Shed of the Week: Jeep Grand Cherokee
All the car you need when 'that big brown chomps on your hopper'
What kinda tippet now? Shed is not a fishist, but apparently tippet is a kind of fishing string. It says here that "the wet knot strength of SuperStrong™ is higher than any other polyester material, meaning when that big brown chomps on your hopper, you can finish the fight without fear of breakage". Few would disagree with the idea that big browns chomping on one's hopper should be dealt with in a firm and decisive manner, and Shed himself dreams of the day when he might finish his 30-year fight with Mrs Shed once and for all.
Back in Shedland, the fear of breakage is something that will never be far from your mind should you decide to blow your big brown grand on this Grand Cherokee Limited Orvis.
What's not so easy to explain is the black paint. Orvi only came in Moss Green or, er, Light Driftwood. Who knows what colour that is, but the word Light suggests it's not a type of black. An Orvis is also meant to have "unique beige-and-green luxury leather seating surfaces with red piping and matching door panel accents". Ulp.
If it is an Orvis, and let's say it is, it might have an electrically operated rear glass, which is actually quite a nice feature if you have dogs or relatives that you're not particularly fond of and an unfortunately jerky throttle foot. Even if the rear window doesn't have power, there's no shortage of electrical assistance for just about everything else in a Grand Cherokee. Nothing you wouldn't expect in a standard supermini these days, but back in the 90s GCs were seen as wonderfully packed with labour-saving electrickery. Well, maybe not wonderfully so much, as Jeep electrics are famed for their flakiness, but certainly extensively.
The one thing this particular Grand Cherokee doesn't have is a 5.9-litre V8 motor. Instead, you get Jeep's lounge-mungous 4.0-litre straight six. Compared to everything else on the Chero this pushrod unit is pretty reliable. It can easily top 200K miles without major attention, as long as some passing attention is paid to it along the way. Failing to match up the tyres nicely will brew up tranny trouble. Busted air-con is dear to mend.
On the positive side, a pre-2000 car like our SOTW won't have the new-and-not-so-improved No-Krak manifold that turned out to be anything but. Rust is definitely a potential issue, but this car looks like it's spent most of its time in a rather posh garage.
Get it out on the road and you might enjoy its pillowy EasyBoy seats, if not so much its FauxWood™ dash panelling and generally vile build quality. You'll enjoy its relatively compact dimensions (compared to a Range Rover). You may even be vaguely impressed by its off-road abilities.
There it is then. As they say, a lot of car for the money. How much car you might want for your money, in tonnage terms, is a question only you can answer.
A really lovely example. Good condition for year and mileage. MOT December 2016. Recently fitted Catalytic converter and new front brake discs and pads. Air conditioning. Heated seats. Automatic. Cruise control. 6CD player.
But I quite like it. I actually love the chintzy interiors of big American cars. The shiny plastics, OTT fake wood, the full complement of instruments, and the big squishy armchairs. Somehow so much more welcoming than the clinical black and aluminium German coal house interiors that we have come to think of as benchmarks nowadays.
I like it. If I had even half a use (or space) for a 4.0 SUV, I'd be very tempted.
t again, you uninformed people never give it a rest do you 
It wouldn't be so bad except you are wrong with every fact and obviously have no clue as to why.
The 4.0 litre is very very smooth, makes 190hp and pulls from nothing, which you only get with larger displacement engines. The low end grunt from 1000-1200rpm is very very good. And much more suited to this type of vehicle, rather than having a revy 2.5 V6 with the same PEAK hp output.
Interestingly the Jeep 4.0 makes more power than the Rover V8 4.0, is smoother and better on fuel too. Jap trucks of this period would likely have had a 3.0 or 3.5 V6 with similar HP, but less torque, less low end grunt and actually no better on fuel either.
It was the sort of thing I imagine Peter Kay would go for.
World of Leather interior, an Amazonian forest-worth of plastic wood, surround sound chirping and creaking noises , wallowing ride combined with massive CRASHING noises from underneath and, despite the heft, sod-all room.
Last seen parked on a drive with a busted gearbox.
t again, you uninformed people never give it a rest do you It wouldn't be so bad except you are wrong with every fact and obviously have no clue as to why.
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