Rather than take on the wild frontier, I spent the majority of my Cherokee Overland test week doing the tasks that most people use their SUV for. I dropped off and picked up my daughter from school, hoisted my 2.5 year old son in and out of his car seat over and over, loaded up the cargo area with a shopping cart full of groceries, dropped 40 percent of the 60/40 split rear seatback forward to heave a few 2x4s aboard with the kids still looking on from the still upright adjacent 60 percent segment, dawdled through unnerving stop and go traffic before hitting high speed highway bliss to make up the lost time, followed up by the wonderfully winding coastal road out to my mountain home.

Jeep's flagship is really an ideal vehicle for everyday use, with the added confidence of go-anywhere traction. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press)

Sound like a regular day for you? Well maybe not the winding coastal road and mountain home part, but the majority of Grand Cherokee owners should relate to the school/kids scenario. Jeep's flagship is really an ideal vehicle for such duties, with the added confidence of go-anywhere traction in case you get caught in an unexpected snowstorm.

While still nimble and agile compared to full-size domestic SUVs, the Cherokee's on-road stability has been overshadowed by the new breed of car-like sport utililies. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press)

When it comes to overcoming corners the updated 2004 model performs quite well, with room for improvement when it comes to steering directness and on-center feel. I remember when the Grand Cherokee came out as an all new model. I couldn't believe how car-like it was considering its off-road abilities. Now, while still nimble and agile compared to full-size domestic SUVs, its on-road stability has been overshadowed by a completely new breed of car-like sport utililies. I suppose this is an understandable tradeoff though, with the probability of taking such glorified station wagons onto anything more treacherous than a gravel parking lot being out of the question.