1997 Jeep Cherokee Interior Review at Automotive.com
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Jeep
Cherokee
1997

1997 Jeep Cherokee Review: Interior

Below is a full, detailed 1997 Jeep Cherokee review and road test from New Car Test Drive. A full evaluation of price, equipment, the driving experience, and specs are all here in a structured, easy-to-navigate format from journalists with limitless ...     read more
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1997 Jeep Cherokee Review

Update on a winning theme.
Interior
Although the '97 Cherokee is much more attractive within, this is still

an area where the age of the design shows, and as a result, the vehicle

comes up a little short in the comfort department, particularly for the

driver.

When this vehicle was introduced, shortly after Chevy's S-10 Blazer,

it was something new--an SUV that combined mid-size handiness with the

convenience of four doors. It was hard to perceive its interior as cramped

or awkward, because by the standards of the day they weren't.

But the Cherokee has never had a major redesign, and in the intervening

years newer entries have come along, as well as a couple successive updates

of the Blazer and GMC Jimmy.

Compared to its contemporaries, the Cherokee measures up as pretty snug,

particularly in the rear seat.

Even though the wheel doesn't seem to extend as far from the dashboard

as it did in the original version, a design that always made us expect

to emerge with wheel hub abrasions on our sternums, the Cherokee's limited

front seat travel still left us sitting a little closer than we wanted

to be.

There's also no place for the driver to rest his or her left foot, a

small convenience that you miss when it's not there.

On the plus side, Jeep did a very nice job of refurbishing the Cherokee's

dated dashboard. Although the design is still rectilinear and blocky, the

dashboard has lost the cheap appearance of earlier Cherokees, and if the

primary instruments are a bit small, the secondary array is a little more

comprehensive than average, including an ammeter and oil pressure gauge.

Our tester's interior was also loaded with just about every comfort

and convenience feature in the Cherokee inventory--which for 27 grand you'd

expect--including a very good sound system with cassette and CD players,

air conditioning, power driver's seat, an overhead digital info center

and two digital clocks.

All of this stuff makes the going more pleasant, of course, but we'd

trade most of it for better seats.

Our Cherokee's sport buckets felt snug, with better-than-average side

support, but after a couple of hours snug gives way to confined, and the

length of the bottom cushion measures up as too short. Next Page


1997 Jeep Cherokee