Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk 2016 Review

Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk
Road Test

It's hard not to be a fan of "proper" compact all-wheel drives.

Scoff, if you will, at Suzuki's mighty mite, the Jimny, and dismiss the current Grand Vitara as something less than the real thing – but if you are talking about real off-road ability, the fact is that these tightly-dimensioned off-roaders will often go places that a full-size 4x4 would hesitate to even contemplate.

Jeep's latest KL Cherokee, in toughened-up Trailhawk form, fits that mould.

Somewhere between the Grand Vitara and the new breed of ute-based wagons such as the Ford Everest and Mitsubishi Pajero Sport in terms of size, the Trailhawk was created through a fettling of the base Cherokee to the point where it could take a bit of serious off-road punishment. Its smaller size also meant it would be able to trump the larger 4x4s with better wriggle-room in tight situations, while its shorter wheelbase and narrower tracks favoured clearance issues on rough, rocky tracks. It promised more wieldiness and better fuel economy on the open road as well.

They were some of the intentions anyway.

Jeep's image as a pioneer in off-road vehicles has been diluted in recent years through a corporate focussing on road-friendly designs that, although they have steered a long way from proper off-road credibility, have still capitalised on the strength of the brand. Even some of the company's genuine 4x4s have lost a lot of their mojo.

With the Trailhawk versions of the mite-size Renegade and the mid-size Cherokee, Jeep is hauling back some of its reputation as a maker of legitimate off-roaders.

And if the latest Cherokee is ready to tentatively dip its feet into an off-road situation, the Trailhawk version is ready to take the full plunge.

To achieve its new status, the Trailhawk adds a locking rear differential to its dual-range 4x4 driveline, bolts on extra under-body protection, then jacks up the suspension to raise ground clearance and optimise approach, ramp-over and departure angles while also improving wheel articulation. The body is given a buff-up with bigger wheel arches, 17-inch alloy wheels (smaller than the 18-inchers fitted to the Limited version) with all-season tyres and prominent bright-red tow hooks in the front and rear bumpers.

The one-inch suspension lift sees an improvement in the approach (29.9 degrees), ramp-over (22.9 degrees) and departure angles (32.2 degrees), as well as raising ground clearance to a decent 221mm – all vital to the making of a decent off-roader.

And the five-mode Selec-Terrain 4x4 selection system, which optimises power feed according to the circumstances – from snow, sand/mud and rock to sport and full-auto settings – is aided by a locking rear differential that keeps the Jeep mobile when it has run out of rear wheel travel. For added security on steep tracks, there's also hill ascent and descent controls.

The Trailhawk's 200kW/316Nm 3.2-litre Pentastar V6 gets an uprated cooling system, and there's an auxiliary oil cooler for the nine-speed auto transmission to allay fears of overheating in prolonged and laborious low-range situations (or towing – the Trailhawk is rated at a maximum of 2.2 tonnes).

Being the ultimate Cherokee model, the Trailhawk doesn't skimp on creature comforts. It comes with leather-trimmed, heated front seats (eight-way powered for the driver), sat-nav, Xenon headlights, rain-sensing wipers, dual-zone climate-control, rear-view camera, flat-folding front passenger's seat and tyre pressure monitoring (the spare is full-size) to name a few.

And how does all this translate to a bit of getting down and getting dirty?

We took the test Trailhawk into a recently-muddied Wombat state forest in Victoria's north west where, even if we didn't equate the trials and tribulations of the Rubicon Trail used so famously to prove the worth of off-road 4x4s in the USA, we traversed a mix of deeply-rutted, underbody-challenging bog-holes, some steep, dry ascents and descents and a portion of narrow, overgrown goat tracks.

As a backup we were accompanied by two other 4x4s – a Mitsubishi Triton and an older-generation Toyota Prado – which gave us something of a benchmark for judging the Jeep's capabilities.

For much of the time, we allowed the Trailhawk's Selec-Terrain system to sort itself out in auto mode, switching to specific settings depending on whether we were forging through deep washouts with who-knows-what submerged traps, or scrabbling up steep, rutted inclines. The rotating Selec-Terrain control on the centre console was almost too simple to use.

Other than choosing not to tackle one nasty bog hole that involved an abrupt drop into deep, sump-challenging underwater terrain which actually stopped the Prado – requiring it to be towed out by the Trailhawk! – the gutsy little Jeep took everything we threw at it.

Although a lot of time was spent in low range, only once did we activate the rear diff lock (on a tricky, rocky climb) and even then we had the suspicion the Trailhawk would have scrambled its way through anyway.

I must admit to some scepticism regarding the benefits of having electronics decide where best to send the engine's power – rather than a simple, fully-locked off-road driveline – but the Jeep showed none of the unnecessary tyre-scrabbling annoyances experienced with previous electronics-dependent off-roaders.

Even though it was wearing road-oriented tyres – and it would be preferable to choose something a bit more rugged for extended off-road work – the Trailhawk always managed to find enough traction, even when extracting the sitting-on-its-sump Prado on a slippery, muddy track.

As many of the tracks chosen were narrow and often quite overgrown, we were also thankful for the Jeep's relatively narrow dimensions and at no stage was there any difficulty threading through narrow gaps in the forest.

A deep, hidden watercourse at the bottom of a steep decline caught us out a bit, however. The Trailhawk's left front wheel dropped into the under-cut bank, punching a small hole in the front apron and the windscreen washer bottle residing just behind it. To say we were relieved to find the ensuing flow of liquid was water, not radiator fluid or sump oil, would be an understatement.

We emerged from the Wombat forest with little to show other than an empty washer bottle and some superficial grazing (later buffed off) of the paint on the side panels.

From a fuel economy perspective, and considering it weighs close to two tonnes (more than 300kg above the base front-drive Sport version), the Trailhawk fares well enough. We averaged a reasonable 14L/100km with a combination of off-road and regular use. Still, even at the official 10.0L/100km, the 60 litre fuel tank is a bit small.

But with the Jeep's comfortable interior, its easy-to-use programmable 4WD functions and its smooth, gutsy V6 engine, we probably had bigger smiles on our faces than either the Prado or Triton drivers, even though they were undoubtedly also chuffed with our experience.

2016 Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk pricing and specifications:
Price: $52,000 (plus on-road costs)
Engine: 3.2-litre six-cylinder petrol
Output: 200kW/316Nm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Fuel: 10.0L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 232g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety Rating: Five-star ANCAP

Also consider:
>> Suzuki Grand Vitara (from $25,990 plus ORCs)
>> Suzuki Jimny (from $20,990 plus ORCs)