But the interior isn't stout, sit in a 60k jeep and 150k jeep, you can tell.

Yeah.... but you can buy a $3k xj and put $6k into it and have a $10k jeep. If you buy a stock xj at $10k what you have is a $8k jeep and its only going downhill from there. Even in perfect shape....once it hits 100k miles, you have a $8k xj if you're lucky.

Tell the dealer you will give them NADA price plus $100 and not a penny more. See if they take it. *shrug*

$10k on an 01 is a trap. You dont want an 01. do some research there. Keep looking and be patient, something will come up. If you're in a hurry you'll pay more ways than one.

I've started looking more at dealerships because like I said decent ones in the 3-6k price range on CL are selling in my area literally the day they're posted. I was able to look at one that I saw 90 minutes after the guy posted it. I passed on it (rust + no title) and he sold it within the next couple of hours to one of the other 3 guys who had already called him about it.

The ones that aren't selling immediately are either WAY overpriced, 2wd, or just generally pieces of crap.

Thanks for the advice everyone. I think I'll be passing on this one and continuing the search.

I think that is probably the right choice... I know it's hard to not just pull the trigger when you want something but IMO.. That's just way too much! Good luck man! Hope you find one soon.

XJ's seem to be becomming a cult vehicle, like the early 70's Broncos and Land Cruisers.

Maybe some places Haha. They are still everywhere here... Bought my stock XJ for 1000 last year.. 92 man 4x4. 150k. Still running great! Cash for clunkers probably killed allot of them off in more liberal/ less snowy states though.

I'm near Houston. Not much snow here (finding a lot of 2wd for sale). I think way too many people and not enough XJ's to go around.

The whole 331 cylinder head thing is blown out of proportion. We have a fleet of XJs where I work of all different years from 94 to 01. We have had no issues with the 00-01 XJs. We have had no real issues with any of the Jeeps in our fleet. Water pumps and the A/C have been the two main problems. A cylinder head on one out of 200 Jeeps, shift solenoids on one, rear diff rebuild on another. These are not babied by any means. They are driven like a rental car most of the time. We service them every 6k miles and repair as needed. When they finally go to auction they will typically get about 4 grand for a clean runner. Check your government auction sites, you might find a nice one there.

You might have to extend your search area a little... despite the controversy on the 0331 head, its happened to me, for that reason I would buy another 00 again now that I know what to look for, and only if it has one cat. Not that precat or abs crap. But I like the 99's for the hp d30.

Also, dealers cars scare me. I test drove a 98 and it rode like total crap. Looked stock.. but someone neglected it pretty bad.

I've basically been searching all of Texas and Louisiana. My problem is I have to wait for a day off to see anything outside my local area and with the way my work schedule is sometimes I don't have a day off for nearly two weeks straight.

10.5 for a 13 year old xj. If you buy it your an idiot. XJ's are plentiful. I'd never spend more then 3k on one.

Cherokee 4wd (real cherokee, not grand) was the 6th most traded in (destroyed) vehicle under the cash for clunkers program.

There were 690,000 vehicles trade in under the program, I can't find any hard numbers on how many were XJ's but I'm guessing between 40-75,000 based on their 6th place ranking.

That makes me want to cry.