It's not easy finding a really clean '97-'99 here on the Illinois/Wisconsin border. After looking at and driving a few I started to get discouraged. I decided to up my price a bit and made an offer on a 1997 Sport. It's a certified one owner with all maintenance records from the same dealership since 1998. It has 106k miles with no rust or mechanical problems. The interior is near perfect. It is however a base model with manual windows & locks. It has a CD player and that's about it for options. Doesn't bother me much, but she sure is plain.
They will sell it to me for $4000 + my clunker which I value at less than $750. Puts it nearly at full retail, but the mileage, records and condition sure are tempting.

Decent deal?

 

Go for it. Pay 4 grand now for a reliable clean XJ, or pay the same a little at a time rebuilding a beater that may leave you on the side of the road a lot. That XJ looks very nice and worth the money. You can expect to get another 200k out of it.

 

I'll agree that is one clean jeep, what makes it more attractive is the maintenance records.... you know where its been......

pick it up and don't look back, having manual windows/locks is a plus with a lot of folks, to bad its not a stick...

plus you can always add cruise if you find yourself needing/wanting it later....

to close the deal I'll add this, you'll be hard pressed to find another with records like you stated in this good of shape

 

I gotta say that's expensive I bought a 98 fully loaded for 4 grand clean as hell.
but maybe the market is just a little weaker in Los Angeles.

 

I would buy it but still try to talk it down to 3800 or less if you can just to get a deal.I rather have manual windows and locks a lot less to go wrong and they work forever.

 

Try to talk it down to like 3,500 and see what happens

 

Yes, absolutely. Crawl underneath and take a look, negotiate from there. Looks like there's a bit of surface rust starting on the driver's side rocker just ahead of the rear tire. A rust free body is absolutely worth it.

 

Looks nice and clean. I think those rims are an upgrade. My 00 sport has a lot of options but still came with the stock steelies.

 

Here is a closeup of the driver's side rocker.



I need to go crawl under the Jeep and kick some tires! Thanks for all the replies. I had one dealer tell me I can't be too picky for a 14-17 year old vehicle, but it's my darn money!

 

In that last pic it looks like overspray on those fender flares. Check them out the rockers very well as they may have had a quick fix of Bondo slapped on to hide some rust.

 

Definitely try and negotiate but id pick it up in a heartbeat.

 

I don't like that and just emailed the dealer. I think the Jeep is still nice for the year and the mileage/records are great, but they are going to have to work with me.

 

That thing looks ridiculously clean!

 

$3250 with your trade-in....
$4k without it. but definitely check that over spray out and check out that little bit of rust underneath the rocker panels right along the pinch seam really look hard.
looks like they're trying to hide something.
get underneath and look at the rear shock upper mount bolts, see if they're rusted up.
check the leaf spring bolts see if they're rusted up

 

just to give you a comparison my 98 was just as clean or cleaner than that one plus it had power everything ,tow package, and the up country suspension system, which includes every skid plate: gas tank, front plate, transfer case, everything and the rear sway bar delete from the factory.
Also roughly 1 inch higher coils and leaf springs, to top it off the Chrysler 8.25 had a limited slip differential.

the good deals are out there in this one maybe one I'm just saying it's a little more expensive then you need to pay especially since you have a trade in vehicle.

good luck bro and keep us posted