The facelifted Jeep Chekoree made its public debut at the 2018 Detroit Auto Show with a brand-new front fascia that no longer looks like it's sucking lemons. The best Jeep-related news in a year, because let's face it, the pre-facelift Cherooke's design sucked really bad. The rear end was also heavily revised to the point where it no longer looks like a Fiat. Interior updates are small, but it does feature a new center console and new tech. But by far the biggest change lies under the hood, where the Tigershark and Pentastar engines were joined by a new 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine.

Borrowed from the latest Jeep Wrangler, the turbocharged mill cranks out the same 270 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque. These figures place it just above the existing 3.2-liter V-6, which is rated at 271 horses and 239 pound-feet. The Pentastar unit carried over unchanged, while the 2.4-liter Tigershark gained minor changes that reduced output from 184 horsepower and 172 pound-feet to 180 horses and 170 pound-feet.

The new four-banger mates to the same nine-speed automatic transmission as other engines and it should deliver better fuel economy that the other two options. Actual figures aren't yet available, but the V-6 returns 21 mpg city and 29 mpg highway, while the Tigershark gets up to 30 mpg highway. The fact that the revised Cherokee is 200 pounds lighter thanks to a new aluminum hood and composite tailgate should help the new turbo four-cylinder deliver the best ever fuel economy figures for the nameplate.

References

Jeep Cherokee

Read our full review on the 2019 Jeep Cherokee.

Read our full driven review on the 2015 Jeep Cherokee.

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