Okay, here's the deal. My wife is a realtor and needs passenger room. We also live in the Eastern Panhandle of WV where we get lots of snow. She currently has a Subaru Legacy L sedan that has been a great vehicle. However, it doesn't have the ground clearance she feels like she needs since she often shows raw land to clients.

We have a '97 Ram that we love. Can't stick it! So we're pretty content with the idea of staying with a Chrysler product. I'd like some feedback and substantiated opinions on the Grand Cherokee versus the Durango in model years 2001-2003. Mainly I'm interested in knowing about powertrain performance and durability (V8 only), comfort, room (I'm not a small person, so I like lots of room in a vehicle), and overall dependability.

I realize this is not a posting that will bring about a short response in most cases, but I'd be pretty happy to get some general responses and testimonials. Thanks in advance!

 

No comparison.

A few years back my Mom purchase a 2001 Grand Cherokee Limited Edition. Biggest piece of crap ever made by Mopar. Transmission, A/C, and the oxygen sensor went out before it had 20,000 miles on it!

I just purchased a 2003 Durango R/T and I love it. Bigger, a lot more power, better looking (in my humble opinion) and the service recorda look a hell of a lot better for the Durango vs. the Cherokee. I dunno, maybe I am biased due to the Durango in my driveway but do some research the numbers don't lie.

Good luck.

 

I can't compare with a jeep because I've never owned one, but I can tell you about durango's. I love mine. Easy to work on and plenty of mods for the generation I's. however with that being said. the ball joints are a problem and the fuel economy sucks. there's some mods out there that'll help out a little. there's plenty of room for 7. I have a family of 6 and we get around fine. hope that helps a little

rock

 

I've had both, the Jeep was better in terms of ride & power/performance but is really a 4 person car, the Durango is better in terms of capacity (up to 6). In terms of build quality the Jeep was great but we made use of the extended warranty (an A/C problem took alot of fixing) in it's 4th year, when we sold it we had done ~100K miles and the only major repair was a warped front disk.
The Durango can carry alot more and is unfazed my 4 adults, 2 kids and a full roof box but the with the 3rd row of seats in use you really need a roof box as there isn't much storage space left.

 

As others I never owned a Jeep either but I don know one of my several bosses ownes one and my Dugango is so much 1 bigger 2 better looking on the inside 3 better loking on the outside 4 more powerfull 5 more clearance 6 Just better I would tow his truck around the parkinglot all day long. with that being said with my 01 42X4 I went mudding with LOL I didn't get stuck but it bogged down alot in the slightly deep mud holes this is flooring it and hitting the mud hole at about 35, 40 MPH well I just traded in for an 01 4x4 the o2 had a 4.7 the 01 has a 5.9 well I tried my hardest to get that sucker stuck I took it to the sand pits, I went to the mud pits I couldn't get the thing to get even close to stuck I just walked right through everything. My opinion take a durango 4X4 with a 5.9 may be a little more pricey for gas but your wife should never complain about clearance or power I would put money on her never getting stuck.