I have been looking for an suv lately, and the one that i see for sale mostly is the jeep.
I have been looking at the XJ Cherokee's. However i have no experience with them and was wondering which one is the better one out their? wrangler? liberty? i have no clue. Looking to spend $9000 or less.

The car will be used for/need:
-daily driver
-4x4
-good/big storage area
-be easy to maintain, not too many problems beside regular fluid changes and small things;plugs, air filter, etc...
-easy and cheap to find parts for if broke
-long lasting
-occasional towing
-modification?

I know there are other vehicles out there, so if something is better then the jeep please post here.

 

IMO there is only one Jeep! Along with seven 4x4 pickup trucks, I've owned six Jeep products in my life (three were the ex Mrs. Hammer's daily drivers). Two Wranglers and four Grand Cherokees.

The XJ is a great off-road SUV, especially with the torquey 4.0 I6, and is super easy to build into an off-road beast. But tends to be a rough ride for a daily driver, not to mention interior space is limited and not too well laid out.

The Liberty is a good choice, is newer, and in the '02-'05 years should be within your budget. Negatives are it does NOT have a solid front axle (but not an issue for a daily driver, more off an off-roader deal), and it's a little short on power with the 3.7 V6 and as such gets no better gas mileage than it's big brother, the Grand Cherokee.

IMO that's where you need to look. At a 4.0 I6 Grand Cherokee Laredo 4x4. Two of the ex's were this model (the third being a V8 Limited). With the I6 you won't get great fuel economy, but the engine is bulletproof! It's also one of the easiest engines to work on and cheapest to obtain parts for. With the entry level Laredo package, although you'll still have power windows and locks, you won't have all the expensive electric crap to break on you like in a Limited or Overland. Also, a Laredo will have a much lower initial cost allowing you to get into a newer model with lower miles on it.

'99-'04 Laredo 4x4s with 60-90k miles on them all over my area for $4500-$9000 depending on year and mileage. Stay with the WJs ('99-'04) the newer ones '05+ are independent front suspension, mommy wagons. The solid front axle of the WJ 4x4s don't have CV half shafts to snap on you. Besides, unless it has "issues", I doubt you'll find an '05+ 4x4 in your price range. A Laredo 4x2 maybe, but not a 4x4.

My current daily driver is an '02 Grand Cherokee Overland, which is basically the "all the bells and whistles" model. A $40k + vehicle when new, but I picked mine up in early spring of '07 with 61k miles on it for just over $11,000. The power train has been solid as hell, but thank God I do my own work, because the little electric dual climate blend doors, heated seats, etc. would have cost me a mint in labor to fix. The Laredo ain't got these things to break on you...

 

that was a lot of help, thanks for posting.
I noticed you didnt metion anything about wranglers. Do they have problems? I personally like the look of those, though i know they arent very spacey. I do not like the look of the liberty so im going to stay away from them . I want a car that i like to look at as well. Now is there a certain year of xj's that i should look at or all the years are good?

 

No, the Wranglers are great, but they aren't the best daily drivers. Maybe the newer Unlimited with it's 4 doors, but it's only been out a few years and no way you are gonna swing one for anywhere near the $9k you are looking to spend.
Also, Wranglers hold their value well, so anything in the $9k range is gonna be a 10+ year old Jeep and probably seen it's better days.
XJs are great, but since the last year they were produced was '01 (replaced by the dreaded Liberty) it's gonna be hard to find one with under 100,000 miles on it. I think if you buy a close to 10 year old XJ it's not gonna serve well as a daily driver, unless you get lucky and just happen to fall into that one 10 year old one with like 60k miles on it, but it would be a tough find...

 

Very true, the best ones i seen on my local craiglist is ones with 90k on it going for about 6000. And the wrangler do hold their value very will they are still pretty darn pricy for being ten years old. At the end i do not mind a little stiff ride for a daily. Which better one i find at the end will be the car for me. But as of now I just need to find out which one is the best out there in my price range.

 

+1 on what hammer has said. He said everything i wold have said, and most likely more. 4.0 is easy to work on, and "bulletproof". There is a reason why jeep ran it for more than 20 years.

 

hammerz, just a quick question.
Is there a good after market support for the WJ's?
Not looking for much but for which ever jeep i will be getting will be lifted

 

HUGE aftermarket support for the WJ. Not as much as the ZJ (WJ's older brother), however it's getting there.

I agree with what hammer said, go for a WJ. Miles aren't too big of an issue. Obviously the lower you go the more life you *should* get out of a vehicle, but they're known to run over 200,000 without any issues.

Also do stick with a Laredo. Limiteds and Overlands are nice, but all the fancy bells and whistles tend to break. Blend doors (only the dual climate control found in Limiteds are affected by this) are a common and expensive fix. The heated seats tend to break as well.

One more thing, look for a 4.7L V8 as well. The gas mileage is very similar (1mpg better in the 4.0), as is the reliability. The 4.0 is a great engine, however it's simply a dog. I have it in my 93 ZJ and I get 14mpg around town and it's slow as molasses. Not to mention by getting the V8, you automatically get the D44a axle over the D35.

If you really want to get into it, the Jeep to look for would be a 99-02 Laredo(IIRC) with the 4.7L/NV242HD Selec-Trac combo. This will give you a 2wd option, as well as 4 part time, 4 full time, and 4 low. They're pretty hard to find.

Quadra Drive is another good one. It uses the NV247 transfer case (full time 4wd) with Varilock axles. Quadra Trac II uses the same transfer case, but no Varilock axles.

 

thanks for the answer man. But I have a question for you. You say look for 99-02, however hammerz said to look for '99-'04. Is there a reason why you stopped at 02 and skipped the 03 and 04? Or is there no difference in the two years?

 

99-02 was just because of the 4.7L/Selec-Trac combo. I believe that's the only years that the 242 was an option on the 4.7, however I'm not sure.

99-04 is the year range for the WJ model though.