Jesse James

i got a YJ that had been overfilled with oil by the kid that had owned it before me when i turned 11 years old. Dad n i got er goin n my brother and i beat the h3ll outa it in our feilds.
Soon after that, my dad bought his '92 XJ which now has a spun main bearing and is my pull-a-part vehicle for my '00 XJ that i bought last fall. Its tru what they say about the whole Jeep thingg.. its infectious.

NeosXJ

Mine found me. It used to be my company truck from '98 to '05, and I loved it. After I moved to another job, I heard it got rear-ended and that my old boss was considering selling it. It took me about two years to convince him to sell it to me (it sat in the warehouse the whole time); we agreed on $500, I got it started with a new battery, drove it home, and changed the fluids. A few weeks later I pulled out the rear panel and replaced the rear bumper and now you can't tell it was ever wrecked. Huge fan of XJs in general, and this one in particular!

northline76

My step dad owned one before he married my mom, when they got married he needed something bigger so he sold his XJ and got a Ram 1500. When my mom was needing a new DD in late 00, they ended up buying this 01 XJ. She drove it for about 7 years before they sold it to me. That jeep is my baby and i wouldnt change a thing, well maybe more lift

BamaXJ

I wanted something really cheap to buy, and easy to fix up, so I found an 89 XJ in my brother's fiance's dad's backyard (a mouthful, I know), and he told me I could have it since he wanted it off of his insurance. This is my first vehicle and I've quickly learned what it really means to build your own rig. I love this thing. It's required a lot of money and elbow grease to get her where she is now, and it's a long way off, but I'm having the time of my life wheeling and fixing it up. It really is my escape.

All of my friends drive huge 6.5"+ lifted Toyotas, Dodges, etc., and I'm usually laughed at for having such a small vehicle. But the performance speaks for itself. I've outdone various trucks on the trails to earn the respect of my buddies. My XJ has done a lot for me, and I am really glad that I am now into the XJ scene, and will be for a long time.

COSXJFAN

I, like many others here, got it due to the ability to carry the family on an outdoor excursion. A Wrangler will hold two adults, and two small to mid-sized children, and little to no gear. An XJ will hold four adults, and gear for a camping weekend, and beer for a camping weekend!!



You get the idea!!

hedbutter

I have always been a fan of camping/outdoors/going out in the woods and having a good time, however, my first vehicle was a car so i couldn't really do that unless i got the family Tahoe out there which sucked because i had to clean it thoroughly... so i decided that i was going to get a 4x4 and i have been looking for about a month and the XJ was everything i wanted, 4x4, low mileage, and could hold more than 1 person so i went with it.

iowabowhunter1

I grew up hunting with my uncles and they both had early 90's xj's when i was about 6 or 7....I really looked up to my uncles and I liked the xj because they had them...then they both traded in their xj's and bought newer ones..year 2000 to be specific...and just about 6 months ago my uncle that still had his decided he wanted to sell it so i bought it from him...my other uncle had one but traded his in for a jeep liberty. gotta love jeeps!

FarmHand10.0

I guess it's in our blood. My Grandpa had a Comanchee (My uncle now owns it), my dad had a Cherokee, as well as two of my brothers, and my other brother has a wrangler. Even my brothers girlfriend has a Jeep. So naturally, that's what I got too.

Schmoozer

I honestly really wanted a Wrangler, but I needed something larger to carry all my crap back and forth from college. But I was determined to get a Jeep (always loved them, I don't know why), hemmed and hawed, called around, called around, finally a guy said he had a 2001 Cherokee for $xxxx, which was less then KBB. I figured there must be something wrong with it, went to test drive it (mean while I have to leave for college the next day) and loved it, had a clear car facts report and ran like a champ. Between my parents and I we had the money for the down payment so we started signing paper work. The sales guy goes to get his boss to sign off on it and he comes out and says; no way that's not enough. My parents, without batting an eyelash, said "OK," and we walked out. The manager chased us outside saying "wait wait" and said if we gave him all the cash in out pockets we could have it, I think he weaseled an extra $100 out of us. I left for college the next morning and somewhere between leaving VA and leaving WV we got to be real close friends. She hasn't failed me yet either, still runs like a champs and hasn't had any problems that I haven't caused.

H0ll0W

well for what i had in my pocket (71 bucks) and a ride 2 towns over you couldn't beat it. that's the story of how i got my xj lol

STROMVADER

Fate, hard times, and the fact I love to tinker brought me and my XJ together. On Dec 15, 2008 the Eng. Firm I have worked for, for 8 years, laid me off for the first time. I had a 2008 Silverado crew z71 that also had a hefty payment. My income was cut to 1/3 of what I used to make and it was the truck or the house. Bye truck. Prior to stopping making payments and driving it to the bank, I shopped for suvs. After tons of research, I concluded that the XJ was the only worthy vehicle. Got mine for $4,900 OTD, w/ no rust or wheeling, a lil hail damage, and 82,000mi. I could never take a sawzall, cut off wheel, or torches to an 08' z71, in my right mind. I have a mig, love to fab, own an Xj and am laid off. Kind of a tinkerers paradise....almost. NEED $$$$$$$$

andreworr

Went looking for it, and it took forever to find a good 5 speed. Best car I've ever owned. 8 years and 100k later the only things that ever broke are the blower and a window motor.

Duncan1800

Couple of reasons, actually. Feel free to skip down to the final paragraph if you're not into nostalgia or philosophy.

First, I have very good memories of riding around during my youth in the '88 Cherokee Pioneer my friend's mom owned. From elementary school field trips to high school football games (with my buddy driving - mmm, 4.0-liter burnouts!), that truck was a big part of my childhood. They had it for something like a decade before trading up to a Grand Cherokee, and I hadn't really thought much about that particular vehicle again until recently.

Second, in the intervening span of time since those younger days, I have watched the once-limited SUV market grow, grow MASSIVELY, and eventually push itself right out of the niche that the XJ used to dominate. I'd always appreciated the XJ's ability to take on anything and everything you could throw at it on the trail and still keep thumping away without breaking a sweat. I now appreciate those qualities even more, since most modern SUVs (even the supposed "heavy-duty" types) are gradually having the raw guts engineered out of them in favor of better on-road manners. The XJ excelled, and continues to shine, for its ability to balance daily usability with off-road toughness.

Fast forward to the current year. I'm finally (barely) successful enough these days that I can afford to take on another vehicle solely for the fun of it, and I'm making the final payment on my daily-driven Mazda this week. So I started casually searching for good 4WD buildup candidates online, and came across the '89 Cherokee Pioneer I'm about to bring home on Saturday. I've never had a vehicle I can consider to be strictly for amusement purposes, and I hope to improve my mechanical abilities while building a rig that can take me wherever I might want to go.

Long story short, I'd like to think I'm both rescuing an otherwise forgotten little piece of history and thumbing my nose at the current status quo. Either way, it's gonna be a blast!

93XJRay

my xj found me too. some weird number called me one night and i answered and the guy said yeah did you call me about the cherokee on craigslist? and i said no i think you got the wrong number. it was the same area code tho. so naturally i looked it up cuz i know jeep makes alot of 5 speeds and i wont drive an automatic and sure enough it was a 93 cherokee 5 speed, $500 and it was my favorite color.. BLUE. so i bought it with no floors in it whatsoever. welded street signs in there, por 15 the bottom and figured out that you could make them big and mean looking. so im in the process right now. got my 3" lift and getting 32" tires asap

thelaststarfighter13

I've always been a hardcore ford guy. I bought a $200 86 F150 4x4 and built it into a total beast. I mean this thing was absolutely unstoppable in the mud. Well, long story short I had a fire and it burned (someone flipped a cigarette into the bed). My momma felt sorry for me and gave me the old jeep she has had forever. She bought it when I turned 16 and I got her car. I was NEVER allowed to drive it. The first time I ever drove it was was a couple of weeks ago when she said I could have it. I LOVE IT! Its like night and day driving something so small and capable compared to the old pickup. Cant wait to mod it out!!!!!