Been looking for a Cherokee to drive to work since I live about an hour away and NH can been down right mean with snow sometimes.

I've come to the conclusion that this might take a while.....lol

The first Cherokee I looked at was a 97 had 155,000 on it was 2500/bo looked pretty mint inside and out, UNTIL.....I looked underneath and saw the carpet....lol

The second one I looked at was a 2000 had 170,000 miles on it they same guy wanted 4400.00 and the rockers were all rotted.

I'm in no rush, so I figured I'd take my time and start looking to see what I'm up against.

 

good luck with the hunt.

 

I might hop an airplane to the Carolinas....

 

I'm in New England as well. Took me about six months to find mine. Most of the ones in NH were trashed and rotted to hell. Found my baby owned by a girl in college who just parked it there. Minimal rust underneath the body in great condition for $5k.

 

I couldn't imagine trying to buy one up north. I got my 96 for $1,800. both bumpers and passenger fender were damaged, paint was all sorts of messed up, headliner sagging, carpet stained, interior plastic lining was all scuffed up, etc.

But it only had 120k on it. I'm just shy of hitting 140k and still have had no problems. No rust either

 

Fly out to California and take a look, no rust out here. Fly out and drive back, make a vacation out of it.

 

Try south Louisiana Craig`s list there everywhere good shape under 2k

 

lol.. that was funny!

if i lived up north, i would definitely be budgeting a flight/road trip into my purchase. unless, you found that one crazy deal. w/the old lady who drove it to church and always had it garaged.

 

Mine was hit in NY state and declared totaled. Then it came over to vermont and got repaired. Then it sat for a year before I bought it. I just pulled the plastic runners off doors the other day and while shaving off some of the tape, I cut into bondo that I didn't know was there... It's on at least 2 of the doors... Oh well, it was a good job they did...

 

I went on a field trip Saturday morning to check out the used car lots up by my way. I always enjoy the tricks they use to try to hide damage.lol.

I went to one lot and looked at a Wrangler, the whole frame was shiny black with what looked like spray paint, as I walked closer there was just rot and rust falling off of the thing.

Then I was looking at some Grand Cherokees on another lot, and I said to myself how the heck did they get these alloy wheels so clean, and upon closer inspection all the wheels, lugs etc. were painted silver, they missed a few spots on some of them...lol

I basically just went out there looking to see what I was up against, I'll more than likely find one through a private sale. It's tough up here in New England.

One thing that I did notice though is the Cherokees that were under coated, had solid floors. So that stuff defiantly works pretty good.

 

Where in NH are you? I'm on the seacoast and can keep an eye out for you.

 

I got a very clean, rust free (only rust was dime sized spots of surface rust under the sill plates in the door jambs - I sanded them and sprayed them with undercoating) 2000 XJ Sport, Auto, 4x4 etc for $4,500. 129k on the clock when I bought it.

Had new tires, no mechanical problems other than a neutral safety switch that liked to misbehave, but that problem seems to have gone away on it's own.

An XJ with no rust in Michigan is an amazing thing.

You can do better than the ones you found. Keep looking.

 

I got my XJ from TN and my gf's from SC while i lived in NC temporally. It was convenient living here and knowing people so I can store jeeps at their house. SC, TN and GA have really cheap clean vehicles that may need alittle tlc. Transported both back to MI and started greasing the underside and oiling all the voids. Me then my gf were flint-stoning "our" old 96 MI rust bucket.

 

I live in central NC and when i was hunting i noticed that Virginia, especially in the virginia beach and richmond areas, had a lot more better deals on xj's..some already built. Actually one of the guys at 4wheel parts here told me to look up there.

 

idk why but everyone in NC thinks everything it worth 2-100x more than it is. I went to a flea market to buy a bicycle and they wanted $100 for a rusty frame that needed a chain, tires, brakes, and a seat. I offered him $10 and he was very insulted. In MI we just scrap that stuff