1997 Jeep Wrangler Sport 4.0L from North America
Summary:
Took abuse like a trooper, and kept on rolling down the road!
Faults:
The exhaust manifold developed a huge crack in it right after I bought it, around the 120,000 mile mark.
The stop on the pull mechanism for the headlights wore out, and the knob came out of the dash at 130,000.
On a completely separate occasion, the wiring for the headlight switch burned out and created a melted mess that left me stranded on the way home at 140,000.
Power steering pump leaked a bit. On average less than two quarts a year, unless it was parked on a slope. Then it would dump it all out at once.
There were some other strange wiring issues, but most of those I blame on the kid I bought it from. He had the back full of speakers, and a home-grown alarm system that had to be ripped out.
General Comments:
The first thing I did when I bought this Jeep was to have it lifted 4" and set it on 33" BFGs, which made for some off-road awesome, but not so great in terms of highway manners.
Its high and boxy design gave it all the aerodynamics of your average barn, and a gust of wind against the side would sometimes cause a rather alarming sway in the lane.
I kept up with regular oil changes and maintenance, and this rig never failed to start and only the one time, with the headlight problem, did it fail to get me home.
Off road it would tear through mud and snow like nobody's business, and it would pretty much crawl over anything you put in front of it. On the pavement it did have poor road manners, but it was zippy and comfortable.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 3rd March, 2010