Jeep Cherokee & Grand Cherokee 4X4 Performance Portfolio 1992-1998

This book picks up the story of Jeep's popular Cherokee from our book Jeep Cherokee & Comanche Performance Portfolio 1984-1991. The XJ or downsized Cherokee was a huge success during the 1980s, but it never wholly supplanted the earlier Wagoneer range which dated from 1963. There was always a steady demand for these larger vehicles, and at the same time Jeep noted that many of its Cherokee customers were keen on additional luxury features. So when design work started on the replacement for the Wagoneer range, Jeep took these factors into account. The ZJ, announced in 1992 in Grand Cherokee and Grand Wagoneer forms, was certainly larger than the Cherokee - but not so much so that it was out of step with current design trends. It was also more luxurious and more expensive - but Jeep took care to include some less expensive and more spartan entry-level models in the range. There was another factor at work too. This was Chrysler's determination to break into the European market in a big way, which meant that European tastes were also taken into account at the design stage. The European assault was spearheaded by the XJ Cherokee, manufactured at Graz in Austria and featuring an Italian-built turbo diesel engine among its options. This established a very strong new presence for the Jeep marque in Europe, and before long the ZJ followed it. Big and powerful V8 engines as well as the turbo diesel quickly gained it a faithful following, and made the established sales chart-toppers in Europe sit up and take notice for the first time. Widely respected, the XJ and ZJ ranges sold in enviable quantities during the 1990s. They were - and remain - excellent everyday vehicles which are also capable of tackling seriously challenging terrain, and have justifiably earned the praise of enthusiasts and hardened professional testers alike. The articles in this book make clear what the professional testers thought of them when they were new. They make fascinating reading for all Jeep devotees today. Models covered: Country, Grand Cherokee, Laredo, Grand Wagoneer & Orvis. 140 pages, approx. 250 illus. SB.