Once More, with Hybrid: 2026 Jeep Cherokee Overland Tested

The Cherokee nameplate has been affixed to many different Jeeps. The most beloved—and longest-lasting—was the XJ generation, which debuted in the mid-1980s and endured into the early 2000s. Now it appears on a new compact SUV that plays in the thick part of the SUV market, squaring off against the Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4, among many others.

Squared-off describes the styling, certainly, and it’s a welcome departure from the wonkier appearance of the previous-gen model (2014 to 2023). The design gives the compact Jeep a serious, substantive look, and the shape pays dividends in packaging as well. There’s plenty of space inside, and rear-seat access is easy. The well-shaped cargo hold measures 34 cubic feet behind the rear seats—that’s a bit more than the Subaru Forester Hybrid’s 28 cubic feet but less than the Toyota RAV4’s 38 cubes. Fold the rear seatbacks, and you have 68 cubic feet of space.

The interior materials of our upscale Overland test example, and a Limited version we also drove, were unimpressive. But that’s true across many of the SUVs in this segment, save for the Mazda CX-50 and the top-spec Volkswagen Tiguan. The Jeep’s controls are relatively easy to interact with, except for the one you interact with the most.

Automakers suddenly have grown bored with round steering wheels, despite them having served faithfully for more than 100 years. We’re generally unenthused by the newly shaped devices, be they square, hexagonal, or, in the case of the Cherokee, octagonal. That the Jeep’s rim is about 50 percent fatter than it needs to be makes it further off-putting. Besides feeling awkward in hand, it completely blocks the driver’s view of the controls along the left edge of the infotainment screen: the volume knob, heating and ventilation for the driver’s seat, and steering wheel heating.

Under the hood, we find a turbocharged 1.6-liter four-cylinder paired with two electric motors, making this the first hybrid Cherokee. The combined 210 horsepower and 230 pound-feet of torque are fed through an electronically controlled continuously variable transmission and drive all four wheels. You have to step up to the just-announced Trailhawk model to get more Jeeplike driveline components such as a two-speed transfer case and an electronically locking rear differential, but the existing hardware is just fine for on-pavement work.

EPA estimates of 39 mpg city and 35 highway are about on par with the Honda CR-V Hybrid’s 40 mpg city and 34 highway, but they can’t match the all-wheel-drive Toyota RAV4 hybrid, which boasts numbers as high as 46 mpg city and 39 highway. Still, this is easily the most fuel-efficient Jeep ever.

That’s certainly commendable, but it’s not all sunshine and rainbows with this powertrain. This is the first Stellantis hybrid in the U.S. (not counting the now-discontinued plug-in hybrid setup sold for a while in the Wrangler, Grand Cherokee, and Chrysler Pacifica), and it has the polish of an initial effort. The handoff between gas and electric power is smooth, but the 1.6-liter groans under acceleration, and over an extended bout of stop-and-crawl driving—such as we enjoyed on the Garden State Parkway—the slight shudder tipping into and out of the throttle becomes irritating.

In faster-moving traffic, you notice that this powertrain is not all that powerful. Merging or passing is an unhurried affair. We clocked 8.5 seconds in the run to 60 mph and 9.3 seconds to 60 from a 5-mph rolling start. That’s down with the Subaru Forester Hybrid at the slow end of the segment. It’s well off the pace of the Honda CR-V Hybrid, which managed a 60-mph time of 7.1 seconds from rest and 8.2 seconds from 5 to 60, or the Toyota RAV4 hybrid’s 7.1- and 7.6-second results.

Part of that is surely due to the Cherokee’s excess weight relative to its rivals. At 4403 pounds on our scales, the Jeep was 466 pounds heavier than the last Forester Hybrid we tested and more than 500 pounds heavier than the Honda or Toyota.

Although we found the Cherokee’s ride pleasant enough during our initial drive along the California coast, the harsher environs of the New York metro area and our home base in Michigan showed the chassis tuning in a less flattering light. Over lumpy pavement, the Cherokee bobs around a lot, feeling softly sprung and under-damped. And yet, the soft suspension doesn’t do much to isolate the cabin from bumps.

All told, the Cherokee gives Jeep a foothold in this all-important segment and offers fuel-economy numbers that will surely please brand loyalists. But, for now at least, the latest Cherokee does not threaten the XJ generation’s place as the GOAT in the pantheon of Cherokee-branded Jeeps.

➡️ Skip the lot. Let Car and Driver help you find your next car.