I am toying with the idea of picking up one of these as a DD. Does anybody know what the changes are from sport to classic to limited?

 

Look it up on Wikipedia, they break it all down on years, options etc...

 

Pretty much the only difference between 2000 and 2001 is 2001 shipped from factory with the California emissions pre catalytic converters for a total of 3 in the exhaust system, 2000 had the option to have the California emissions pre-cats or the EPA emissions standards without the pre-cats. The limited has everything the classic has plus leather seats, the sport can have anything the classic has depending on how it was ordered from the factory. The classic has body color matched bumpers and trim, leather wrapped steering wheel, those are the only differences I remember.

 

And BOTH have the crappy crack-prone cylinder head......

 

and low pinion front axles and coil rails as opposed to the pre-2000 distributer.

1999 and 2000 were when most changes happened in those years.

 

Skip both years 99 or older only.

 

Yup one is as bas as the other like Andrew said look for a 99 and get the best options from the past and present without all the crap of the 00/01's.

 

ignore this post, wrong thread.

 

OK, good advice. Since I am thinking DD, I wasn't too concerned about the low pinion and I was thinking about replacing the head anyway. All the other stuff makes a good case for a loaded up 98-99.


My 98 has been great for reliability and minimal problems most of which are the result of serious off-roading.


Thanks for the feedback

 

I don't know about the Classic and Sport, but I have a 2000 Limited and can tell you that in 2000 the package came with:

leather seats
overhead console
faux wood radio bezel and door trim
6-speaker Infinity sound system with door flag tweeters and amp
16" Icon rims with full size spare
"chrome" grill, headlight surrounds and lift gate trim
tinted windows

Mine has power seats, door locks, windows and mirrors, factory fog lights and lighted vanity mirrors. I think all these things were included in the Limited package, but I can't be certain. Mine was loaded with everything except the Up Country lift, so I could be wrong about some of this. It's hard to tell from my build sheet what was included in the Limited package and what was added on.

Keep in mind also that some of the items that were included in the Limited trim were available as options for the other trim levels.

 

My '98 Classic had the overhead console and Infinity sound system, my 2000 Classic has the 16" Icon rims, or rather did before I swapped wheels and tires with the '98 (15" identical to the Icon rims) before it got sold.

 

My father has a 2000 (as well as two other 80's XJ's) and I have a 2001. Together we have close to half a million miles and no cylinder head issues and both have lived in Texas their whole lives. I think this particular issue is blown out of proportion here.

 

The Icons were available as an upgrade option if you were willing to pay more for them. You could order a Classic with Icons. However, in a weird twist, you could NOT order the Limited with the Eccos that came standard on the Classic. I didn't like the Icons when I first bought the Jeep and tried to get mine the Eccos instead, but the only way to get Eccos was to remove the Limited package from the order. The dealer told me if I wanted Eccos, I'd have to buy them separately and swap them myself.

The Icons grew on me, though, so in retrospect I'm glad I didn't get my way.

It's self-selection bias. Generally, the people who come here to talk about the heads are people who had the head crack. That's how I got here. People who have no problem with the heads are not usually going to seek out venues to talk about it. As a result, you will always see a disproportionate number of head cracks discussed, and it will appear that every 0331 head is doomed.

I like hearing people like you speak up when they have had no problem because it helps to balance out perceptions and give a more complete picture. Even so, having been through the crack, if I bought another one I'd replace it as a prophylactic measure.

 

You could also look at the grands the zj and wj are cheap enough and will ride better on the road then a xj will.

 

My 2004 WJ 4x4 "Overland" has every option offered by Jeep including Nav for that year including the 4.7HO engine. Best DD I have owned for year around driving. It rides almost as well as my 2014 Lincoln Town Car.