After a few days of ownership I thought I should post an update on my wife’s White Limited Active Drive II Cherokee with blue brown interior.
Its just really nice, of course what I’m comparing it to is my 2012 Compass FDII, but they aren’t really in the same league.
This Cherokee has every options with the exception of the wireless charging pad.
You can see my review after the initial test drive here.
We have had some snow lately here along with some icey roads, which made for a good opportunity to test out the Active Drive 2 system.
Overall if you are just driving normally and accelerating at a normal rate it is very difficult to tell when the Cherokee is slipping it is VERY composed on slippery roads, it’s honestly like the roads are dry and normal, it just feels very planted.
In auto mode at extremely slippery intersections, there is maybe a split second of spin from the front tires before the rear kicks in and you take off. You really only notice this if you give it lots of throttle and try to spin the tires, the transition though is very smooth.
In Snow mode no slipping detecting at all, it does start in second gear, if you really try to get the tires to spin the traction control is very aggressive at preventing wheel spin, but it doesn’t prevent you from going anywhere.
Sport mode is pretty fun on icey roads you get some spinning and allows you to drift a bit if you chose, due to the less aggressive traction control programming.
Sand/mud mode feels like everything is locked in 4x4 no slipping at all while taking off from a start, but if you try hard enough all 4 wheels spin at the exact same time. It also seems to hold gears longer almost like sport mode.
We did have a chance to go somewhat off road and try to climb a snowy hill and up onto a ridge. Tried out 4 low in sand mud mode. 4 Low engages very quickly, maybe 1.5 seconds and throttle response is MUCH more pronounced, jeep feels pretty jumpy in this mode, probably due to the low crawl ratio.
Since the Active Drive 2 Lacks the rear locker, the Brake Lock differential Programming works great. Anytime the wheels on one axle spun, the BLD would kick in and cause the other wheel to get spinning at the same speed. Allowed us to crawl up the ridge where an open differential unit would fail. It was at night so I didn’t have any videos, but I will be making videos comparing the different 4x4 modes.
I run winter tires on my Jeep and haven’t decided what route I’m going to go with the Cherokee. I”d like some trailhawk rims at somepoint. The continental Procontact Tx tires that came on it are quite good in the snow, obviously not as good as a dedicated winter tire but they have impressed me so far even in the realy slippery intersections.
The lane departure works very well as does the parking assist haven’t had any problems there. One interesting thing I tried out was set the cruise and had the lane departure on. While going around a long sweeping corner I could actually take my hands completely off the steering wheel and it drove itself around the corner, in fact it basically will drive itself down the road providing the lines are visible. Keep in mind I was just playing around and would not ever recommend someone relying on this, but it was rather entertaining.
The HID lights are very nice on the highway at night, they are pure white with no blue tint whatsoever. I have found the foglights to be very weak and you can barely even tell they are on as the HID’s drown them out.
Overall I think this is a great vehicle for my wife, she traded in a 2011 Chevy Cruze, and immediately said how driving this jeep around it is less effort in the winter weather. It just goes and stops and does everything easier according to her. She does a lot of highway driving in the winter and I will feel way better with her in this vehicle vs a car now.
Here are some pictures (the interior pictures show the blue very pronounced its probably just from the flash, it isn’t that blue in person.)
Its just really nice, of course what I’m comparing it to is my 2012 Compass FDII, but they aren’t really in the same league.
This Cherokee has every options with the exception of the wireless charging pad.
You can see my review after the initial test drive here.
We have had some snow lately here along with some icey roads, which made for a good opportunity to test out the Active Drive 2 system.
Overall if you are just driving normally and accelerating at a normal rate it is very difficult to tell when the Cherokee is slipping it is VERY composed on slippery roads, it’s honestly like the roads are dry and normal, it just feels very planted.
In auto mode at extremely slippery intersections, there is maybe a split second of spin from the front tires before the rear kicks in and you take off. You really only notice this if you give it lots of throttle and try to spin the tires, the transition though is very smooth.
In Snow mode no slipping detecting at all, it does start in second gear, if you really try to get the tires to spin the traction control is very aggressive at preventing wheel spin, but it doesn’t prevent you from going anywhere.
Sport mode is pretty fun on icey roads you get some spinning and allows you to drift a bit if you chose, due to the less aggressive traction control programming.
Sand/mud mode feels like everything is locked in 4x4 no slipping at all while taking off from a start, but if you try hard enough all 4 wheels spin at the exact same time. It also seems to hold gears longer almost like sport mode.
We did have a chance to go somewhat off road and try to climb a snowy hill and up onto a ridge. Tried out 4 low in sand mud mode. 4 Low engages very quickly, maybe 1.5 seconds and throttle response is MUCH more pronounced, jeep feels pretty jumpy in this mode, probably due to the low crawl ratio.
Since the Active Drive 2 Lacks the rear locker, the Brake Lock differential Programming works great. Anytime the wheels on one axle spun, the BLD would kick in and cause the other wheel to get spinning at the same speed. Allowed us to crawl up the ridge where an open differential unit would fail. It was at night so I didn’t have any videos, but I will be making videos comparing the different 4x4 modes.
I run winter tires on my Jeep and haven’t decided what route I’m going to go with the Cherokee. I”d like some trailhawk rims at somepoint. The continental Procontact Tx tires that came on it are quite good in the snow, obviously not as good as a dedicated winter tire but they have impressed me so far even in the realy slippery intersections.
The lane departure works very well as does the parking assist haven’t had any problems there. One interesting thing I tried out was set the cruise and had the lane departure on. While going around a long sweeping corner I could actually take my hands completely off the steering wheel and it drove itself around the corner, in fact it basically will drive itself down the road providing the lines are visible. Keep in mind I was just playing around and would not ever recommend someone relying on this, but it was rather entertaining.
The HID lights are very nice on the highway at night, they are pure white with no blue tint whatsoever. I have found the foglights to be very weak and you can barely even tell they are on as the HID’s drown them out.
Overall I think this is a great vehicle for my wife, she traded in a 2011 Chevy Cruze, and immediately said how driving this jeep around it is less effort in the winter weather. It just goes and stops and does everything easier according to her. She does a lot of highway driving in the winter and I will feel way better with her in this vehicle vs a car now.
Here are some pictures (the interior pictures show the blue very pronounced its probably just from the flash, it isn’t that blue in person.)