I’m trying to decide to buy a 2000 XJ sport with a 4.5” rough country lift. The engine was replaced a couple of months ago and the engine that was put in had 97,000 miles on it. The Jeep is in good shape. There is a rust spot on the passenger side. It drives nice. It would be my fourth Jeep. I had 2 wranglers and a Liberty. Looking for the pros and cons of a XJ.

 

Well, rust is funny stuff.

1. It's never alone.
2. It never sleeps.

I'd give that thing a very careful examination for rust, since you have some already. There is more where that came from. That's not a show stopper, but it's best to know.

Pros and cons?

Pros:

• Simple to work on.
• Parts are readily available.
• Parts are cheap.
• Lots of parts interchangeability between years (not unlimited, but pretty impressive).
• Tons of modification options. Engines, suspensions, everything. If you want to build it, you can build it. If you want to bolt on performance, someone makes it.
• There's a great forum where you can get advice from people who have a ton of experience with XJs.
• The engine and transmissions (both flavors, auto and manual) are bullet proof. Almost stupid proof, in fact. (But nothing is completely idiot proof, of course.) 300k is not a big deal on one of these.
• 4WD for snow country.
• Great looking beasts.
• They hold their value pretty well.
• I'm sure I'm missing a few.

Cons:

• They are getting old.
  • The parts are eventually going to dry up.
  • They require maintenance.
• Prices seem to vary a lot regionally. Someone just reported getting $6600 for one. I live in an expensive area and that's crazy high.
• They are very picky about some parts. Sensors? Stick to OEM only. (NGK/NTK).
• I'm sure I'm missing a few.

What year is the beast you are looking at?

 

Its a 2000 Cherokee sport. Front end has been redone. New engine with 97,000 miles on it with a 4 month warranty. It’s going for 2000 dollars. I see a lot of jeeps going with a lot more issues for more money or the same. Not sure what to do.

 

The one thing I would want to see is how bad is the floor in the cargo area in that corner
and how bad the rest of the rear quarter is under the bumper cap.
Not a deal breaker but at least give you a better idea of what is going on under there.

 

The floor in the cargo area looks ok. Rust doesn’t look like it’s gone thru. I checked the frame the best I could. Hard for me to get up and down due to back surgeries. Do you think it’s worth getting?

 

At 2k? Yep. Definitely.

 

It's junk, send me the address so I can go pick it up for recycling. ; )