $22,260 from what I’ve been able to dig up, and a 4 door version of the vehicle cost about $1,000 more. A totally stripped down Cherokee 2 door with 2WD and no options had a starting MSRP of $11,371 in 1988. We’re not even going to bother with that, though. So, back to our Cherokee Limited 2 door 4x4 with selec-trac: What did a buyer in 1988 get for their $22,000+ dollars? A loaded up Jeep with leather seats and some nice goodies for the time is what.
In 1988, the top of the line offering in factory stereos was a cassette deck, though by the time I acquired my Cherokee, it was well into the 1990’s and I outfitted it with a Pioneer CD deck. A sunroof wasn’t an option, but mine had an aftermarket one, though I don’t really care about sunroofs, so it didn’t matter that much to me. My Jeep did have power front seats, both for the driver and passenger, and they were leather, though heated seats were not available at the time. Under the hood was a 4.0L inline 6 cylinder engine good for 177HP and 224 lb-ft of torque that was mated to a 4 speed automatic transmission. Selec-trac was the top of the line for 4x4 options among Cherokees of 1988, and mine had it. Selec-trac offered full and part time 4x4 options as well as a low range and a 2WD option. The other 4x4 offering that could be had on a Jeep was known as Command-trac and had a part time 4x4 option and low range with 2wd option as well.
My experience with the Cherokee I had was great by and large, though I did have to replace a wiring harness that melted itself together and nearly started a car fire during the time I owned it. Aside from that, It was a great little rig, and I regularly achieved mid 20’s for fuel economy.
A base 2014 Jeep Cherokee has a starting MSRP of $22,999, so not too far off from the cost of a loaded up 2 door Cherokee back in 1988 if you don’t adjust for inflation. Of course, we’re talking about loaded up models here, and the most loaded Cherokee you can get just so happens to be the model I’m interested in -the TrailHawk, which has a base MSRP of $29,495, or $2,000 more than the base MSRP of a Limited 2014 Cherokee.
The Trailhawk package includes premium seating surfaces -though by premium, they mean cloth with an option for leather, a hood decal, the Jeep active driver 4X4 system with rear axle lock, trail rated capability, off road suspension with a 1” lift, skid plates, 17” aluminum rims, full sized spare tire, tow hooks, and off road front and rear fascias, which cut back and down toward the wheel wells from the most protruded part of the grille to keep from snagging on stuff while ramping up or down inclines and declines. Under the hood of the Trailhawk is a 3.2L V6 Pentastar engine with 271 HP and 239 lb-ft of torque paired with a 9 speed automatic transmission… 9 speeds! that’s more than twice as many gears as my 1988 Cherokee had. Supposedly, this set up will pull down 28 MPG on the highway. The guy who was behind the wheel of the Cherokee I rode in said that in order to get the Cherokee to 9th gear while auto-sticking the transmission (it has that option!) you have to be going about 85MPH or faster.
The base engine option for the Cherokee is a 2.4L inline 4 cylinder Tigershark engine that makes 184HP and 171 lb-ft of torque, which still beats out my 1988 Cherokee’s specs for HP, but not torque.
I visited the Jeep website and built my own Cherokee TrailHawk in the same color as the one I rode in, “Anvil clear coat” gray. Because it’s a hypothetical vehicle, and I’m playing with hypothetical dollars, I added every option I thought I might find even remotely useful or nice. Here’s what I piled on:
$795 for the stereo with navigation upgrade
$395 for 9 amplified speakers with subwoofers (I like to get nice factory installed stereo stuff because it’s less likely to get stolen than aftermarket stuff)
$495 for the trailer towing package (which I would spring for even if I was buying this without hypothetical money)
$795 for the Cold Weather group which includes heated mirrors, seats, steering wheel, and a windshield wiper de-icer (a must here in Minnesota).
$1,895 for the comfort/convenience package, though because I already had a bunch of other stuff that partially seeps into that, it rang up at $1,695.
$1,295 for leather seats (much easier to clean off dog hair than cloth)
$2,195 for the Technology group which has adaptive cruise control, advance brake assist, auto headlights, blindspot and cross path detection, exterior mirrors with turn signals and courtesy lights, forward collision warning and crash mitigation, lane departure warning, parallel parking assist, rain sensing wipers, and the only thing I really wanted from all this stuff: a backup camera. I’m sure it’s nice to have that other stuff, too, and with hypothetical dollars, why not take it all. Grand total on the Cherokee TrailHawk I built was $37,405.
How does that stack up against my 1988 Cherokee? Let’s see.
Using an inflation converter I found online (can’t vouch for its accuracy or what formula it uses to make the conversion, so take this for whatever you think it’s worth), the $22,260 that a brand new 2 door Limited 4x4 Cherokee cost in 1988 would amount to $43,992 in 2013 dollars. So, going by that, the 2014 Cherokee TrailHawk I built is a bargain compared to what my 2 door limited cost in 1988... By about $6,587 in 2013 money, or $3,333 in 1988 dollars. Almost makes you feel like rushing out to buy one. However, the base price of a very basic 2014 Cherokee, clocking in at $22,999 in 2013 dollars would amount to $11,637 in 1988 dollars, which would get you a base model Cherokee back then with a few hundred dollars to spare, which is a much closer match up.
So far, I give a nod of approval to the new Cherokee, though that nod is based on an assessment from the passenger seat, and not from a place behind the wheel. We might have to revisit this if I find the time to take one out for a spin.
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