I have owned two XJ's and a Comanche and am currently searching for my fourth Jeep. I have not been able to find a reasonably priced Cherokee so I have broadened my search to include a Grand Cherokee and have found they are much more common and lower priced.

Is there a reason for this? For example, I found a 99' Grand Cherokee with the 4.0 with 85,000 miles on it in really good shape for $4500. I find a 99' Cherokee with 160,000 miles for $5500.

 

but if you plan on building one it will cost you more to build a grand cherokee

and less aftermarket parts

 

Is that the main difference? I'm not so much worried about aftermarket availability as I am in reliability.

 

**** GC's.. lots of issues- electrical, mechanical, less aftermarket support... idk, not my style.. too much bulk and plastic and a weak TC..

 

There were more Xj's made then GC's, yet it's easier to find the latter at better prices.

A lot more things to go wrong, and when electric components start going out, it gets spendy. Xj's are "fix on the trail ready" in my opinion. And more plastic. but rear coils..... Decisions. My .2

 

What are you planning to do with whatever you buy? Keep it stock or modify? It you want to modify, what direction do you want to go? Will it be a daily driver/weekend warrior/full on toy? Knowing a bit more information makes it easier to give you input.

I do believe the aftermarket will continue to pick up for the 99-04 Grands. The newest one is approaching the 10 year mark. Pretty much anything you can get for a XJ you can get for a WJ.

Price wise, I think the WJs prices dropped after the whole recall fiasco. They were commonly in the $7k range before the recall and have since dropped to the $5k range in my area. I'd imagine with winter around the corner, prices will begin to rise again. I love my XJ, but I'm a bit smitten with the WJ.

Not mine, but they are bad *** looking in my opinion.

 

ZJ>XJ>WJ

IMO

 

As a daily driver a GC will ride smoother then a xj.Yeah they have a few more known problems but most i seen had problems was abused.For the money you can get a nice zj or a beat to hell and back xj.And most GC i ever seen on the roads was used more as a mini van so less wear and tear on them i bet.

 

On the same line of thought... HYPOTHETICAL...because I know none of you would ever look at these cars, of course not.... but...

What would you buy? A civic that looks bone stock and has the original plastic wheel covers without a scratch on them....or some civic with aftermarket rims and a of bunch stupid Weapon R and Vtec stickers on it?

I'd get the grandma car.

Whether it was "upgraded" beyond the stickers or not, the riced out civic probably was driven to hell and needs/will need CV joints and a clutch etc etc etc.

ZJs are probably family cars --*overall*

It's hard to find an XJ in my area that wasn't lifted or beat to hell, which means it was probably rode hard and put away wet, and most are owned by high school kids. If I had an old jeep/mustang/etc in high school, I probably would have driven it crazy a few times a week.

On the other hand there are GCs all over the place and they just putt along nicely in traffic, always use their turn signals, and only get dirt inside on trips to the farmers market.

 

Look at the show xtreme 4x4 he built a cheap expedition wj that did pretty good off road with not a ton of work.The overloand wj came with factory rock rails aka wannabe rock sliders.

 

Lol. That's a good way to look at things.

OP, if you get a Grand, watch out for the transmission. Notorious for problematic Chrysler junk. I believe the tranny behind the V8 is much stouter. As much as we love our 4.0s the V8 just all around outperforms the 4.0 in the Grand platforms with better fuel economy and more power. If I was going to buy a Grand for mall crawlin' I wouldn't bother with the straight six. WJs are just too heavy for it. Oh, and swap that NP249 **** for an NP242 pronto.

 

Best answer yet. I have 212k on my ZJ with the original transmission and NO electrical issues at all. The 4.0 is a pig when backed up by the 42RE, but it does offer excelent reliability. The NP249 is a junk transfercase, but not all GCs had that case. Mine has the NP231 from the factory. Rear axles are not so good, depending on what you have planned for the rig. D35, or the D44a are the only two rear axles in a Grand. Fine for mall crawlin and light to medium offroading. The Grand does offer a nice quiet ride with a lot less wind noise than the XJ.

 

I would only have a 93 ZJ with the 4.0 and AW4 trans. Convert it to rear disc brakes.

 

Some already have them. I pulled a few sets of disc's off of 93's & 94's ZJ's. Yet they didn't offer them until '95. ???

I guess it could have had a axle swap.

 

I thought 94 was first year with discs.