Bob Cooke – contributor
I’m impressed. Not just at how much a few inches of extra ground clearance has improved the Cherokee’s performance over tortuous terrain, but at how well the Goodyear Wrangler Duratrac tyres coped with the deep, churned-up mud of the Avon Dassett off-road site. We’d just watched a selection of off-roaders including a Discovery and a Toyota Surf slithering and crashing their way up one deeply rutted track, showering mud and slush in their wake, seemingly relying on sheer momentum to overcome the lack of traction. My first thought was not to try that route, but having looked around at the alternative ways out of the mud hole we’d ended up in, only to see yet deeper, thicker mudbaths, it became obvious that the uphill track would be the most sensible option. However, because I’m still worried about the possibility of knocking the Cherokee’s dodgy-looking exhaust off, I certainly wasn’t going to take it at speed.
The first impressive aspect was the way the Cherokee eased its way up out of the mud hole virtually on tick over, allowing me to steer neatly into the ruts of the track. Even where the flailing tyres of the other cars had polished the ruts slippery smooth the Duratracs kept the Jeep plodding steadily up the slope.
SPEC
Make: Jeep Cherokee
Model: 4.0 Limited
Mileage: 68,785
MPG: 19.8
Recent costs: Replacement springs £87 each, brake pads £23
Arrived: July 2011
You can read more about this Jeep in the January 2013 issue of 4×4 Magazine – available here
