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Jeep Cherokee knowledge.

Bitch to work on those V8's and very expensive. Mercedes engines IIRC......and at 191K he can expect to spend some coin on it.
 
For CO, seller will probably get the asking price or close. People here think these things are gold plated

Having said that, there's a ton of used stuff here well under that price. Depends on what he's willing to work on/with
 
It's got a ton of mods and I bet it has been wheeled its whole life. I don't like that era of grands the 4.7L v8 sucks and I believe they are all wheel drive. If going for a grand Cherokee get an older one. Like pre-'98. The inline 6 ones were regular four wheel drive with an np231 tcase and the v8 ones 5.2/5.9 were all wheel drive. My wife had a '97 all wheel drive with 5.2L v8. Awesome in the snow, not many problems, parts everywhere, about 15 mpg I think. Back seats are small. I've had a few Cherokees also. The best is last year made 2001.
 
I am currently not happy about my decision to buy one of these for the wife. I hate it. Good engine, but that's about it. 140k and I am putting a trans in, in the next week or so.
 
Have him look at the gaps around the hatch doors and hood.

These twist up as bad as XJs unless braced up.

Hard to tell with out any really good pics.

Those WJs with that many miles on it seem to have a idiotic amount of small stuff go wrong with em.

My favorite looking of the unibody Grand Cherokee but I wouldn't buy one
 
The small stuff like Eric said, is very annoying. But we bought ours very cheap for $3500.
 
My DD is a 1996 regular Cherokee (not the grand) with the HO4.0 liter with a 5 speed manual. Mine is completely bone stock and I freaking love it. I have put almost 70K miles on it myself. It just turned over 200K on the clock not too long ago. Other than just minimal maint items like water pumps, starters, crap like that, this thing has been awesome. I did have to replace the clutch 2 months ago, but heck, that clutch went for a long time. I get just over 20 mpg's everywhere (city or highway driving). I purchased mine here in CO for $3500 back in 2012 and been running it ever sense.

I say go for a regular Cherokee over the grand Cherokees. Seems like more problems occur with the grand's than the sports. My brother had a 95 Grand Cherokee with the 4.0/auto combo for a while and once it hit 210K miles, it finally was too much costs for him to justify keeping the rig. Plus, most if not all of the grands have those 60/40 split t-cases (garbage)

I have even thought about putting a small lift (2 or 3 inches) and some 31's on it just cause I can, but then I realize that I just drive the piss out of it back and forth from work, and it still does just fine in the snow and meets my needs, so I leave it alone.
 
GWeakland620 said:
I am currently not happy about my decision to buy one of these for the wife. I hate it. Good engine, but that's about it. 140k and I am putting a trans in, in the next week or so.
Click to expand...

Those rigs burn through fuel, but the 4.0s often last a looong time. I echo the Cherokee sentiment. They seem to have fewer problems than the grands. But I would definitely avoid the V8 option. Even if they had the reliability of the 4.0, the hood is way too cramped. :doah:

And research the transfer case from the particular jeep you select. They are not all equal.


Greg, you could get the good engine while skipping some of the pitfalls by upgrading to a non-grand Cherokee.
 
I've had 3 the first was an 89 two door cherokee with inline 4.0 l 5 speed manual and 3 in skyjacker lift. Bought it cheap and drove it 1400 miles to Utah when I moved here. It had 295,000 and was ready for rebuild number 2 but still fun to wheel on ATV trails. Number 2 was a 2001 four door cherokee with inline 4.0 l and an auto. 3 in lift and cutout flares and 32s. Way fun also but traded it to get a diesel. Should've kept it. Last was a bone stock 97 grand cherokee with 5.2 l auto trans and all wheel drive. Drove great for 70,000 we had it. Only issues were funky battery problem and crappy aluminum rear Dana 44 that was easily swapped out for better Dana 35.
 
Novak in Logan, UT does cherokee chevy/ls conversions and they fit really well. I bet they are fun.
 
I suppose I should add, I DD a regular Cherokee also. 250k miles and keeps on chugging. The AX4 trannys are way better.
 
The biggest drawback to me is there's no damn frame. There's all sorts of cute little plates to half ads make one. Thus the name cherokar was born.

I'd be looking for a 1st or 2nd Gen Toyota.
 
My neighbor just traded her 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee in--within the past 3 years it needed a heater core (common failure on these,and requires the entire dash to be removed--cost her 1300 bucks)--then a few months later the alarm started going off for no reason at 2-3 am,local garages couldn't figure it out--dealer charged 780 dollars for a "body control module"...

The following year it started losing coolant,the water pump was blamed,another 550 bucks for a new one installed,but it still sometimes ran very close to the red line on the heat gauge..

2 months ago the dealer who did an oil change said coolant was mixing with the oil,and I checked the oil and sure enough--mayonaise!..she traded it in quickly before it started steaming out the exhaust...it has about 125K and she never used it for anything but driving to work and go shopping..oh yeah--it was the V8 version..!

At my friends shop,he has quite a few customers with these Jeeps (yuppie favorites around here)--he's replaced many automatic transmissions,transfer cases,quite a few front diffs,a few rears also--at least 4 of the V8 engines too ,that had valve seats drop into a cylinder,or the 4 foot long timing chains wear holes in the case and leak all the oil out & seized,many others needed radiators,water pumps,and a lot of them broke the rear shock bolts off in the unibody,and its a challenge to fix them..

He and I agree the "best" Jeeps have an inline six and if its a manual transmission ,so much the better..personally though I'm not a Jeep fan,if I had to have one,it would be a pre 2000 model with the straight six and a 5 speed manual..I feel their diffs are weak,and they are overpriced,for what they are...rather stick with an old chevy !.
 
diesel4me said:
personally though I'm not a Jeep fan,if I had to have one,it would be a pre 2000 model with the straight six and a 5 speed manual..I feel their diffs are weak,and they are overpriced,for what they are...
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Yeah, not much I can say about the price except that "it's a jeep thing, you wouldn't understand..." :haha: :rotfl:
 
diesel4me said:
personally though I'm not a Jeep fan,if I had to have one,it would be a pre 2000 model with the straight six and a 5 speed manual..I feel their diffs are weak,and they are overpriced,for what they are...
Click to expand...

And I would also go for a 1998+ non-grand Cherokee with the 4.0 and a 5 speed. Was looking actively to buy one a couple of years ago, but I just couldn't swallow getting 18MPG in a vehicle with the carrying capacity of a small sedan. I can beat that with my 1/2-ton rigs (which carry a LOT more), so I just kept what I had and bought a Saturn instead. I figured that if I was gonna have small carry capacity I should at least have 40MPG to show for it.

20-25MPG crossovers just don't make much sense to me. And Cherokees are among the thirstiest.

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Hijack off. If he wants a compact offroader with Jeep on the grille, I think the last few years of Cherokee production are probably as good as it gets (the real Cherokees, not the reboot).
 
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