No, I don’t want another Jeep XJ, such as this 1999 “Sport” edition but I will say that my ’91 base model was one of my all-time favorite cars. Heck, it had to be, I owned it for twenty-six years and drove it for 325K miles. At times, it seemed like a faithful old dog, you know, give it a whistle and it would suddenly appear waiting on my every beck and call. When mine was twenty-four years of age, the same age as this White Marsh, Maryland inhabitant, it was a bit forlorn looking, in some respects due to a Maaco paint job that hardly withstood the test of time – not to mention all of its ouvert use. The seller of this Chili Pepper Red example claims that it has experienced only 52K miles of use, so this is one to look over. It’s available, here on eBay for a current bid of $6,100 with 51 bids tendered as of this moment.
Introduced for the ’84 model year, the Cherokee, largely designed by American Motors Corporation’s head stylist, Dick Teague, continued through the 2001 model year seeing production volumes of approximately 2.8 M copies. Body styles included two and four-door arrangements along with a pickup version known as the Commanche. There were essentially two editions, the original (’84-’96) as penned by AMC, and the facelifted version (’97-01), enhanced by Chrysler Corporation. Our ’99 subject car was manufactured under the auspices of the XJ’s third overlord, Daimler-Chrysler.
The seller suggests, “Rare chili pepper red pearl paint with matching bumpers and flares as well as the original 52k miles makes this Cherokee the one you want“. Well, I know that I’ve seen plenty of Cherokees in Chili Pepper Red so I doubt that it’s rare and the bumpers and flairs, on this vintage, always match the exterior hue. Regardless, this example looks great – no demerits to be issued (OK, it’s missing its rear left wheel cap). Even the black plastic bumper and side trim still show well with little to no fade. The underside reveal is clean and sound but it also looks like it has been recently sprayed so hopefully it’s not hiding something unwanted.
Power is provided by one of the most durable auto engines of all time, a 190 net HP 4.0 liter in-line six-cylinder affair, utilizing an Aisin-Warner four-speed automatic transmission and engaging both front and rear axles with the help of a New Process transfer case. While running and driving characteristics are not revealed, these 4.0-liter engines are as tough and eternal as they come!
Besides the exterior facelift, the ’96 to ’97 transition allowed for a dash and instrument panel redo – it’s sorta similar but different too. The remarkable thing in this case is the cleanliness of this Jeep’s interior – the mileage claim isn’t hard to believe. I know the woven upholstery in my Jeep was tough as nails and wore well – even in late life it still showed respectably. The entire interior of this Cherokee, the cargo area too, shows as having been carefully and lightly used – it’s safe to assume that it needs no attention.
The functionality of the Jeep XJ is not to be denied, they really are “go anywhere and do anything” vehicles. I always found mine to be very accommodating in spite of its compact exterior dimensions. If you ever thought about owning one of these, this is one to consider, wouldn’t you agree?
Has anyone else had trouble with the site? I got some offline message “taking too long”, and I see now, many of the past comments are gone, like the go-kart one. Being one of the more vocal viewers, seems to me like a grand waste of our time. What gives?
Yes, there have been server problems and as RW noted, there are two days worth of comments that are missing. The Editors are aware and are working on restoring missing posts and restoring performance.
JO
Thanks, Jim, I was just about to head out to Wallyworld for another laptop. The world just isn’t the same without a morning dose of BarnFinds. It’s that important,,to me, anyway. :)
Yes. I didn’t receive BF in my daily feed yesterday. Also noticed the edited comments. Makes you wonder if you crossed a line.
yes, I noticed that in 2 separate listings. Not sure why, but hopefully BF will get it fixed
Had one of these and when I see the one Bosch drives in his show on Prime Bosch-Legacy I wish I still had it.
So reliable compared to all the other non jeeps my ex and I had. She loved how nimble it was. Great fuel economy and the 4×4 was outstanding. Not suitable for towing large items but was sufficient for daily use.
The inline 6 was a great motor why they changed it is beyond me. We’d built a house in the nw part of Connecticut and went up there one winter. Snow as deep as the door sills, and this potent jeep in 4 low climbed our 9 percent grade driveway with no problem.
I actually come to this site to read your input Howard.I had a 2000xj T- boned a suburban on an icy hill..blew both air bags ,drove it away..drove it for 2 more years ,had 275k miles and still ran great.. I gave to my step daughter and an hr later she rolled it down a ravine..that’s what killed it.
I to have noticed vanishing comments
Sweet looking XJ. Makes you forget that the newest ones are 22 years old. When we got the Jeep dealer in ’91 these still had a lot of the unique features like the pedestal seat mounts that allowed second row passengers to sit with their feet under the front seat. Coming from a GM background I quickly became aware of what people liked about them. Crisp handling and sprite acceleration made these a delight to drive on road compared to S/T Blazers and Explorers. If anyone else noticed the color is Flame Red. Chili Pepper was a few shades darker and very popular. Neither were hardly rare at all.
My “XJ” story didn’t have near the success, but by no means blame the vehicle proper. Needing a replacement for the 1980 Bronco, I considered a XJ. Brother had one, good truck. Found a 90ish “Sport”, seemed nice, didn’t track well, but price was right. On the way home from the dealer, the motor blew, and got my money back. I think the XJ was the best import fighter we had up to that point.
Howard:
While my experience with an XJ was great, I have two different friends that owned an ’88 and a ’90 and their experience was a lot less than optimal – as in no thanks again. My sister owned a ’94 and it was a mixed bag. The driveshaft fell out one day and then the A/C evaporator drain got clogged, caused a backup, which over time rusted out the passenger side footwell.
And that seems to be the way they went as consistency was not their bailiwick. The ’91s and later seem to have fared better and are more reliable than the ’84-’90, but they’re not free of foibles either.
JO
The AC drain clog isn’t really a vehicle specific issue, to be fair.
I’d say the most common fault was transmission problems. That seemed to be the weak link in a lot of Chryslers. I still think of my 98 Ram when I get a whiff of ATF.
I owned a Jeep YJ with the 4.0 and a 5 speed for a short while. A little underpowered for me. I don’t like to downshift on the freeway, and I had to with that YJ even with stock sized street tires. Not a huge problem, but I like enough power to pull hills. Maybe I was spoiled by the Ram’s 360.
Would love to have this for my son who’s off to college soon.
I agree with you, mine was bright red, and I passed on a chili pepper red sport. There is a noticeable difference between the two.
XJ’s are probably my favorite of the family. Nice lines, accented by tall greenhouse with lots of light and low shoulders.
Certainly better looking than our 05 Liberty, which is just too tall, too narrow, too short to spend too much time on I-95…
Had one of those with the 4 liter six. Never let me down. Sold it with just over 300,000 miles to a person who wanted to use it as a winter vehicle and save their new car. Everything still worked except the ac and the drivers side rear window. It still drove really well.
Did anyone else notice that the taillights are different?
i think you will find that the difference is that on is in the bright sun and the other is in the shadow of the jeep.
These jeeps never appealed to me and I wouldn’t look twice at them. Then one day in 2002 I was in the market for a two or three-year-old midsize SUV. The blazer and Explorer were a lot of money and didn’t seem worth it, the Subaru outback was too soccer Momish for me so I stopped in the Jeep dealer for the heck of it and I sat inside a 99XJ sport and I thought wow this is absolutely perfect. It makes total sense for me, it has everything I need nothing that I don’t. I came back the next day to buy it and on my way I drove by a different cheap dealer with a bright red 99 limited out front and I bought it on the spot. I drove it for 10 years and just under 200 K and it never let me down. It needed a couple sensors, and AC, evaporator core, a fan and a water pump one time, but it never left me stranded and never owed me a dime. I find electrical problems are common with these because they are stiff riding, and it rattles the connections..switches, blower motors, rear defroster, wipers…lol. Maybe there were some quality control issues but I loved mine!
I’ve owned 2. One was a 4 door 4.0 4X4 5 speed. I lived in China at the time and this was a knockdown kit exported to China. Motor nearly indestructable, but the cooling system and a/c were problematic. When I got back to the US I got a 2 door again with the 4.0, 5 speed 4X4. Had the exact same issues with the cooling system and the a/c. Both served me for over 200,000 miles.
the biggest problem with the cooling system was the stock radiator and nose configuration was never meant for that 4.0. everyone that came through the shop as a recurring customer was upgraded to a 3 row radiator and the cooling issues went away.
the only thing i never solved with my last one was the omg death wobble rear axle hop that it developed. hit a bridge abutment at highway speed and it would shake you to death if you didn’t brake down to around 50ish. the worst was there was no rhyme or reason to which bridge abutment was going to set it off. the rust got to it before i solved it.
this one is areal sweet looker and so far the bidding is still down in nice land.
I had few of the upgraded generation 97-01. Great vehicles for those of us who like ‘no nonsense’ transportation. The automatic trans’s were bullet proof just like the 4.0 motors. (just don’t overheat them). I preferred the 5 speed model. Unfortunately in the Northeast, the mechanicals outlasted the unibody construction due to rust. My favorite XJ was an 87 Laredo,2 door ,5 speed model, factory sunroof, no A/C, full gauge panel and the 175 hp 4.0. That Jeep got 25 MPH on the highway. The later models with the 195hp didn’t come even close to that. I think the XJ was a much better vehicle than the Wranglers, but of course, ‘different folks for different strokes!”. Plus the XJ’s were not as expensive in the used realm.
That ’87 sounds like a nice rig. Cherokee was unique in that the 2-dr and 4-dr were the same length.
Bought a ‘88 new. Black paint, bought on a dark rainy day. The black paint was a disappointment, I even repainted the rear hatch, due to the imperfections. Only other issue was heading to my island cabin with an awesome hot first date the pulley on the serpentine belt blew up. 🤦♂️ rig was brand new. Thanks AMC 🤬. We did reschedule a weekend. lol.
Actually really like it. I’m tall and the French influenced ( Peugeot ) manual front seats that rotate on like a half moon base raising the front to support the legs was one of the best seats built. I sold it to a guy that was hauling recovery workboats to Alaska when the Exon Valdez broke up. He also had two Chev pickups making multiple runs. He claimed his drivers fought for the Jeep to drive. It was tough.
Those seats were so nice.
We had a 99 red one with tinted windows auto ac cruse good in snow and very dependable only drawback it liked its fuel slurp slurp then back to the filling station
In 1997 I was shopping for a new car because my Commanche had been totaled by an old man in a minivan. At a dealer’s lot there were two very basic, 2 door Cherokees. One was green and brand new, the other was red and was a year old with about 20k on it. They were the same price… It’s now 26 years and well over a half million miles later and the red one is in my driveway.
Sure, it’s had some problems. I think I’m on the fourth radiator and water pump, had to replace the fuel pump once and the clutch twice. Best car I’ve ever had.