My CC on the Jeep Cherokee XJ focused heavily on its French connection. The Cherokee, the seminal compact four-door SUV would not likely have ever existed, or certainly not in its final form had it not been for Renault’s heavy involvement. They put up the $150 million for its development, and sent its best development engineer, Francois Castaing, to guide it to fruition. Renault wanted the Cherokee to be suitable for France and the European market, and undoubtedly its relatively light unibody and other details reflect that.
We’ve yet to ever see one of these “Renault” Cherokees in its home turf until crash71100 posted this at the Cohort. And in Renault Service livery, no less. That seals the deal. I’m not sure of its exact year, but it looks to be pre-1994, which means it most likely has the Renault 2.1L Turbo-Diesel, which was also offered for three years in the US but found few takers.
Curbside Classic: 1984 Jeep Cherokee – AMC’s Greatest Hit Thanks To Renault PN
What a great catch! Don’t think I ever saw or noticed a turbo diesel one.
I’m still a little disappointed that I missed the boat on owning one of these, but I never lived in an area with legit four wheeling opportunities.
You didn’t need to. 90% of these sold never even saw a gravel driveway.
A former boss of mine bought one new in the late 80’s, fully loaded (Limited? Did they have that back then?) with alloy wheels. He showed us the owners manual that noted the warranty would be void if he took it off road if it had the alloys. We all thought that was pretty weird but he never intended to use it off road anyway.
Really. Even the 2.5ltr 4cyl Sport had alloys so the off road vehicle that you should not take off road. .
Yup. We all worked in forestry in BC so found it very strange. And a very distinctive memory.
“Renault wanted the Cherokee to be suitable for France and the European market”.
And it was. I remember seeing them often in Germany back in the day, most of them as 4 doors. However, this “Renault” Cherokee looks sharp, like the paragon for a Majorette toy car.
I’m with DougD – I regret never owning one of these. My best chance would have been when my sister traded her 93 with a stick shift – it was probably my ultimate powertrain (early in the muscular 4.0 inline six era), trim and color (dark green) but she never thought I might be interested and I did not find out it was gone until she announced a new vehicle.
I hadn’t noticed the French & Indian Car was available as a two door.
Over the years I owned two Cherokees (1996 and 2001) and two Comanches (1991 and 1992). All were 2wd with 4-speed automatic. The pickups were both long wheel base. They might not do Moab or the Rubicon but they were all certainly capable of going off-road as long as I avoided true quagmires. Actually, the Cherokees were great for urban driving as they are compact, offer excellent visibility, and had good ground clearance. No worries about the numerous pot holes thanks to the solid axles front and rear. The 2001 was the car my children learned to drive in and they preferred it to a MINI Clubman we also had at the time (?).
I believe the unibody made it much more forgiving of their beginner’s errors than a body-on-frame SUV would have also.
I had a 96 with the 4.0 6 and 5 speed. I quite liked driving it..Smooth easy reasonably quick acceleration, and for having 2 live axles (4wd) it handled ok. (Certainly better than the 98 Explorer 2wd that replaced it.) The Cherokee was the perfect Southern California complement to our other car at the time, a 92 Miata.
All four Jeeps had the 4.0 in-line 6. It was certainly peppy enough and durable. Each vehicle had well over 100,000 miles and gave no drive train trouble at all. In fact all were reliable and exceeded my expectations of a Chrysler/Renault “love child.” Well, the engine was AMC.
My 2001 Cherokee (2WD) does service as a tow vehicle for my Jeep 🙂
It’s interesting that after the initial skepticism of the XJ’s unibody being suitable for an off-reader, almost every XJ I see now is heavily modified for serious off-road use. Not many stock, clean ones left. I test drove a Comanche with the GM 2.8V6 which preceded the 4.0, and the combo of that weak engine and the cramped cab made it a non-starter for me. I should have waited a few months for the 4.0, and tried a Cherokee … my COAL trajectory might have been quite different.
Here is a commercial for Renault Spain that included both the Cherokee and the Renault 21.
Not Spain. Italy!
Had one like that. 2.1 cherokee with Renault engine. Four doors, manual. My 1st jeep 😉 long gone and missed.