2021 Jeep Cherokee vs 2020 Land Rover Range Rover

The Land Rover Range Rover is the definitive word in “ultra-luxury sport utility vehicle.” It’s the perfect example of a no-compromise SUV, delivering superlative cabin space, luxury appointments, power, and capability.

Believe it or not, the current fourth-generation Range Rover is getting long in the tooth. A fifth-generation Range Rover is around the corner, so how has Land Rover kept its flagship SUV relevant? With incremental updates through the years. In addition to new infotainment and safety technologies, Land Rover has continued to expand the powertrain lineup, to the point where there are now six different powertrain options. So does the Range Rover continue to set the standard for 4x4 luxury? Read on to find out.

The KL-generation Cherokee launched as a 2014 model and almost immediately began swirling in controversy. Jeep hadn’t offered a Cherokee in the United States since the 2001 model year, when the XJ Cherokee disappeared, replaced by two generations of the Jeep Liberty.

There was great excitement for this all-new Jeep. Lots of fans were hoping for a redo of the 1984 to 2001 Jeep Cherokee that really helped to define the midsize SUV class with a unibody and legendary toughness. “The 2014 Cherokee feels planted on the road, more carlike than trucklike…” read an early review in Car and Driver. A separate review from the same publication read: “If you have eyes, you’ve noticed that this Cherokee, code-named KL, makes no design references, other than with the grille, to the iconic, rectilinear XJ Cherokee.”

But the automotive industry isn’t necessarily in the business of fueling nostalgia. It’s interested in what it can sell in great numbers in the future, not what people liked 30 years ago. And what we’ve realized over the years is that the Cherokee is really good at what it does, and it’s capable of doing a lot more than you’d expect.

Jeep sells these at a rate of 240,000 annually, in a good year. The best the Jeep Liberty it replaced ever managed was 166,883 units before dropping off the face of the Earth entirely. Clearly, Jeep knew something we didn’t when it released the Cherokee.