Jeep Cherokee

London Mayor Ken Livingstone is currently waging a war against 4x4 drivers, calling them "idiots". Having just spent a week behind the wheel of a Jeep Cherokee 2.8 CRD I can see his point - why anyone would want to use one of these for getting around any city (or between them) is beyond me.

There's nowhere that it excels - unless you take it off road. But who buys one to get it muddy? Thanks to its balloon-profile tyres and hefty suspension travel, the Cherokee bounces along enough to induce sea sickness when the roads are badly surfaced. Which they invariably are.

The 2776cc four-cylinder powerplant is coarse and despite a claimed 400Nm of torque being on tap, it doesn't feel at all quick apart from at very low speeds when the thottle is floored. On the motorway it's tiring to drive because there's so little performance in reserve. The 120kW on offer aren't enough to shift the 2140kg bulk with any alacrity, so it's no surprise that the top speed is barely more than the ton. It's also no surprise that fuel consumption works out officially at an average of just 9.9L/100km - although you'll probably struggle to achieve even that.

You might think that the transmission would be a saving grace, but sadly it isn't. The five-speed automatic gearbox can be very jerky when changing up or down and there's no sequential manual option. Being a proper off-roader there's at least the option of full or part-time four-wheel drive, or just rear-wheel drive. With all wheels driven our test car made some disconcerting cracking noises on full lock, and with two-wheel drive engaged it felt ready to leave the road on a wet bend.

Unless you're planning to venture off road or do a lot of towing, the Cherokee in this form doesn't make much sense. With a maximum towing weight of 3,360kg it'll pull most things - but don't expect much in the way of driving enjoyment.

Richard Dredge