Faults:

I bought this vehicle for my daily driver, and for use by my wife in winter when the weather gets bad (snow). It had about 90,000 miles on it, but the main reason I chose this one was because the body on it is very clean. I paid a bit more for it because of the condition, but to me it's worth it.

As far as what was or is wrong with it, most are typical XJ (not Grand) Cherokee problems.

The factory stereo and speakers were shot; front speakers didn't work because of the typical bad wire between the A pillar and the door.

The window controls only work from the driver's door. I suspect that this is the window lock button, or again a bad wire between the door and A pillar. This isn't that important to me as typically I'm the only one in the car.

Steering is a bit sloppy on it, and I'm about to focus on this now.

General Comments:

Anyone who buys an XJ and thinks they will have a Lexus luxo wagon on their hands is way off base. These are basic vehicle with utilitarian uses. If you buy a high mileage vehicle and it hasn't been well maintained, then don't expect to have no problems.

The 1st thing I did was to change the plugs and air filter, and then added some fuel injector cleaner to the gas tank. I don't recall if I cleaned the throttle body or not. This immediately improved my fuel economy significantly.

I have only put about 8K miles on it since I bought it, but over the last weekend I drove it down to Houston and back, in 3 days. That's about a 2K mile trip. 1st tank ran about 18 mpg, on the way back over a period of over 600 miles. I averaged over 22 mpg. I'm sure that typically when I run around the local area, I probably average around 15 - 17 mpg.

Also note that the idle is now smooth where initially it would search around, and I did not replace or clean the IAC.

I did notice that my front tires were wearing unevenly, and I now need to rotate them. I will be hunting this issue down this coming week.

For all of you who are calling the XJ a lemon, or otherwise, you need to know that this is one great vehicle, but it needs to be maintained. If you bought one that looked pretty but was abused, then you probably got what you paid for. I know that right now mine is relatively low mileage for a 11 year old vehicle, but if it keeps performing the way it has, it will likely be one of the best vehicles I have ever owned. It's my 3rd Jeep.

Faults:

2000 Jeep Cherokee, engine cylinder head cracked.

The same thing occurred on the 1990 and 1995 Cherokee's that I previously owned. The interesting thing is that the actual cracks in the all three cylinder heads were present in identical locations (driver's side rear near corner of cylinder head.) Having some experience in Metallurgy, a statistical analysis of this type of problem points directly to a defect in the manufacturing process. I suspect that Chrysler is aware of it. It may be why they are not using the 4.0L inline six engine in the Liberty.

Will they do the right thing? Anyone's guess. Although, I greatly admire Jeep's (owned 3) I am definitely re-thinking my SUV purchase.