my buddys 1995 Jeep Cherokee 4door Inline 6 cylinder VS my 1993 Dodge Dakota reg cab 3.9 V6


Recently my buddy and me were talking about our vehicles and I said, my Dakota could beat his Cherokee in a race. He of course said, no way and back fourth we argued about it. However he did let me drive his Jeep and I must say it moves pretty fast. I know little about Cherokees and I want to know what I'm in for when we race which will be sometime in the spring.


My 93 Dakota is on break until I get new tires, inspection, new brakes, and change tranny fluid.

thoughts?

P.S I beat a Toyota Prius in a up hill race which was fun.

 

They have good torque for a 6cly. (Almost said V6 LOL) I don't know how much they weigh but you have a single cab and looks like a short bed, that is very light. I say you got it, but it will be close.

Just try to do a few tricks like:

If you have an automatic

Power brake it, one foot on the gas one on the brake get the gas to the limit right before the brakes fail. Practice to find your sweet spot where you wont spin. Spining the tires may sound cool but you loose time.

Shift it manually on the column. Practice to get the best times you can.

Lower air pressure if you spin your tires too much.

Keep the weight down, take out all junk, 1/4 tank of gas, take off the tailgate.


Good luck! Post up a video. Also check out www.youtube.com tons of race videos, do research on both vehicles.

 

Back when my friends Cherokee wasn't smashed (and my truck was road worthy), we "raced."
His: 1996 Cherokee I6, 5-speed manual, 2 door.
Mine: 1996 Dakota V6, 4-speed auto, ext cab.

He beat me.

 

Was it a close race or did he have a good lead?

 

That sucks that you lost.
my brother has a i6 98 cherokee two door
I am running a 92 2wd 3.9 dakota
I would have to say I could take him and beat him it would be very close though, the reason I would say I could beat him is that I have raced before. "on private land" so its sorta legal. and my truck tends to beat ppl at the start so i can pass them and hold my spot, if you really want to beat your friend check for a different pcm, I have three and they all shift and rev different, lose all the wieght , like what crazy4x4rt said. I find that with mine I can't win in a straight up race I tend to fine my truck is perfect and very fast off the start line though slows down near the end of the run. if you are racing it on a track best of luck with you I think he would win though if it is on the street or private road; then I would start to pass him and just hog all the road. Its not about the fastest ride its about who ever gets ahead. If your truck is stock then do the simple tune up like new plug wires and that bs, though I think my brother 98 cherokee tops out at 156km/hr I dont know the converted form for you guys and when mine was stockish it was about 168km/hr. Though if you do try my suggestion is try and get ahead of him, lose the wieght try a different pcm, and a simple tune up. try and get it on video I would love to see another dakota beat a cherokee.

 

I've owned a handful of XJ's over the years and the Renix 4.0's are one of the best motors ever built. Cherokee is slightly heavier, ~3500 lbs, but they accelerate a hell of a lot quicker than Dakotas do. The 4.0 has a hell of a lot of torque and with the Cherokees small size they're quick as hell, especially since he's got the Chrysler High Output version being a 95. In a straight drag race, stock on both, with the same driver in each the Cherokee will beat out the Dakota nine times out of ten. But, it'd be fairly close and when you factor in difference in drivers, tires, racing surface, ect the OP could definitely win assuming you're racing on pavement of some kind. Cherokee would blow it away off road though.

edit: top speed for XJs, at least on the speedometer on the 4.0 ones is 85 for 87-90's and iirc 100 for the high outputs from 91-95. I forget 96, it's an odd year before Chrysler switched from the Renix 4.0 to their own based on it's design, but I'm pretty sure it's the same as the 91-95 HO's. Can't recall what the 97-01's is but I think it's the same and the 91-95. Iirc the 90+'s will top out around 112-116.

Only other factor I can think of is if he's got an np242 transfer case. If he does he can run in 4wd at normal speeds since it has 4wd full time.

 

I can kinda agree with ya, though its all about how you drive, since I "like" to, I have raced bigger and better rides rides with a v8, and still was able to win. You just got to know how your ride can handle aswell theres. Keep driving yours and see how it feels.