"The Cherokee curb weight ranges from about 3150 lbs. for a 2WD 2-Door with manual transmission to 3371 lbs for a 4WD 4-Door with automatic transmission."

I can only say what is in my '99 owners manual. 2 door, 2wd, 2.5L, is 2900 pounds.

People, This is pathetic, if you like a Diesel, you don't care about clatter, it's a good thing. If you want a quiet Diesel but a duramax, it sound like a small block with a gear drive timing chain. Other wise buy the badest Diesel ever built... a Cummins. :)

Dont go associating me to a pro-lawsuit anybody, and, for that matter, I dont believe that Democrats are any more pro-lawsuit than Republicans.

If you want to blame anybody, you can go all the way back to around the 90's and blame DATELINE NBC, for their biased portrayal of off-roaders.

If you remember correctly, and to my best recollection, DATELINE basically picked some country bumpkin who lifted his truck using hockey pucks for a body lift, and lift blocks stacked in excess of 6 inches, in violation of the laws of the state, and more importantly, contrary to every article ever written by 4x4 journalists on how to safely lift a vehicle (the 4x4 mags stopped endorsing hockey puck body lifts long before the DATELINE show aired), then they filmed Billy-Joe-Jim-Bob driving at night, fish-eye lens to distort and enhance his facial expressions and movements, making him look even more hick, all while telling a story of a woman who was killed or severely injured when the bumper of the similarly and excessively-lifted truck crashed through the window and hit her in the head in a hickmobile truck vs. grannymobile car accident.

This news article, coupled with the whole Suzuki Samuri debacle, and the anti-anything activists in this country is a big factor in why we are dealing with the upcoming changes in the Wrangler, not Pro-Lawsuit Democrat-Mike (which I am not by the way, IDIOT)

Also, dont blame the Democrats. President Clinton was the one who said that special interests are ruining the country, and Americans sue each other too much.

More importantly, dont get mad because I am making a simple observation, and stating a plain fact. If you dont like the situation the way it is, then live within the confines of the current law, or get off your DUFF and do something to change it, like lobbying for lawsuit-limitation caps.

If you actually READ what I wrote, you would see that Jeep is in the position where it HAS to respond to upcoming saftey standards such as enhanced side-impact protection, roll-over prevention, and some type of bumper height compatability, under the upcoming proposed saftey standards.

I dont think it would be a good idea for Daimler/Chrysler/Jeep to lobby for such legislation, as it would probably constitute a conflict of interest, so I guess whiny guys like you have to go and do it. (I personally am for some type of incremental lawsuit-liability cap)

Most importantly, ANY government mandate and saftey standard can be overcome with a litte engineering.

Side impact module---removable door skins
Bumper height compatability, Max. ride height restrictions---adjustable ride height (can you say Toureg?)
New bumper crush zone restrictions-replaceable crush zone modules.

The point is, no one group is responsible for what is going on, but dont blame JEEP, and dont blame MIKE.

Hate to say it bub, but as far as big lawsuits are concerned, Texas is just about the best place in which NOT to find them. It is the only state to have successfully passed a $250k cap on "pain and suffering" (aka - John Edwards paycheck) in malpractice cases. And, therefore, it has become one of the best places to practice medicine and one of the cheapest places to get health insurance. And as for the 12 working Americans commment, I do find it disturbing that so many Americans end up falling under the spell of Edward's pointer finger, but I also acknowledge the good amount of us who don't.

and another thing...

Why dont all of you 'real-jeep' girls take a midol and go get a facial.

Jeep/Chrysler/Daimler are only responding to customer demands and trends.

Ford didn't drop the Bronco because it was unpopular, it was because most customers wanted a 4-door.

Also, if Jeep didn't stay on the cutting edge of saftey standards, nobody would buy their product, not to mention the product liability.

Let's face it, when you roll your jeep, or some idiot hits you and makes you roll your jeep, and you are mangled into a veggie stick with a 12 word vocabulary, You Are Gonna Sue Jeep!!!!!, No matter how much you love Jeep, You Are Gonna Sue Jeep!!!!, Even if you dont want to sue Jeep, Your Insurance Company, who has to pay for some one to wipe your (insert any orfice here) for the rest of your life, Is Going To Sue Jeep!!!

Plus, Jeep has given up enough clues and teasers, and I have Cracked the Code for the long-awaited-7 car 06/07 lineup.

1. Commander
2. Cherokee
3. Liberty
4. Wrangler (SWB and LWB 2-DR)
5. Liberator (LWB 4-DR)
6. Gladiator (2-DR,2 or 4 seat SUT)
7. Scout (2-DR entry level vehicle)

Actually the XJ would have been dumped eventually for it would not meet government crash standards. The Jeep 2500 (Bejing Jeep) is a very nice evolution of the classic Cherokee design, but alas it too would not meet mandated crash standards.

Blah, blah, blah..........
K.I.S.S.>> Keep It Simple Stupid
Learn How To Drive
Sue This....(__0__)
Stop Making Jeeps if they ain't PURE
This site proves TOO many of 'em have been sold........................

I offer my most sincere condolences for the loss of your sister.

My sister burned to death in a GM car that was rear ended at 15 mph. There were 4 witnesses who watched her pound at the windows for 20 seconds as the flames overtook her.

I agree that nuisance lawsuits should be eliminated, but if you think that corporate America cares about people more than profits, go to google and put in "Ivey memo".

Then come back and tell me how lawsuits are single handedly ruining this economy. And while you're at do some more research and you'll realize that liability lawsuits are at their lowest point in 30 years, adjusted for inflation.

Easy there fella. Republican districts are FAR more pro-plaintiff than Democratic ones. Blaming Demmy's may be conveinent, but the Mississippi's, Alabama's and Texas' are the ones producing the huge verdicts. BTW they're all strongly Republican districts.

The bottom line is that for every lawsuit won, there are 12 "hard working Americans" that, AS A GROUP, decide that the manufacturer is liable. Yep, guys just like you.

The noise on a Liberty
D cant be any worse than a 97 4cyl, 3 spd auto trans at 65 MPH. I think that tranny was probably the crappyiest tranny ever made, from ANY automaker. It alone probably made more noise than a
D engine.

The tranny blew at about 130,000 miles, and I had it rebuilt. The funny thing is that the tranny runs better, and is quieter than it was when it came from the factory.

Auto writers are full of themselves anyway, they do think that a Liberty
D should ouy perform, out brake, accelerate, out-lateral, and be quieter
than a 911 turbo, or it wont get their favorable review, S
EW THEIR REVIEW.

I'd pay more attention to reviews from 4x4 mags than auto mags.

Thanks for the correction Rubicontrail. I believe the IIHS crash weight numbers are with the crash test dummy included, so that makes sense. And I guess it pays to sit in the back seat of a Jeep even though I'd rather be driving.

I have owned four XJs over last 14 years. As for noise in the cabin, the reviewer never drove an XJ w/ a 2.5L I-4; at highway speed you can't even have a conversation with someone in the passenger seat.
Anyway, the XJ was a unitized body. The XJ did ok for frontal impact, but impending side-impact tests would require much investment to pass. So DCX decided to take that money and build an entirely new platform. As I said before, my XJ weighs 2900 lbs, the KJ weighs 4000 lbs., thus there is a significant engineering difference.

I have seen and heard the liberty diesel in action and it was quiet. If your looking for perfectly quiet suv buy a honda crv. If youre looking for good gas milege and great offroad performance buy a liberty diesel. I had a kj with a 2.5" lift and 32" tires...it would surprise all the kj haters!!!!! Too bad its off lease, I had to buy a tj!!!! Look out for jeep to expand the diesel line up like vw has.

While not a fan of the KJ (or the XJ), how can one call the KJ a cute ute? It is nearly identical in formula to the Cherokee, with the exception of IFS and some weight. Their are no cute utes that can tack a trail like a KJ (although other Jeeps do it better), offer low range, or that can tow up to 5000 lbs. While the KJ is not in the league of some Jeeps, it is by no means a cute ute.

Diesel in the KJ should allow DCX to study the general publics taste in diesels. While it would rock to see one in TJ, I bet the WK will get one next to compete with the likes of diesel Touregs and the rumored diesel LR3. This should be an easy task given the number of foreign markets the WK will be in and their desire for diesels. Does anyone know if diesel engines used in foreign markets are similar to US ones given the differences in diesel fuels available?

Don't blame the democrats for this. Some one tell me
why the xj couldn't be updated to meet safety
standards. I don't think there is any reason. As pointed
out, the very use of the term "sport-cute" to describe a
jeep is sickening. More so because it is an acurate
description of the kj. No one who drives an XJ is a
moron.

That sounds like an awesome little engine. It is about time they brought an engine like that over to the states. Unfortunately, it is only in a KJ now, which I would NEVER own. Sadly as diesel fan mentions the XJ got dumped because it is not car-like. So they made the KJ which may be better than the Escape and its competition but still WAY more of a soft roader than my XJ or ZJ. The KJ is more of a car than all past Jeeps with exception of the new WK (shakes head). Now if they would only produce the Rubicon Unlimited
D, instead we are stuck with the KJ as the only one in the Jeep line up with a diesel. Bring on the
D Wranglers!

Any opinion from an auto reviewer that uses the term "sport-cute" should not be trusted

2.8L
D inline 4 with 160 HP @ 3800 rpm
and 295 Torque @ 1800 rpm
(beware of the sheep)

XJ Owner: " Wolf in sheeps clothing is still a Sheep" ??? Wouldn't it be a wolf? Now its confirmed, the supposed Jeep whiners that come to this site are morons.

Everytime DCX improves the breed, the old guard are scared.

Too bad its still a KJ. Nothing more than a cute-ute now with a diesel. When will Jeep learn people don't want cute-utes, they want real SUVs. A wolf in sheep's clothes is still a sheep. Too bad the KJ is such a turd, because the diesel sounds like a nice engine. Why couldn't they have just kept the XJ and put the diesel in there.

You forgot the 2006 RESCUE, the cherokee name will not be brought back

It is lawsuit-addicted democrats like this "mike" fella that are single-handidly destroying our economy. Those lawsuits and the trial lawyers that bring them are parasitic leeches on the backs of hard working American people. They've been fighting to get rid of our fast food, any off road vehicle with ground clearance, OB/GYN doctors, etc. etc. How long before this spreads to things like cars that "are too fast and encouraged me to drive fast and that's why I wrecked, so you must give me money"?? We're all going to end up in Civics if we accept this surge of lawsuits.

The Cherokee curb weight ranges from about 3150 lbs. for a 2WD 2-Door with manual transmission to 3371 lbs for a 4WD 4-Door with automatic transmission.

The Cherokee was crashed tested for side-impact and received mixed results. It received only a 3-star rating for the front seat side-impact crash test. It however, received a 5 star rating for the rear seat side-impact test. In fact, every Jeep that has undergone the rear seat side-impact crash has received a 5 star rating. The 2005 Grand Cherokee has not been crash tested yet.

Define what makes the KJ a "sport-cute?" Looks? Possibly, but I like the looks of both the XJ and KJ. However appearance is personal taste so there is no need to argue that point. The KJ definitely looks (only looks) more like a "sport-cute" than the XJ.

Now the only difference that would make the KJ a sport-cute vs the XJ is IFS. We can argue IFS vs SFA offroad all day long and what the needs of most people are, but that just goes in circles. IFS does not make it a sport-cute, even 250 and 2500 trucks have IFS and they are no where near "sport-cutes." Maybe the uni-body makes the KJ a "sport cute" but the XJ, ZJ and WJ all have uni-bodies, plus you can even argue the unibody in the KJ is stronger than all the above uni-bodies. So the only thing that makes it a "sport-cute" is its appearance. Appearance is subjective and one should not judge a truck by its appearance alone.

Now for the weight of the XJ, last numbers I've seen where 3479, not 2900. Those are the numbers as reported by the IIHS, for a 6 cylinder, 4wd, 4 door. A 2wd, 4cylinder would be lighter, but not sure about 2900.

Waiting with baited breath for the final shoe to fall.......now that "sport-cute" has been cued by some light-in-the-loafers "auto" ? journalist; the '05 Grand Cherokee has made it past every safety and styling zealot at DCX..(who'd ever think that a soccer/security mom is head designer at Jeep now)...and the soon to be TJ Wrangler replacement is now being hatched....(talk about UGLY duckling...)...all that's left is for MIKE to change the name of HIS site to:


Mike's Totally Free Remember Jeep? News...

'cus once '06/'07's are here...It's gone baby.....HISTORY...No More Jeep...Writing is on the wall.

Obviously a case of too much funding for governmental regulation departments. A good reminder that if we want to keep "Jeep", then we want to keep as much money as possible away from the NHTSA, which means that we need to be voting Republican as much as possible. Can't complain about no XJ if you're voting Democrat.

"A wolf is sheeps clothing is still a sheep"??????????

OK, must be a cross dresser, a man in womens clothing is still a women, LOL..........

I saw a live review on our local news channel about a month ago. The guy bashed the liberty diesel and said it was not worth the extra expense and talked about the added noise and to wait until a more refined diesel engine is put into the liberty or just buy the gas version as the MPG was not enough of a difference to matter......

Anyone know the specs on this engine?

It's unfortunate that the reviewer, and so many other reviewers, lack the acumen to comprehend, or acknowledge, the differences between an automobile and that of a compromise vehicle (SUV). Actually, the XJ was provided with the VM diesel in Europe and other parts of the world. It was not provided here for exactly the reason the reviewer indicated ... it isn't "carlike" enough. So, as long as we have inept reviewers and individuals who insist that an SUV must be also be a car, then we will continue to suffer the consequences of more limited offerings. Note that in Europe, the Liberty is offered with both manual and automatic transmission with 2.5 and 2.8 diesel engines. The 2.5 with manual transmission is getting better than 30 mpg. But, for now, I sincerely hope the diesel catches on and DC will offer the new six speed manual with the diesel in the Wrangler and other models.