My Mazda B-3000 is really starting to look and act it's age at 300K miles, and I have been thinking about a replacement. Came down to either an Astro van or a Cherokee. Both have bottomed out in price and offer the room I need for dropping off shipments. I just like the Cherokee better. I'm not too worried about gas mileage, just basic dependability and driving manners. Ocassional towing, pleasant on long trips. What say you, all? Anything to look out for? Rust is generally not a problem here in SoFla. I prefer 2wd. No boony bashing.
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Sept. 12, 2009 11:32 a.m. cwh Dork
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Sept. 12, 2009 11:49 a.m. DrBoost HalfDork
I don't like GM vehicles, though they do make decent engines with a few exceptions. Since I don't know alot about the Astro(glide) van I'll chime in on the Cherokee.
The Cherokee (XJ from here on out) is a very solid, reliable vehicle. The 4.0L engine will last as long as your B-3000 did. The only real things to look out for are oil leaks. Jeeps like to leak oil. They are all easy fixes though. The rear main seal is a 2-peice seal so the engine stays in for it. The valve covers leak and they used to see the oil filter adapter plate leak on occasion. You could replace all of those on a saturday morning though. I've replaced O2 sensors on them on a few occasions. Other than that, the rear door openings are kinda small. One other thing to keep in mind, they don't ride great, but that's because it's a Jeep. It's meant to climb over or go through anything. If you get a neutered Jeep (2WD) you don't get IFS so you are still paying a penalty for the capability it hasn't got. -
Sept. 12, 2009 11:51 a.m. BoxheadTim Reader
I assume you're talking about a Jeep Cherokee? My wife has a '92 4WD one and had it for the past 80k-90k. Sporadic "proper" maintenance but regular oil changes on it - usually every 3k-4k.
Apart from a few issues with consumables like waterpumps, fan clutches and not so important smaller items, it seems to soldier on. Rust doesn't seem to be a major issue (it's originally from the Southwest and spent most of its life there), all the important stuff works although it looks like the aircon compressor wants changing fairly soon.
We've only towed the usual U-Haul trailers with it but that worked fine.
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Sept. 12, 2009 12:25 p.m. Strizzo SuperDork
don't let the 4.0l overheat, they don't like it and it can get really expensive
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Sept. 12, 2009 1:42 p.m. Woody SuperDork
http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/
It's like coming here in search of an answer to your Miata question.
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Sept. 12, 2009 2:50 p.m. ignorant SuperDork
solid vehicle. The later ones have a better engine f00l injerktion setup, but have more "chrysler quality engineering".
I have nothing really bad to say about the.
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Sept. 12, 2009 7:07 p.m. carzan Reader
I have a '93 Cherokee 4.0 w/5spd and 4wd. It has about 225K miles on it and I've had it four years now. It is my DD. I've had to do very minimal work on it. Even the A/C still works. I LOVE this vehicle!
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Sept. 12, 2009 7:08 p.m. stan_d Dork
I have one with 329k on it and I did super heat it recentally but I didn't shut it off I stuck the water hose in and got out of the way. It steamed the whole front yard. The radiator had rotten away and leaked out all the water. She still runs great but I know I am on narrowed time and have another engine under construction.
