Obviously, Lloyd, you have never driven a 4.0L Cherokee. It's hardly slow. As a matter of fact, out of all the different non-V8 SUVs and light trucks I've driven, the 4.0L Cherokee had the best seat-of-the-pants acceleration of the lot. It even felt strong enough to whip a V-10 powered Excursion, although I've not compared the two back-to-back. And it's sure as hell quicker than any Ram I've driven, although I've not sampled either an SS/T or a Hemi. I'd hazard that it's close in acceleration to the '03 5.4L F150 Supercrew I had for a few days last summer, although I was really impressed with the torque that thing put out.
"It doesn't rev?!?!?" What the hell kind of criteria is that for an SUV motor? You don't think that the typical SUV driver makes purchase decisions based on what RPM the red line is at do you? For the few that buy them as off-road vehicles, it's low-end grunt that makes the sale. 4.0s have plenty of that. That it happens to excel in the SUV stoplight races is a nice ancillary benefit. But you've bought the marketing line that what's important about an engine is the redline, eh? Not surprising for a magazine-educated fool.
As to crudeness and noisyness, that's an interesting comment. Jeeps aren't intended to be pussy SUVs (well, up until the Liberty) like the X5 or Lexus. They also aren't priced like an X5 or a Lexus. People with a taste for your brand of 'refinement' shop elsewhere, as well they should. They also need to carry a AAA card when it snows heavily or if they by some chance wander too far into the back of the unpaved parking lot at the cider mill. But then again, I doubt the typical X5 driver ventures forth to rub elbows with the common folk noshing on cider and donuts.
For the blue jeans and t-shirt crowd, your standards of refinement and good engine design don't amount to a hill of shit.
Thank God.
--Geoff