Gnu,

Sometime after Chrysler took over Jeep, the brand just started to go to hell. I don't know if it was a conscious decision or not but the always dependable, go everywhere vehicle just became crap.
I do know that marketing has played a part in it. The Dodge Durango was supposed to be the new version of the Jeep Grand Wagoneer after the old version was discontinued in 1991. The Dodge Calibre is the same vehicle as the Jeep Compass but was released six months before the Compass (and we had been eagerly awaiting the Compass, until they announced it would not be offered with full or even part-time 4 wheel drive). They also managed to make the Compass the uglier of the two vehicles. The faithful standard small SUV, the Cherokee, was made smaller and more and more brick-like that it was discontinued, I'm guessing because of competition with Chrysler products. They also stopped producing the most dependable engine that was the standard, the 4.0 inline six. The only mark that didn't get squashed was the Wrangler probably because it is the great, great grandson of the original and has something of a cult following. The current gas crisis might do it in unless the promised diesel engine is a good strong and reliable replacement.