Where do you live? I live in North Georgia and I paid $2300 for my stock XJ with 170k or so miles. It's clean and runs well, too. No rust. However... I would definitely shop around more next time. These vehicles are a dime a dozen. There are great deals to be had, you just have to be patient. If you don't need something to drive ASAP, I'd just keep looking. $2,500 for a 4x4 in good condition with 180k is by no means bad, but it's not amazing or anything.

Just please do yourself a huge favor and remember to step back and realize that you don't have to buy the first Cherokee you look at/test drive. Don't feel bad if you have to tell the guy you're not interested. You can always get out of it until the cash changes hands.

 

I will give my opinion about one thing that makes a world of difference to me when comparing pre '97 with '97+, The front door windows, especially on the 4-door version. Pre '97 all had the "wing" window and I happen to buy at the drive-thru window a lot. The smallish window opening on the pre '97 always bugged me. That to me seems to be the biggest function difference between the years. Everything else is cosmetic (other than the air bags)

 

That is solid advice, and I needed it. There a lot of Cherokee's out there, so I should just wait until I get the year, condition, and price that I want.

So my other question to everyone is... Is buying a 96-99 Cherokee with 150-200k miles on it just asking to be in the shop every other week? I know that they are very simple to repair, but I won't have a ton of time to do repairs myself so I would definitely be taking it in somewhere. Is this vehicle still a good buy even if I won't be servicing it myself?

 

I haven't noticed that difference, so I will definitely take a look next time I can compare the two. Thanks for the input, really appreciated!

 

Nope! My XJ has 180k miles. I've probably put 10k or so on it myself and the only thing even close to a major repair I've done is replacing the pads and rotors. These engines are really reliable.

 

The "newest" Cherokee is 12 years old, so yes plan on spending money, lots of it if you can't repair it yourself. Be especially leery of any vehicle that sat for "a couple of years" and is now for sale.

 

Ok, so I just found a '99 4-door, Cherokee Limited in much better shape. The only thing I don't love about it is it's 2WD. Is that going to be terrible in the snow? I know it obviously won't be as good as the 4WD, but not sure how much worse.

Recommendations?

 

4WD>FWD>RWD

A rear drive Cherokee is just like a rear drive car or pickup. When driving in snow a couple or three hundred pounds of sand over the drive axle sure won't hurt anything.

 

In the snow, you can get by on road as long as you have good tyres. They need to be rated M+S at least. Preferably full winter tyres on a spare set of wheels. It sounds expensive but it's cheaper than smacking another vehicle and having spare wheels saves you the cost of refitting the tyres every six months. Swap them over whenever the average temperature at the time you commute (or do most driving) drops below 7 degrees C (45F).
Don't forget that having two sets of tyres means you wear them out at half the rate.

However, if you buy a 2WD you're always going to want a 4WD.

 

I wouldn't... I bought a 2wd and regret it every day.

 

That's exactly what I'm scared of. But it would be hard not to jump on a 2WD '99 Cherokee Limited with 120k miles and no major issues for $1,500. Or is that not as good of a deal as I am thinking?