The IT Nerd

The interior of the Jeep Cherokee for the most part is a place that you will not complain about. Let’s start at the front:

The driver’s seat is well bolstered and very comfortable. It is 8 way power adjustable and comes with adjustable lumbar support. The front seats are heated and ventilated.

They also make it clear to anyone who sits in them what you’re driving.

The memory settings for the drivers seat as well as the door locks, window controls, and controls for the mirrors are on the doors. The leather and wood accents are a nice touch along with the chrome door handle.

What is a bit puzzling is the placement on the driver’s side door of the button to open the flap that covers the gas cap. It’s a small button located in an out of the way location that most people will never consider looking for it in. This is easy to miss. I would suggest that Jeep should relocate it to the left side of the dash where the controls for the interior and exterior lights are.

To the left of the steering wheel are the controls for the exterior lights and interior lights along with the button to open the rear hatch. One thing to note is that the Jeep Cherokee has automatic headlights and as you can see, I have set them that way. You can also press the knob to activate the fog lamps.

The steering wheel is leather wrapped, heated and is on the chunky side. But it still is comfortable to hold. There are redundant controls for the UConnect system on it. One thing to note is that I found the horn to be somewhat hard to press which was disconcerting at first. But after a couple of days I stopped thinking about it.

The gauge cluster is interesting as you can customize the centre portion with whatever info you need to see, plus navigation directions are replicated there. I do note that it is sometimes prone to suffering from glare though, but it doesn’t really affect your ability to see anything.

To the right of the steering wheel is the always useful engine start/stop button.

Here’s the 8.4″ display that’s part of the UConnect System. Below it are controls for the automatic parking and dual zone HVAC.

Just above it on the dash is a place to put your sunglasses….

… and on the roof is another place to put your sunglasses.

Below the HVAC controls is a USB port, an SD card reader, and AUX jack for audio and a 12V outlet.

Here’s the shifter, the controls for the four wheel drive system to the left of it, the parking brake (of the electronic variety) below it, and a pair of decently sized cupholders.

The centre console has a feature that I have never seen in a vehicle before. This is a wireless charging plate for phones that support wireless charging. If you have a phone like a Nexus 5 or a Galaxy S5, you’ll love this. It is made by QI and I reviewed one of their charging plates a while back and found it to be a very good product. Thus I would expect this one inside this Jeep to be the same.

Underneath that is a deep storage area that also has the CD player, a USB port and another 12V outlet.

The glove box is a good sized one and it is lit.

The sunroof is MASSIVE. The only other one that I have ever seen that is competitive with this one is the one that was in the 2015 Hyundai Genesis that I recently reviewed.

The back seats sit three people. Though the person in the middle has to deal with the hump created by the driveshaft. One thing does stand out about the back seats….

….You can slide them forward or back as you can see here to create additional legroom.

If you don’t need the middle seat, you can flip down a pair of cupholders and also use it as an armrest.

Those in the back also get one other handy feature. If you look just below the HVAC outlets, you get a 115V outlet. Handy to charge your iPad, laptop or your phone.

Moving to the the cargo area, you get a privacy cover.

And if you have something long to transport, you can fold down the right rear seat and the front seat to accommodate it. Trips to Home Depot will never be the same.

This apparatus puzzled me until I figured out what it was. This is part of Jeep’s cargo management system and it adds handy hooks and a removable grocery bag as well as many innovative and thoughtful add-on storage solutions including a First Aid Kit. Accessories that leverage this feature are available at your dealer. I’ll also note an abundance of cargo hooks and tie downs all over the cargo area of the vehicle.

Here’s what the results of our weekly grocery shopping trip looks like. As you can see, there’s room left over in the back.

The rear hatch is motorized and the button to close it is on the left near the cargo management system. Its position and size (as it is on the small side) was puzzling because my wife and I were looking for it and didn’t find it until my wife discovered it and said “what does this button do?” right before pressing it causing the rear hatch to descend and bump me in the head (I wasn’t hurt by the way because it was a gentle bump). The hatch then promptly went back up as it is designed to do when it encounters an object. I would suggest that Jeep should relocate the button on the hatch itself to make it easier to find or make it bigger so that it is easier to spot. If you look at the bottom right corner of this picture, you’ll notice another 12V outlet.

Some notes:

• I was able to set up the driver’s seat to fit my six foot frame and then hop into the back seat easily and have ample legroom thanks to the sliding seats. Headroom for me was on the low side, but I did have room.
• Visibility is good in all aspects and headroom which is usually an issue for me in vehicles with sunroofs was good as well.
• Everything was put together well and any surface that I touched felt like it oozed quality. I could not find one thing in the fit and finish department to complain about.
• There’s an abundance of soft touch materials that I believe will hold up over time.

Now in part four, I’ll cover the technology in the Jeep Cherokee. And there is a lot of technology in it so stay tuned!