Hey,
I'm looking at a 1997 XJ with 180k miles. Its titled as a 97 but has the 96 interior and lights. Seems to be in pretty decent shape. what can I realistically expect to pay in the North East? Seller is 1800 Firm at the moment. Thanks for any input.

 

Classically awful photography; I'll never understand people who want to sell vehicles but can't be bothered to take decent photos. Depending on its physical condition, that could be a fair or even excellent deal for your area. I suspect it is titled incorrectly and would check the VIN--I suspect it really IS a 96.

 

Copy that. Thanks for the input. With half the pics people take you would think the camera phone had just been invented. Plus nobody ever list the mileage.

 

I know you are right, it's not a 97. The front corners, the hatch corners, and the taillights are squared off instead of rounded like a 97.

 

Bingo..... I believe that was the change year for the 97 and up model years on the lenses.

And agreed with above posts of why the bleep can't people take pictures of a vehicle correctly that they are trying to sell?
Only 2 things come to mind when I think about that..... 1. stupidity. or 2. They know there's something wrong with it and trying to conceal damage/condition.
Plain and simple.

 

Yeah i can't see if the rockers have any rust or not,Honestly go look at it in person.If it don't have rusted out rockers or rust holes in the floor,And it runs and drives good buy it.

 

I'm going to take a look asap and investigate the rust situation. I went and looked at an XJ yesterday and the thing was ready to fall apart. I wouldn't have hauled the thing to the scrap yard for the guy and he wanted the same price. I show up to look at it and drive it.... Flat tire .... hood latch stuck closed ... so much **** inside you couldn't have sat down if you wanted to and the undercarriage was so rusty I should have got a tetanus shot before I went home. to top it off he told me it need a new front bumper .... the passenger side front corner was so smashed in you wouldn't have been able to turn the wheel. all that crap wrong and he wanted 1800 bucks lol!!

 

Oh i forgot to mention it "had a newer motor with 75k miles" but he also just so happen to not have any paper work on an engine replacement that was "professionally done"

 

Lol, I love car seller stories, and I have a million of them myself for all kinds of makes and models. When I was shopping around for XJ's, the very first thing I'd do to every single one would be to walk up to it and kick the floor pan--we all know the sweet spot behind the front tire I'm talking about. So many of them, most of which were listed as being "rust free" or something similar, had my foot go right through the floor. It was always so entertaining to see their reaction as I just got back in my car and left after that.

 

Yep... pure unadulterated I mean seriously... how hard it is to say "runs but needs work. Good parts or project vehicle". They'd get a lot more honest interest instead of outright lying to people and wasting everyone's time.

I hear ya there.... but fine line between inspection and damaging someone else's vehicle. lol.

 

jeeesh... in my part of town, the mob would surround you with weaponry. You just walk up and throw a kick to their vehicle?? Haha...your foot wouldn't go through mine, but I'd send you on your way without further discussion. I'd be pretty upset

 

They always say some bs like that so people won't run from the high mileage it has.

 

Called it a "Grand Cherokee"

 

Any updates on your quest, OP?


It doesn't take a very hard kick to determine if the floor is rotten or not, and I'm going to find it whether I give it a tap with my foot or lay down and poke around with my hands for rot. I had one guy start to raise a fuss with me about doing it at which point I apologized for revealing that his floor no longer existed and for ruining his carefully-constructed rust (or something along those lines). He was a "no rust!" advertiser, and I had no mercy. If I can kick a hole in your floor pan, the hole was already there.

I had one guy INSISTING that there was no hole until I had him watch his carpet as I pushed it up and down from underneath. There wasn't even rust in the way--it was a hole. Someone had caked undercoating over the back of the exposed carpet to make it look just like the rest of the undercarriage. I was a lot more patient and considerate with the people who were honest about rust. It's amazing what Wisconsinites think "no rust" means--as if being in the salt belt changes the definition of "no/zero rust."

 

This is very true! No rust only means there's no visible rust coming through the body panels.