Uncle FIGHTS

Having been inspired by its American rival, the Range Rover

-  CHARLIE CALDERWOOD

Land-Rover and Jeep are the two L oldest names in off-roading, yet they have rarely competed directly, especially not in the UK. That all changed in 1993, when the XJ-generation Jeep Cherokee gave the marque its British debut in Chrysler showrooms. Sales were ferocious, too: within five years, and with the help of the Grand Cherokee joining the line-up in 1995, Jeep had sold 44,000 vehicles, with the UK quickly becoming the brand's largest export market.

Put aside such ugly American things as quantities, however, and it's the Range Rover that holds the adoration of British enthusiasts today. Both were remarkably long in the tooth when they came up against each other in the early '90s, but how do these boxy, capable 4-litre off-roaders compare today?

'Soccer moms' are who we need to thank for the Cherokee's arrival in the UK market. Jeeps had been unofficially imported to these shores on a small scale prior to that by a failed thirdparty venture, but in 1993 Chrysler began a proper British export drive. The new Ford. Explorer was eating away at the Cherokee's home market, the road-biased Ford having found a voracious following among America's middle-class families. The Jeep had been on sale in Europe long before that, with Renault and AMC having been in partnership during the 1980s, but it was in the face of that fresh domestic competition that the decision was made to stump up the development costs of a right-hand-drive conversion. A curious sideeffect of that resolution was the Cherokee joining a long history of right-hooker Jeeps sold to the US Postal Service - a handful still deliver mail in particularly rural areas to this day.