Some general advice on old Jeep Cherokee

[MiniMonty]

Hi all,
I have a chance to take inherit a Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.7 Limited 5dr Auto Sw (1996).
Old but in tip top condition and 90k on the clock.

Never had anything to do with cars like this before and just wondering what opinions / experience people haven of them.
I'm guessing it's going to drink heavily and I mostly do short trips (school run, knocking around town on errands) etc but it's a freebie motor and I'm tempted by the leather and the gadgets !

All and any views and comments welcomed.

[tr7v8]

If it is all short journeys it will drink, like a fish. Expect low to mid teens. My 4litre hates short journeys. Check the gearbox changes gear properly & it goes into top gear. Failure to do so is a solenoid & is expensive to put right. Good fun to drive & pretty bullet proof if looked after. Worth looking at jeep-club.co.uk for more info.

[chryslerben]

In all honesty id say eBay it if your not sure you want it, since fiat took over jeep/Chrysler the whole thing has gone to st parts pricing is beyond ridiculous. Their a great motor but at 90k things start to need attention and as you say fuel isn't cheap these days.

[lockhart flawse]

We had one of these and it was pretty awful really. Its' only real virtue was that it was much cheaper than other similar cars.

L.F.

[chryslerben]

lockhart flawse said:

We had one of these and it was pretty awful really. Its' only real virtue was that it was much cheaper than other similar cars.

L.F.

In what way? You've left it pretty open ended?

[Lunablack]

MiniMonty said:

Hi all,
I have a chance to take inherit a Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.7 Limited 5dr Auto Sw (1996).
Old but in tip top condition and 90k on the clock.

All and any views and comments welcomed.

Are you sure it's a 4.7??

It's just that the 4.7 V8 grand Cherokee didn't arrive until 99....

[lockhart flawse]

Very unrefined, small inside, poorly built. That said, my wife slid off the road in ours and hit a telegraph pole so hard she broke the block but she came out without a scratch.

L.F.

[tr7v8]

chryslerben said:

In all honesty id say eBay it if your not sure you want it, since fiat took over jeep/Chrysler the whole thing has gone to st parts pricing is beyond ridiculous. Their a great motor but at 90k things start to need attention and as you say fuel isn't cheap these days.

To be honest a TJ of that period will need very little from a main dealer, most of the bits will come from the after market at reasonable money. I even had power steering pipes made by Pirtek the other week A. for speed & B. for less money than a main dealer. My WJ has been cheap to run aside from fuel.
Confused that you say it is a 4.7L V8 as that was never fitted to the TJ model anyway, the V8 for this was 5.2 or 5.7L The later WJ which launched in 99 had a 4.7L V8. Most TJ models are 4L I6 petrol or 2.5 deseasals.