Jeep Cherokee vs. Subaru Forester
Jeep Cherokee
Subaru Forester
Overall Reliability Rating
Overall Car Ratings & Details
| 5 | (1) | |
| 4 | (16) | |
| 3 | (9) | |
| 2 | (2) | |
| 1 | (2) |
| 5 | (3) | |
| 4 | (20) | |
| 3 | (3) | |
| 2 | (1) | |
| 1 | (0) |
Vehicle Comparison Rundown
The Jeep Cherokee and the Subaru Forester are both compact, two-row SUVs. The Cherokee comes with front-wheel drive or optional all-wheel drive. The Forester comes with standard all-wheel drive.
Standard and optional engines in the Jeep Cherokee and the Subaru Forester are in the same ballpark, power-wise. Cherokee’s standard engine has 180 horsepower, a little bit more than the 170 standard horsepower in Forester. This carries over to their optional power sources, where Cherokee’s 271-horsepower pulls slightly ahead of Forester’s 250 maximum horsepower.
The comparison is more telling for cargo space. The Jeep Cherokee has 54.9 cubic feet of space behind the front row, with the rear seats down. The Subaru Forester gives you much more, a total of 74.7 cubic feet when the rear seats are folded. Forester scores big here.
Plan to take your SUV off the road? The Jeep Cherokee and the Subaru Forester can handle most recreational off-road duties. But if you plan on attacking slick rock or mud bogs, the specially equipped Cherokee Trailhawk is a better bet for extreme off-roading.
The choice between the Jeep Cherokee and the Subaru Forester comes down to how you plan to use your compact SUV. The Cherokee scores for its slight power edge and its extreme off-road capabilities, when properly equipped. The Forester has much more cargo capacity, and is ready for light-to-medium duty off-roading right out of the box, thanks to its standard all-wheel drive.