Haha!!

 

Don't waste your time. If he's asking $9900, he's not coming down to a reasonable price.

Or go ahead and spend too much money on an '01, and we'll be waiting for your next post where you're describing symptoms of an 0331 head crack and wondering what to do next.

 

I would be skeptical of what the lowest, out the door price is. BTW, this is important terminology if going thru a dealership where financing is involved. Even if paying cash, in full, don'tlet them know that . It's your secret weapon for establishing their "out the door" price. All that aside, reasonable money for this is in the 3k ballpark for either. I'd start at like 2k, which would probably be pretty insulting to them.. :\

the 99's were the last good year, IMHO, assuming it isn't fitted with the 0331 head that came in the 1999.5+ models.

 

On the contrary, if you're paying cash, you should let the dealer know that. If you let a dealer think you are financing through his dealership, you will not get the best price.

The way a salesman normally sells cars is to use a shell game. He quotes you a price that is too high, and you balk at it. So then he says, "Well, let's see what we can do to get you in this car," and starts throwing out monthly payment numbers that don't sound nearly as bad as the original price he threw out there. You might think that $20K is too high, but then think that you can handle $300 per month for the next six years, and then he's got you. By shifting back and forth between financing and price, he can confuse you into thinking you're getting a better deal than you are.

The way to get the best price is to tell the salesman you're paying cash or have financing already in place through your bank. Then negotiate the price of the vehicle by itself. When he has to negotiate price and only price, he can't use the shell game. There has been research on this that shows that buyers consistently get a better price if financing is negotiated separately.

Once you have his rock bottom price, THEN you can say, "What kind of deal can you get me on financing?" Most likely the dealership's deal is not going to be as good as something you can get from a credit union, but you never know. Now instead of having the purchase price fluctuate while you're negotiating the financing, you already know the price and can negotiate just the financing part to get the best deal on that also. If the salesman starts trying to mess with the price during that negotiation, you can say, "Wait, we already settled on a price," and make him focus entirely on the financing instead.

Oh, and if a salesman ever gets out a piece of paper with four squares on it and starts trying to move numbers around, tell him to put that **** away and threaten to walk out if he doesn't. The foursquare, as it's called, is a scam.

 

Both already sold so I will be keeping my Rubicon unless I find that diamond in the rough. I can wait another few years for a house. No XJ will compare to my Rubicon anyway. I was just hoping for a paid for vehicle.

 

I bet my XJ will go places your Rubicon will not and has 227,000 mi on eng. and trans. But yours looks a lot better than mine lol.


That wasn't fair though, hope you find a nice XJ soon so the house can come sooner than later and mama's happy.

 

oh well, he was warned...

 

If I find a '99 I might buy it if its in excellent condition. I would have bought one of the '01's so I'm glad I read this thread. I'm not desperate to buy a vehicle since I have a great one, but to buy a house in a couple years I would need to downsize. I will just keep my eye out for a '99 since this is really the only other vehicle I would own besides a Wrangler.

 

i would find the cleanest 99 i could find, even if you have to travel the south from texas to florida. i would also look for an untouched stock as clean as i can find first before looking for a lifted one. with the modded/lifted one, you are stuck with what ever cheap lift he put in and you're counting on it done right or it will cost you even more in the end.

i just bought a new house last fall. i don't have a new JK, but i do have a couple lifted tj's, and a few lifted xj's. sure they're old, but like you, i couldn't afford a house and a new rubi. this way, i get what i want, and if i hit a tree, i won't cry over it.

good luck on your search.

 

Are the 2000's garbage?? I guess they are the start of the bad head design?? What if the XJ was well maintained or do they all go bad??

 

Not garbage, just a head cracking issue and a low pinion D30 front axle. There a bunch of 2000-01 XJs in my fleet at work with idiot government employees driving them, only seen one with a bad head. Don't let what "they" say be a deal breaker for you.

 

I'm thinking 4.5" lift and 33's as my max size. Will the D30 be able to handle that??

 

d30 can handle it all day long. d35, can too, but i'd look for one with an 8.25.

starting in year 2000, they changed from high to low pinion d30, a bit weaker, but not terrible, just less desirable.
also, the head, not all crack, but you have a slight chance.
and they switched from distributor to coil packs. no big deal, but i like distributors personally. hence my 99 xj and 99 tj. (tjs has low pinion and d35 and we wheel them pretty hard at times).

other than those design changes, slight change in the engine pipe and manifold design but other than that they're pretty much the same.

 

Here ya go: https://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/cto/5129827499.html

No real detailed description but, I'll bet it doesn't last long. End of the day at best.

 

Wish it was white. I could make gold work though. I'm sure the mileage is well into the 2's which I don't want to go that high if possible.