If it means anything, I tend to grudgingly agree with Blues Dawg. Since Chrysler did away with the leaf springs, Jeep has made a pretty good suspension geometry. The angles and controls are very precise. With a lift, they flex and handle rather well. The newer suspension works well. But the frame and suspension still lacks real steel. I like a steel truck better than a tin one.
There is still the issue of insuffient quanties of steel. I feel that a rig should be made of metal, not tin.
I discovered long ago that soup cans are made of steel because it doesn't cost a lot. I like plenty of steel in my truck. Jeep simply doesn't. It is a difference of opinion, and I'll stick with mine! I gave up light buggies in favor of rigs with some weight, and frames that don't easily crack. Jeep doesn't have it. Very few American-designed rigs do, unfortunately.
The Grand Cherokee that hit my wife's light Toyota 4x4 ended up with the front bumper 20 feet from where the Jeep was laying almost on its side. The front axle was almost completely detached from the truck. This is in a supposedly "safe" mid-size SUV.
A little comparision, if some might bear with me. My wife, in her 4wd Toyota van, was sitting in the drivers' seat, barely 36 inches behind the first point of contact in a head-on collision at speed. Her knees were less than 20 inches from the point of impact. Only the dashboard and some light bodywork separated her from the oncoming frame of the Jeep. The van took a brutal frontal hit, entirely on the drivers' side. The right side was not damaged. We found skid marks across the windshield. The Jeep's front tire rode up the front of the van at least 48 inches, judging by the tire marks.
In the Cherokee, the driver is placed more than 60 inches behind the first point of impact. Why was the driver of the Jeep more injured than my wife was? She had seat belts on. She also had airbags, which my wife lacked. Where is the problem?
After the crash, I opened the drivers' side door, (the damaged side), got into the van, shut the door, drove it away from the scene and parked it nearby. I did not drive it home because, for all of my legendary powers, I cannot drive two cars at once! I also had free towing. Jill was at the doctor's, getting a check-up.
The Toyota lost no vital fluids in the wreck. Even the AC still had freon and no leaks. The Jeep lost all engine oil, trans fluid, freon and radiator coolant. The gunk was all over the road.
While I drove the Toyota away in one piece, the Jeep lost the front bumper, (both the plastic shell and inner structure), the left fender, most of the left front door skin, the windshield, the front axle, and the grille. All of the parts were scattered over a long stretch of the road. The "driver safety area" supposedly inherent in a vehicle was invaded by quite a wide margin in the front as well as on the side in the Jeep. The same safety area was reduced by less than 2 inches in the Toyota, in the pedal area. The Toyota lost parts of the marker lights, the glass from the headlights on the left side, and some bumper plastic. That was all. The frame of the Jeep was bent in several places. The worst of them was just behind the drivers' seat where the frame broke in half. The foreward frame of the van was bent. Later during body repairs, I did not need to readjust the front end alignment of the van, and have not had to do so to this day. The van has not needed alignment since well before the wreck, and the tires wear normally without rotating.
In a supposedly "safe" mid-size SUV, there is no reasonable excuse for this kind of catastrophic failure of protective bodywork in a frontal crash. 55 MPH is not all that fast by current standards. Front axles should not be torn out. Everyone who drives one of these trucks, or any related brand, should think twice. Frontal impact is the most important crash standard that we protect from. This Jeep simply disintegrated under that test in real life. This was an SUV against a minivan, and the minivan won, hands down! 20,000 miles later, we have not even had to align the front end on the Toyota! The safety of yourself and your family are on call!
The people at Jeep should be ashamed!
