I have decided that i want to purchase a Cherokee. of all of the 4x4's i have ever driven the jeeps seem to be the best. what is the optimum year, drive train? i am mainly going to use it in the mojave desert in california with a few trips to the sand dunes.

 

you want it to ride like a cadillac or plan on offroading and playing?

 

I bought my Cherokee for that exact reason...I already own a YJ and it beats the pee out of me on the long trips IE Mojave trail, overnight Big Bear runs etc ....mine is a 91 limited LOADED and CLEAN with 72k miles on the odo but I bought from the original owner who towed it all its life behind a motor home so I bet it has less then 50k on the motor and trans(and i have the window sticker...he paid $26k in 91...yikes that was expensive)...I was looking at the 97-01 body (just looks correct when lifted ) and didnt find a low mileage specimen....so I ponied up for the 91...going for a 3.5 lift and 31s...in answer to your original question I would say anything 91 and newer (H.O. 4.o) are the best though I am amazed how many 250k+ one with 380k!!! mile Cherokees I saw out there and in decent shape in all years..all the low mileage ones that I saw on Ebay or autotrader where in Florida...kinda a pain to get and then freakin smog in Cali...good luck in your quest
Cameron

 

thank you for the info. i dont really care so much about the ride since it will be mostly off road when i drive it. i have a daily driver nissan sentra for the mileage. i do however live in the peoples republic of california so i need to keep it street legal and smog legal. LAME!