I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but thanks to the magic of the Internet it seems like our timeline is compressing upon itself. Well, pop-culturally at least. And by what I have seen from listings on television, streaming services, and music (Did you know that Jan Hammer has just released an album?) it seems like we will be riding this weird hybrid of the 70’s-90’s for a little while longer yet. Mind you, this trend doesn’t seem to be repeating on the automotive industry.
Of course, there is a point of practicality in all of this. Unless it is the only offering, it’s unlikely that people will want to spend more on the 4-door hardtop sedan, especially with buyers eschewing the sedan altogether. Very large convertibles just mean that the roof will be very large and complex. Also, we’ve advanced enough as a society that the size of your car no longer matches your status in life (Thank you Stuttgart and Seville).
Retro styling seems to be slowly falling out of style as well. The Ford Mustang has gradually evolved from its “See, just like the 1964” model into something rather new and quite beautiful; and the VW New New Beetle has been axed for 2019 as sales have waned and there are very important meetings in Wolfsburg to follow their new strategy towards electrification amidst European Commission concerns. Not that it has gone away completely, as the Dodge Challenger and the non-CUV Minis can attest, but it certainly has cooled off since everyone from America to Japan wanted another slice of glory-days styling.
And now we get to today’s subject, the 2-door SUV, a victim to changing consumer tastes and lifestyles. When off-road vehicles were mostly bought for off-road pursuits, the short wheelbase and better breakover angles provided by it were welcome. But those same things made it bouncy on the freeway, and very uncomfortable for the young families which quickly became the bulk of their buyers. Strapping a kid into their child seat on the back of their SUV is already complex enough without the added fun of also doing a contortionist routine through the front seat to make sure he’s strapped properly.
1997 brought along the most comprehensive refresh that the Cherokee received on its 17-year history (pre-facelift model show). Most distinguishable from the older models by its new “aero” front end, the changes included a revised interior, a stiffer body and various other improved goodies. The old guard of AMC engines (2.5-liter four and the 4.0-liter six) were there for a final run.
That revised interior was probably the most noticeable and welcome change for new buyers.
For comparison, here’s the old one. Apparently not very different, and yet those backlit gauges and slightly higher-quality plastics make it look so much more agreeable for someone like me, who feels the old one was 80s for all the wrong reasons.
I spotted this one I was going through a very great (and rather needed) tour of DC a while ago, sitting alone somewhere between the Washington Monument and the White House. A couple of rows forward and out of shot there were several Wranglers, all 4-doors, most with those silly front grille mods that make the headlights look angry. The one exception for the rule was a nice YJ Sahara which fit in about as well as someone with a regency-era suit at a black-tie event. Seeing it and that Cherokee made me wonder about the death of the two-door SUV’s and try to pinpoint when the options became reduced to “Wrangler”.
Turns out that, out of the Big Three, the Cherokee was the first one to give up the ghost. As right around this time Mr. Wolfgang Bernhard’s Chrysler had developed a successor for it in the Jeep Liberty. Both 2 and 4-door version said goodbye to our sinful earth in 2001.
After it, it was the turn of Ford, which had offered their Explorer as a 2-door since it was launched. In 2001 it was sold under the “Explorer Sport” brand alongside the curious Sport Trac pickup. Low sales ended that one in 2003. The Explorer name continues to this day of course, taking the mantle of the Taurus as the volume seller of the brand.
In the end, GM was the last one to kill their offering. The Blazer 2-door kept its 4-door brother company until they both retired in 2005; ending a nameplate dating back to 1969. Not to worry though, as 2019 will bring us a resurrected version of that name in, what else, a mid-size crossover. That market’s so hot right now. And GM can now attack it on multiple fronts with the Equinox, the Traverse and the Acadia all tackling roughly the same segment.
The 2-door SUV is still alive on selected markets through 2-door Monteros and Prados, the Suzuki Jimny is also there. And I guess the Range Rover Evoque and SV coupe is also there if you want a tall, expensive model. Still rather useless for putting a baby seat in the back, but this hardly seems to be of concern for the average Evoque convertible owner. Just imagine, in 1988 she would probably be driving around in a 500SL instead.
I still see these rolling around, doing their thing. But they are getting rougher looking and their time is running out. Soon the only ones left will be the heavily modded ones, which is okay I guess. It’ll keep them around for a little longer. These have been a familiar face since I was a kid. Honest, strong and simple. Now it’s all angry headlights and bling.
For the Cherokee, the topmost of the interior photos is the old AMC interior, the bottom one is the newer Chrysler interior. The 2-door models are relatively rare.
Another difference on the facelifted 1997+ models is the rear hatch is steel rather than fiberglass.
Yep- If nothing else, an airbag in the steering wheel identifies the newer interior.
Those 2 pics have switched caption.
I still remember questioning Ford’s projections about the high sales numbers for 4 door Explorers vs 2 doors. After all, the Bronco, Blazer and all the rest had sold tons of 2 doors. I assumed that the 4 door would simply augment the popular 2 door versions.
Bzzzzt. Wrong. The 2 door SUV’s fall from popularity was second only to that of the 3 door minivan. It makes you wonder how life could have been different if it had occurred to someone to offer the original Scout or Bronco with 4 doors.
I still want one of these XJ Cherokees, and I no longer care how many doors it has. I look at one every day in a driveway across the street.
I still see a fiew two doors around but that are getting very rusty here in michigan. I had some family members that had some of the two door blazers and Jimmy’s both full size and small. When some one says utility vehicle those are what first come to mind.
When did the enthusiast group shift focus from 2 doors to 4?
I genuinely am puzzled. I grew up in the 60s and 70s, when the epitome of styling was the 2 door coupe. PLCs were the ne plus ultra of this genre, but anything sporty or desirable came with one door per side. Anything with 4 doors was the stodgy model made for the masses, and not desirable unless it was the biggest luxury barge, loaded to the gills in options. Now, even hatchbacks are 4 doors by default. I get that they are a bit more practical, but in a tiny car, ease of entry into a back seat that has no leg, hip, shoulder or head room seems disingenuous. I guess having no kids colors my perspective, but then, I would never expect a tiny car to be a family hauler. When these SUVs morphed into family haulers at the expense of station wagons and minivans as fashions dictated, I don’t see why the 2 door version could not have soldiered on, but the market dictated their death.
4 words: Mandatory Child Safety Seats. Those laws started getting passed in the early 80s. Around 1983 or so a cousin visited from Tennessee and safety seats were the law there. I had never heard of that in Indiana at that point in time. He visited in a little 2 door hatchback. Getting the kids in and out was a real PITA. The sportiest cars could remain 2 doors, but for anything that saw even occasional family use, the 4 door became the new 2 door.
Even when there is a second car, family life often dictates that one parent take one kid somewhere while another has to take the other(s). And these things are not always planned in advance. I had a big 2 door during my little kid years (the 84 Olds 98) and really liked it for myself. But when it was time to put child seats/kids into the back, it was miserable. The 2 door became the car for someone like you who has no kids in his/her life. Even then once you hit middle age and need to carry more than one passenger the 2 door becomes inconvenient at best because none of them have the kind of room that the Impalas or even Monte Carlos did back when they were popular.
The trend toward ever-stiffer shells and more weight to accomplish it made the two-door pointless, as well. In the ’60s-80s, especially with unibodies, rear doors meant a substantial increase in dry weight even on otherwise-identical models (all bets were off if the four-door rode a longer wheelbase than the coupe which happened surprisingly often), and there could be a difference in shell stiffness that a well-calibrated tester could feel. Not as big a difference as between a trunked sedan/coupe and a hatchback, but that’s also diminished to nothing by increasing shell stiffness across the board.
The big points have been hit on, but I also think to some degree the death of the hardtop and standard A/C set the wheels in motion for the decline of the coupe as well. So much of the Coupe’s appeal is in the majestic beauty of a hardtop with the side windows down, but if you’re using A/C how often does your car even look like that? And once coupes got B pillars and fixed rear side glass like a 2-door sedan – which tellingly mostly died off by the turn of the 70s – there was little case to be made for them, they don’t look as pretty as old hardtop coupes, and if you wanted open air driving you get that more from a 4 door since the rear door glass rolls down(save for stupid GM with the 78 A bodies). You get a severe wind buffeting effect in a lot of modern coupes if you do that.
Coupes were declining in sales through the 80s before child seats laws reached the literal nanny state levels they are today, those were just strong nails in the coffin.
I often wondered the same thing. I think car seats may have been the tipping point nationally, but I also remember young single male colleagues buying 4 door Accords and Jettas by 1980, and slightly later, Civics, which seemed odd to me. When BMW added a 4 door M3 it seemed like that was the nail in the coffin. But I’ve usually been a hatchback or even wagon guy (when not truck).
The ‘enthusiast group’ didn’t shift to 4 doors…that’s just all that became available. 4 doors were brought out to reel in suburban family types, which is all well and good…but the 2-doors kind of languished in terms of development. The Explorer was always a joke as any kind of serious offroader, so the 2 door was just a fashion statement.
Chevy had the right idea with the 2nd gen small blazers. The 4 door was only ever offered as a more family oriented vehicle but the 2 door could be had as the ZR2 model with upgraded suspension and running gear. It was an upgrade all around and actually had some success. The 2wd was available in the sports oriented Xtreme variant also. Once the TrailBlazer came out…meh. Clark Griswold family truckster only.
Jeep COULD have offered a beefed up 2 door XJ to appeal to the enthusiast crowd, but that would step on the toes of the Wrangler, leaving them in kind of painted into a corner. If I were calling the shots then, the YJ and TJ would have had the 318 and/or 360 along with a Rubicon package available from day one. Kind of a ‘nuclear option’ for domination of that market. Then an upgraded 2 door XJ would have been differentiated enough.
FWIW, the Equinox, Traverse, GMC Acadia, and new Blazer are all slightly different sizes of CUV. The Equinox (and Terrain) used to be a 2-row midsize, but is now compact. The Traverse is a full-size CUV. The Acadia used to be a full-size with the Traverse, but is now a 3-row midsize. The new Blazer is a 2-row midsize on the same platform as the Acadia, taking the place of the old Equinox.
Right. The Equinox, Terrain, and Envision are on the compact D2XX platform.
The Acadia, XT5, and Blazer are on the midsize C1XX platform. While people think the Acadia is bigger than the other two, it isn’t. The only reason the Acadia fits in a third row is because it’s less stylized, with a more formally-flat rear cargo area.
The Enclave and Traverse are on a long-wheelbase version of the C1XX platform. There may be an eventual XT6/XT7 on this architecture, as well.
Now, weirdly, Cafillac’s new compact XT4 crossover is, according to most sources, related to the midsize E2XX Malibu and Regal. But E2XX is also related to C1XX. So does that basically make the XT4 a sawn-off XT5?
After owning an ’84 and ’90 Cherokees, I had a close look at a couple of ’98’s for sale. I was disappointed to find the redesign was as much about cost cutting as anything.
Most significantly, all the unibody galvanizing the earlier models enjoyed was eliminated, making the revised models rust even faster. The rustproof fiberglass tailgate was replaced by a cheaper metal one, albeit more rounded. The elaborate padded and carpeted multi piece door panels were replaced by simple hard plastic shells. The lovely seats were downgraded too, as were the paint choices. Gone were metallic paints, replaced by simple solid colors in most cases.
This cost cutting makes sense as Chrysler extended the life of the XJ by repositioning it as an entry level SUV at that time. But I don’t consider the redesign to be much of an improvement.
Absolutely agreed! Some useful functionality and improvements, but also absolutely rank cost-cutting, most notably on the galvanization as you mention, and things like interior bits and fabric. They also had a run of head-casting issues ’00-’01, my friend’s RWD ’01 unfortunately suffered this fate at 115k miles.
I always had a soft spot for the Cherokee. They were common here in Germany back in the day. So I think they were a big success for AMC/Chrysler. But as in the states, they are getting scarce here, too. Can´t remember when I see one last time. But I do only remeber the 4-door, maybe the 2-door wasn´t offered here.
With the 2-door SUV in general, same here. Never thought about that, but it´s true, you don´t see them very often anymore.
The demographics of 4×4 buyers changed in the 80s. I read the Vines/Cappy book about the last days of AMC last night. Plenty of discussion in there about the demographics of the 80s Jeep buyer, like the huge percentage of Jeep buyers that paid cash for the cars. The portion of Jeep owners whose other car was a Bimmer or Merc. The AMC honchos traveled to the west coast to see if Michael Milken could float some junk bonds to provide another $200M for the company. As they stood on the sidewalk, a stock broker drove up in a new Cherokee: black, gold wheels, gold pinstriping, bling to the max. As the guy got out and his trophy wife took the wheel, one of the group asked the broker how he liked the Cherokee. He said “it’s me”.
Mind you, this trend doesn’t seem to be repeating on the automotive industry.
It’s because entertainment and fashion of any era all compete on a level playing field today. It’s just as easy for me to watch the latest Marvel superbestfriends movie and watch Indiana Jones and the last crusade and come to the obvious conclusion that the one as old movie is superior to me, same goes for music, to an even greater degree.
The automotive world is complicated, many old cars are fashionable today, as seen featured in various forms of modern entertainment, but unlike the entertainment medium, cars degrade and gradually disappear, with only relatively few examples of a given model/year remaining, and they become more like art sculptures rather than their original task of transportation, so they effectively don’t compete against new cars, since most people who need transportation aren’t exposed to old equals. Imagine if all old music and films never made it to digital formats and the original masters were lost or destroyed. What good copies left would be worth fortunes and seldom played and other worn out copies would be nearly impossible to listen to/watch.
Getting people/items in/out of a rear seat took precedence over “style” gradually. Sort of how low roof sedans are declining. Practicality.
I really REALLY miss hard as nails capable yet rugged and stylish 2 door sports utilities. That Ramcharger really puts the arrow in the bullseye for me, even if its the later one without the removable roof. If FCA did a new one that made sure to check all the right boxes (Hemi V8, coil link solid front axle, at least a partially removable roof, styling HEAVILY influenced by the Rebel/Power Wagon) Id be right there with cash in hand. A manual transmission might be a bridge too far. I have no kids or any intentions of having any so a soft frumpy family wagon…NYET.
I am lucky enough to have a XJ just like this one, with a manual and full equipment, words cannot describe how much I love this car, many cars has passed our garage, this one endured so far, and will keep being part of the family.
If something is certain in my life, is that this SUV will always start. Try to keep it in good shape, rust is not a problem in México, so eventually some TLC will do, although it runs and drives great.
I would encourage people to take better care of XJ´s… one day will be rare. A solid CurbsideClassic!
I like the pre face-lift model much better, inside and out.
Had one (think it was an 1988) with the 4.0 ho engine, and a auto, and I really liked that car. All options except airco, weird enough, which made it awfully hot in summer. Black leather and no airco, don’t do it.
Anybody see the movie Christine? That’s my relationship with my 98 XJ Classic. Grew up in Geneva Illinois near the oldest Jeep dealer in America, the size of three houses put together extremly small. I graduated HS in 1995 and had been saving since 92ish for a car, didn’t know what I wanted but just something new. I was walking home from my job which was 3 blocks east of Lou’s Jeep Eagle when for some reason I took notice of these Cherokee’s being unloaded. Living near the dealership it was a regular occurrence, though a small dealership too see cars being delivered. A Chili pepper red Cherokee was one of the six being delivered and I really thought it looked bad ass having these Goodyear tires gleaming with fresh red paint, I dunno so anyhow I decided to go into their showroom and ask for brochure or info on the Cherokee. The lady said if you wanna talk to my Dad he’ll be right in, I was hesitant but was willing since she was smoking HOT. Turned out to be owners daughter… anyways loooong story short next thing I knew he had me sitting in that 98 Cherokee and I’m 21 years old looking at a sticker price of 25,844! Next day I brought 3500 dollars I had been saving along with my Dad and with 3.4 miles on her odometer I drove her home. Two things you won’t believe, it’s NEVER had anything but 93 octane (don’t do that math) and this very second while my wife gets a new Lexus every few years, this year it was new Sequoia, my XJ is in the garage with 413k all original TROUBLE free Hellish miles on her. It’s a constant source of friction with my wife that I still drive it, use the tape player and puts it in the garage leaving my 2015 Land Cruiser outside. It’s truly my baby, 21 years together,21 hellish Chicago winters, summers Illinois portholes and just beating the ever living shit outta her in my younger years it’s family to me. I can’t stomach even looking at these Fiats today with Jeep labels and HONESTLY I’m blessed to be able nowadays to buy whatever car or car’s I’d like, but there isn’t a car on earth I’d love more or do than my XJ. Jeep died in 06 when the last 4.0 liter rolled off the Ohio assembly line. I bought the Land Cruiser to shut my wife up (lasted 8 seconds) and I’ve put less than 4k miles on it! Aside from the rocker panels rusting out she’s mint and there’s no other vehicle on earth I’d rather own.
I had a 97 XJ, 4.0 litre Ltd for a while, dual fuel with LPG. We first saw them when visiting the States and I fell in love with the looks and went looking for one when we returned to the UK.
It’s a deceptive vehicle. It looks like it’s going to be a comfy soft-roader, similar profile to a range rover, but it’s not. It’s a rufty-tufty offroader with a saloon body. It bangs and crashes over the bumps like an old Land Rover.
My son had a Grand Cherokee which was a much more civilised machine.
I later bought a Wrangler TJ which was a much better machine than the contempory Defender.