When I  say ‘Jeep,’ what do you think of? Most of you would’ve thought of a Wrangler. Understood, of course. It has been around since 1941. The rest of you would’ve thought of the Cherokee, the big, boxy SUV that Jeep says “created the luxury SUV segment.” Those of you who mistakenly thought of a Land Rover Defender should be shot.

When Jeep made its exit from the Malaysian market 20 years ago, the Cherokee was the favourite, shifting as many as one unit a year. Cough. We know why they left. We didn’t like them. But the Jeep Cherokee has become something of a cult hero, with a solid following in our damp little country. Its design, inspired no doubt by cardboard boxes and rulers, still turns heads today, especially with so many of them having been given aftermarket treatment to ensure that they endure the test of time.

It was a formula that worked, to some success. So you can imagine my surprise when I was introduced for the first time to the new Jeep Cherokee. With no less than six ‘eyes,’ the new Cherokee is about as alien as a car can get. It’s about as striking as the original Fiat Multipla, which doesn’t seem so surprising, since Jeep is now owned by the Fiat Group. But where the face is… er… unique, to say the least, the rear looks all too familiar. It looks almost Korean, with its slim, high-mounted rear lights and rather unimaginative rump.

Key in hand, I unlocked the car. All six eyes lit to greet me, and I was surprised to say the least. Where the face of the Cherokee was challenging to the eye, the interior was the opposite. Leather covered almost every surface, with red stitching on the dash and steering wheel. It looked good. And the seats were absolutely sumptuous. It’s worth noting that Jeep vehicles in Malaysia score highly in this area: The seats feel like armchairs in which you can relax, rather than stiff pews from which most would be perched upon when given the task of handling a car.

On the move, with that challenging snout pointed toward Pahang, the Cherokee exhibited something I wasn’t expecting from an American car. Poise.It handled corners with very little body roll, and a sure-footedness that caught me by surprise. Merging onto the highway, I gave the car a bootful, and it happily obliged. The slick 9-speed automatic gearbox shuffled through the gears smoothly, ensuring the 2.4 litre ‘MultiAirII Tigershark’ engine was always appeased. Highway refinement was impressive, with little in the way of road, tyre, and wind noise, despite being a high-riding off roader with chunky off road wheels.

As I made my climb up the Karak highway, the Cherokee continued to impress. In Trailhawk trim, the Jeep was definitely a head-turner. The red tow hooks on the front definitely meant the business; Failing which, a bright red badge just fore of the A-pillars, reading ‘TRAIL RATED,’ would’ve done the trick. I turned off the highway, and began to progress through narrow B-roads. The ride, though planted, proved pliant enough on the rutted surfaces of the unkempt roads you’d easily find in these almost forgotten parts of the country. I rolled back the blind on the panoramic sunroof, and wound the windows down, to savour the fresh air as I progressed further and further away from sea level.

Half an hour from the highway, the destination was in sight. A muddy track lay ahead, climbing up to the highest-elevated property in the area. The access road up was a mixture of mud, rock, and cement where the hill had fallen away. With a light drizzle coming on, I turned the drive mode selector to ‘Mud,’ flicked on the dazzlingly bright headlights, and forged ahead.

Not far into the climb, I stopped. The peaky power delivery that the drive selector had deemed appropriate was making me uncomfortable. Maybe its version of ‘Mud’ was much worse than this. I’m a city boy, what do I know? So I put it back in Auto, and climbed.

It never missed a beat. Before a wheel could slip, I could feel the Jeep shuffling power around, finding the wheel with most traction, and sending drive there. I made the 500m climb without much fuss, arriving unflustered at the top of the hill. When I’d taken the keys to theCherokee, it was pristine, shiny and clean after a wash. Stepping out of it though, it was covered in mud, from the wheelarches up to the mirrors. It was a proper mess… and it looked good.

Of course, not all is sunshine and rainbows in the land of the Cherokee. Questionable build quality in places, and a face that divides opinion do stand in the way of an otherwise perfect daydream. Oh, and there’s another fly in the ointment: The price. It just isn’t competitive enough to hold its own against peers from Europe and Japan, and though its off-road capabilities are massively impressive, its lack of even little things like a powered passenger’s seat meant that it just seemed slightly unreasonable.

So. The Cherokee. If money is no object, and you want a massively impressive SUV that is sure to turn heads wherever you go, be it a highrise in KL or an off-road track in the jungle, the Cherokee is a proposition that’s hard to beat. But, if like me, you’re ruled by the need to get the best bang for your buck, I’m afraid the Cherokee just doesn’t make enough sense.

Shame, really. Because it was really starting to grow on me.