1995 Jeep Cherokee XJ SE 2.5 gas from North America
Summary:
Basic beater that just won't die
Faults:
It was a 1000 dollar beater I bought, so as the miles accrued, repairs did pop up. Had to do things like put a new radiator in it, put a new water pump on it, replace the radiator hoses, and thermostat.
New track-bar because the front end wobbled under braking.
New front rotors due to shaking under braking.
New rear drum shoes due to wear.
Alternator and starter brushes replaced, saved a ton of money doing that.
Clutch got replaced due to throw-out bearing failure.
General Comments:
I had never owned a Chrysler product before. I wound up buying this because I was racking up miles on a 2004 F150 that I was making payments on because my job required some travel. It was on a whole-sale lot and belonged to an employee who traded it for an I6 model. I paid right at 1000 dollars plus TTL.
Jeeps are crude vehicles, but they are so simple to fix, and this one had been through a lot. The quadra-link suspension to me is great because it can be beat on without falling apart; only problem is, it isn't stable in dangerous situations, such as swerving to avoid an obstacle.
The four cylinder, though weak on take-off, has a lot of low end torque. I never could kill it when releasing the clutch because of the torque. The engine is very easy to work on and it just wouldn't die. The transmission is also very good. The five speed still shifted with ease the entire time I owned it. It got good gas mileage for a rear-wheel drive 90s vehicle. It got 18 in the city and about 22 on the highway. Not bad for something that is pickup based. A/C always worked well.
Most people would think it was a pile of junk because of its age and all the little things that needed fixed, such as the door hinge on the driver's door coming off, and one of the windows wouldn't roll down. In my eyes, it was so easy to work on, I was always able to get it back up and running and it never left me stranded, so to me it was reliable. I finally had to get rid of it because the floor pans began to rot at 23 years of age and I'm not a welder, nor do I have the time to work on it. My boss wound up buying it off of me to be his beater.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 8th August, 2018
10th Aug 2018, 15:00
One of my friends had one of these - same era. He by no means took care of it, but he still had almost 500,000 miles on it before he finally sold it. Of course the rest of the vehicle was falling apart, but the drivetrain and engine were holding up just fine.