Winding road handling?

[Trailfirst]

I drove on the tightest of the three "range roads" in our region on the weekend - first time in the Trailhawk - and was a bit horrified at how uncomfortable the wee beastie felt when pushed a bit in tight twisties - more so downhill than uphill.

She was VERY heavy to turn in really deep - and felt really on the verge of understeer - like RIGHT on the edge of letting go a few times. I really didn't enjoy the sensation at all! (keep in mind I also drive an EXTREMELY quick Falcon so might just be spoiled).

Has anyone else felt their Cherokee to be a bit less in handling than they might have expected?

We just had it serviced - where they did align it - and I'm sure the steering feels somewhat heavier off centre than it did before and the vehicle tracks noticeably more solidly DEAD straight with hands off - so its possible the buggers gave it a bit more toe in to correct a bit of wear on outside passenger side and inside driver side front tyres.

Book specs are 0.1 degree toe IN with +/- 0.15 degrees tolerance - so as much as half a degree toe OUT would be in spec - I might try that (I set my Falcon to between zero and poofteenth toe OUT for best handling - ANY toe in is shite on that).

[lujabe]

I think it's all relative. My previous vehicle was a Gti Golf, so the Trailhawk handles like a barrel of crap by comparison. That said, it's probably the best balanced off-road capable vehicle I've driven. At the end of the day it's still a near-on 2 tonne vehicle on stilts and somewhat baggy tyres, so I'm never surprised when the nose wants to push wide on a tight downhill facing turn. Take a Prado for a spin and then you'll have a newfound appreciation when you get back into yours, I promise!

[Trailfirst]

Thanks lujabe - I understand what you mean I don't expect the Trailhawk to beat all comers - was just surprised by just how outright poor it handled And yeah, my Falcon is similar situation - the car handles better than the seats are able to hold and when it does slide its beautifully progressive and balanced. I wouldn't even have tried to push the TH except we had a couple of cars in turn end up bit more than tailgating (clearly showing attitude) so I tried to get a wriggle on to not hold em up so much until I could pull over - no thought of trying to race or beat them - I just wanted better gap. That felt so ugly very quickly that I instead slowed down a bit so their (very near) distance was safer for the speed - and got off as soon as I could to let them go. If the dickheads had just stayed further back - and I mean they were STUPIDLY close (common thing in FNQ tho) - I'd have stayed at my original slightly higher pace.

The first believe it or not looked very much like an EL GT so i wasn't bothered by that one, but the second was a bloody beat up ute of some sort with fibreglass back canopy on it and elderly durry chompin hillbilly lookin guy driving - ie. hilux or triton type thing - older model. THAT stung a bit...

It also didn't occur to me to try selecting either snow mode to put drive thru all 4 wheels or sport mode to give rear wheel drive bias and see if that felt better.

[lujabe]

Originally Posted by Trailfirst

Thanks lujabe - I understand what you mean I don't expect the Trailhawk to beat all comers - was just surprised by just how outright poor it handled And yeah, my Falcon is similar situation - the car handles better than the seats are able to hold and when it does slide its beautifully progressive and balanced. I wouldn't even have tried to push the TH except we had a couple of cars in turn end up bit more than tailgating (clearly showing attitude) so I tried to get a wriggle on to not hold em up so much until I could pull over - no thought of trying to race or beat them - I just wanted better gap. That felt so ugly very quickly that I instead slowed down a bit so their (very near) distance was safer for the speed - and got off as soon as I could to let them go. If the dickheads had just stayed further back - and I mean they were STUPIDLY close (common thing in FNQ tho) - I'd have stayed at my original slightly higher pace.

The first believe it or not looked very much like an EL GT so i wasn't bothered by that one, but the second was a bloody beat up ute of some sort with fibreglass back canopy on it and elderly durry chompin hillbilly lookin guy driving - ie. hilux or triton type thing - older model. THAT stung a bit...

It also didn't occur to me to try selecting either snow mode to put drive thru all 4 wheels or sport mode to give rear wheel drive bias and see if that felt better.

Hmm. I can't say I've ever felt I'm holding up traffic... Yeah you get the occasional flog trying to prove a point on a hilly/windy road, but last time that flog was driving a hilux he nearly lost it sideways trying to keep up on a bend, so from what you describe it sounds like something's not quite right.

[SeaComms]

Try the same stretch in spot mode which engages the rear wheels, mine feels much more sure footed like that. In auto it just feels like a large front wheel drive. That is in comparison to the wifes front wheel drive Cooper S...

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[260DET]

Comparing a Trailhawk with a good handling sedan like a Falcon is a bit unrealistic as you probably realise. Honestly I'm impressed by the handling of my diesel and that includes some very tight mountain driving on third grade roads, I don't hang around, it's usually other people holding me up. Different stock tyres to a Trailhawk of course. No, my low rider is damn good, recommended.

[Trailfirst]

Dynapro AT-m RF10 Tyres fitted in 2016 and some wheel alignment changes improved the situation a lot, but after 18 months / approx 42000km the Dynapro tyres started losing grip in the wet.

New tyres fitted in August (2019) are Pirelli All Terrain Plus and are fantastic so far. So were the Hankooks when they were new tho so time will really tell. The Pirelli's are better than the Hankooks were even new.

Also have Bilsteins in the TH now - which REALLY improve handling as well as just all round being bloody fantastic.

When replacing the front struts I discovered it looks very much like our TH came from the dealer (ie. from factory) set up to drive on the RH side of the road. Correcting that I suspect is part of the improvement now.