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Should I buy a Jeep Cherokee?

How are Jeep Cherokees? On road? Off road? performance? gas mileage? Reliability? My GMC Jimmy has numerous problems, I'm looking for more reliable transportation. Would this be a good vehicle to purchase to replace my Jimmy? I enjoy mild offroading, and often tow a small fishing boat.

Public Comments

1. Jeep Cherokees are not known for their reliability. Gas mileage is bad and off road performance average at best. The new Trailblazers are a step up from the Jimmy and can still tow a boat with no problem. Right now they have big discounts and can be bought or leased fairly cheap.
2. I hear you, brother! I just got rid of a '93 S15 Jimmy, and that was after owning 3 other S10 Blazers. All of them were money pits and rust buckets. In between Blazers (and Jimmy), I would say to myself, "I wonder if Jeeps are all thery are cracked up to be", with the Cherokee in mind (being the closest in size to the S10/S15's. My last Jimmy was such a money pit, it boiled down to the fact that I had to drive it into the ground while I could, while it ran. I ran across a '99 Cherokee with 114K on it. By now I had heard lots from my Jeep owning friends about the bulletproof 4.0L, and the Aisen auto transmissions being very long lived. I bought it. I have owned it only 4 months, but that has been 4 months with NO breakdowns. It is clearly engineered to last. The engine is simple. It gets about 17mpg as compared to 19 with the Jimmy, but the Jimmy was lighter due to rust :-) The best thing I ever did was to get off the S10/S15 kick. There is a reason Jeeps have a good reputation. Ask anyone who drives one with the 4.0L and the vast majority will swear by it. Join the "jeepcherokees" group on Yahoo and you will see that MANY Cherokees go past 200K, and some posters have 250-300K on them with no problems outside of wear items (water pumps and such). Off road, the solid axle beats the CV jointed independent front suspension (IFS) of the S10/S15 hands down, due to more travel, and no CV boots to tear (no CV joints!). Performance: The Jimmy was lighter on its feet, or maybe geared higher. The Cherokee has more torque due to the inline six (as opposed to V6-less torque at low RPM). The Jeep has slightly rougher ride, but handles far better because the Jimmy had so much rot (body mounts). Interior room: Jimmy beats Cherokee badly in roominess. But I would rather have a smaller interior than one that doesn't move. Cherokees don't tow big loads, but a small boat shouldn't be a problem. Bottom line: Do it. You will not regret it. You get instant Jeep friends and a truck that is fun and satisfying to drive.
3. I have a 90 and my wife a 94 and my daughter a 92. Ask me about them. They are great, capable and roomy enough for everything that you should need to carry. I do have a Z71 to carry really big bulky things like washers or refrigerators, but my Cherokee is the best of the cars that I have owned. Mine is getting close to a quarter million miles and each of the others have over 150,000 miles. They do require things like water pumps and belts and hoses but generally speaking very reliable. I just took mine, the oldest of the three, on a cross country run over the recent holidays. 1650 miles one way with a small trailer loaded with presents for my grandchildren. Biggest problem was a quart of oil was needed before the return trip. Not a bad outing for an 18 year old Jeep. So my vote would be YES buy the Cherokee. If you ever have a problem you want to know how to fix or you want to make improvements in your new Cherokee then try www.NAXJA.org Cherokees are known by their Jeep model classification XJ so the aforementioned website is the NorthAmericanXJAssociation. They are devoted to the XJ and their cousins the MJ a pick-up version of the Cherokee also called the Comanche.