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Ok, yeah! Now that's what I was talking about! Anyone know the weight distribution? I could see front drive being an advantage if it's a little nose heavy.
I'm new to this forum and I'm an owner of a 2015 jeep Cherokee KL trailhawk. Personally I love all different types of vehicles and I'm not biased towards any particular make or model. Another vehicle I own as a project is a 2004 dodge srt4 with a big turbo setup, I cant wait till its done
Now onto the trailhawk.. I can understand why people aren't fans of it. The biggest reasons I see are the looks, and the fact that it cant do what a jacked up old Cherokee can do with 35" tires and bla bla blahhh..
Here is why I bought it in the first place. At the time I owned a 2006 jetta tdi and a 96 jeep tj with a 4.0 and 35" tires + lift. My jetta sucked for winter driving and my jeep tj had horrible gas mileage and sucked in winter driving. (I'm up in Canada where it regularly gets blow -30 degrees Celcius.) It seemed logical to get rid of both of those vehicles and find something that could do everything quite well. And that's what the trailhawk does. It delivers decent fuel economy (25-28mpg), can offroad quite well for what it is, and is extremely comfortable / has a very nice interior. I think of it as a swiss army knife more or less. After owning it the more I looked at it the more I admire how they styled it.
Heres the things I don't like.. With the 3.2L v6 the auto start/stop feature is a huge pain. I don't like it at all. And you cant permanently turn it off. I'm hoping someone comes out with a tuner that will disable it. I live in a small city where 4 way stops are everywhere. It will sometimes shut off for a split second only to restart again.
The transmission takes some getting used to. At first it was a bit clunky but it now operates a lot smoother. I never had any issues (engine lights etc) and it seems to run smooth now at 24,000km.
Sometimes the proximity sensors go off when a vehicle is crossing my path when reversing and it wont stop beeping.. I have to park the vehicle, shut it off, and wait up to 5 min for it to clear. Ive taken it to the dealer and they changed an ECM but it didn't fix the problem. This is also kind of annoying.
Overall would I buy one again knowing what I know now? Probably
Don't brake so hard and it won't engage, if you have a gentler touch when you come to a complete stop it won't engage. Butif it's really that big of a deal there is a switch under the hood you can disconnect that disables it.
I had a little vacation in Europe just a couple of years ago and a lot of the cars there already had that auto start/stop "feature" . Not a fan. I don't trust systems like that to be reliable in the long run and everything requires maintenance, more features means more maintenance, and complexity.I'm struggling to not become a curmudgeon. I can even have fun in front wheel drive. But starting and stopping the engine at every stop sign seems to be of questionable value when weighing the value of a little bit of fuel savings versus mechanical complexity and durability. I cannot imagine any kind of serious off-road vehicle with auto start/stop. Somebody please verify what Wendland99 said. Is it really that simple and does the vehicle function properly?
I don't go rock crawling, I can't afford to risk my ride, and that's why it's bone stock. But when the going gets a little rough, she never misses a beat. I doubt if I ever have even used fifty percent of it's capability, but my wife still feels comfortable driving it.
Not sure which part you want verified. Gentle touch on brakes at full stop won't engage or how to disable? Well I found the fb post (all thanks to Anthony Latino) on the Cherokee Trailhawk group so not sure if you can see it, but it's: fb://photo/?id=1185649438184493&set=gm.1891833034382171
That was exactly what I was asking. I will say, I like that it is easily reversible but I can't help wondering why. It sounds like a bit of a bassackwards workaround. Why would an open hood create a need to bypass A.S.S. (Like my new acronym?)? And I'm also mystified by the gentle touch thing but I'm learning to not need to know everything. Anyway, thanks for clearing that up.
Yeah, I knew about the whole gently pressing on the brake when coming to a stop will cause the auto shut down not to occur. There must be a pressure sensor or something in the brake system that allows the auto shut down to happen. If you get good with it you can stop every time without having it shut down. Its stupid that it doesn't shut down permanently in my opinion.
On a side note I planted the hawk in snow that was up to the doors and i didn't get stuck! The things a beast for being a grocery getter :P
Had mine for a year and a half now. Love the car. Love the looks. Love the winter handling. Only have the OEM tires on it and it's all I have ever needed. The best handling car on snow and ice I have ever owned. Only had one small glitch with the tranny and it never has returned. Went to pass on my maiden voyage, pulled out, matted it and a car came over the hill. Pulled back in and it was stuck in 3rd(?). Stopped, parked and drove off with it still in 3rd. Stopped again and shut it off and fiddled under the hood for a bit and apparently it reset itself. Took off and all was good. Never happened again. On the tranny note the 9th gear is a total waste. Has clicked in and out of ninth on the freeway only a couple of times in its life and it has never stayed in 9th. Even at 140 kph.
he fuel cap release button is a bit of a PITA and I have to look for it with the door open when fuelling. Not enough to make a video about it tho. And the stop/start is another PITA and I have to keep reminding myself to hit the button at startup. I am going to try that hood disconnect but don't know if I want to have a dash light glaring at me.
Now that we are into sub freezing temps and lots of snow I sure do love the auto start from my kitchen and getting into a car with a nice warm seat and steering wheel.
I own both. My xj is moderately built on 32's with a 4.5" lift and the kl is stock. For off road (deep snow and rocks) I will take the xj. As for the kl I love it. It's ugly but grows on you. As for the important facts it is an amazing daily driver. Great mpg, comfy, excellent handling, gets up and goes (v6), and extremely capable. I have taken it through over 2' of the wettest nastiest snow the pac nw can throw at it. I've driven it at 60mph on some of the nastiest ice covered roads and passes you can imagine with out so much as tire slipping. I can also corner and stop at a reasonable distance in those conditions. This thing has the factory firestone destination at's on it! Since I bought it I have said it was made for the person who can't or is scared to drive in weather. That is both a blessing and curse. I like to play and drive hard. The only time I can have fun spinning tires and sliding around is on solid ice with the traction control fully off and my foot on the skinny pedal. Though it is different I think jeep did a good job and stuck to their roots. It was never designed to be a xj replacement. It was meant to be a tribute to the Cherokee name.
Heading out this weekend for a bit of fun in the desert mountains by Superior.
Meeting a friend of mine with his XJ... with some recent mods (including a rear locker)
And me in my KL with a 1.5" lift and my new rock sliders.
I've got to get some better tires though! My wallet just doesn't agree with my weekend adventures.
12-28-2016, 10:04 AM
Burn!!!