Jeeps..

[Skibumtress]

No balls and looks too much like a mini, mini van....

I don't want a big SUV. I'm a "mini" person anyway.
Haven't test driven yet and not purchasing a new vehicle in the near future anyway but my thoughts are the Liberty, Honda CRV or a Toyota Rav 4 or maybe even a Pathfinder. Really need to see what my insurance will be on any of these. Don't know if you New Jerseyites know this but this year your rates may have gone up if you have a foreign-made car. When I first got my Outback Subaru Sport in 2003 it was rated at a 14, this year it went up to a 19 (the highest I believe is a 25). Why? 'Cause Jersey thinks that if you have a foreign car the parts will be more expensive to replace..... I guess the idiots don't realize that most foreign cars are made better than American cars so you don't have to replace the parts as often. So much for purchasing a safe vehicle. This year, New Freakin' Jersey also based your insurance on your credit report. Now tell me, what does your credit report have to do with your driving record??

Poor Credit rating = Higher risk of not paying your insurance? Not sure, but could be.

It is. When my insurance went up this year 'cause of the Subaru, my insurance company told me of all the changes this year and the credit rating thing was another one.

[mogulmouse]

"But with a little lift.... it will go anywhere that blazer of yours goes"


hahah - SURE None of you even have a true 4x4...., and if you think that Hi/Lo range is all it takes to be a true "4x4" - wrong!

No its called lockers, among many other things that you need to be considered a true "4X4".

haha, thanks for letting me in on the secret ;)

[shecanski]

Responding to the original post, albeit a bit late...
I have a metallic gray 02 Grand Cherokee Limited, which I love.
Yeah, it's a gas hog...sigh...but I love it anyway.

[skiladi]

'70 Gremlin ( Oh , yeah)
Here's where the year gets foggy.

That car ruined many a life, after the Gremlin the auto industry just went straight to hell, Bring back the Gremlin

I still can't believe I went through 4 years without having that Gas cap stolen and I had a red Gremlin. ; }

[Stormchaser]

03 Grand Cherokee Limited...replaced my 96 Grand Cherokee Laredo.

I will never buy any other vehicle again...love my jeep!

[yeti]

One thing I love about my Cherokee - it is easy to work on. Since the warranty expired I pretty much have done all of the maintenance myself. While I won't go into the transmission or the block (and hopefully won't have to for a long time!), the rest is fair game and there is no way I am paying some cretin $175/hour to keep my hands clean.

I've got my Chiltons (and Haynes), an inclination for mechanics... and if it is something I don't know how to do I just wade in after all it is just a damn machine it is easy enough to figure out.

[RJSVermont]

One thing I love about my Cherokee - it is easy to work on. Since the warranty expired I pretty much have done all of the maintenance myself. While I won't go into the transmission or the block (and hopefully won't have to for a long time!), the rest is fair game and there is no way I am paying some cretin $175/hour to keep my hands clean.

I've got my Chiltons (and Haynes), an inclination for mechanics... and if it is something I don't know how to do I just wade in after all it is just a damn machine it is easy enough to figure out.

Yeti, I worked as a tech for about 4 years in a Jeep/Hyundai/Mitsubishi dealership and in that time I never saw one 4.0L engine rebuilt. I've seen people drive for miles with no oil, only to have us fill it with oil, compression test it and send it back out on the road with no problems. The transmissions in the Cherokee model number AW4 (Not the grand cherokee) were also bulletproof. In 4 years never saw one rebuilt.

Now the grand cherokee was a whole other story. If I had a dollar for every tranny I saw replaced in a grand cherokee (6 & 8 cylinder engines) I'd be a wealthy man. (These tranny models are the 46RH, 42RE, and 44RE - STAY AWAY FROM THEM) Believe it or not, although the Cherokee and Grand Cherokee used the same Inline 6, 4.0 Liter engine, they used different automatic trannies. The one in the Grand Cherokee was supposed to be more refined. Also the 5.2L V8 they used in the Grands before the Chrysler 4.7 was notorious for blowing it's intake manifold gaskets among other things. Last time I went near a Jeep with a wrench was about 2000 and I know things have changed (Albeit slightly), but I still believe a Jeep is one of the least reliable used vehicles you can buy. I’ve had two people I know come to me for advice about a used vehicle, both interested in buying a used Jeep. I tried to deter both from a Jeep and neither listened. Both ended up putting over $2000 into the vehicles for repairs within the first 6 months.

I'm not trying to bash the Jeep brand, I think the regular cherokee is a solid work horse just because it's more of a "no-frills" model and as I said the engine and tranny in Cherokees are generally bulletproof. Different things work for different people, I'm just trying to relay my experiences as a Jeep Technician. After working on Jeeps, Hyundais, and Mitsubishis I'd have to say that Hyundai has the highest quality of the three.

Yeti, if you ever need some help with anything on your Jeep feel free to PM me.

[snowsprite]

Does anyone have any experience with the electric hybrid SUVs that are coming out now? I drove a Toyota Prius last summer in Puerto Rico and I thought it was great overall. Those suckers can be dangerous though b/c they are dead silent when you are backing up.

I'll probably explore a hybrid SUV for our next vehicle.
Sprite

[wanderer7453]

I have a 2002 Wrangler sport and just love it. Although my daughter loves it more and I coul duse more room. So it is going to her. I am looking at the Chevy Avalanche.

[RJSVermont]

Does anyone have any experience with the electric hybrid SUVs that are coming out now? I drove a Toyota Prius last summer in Puerto Rico and I thought it was great overall. Those suckers can be dangerous though b/c they are dead silent when you are backing up.

I'll probably explore a hybrid SUV for our next vehicle.
Sprite

In my opinion hybrids are more hype than anything else. If you break down the total cost of ownership of a vehicle per mile you will see that hybrids are actually not much cheaper as far as cost to own goes. These factors include:

Initial price
Depreciation
Insurance
Fuel costs
Etc.

If you go to Edmunds.com you will see that a Toyota Prius has an operating cost of 42 cents per mile. Whereas my Honda Element which is much more functional and only gets 25mpg as opposed to 60mpg for the prius costs me 43 cents per mile which is a negligible amount. (For 100,000 miles it will cost me 1000.00 more than a prius to own my element which has a lot more cargo space than a prius plus 4WD for the snowy weather.

Now to the Escape Hyrbid which has an operating cost of 55 cents per mile. This vehicle over 100,000 miles will cost $12,000.00 more to operate over the span of 100,000 miles than my Honda Element, which is about $10,000.00 cheaper to buy in the first place.

Mileage numbers don’t always tell the whole story. Hybrids are flawed in that they have a very high initial cost, which does not offset the gain in gas mileage. Plus, there have been a large number of consumer complaints that Hybrids are not even coming close to their EPA figures (And we all know that EPA figures are a bunch of crap)

And just for shits and giggles your Grand Cherokee has a operating cost of 59 cents per mile.


Keep in mind that the “Cost per mile” takes everything into account including depreciation, fuel, insurance, initial cost.

Toyota Prius:

Initial cost: ~$25,000
Cost per mile: 42 cents
Total cost for 100,000 miles: $42,000.00


Honda Element:

Initial Cost: ~$20,000
Cost per mile: 43 cents
Total cost for 100,000 miles: $43,000.00

Ford Escape Hybrid:

Initial Cost: ~$32,000
Cost per mile: 55 cents
Total cost for 100,000 miles: $55,000.00

Jeep Grand Cherokee:

Initial cost: ~$40,000?
Cost per mile: 59 cents per mile
Total cost for 100,000 miles: $59,000.00


Don’t always believe the hype.

[yeti]

Well it is true - I know people who bought used Jeeps and have experienced the horror. I myself have been battling the steering. I am on my third set of sway bar bushings and the damn thing still tends to roll.

PS - most auto mechanics I have met are pretty knowledgable - I have only met a couple who would qualify for the cretin title.

[RJSVermont]

Well it is true - I know people who bought used Jeeps and have experienced the horror. I myself have been battling the steering. I am on my third set of sway bar bushings and the damn thing still tends to roll.

PS - most auto mechanics I have met are pretty knowledgable - I have only met a couple who would qualify for the cretin title.

It’s funny you should say that Yeti, because most “mechanics” (Not a “PC” term anymore) I have met or worked with were nothing more than hacks and thieves that have gotten by solely on the experience they’ve gained over the years. Experience is the case more often than acquired knowledge.

The same reason the American auto industry continuously fails in the quality department is what causes so many people to have less than desirable experiences when they are trying to get their vehicles fixed. Most technicians I have worked along side of would blindly replace something if it broke rather than take the time to figure out WHY it broke. There is cause and effect for everything.

When I was 18 I helped an “A” tech pass some Chrysler certification tests, one of which had to do with forced induction. This guy was in his 50’s and asked me, an 18 year old to help him with his tests since I had already passed them. Years ago I read voraciously about the auto industry, as it was my passion. I’ve done just about everything in a shop short of rebuilding transmissions and will never bring any vehicle I own somewhere else to be fixed.

You’re right that most work can be done on your own with a quality shop manual and a few ounces of mechanical inclination (including rebuilding an engine.) Although I did take classes at community college for automotive technology where I learned much of what I know. I guess what I am trying to say is that there are a lot more hacks out there than there are good guys.

[yeti]

Perhaps the term "savant" would be more appropriate.... while not a car the man who works on my fathers (and mine until to got rid of it) plane is a damn genius with engines. However take him to breakfast and watch him "read" the paper and you might have some - or a whole lot of them! - doubts as he mouths the "big" (i.e. larger than two syllables) words to himself.

I generally have gone to the same two places for the same decade - seems to me that when you find someone who will do it right and won't rip you off best to stick with them.

[kvtskibum]

RJSVermont is about spot on. As an ex-mechanic that has logged close to a million miles in all sorts of Jeeps from flatfenders to Grand's. I can honestly say the Grand Cherokee is one of the least reliable Jeeps I have ever owned or seen. In the 180,000 miles I put on mine. I went thru 1 tranny 2 transfer case chains, 1 rear end, A slew of front diff and 4wd issues, a few motor mounts, some power window stuff and a whole bunch of other stuff I have already forgoten about.

Now my last Wrangler was over 300,000 miles that list was short. 1 carb, a few u-joints, Changed to a high volume oil pump when oil pressure started to drop a bit, a water pump, brakes, tires and thats about it. That sucker helped me save for a down payment on my place in VT because it just refused to die.

On a side note when you drove it in slush the carb linkage froze up so it even had cruise control!!

For you older Jeep people, Comanche pickups are awesome with a straight 6. I had one of those for a while. Stay away from the 2.8 I had one of those also, Yuk. I had a few CJ7's and 5's they were awesome except for later 7's with that stupid aluminum T-5. I went thru three of those pieces of junk. Every 60,000 miles like clock work. Regular Cherokee's are great to. I have had no problems. Wagoneers and J-10 are reliable also.

[kvtskibum]

Skibumtress, don't get one of those things. A few friends have them, I have spent quite a bit of time driving in them. The ride isnt great, fuel economy isn't great they really don't have a single redeaming quality, and to be honest they really aren't very cool.
You should get something hot. You would make it even hotter.