Hello!
After 240K miles, my trusty old Toyota pickup is going out to pasture (literally, as a ranch work truck). I need a new main ride now, and I think a used cherokee may be my best choice. My driving habits are about 70% pavement (with pretty good snow/ice coverages in winter though), 20% dirt/gravel rural roads (sometimes pretty muddy in wet springs) and 10% off-road (not recreational 4-wheeling, but getting back on lousy ?roads,' 2-track or worse to hunt, fish, hike, etc.). ?No kids, just the girlfriend and a buddy or two now and then (and plenty of gear) for trips. 'Maybe some light towing now and then (small horse trailer). And I want to stay under about $15,000 if I can.
Like other folks with similar driving needs, I thought about some of the compact SUVs like the Subaru Forester and the Honda CRV. I like the idea of a full-time AWD system to leave "on" at times when in my neck of the woods you're not sure where your next patch of black ice is going to show up. However, the lack of a 4-low option for slow crawling and pulling concerned me, as did the basic fact that (based on my reading the opinions of others) these are on-road vehicles with
*some* limited off-road capability. I do spend a fair amount of time "off-pavement," and I need a vehicle that can deal with that.When I put everything together, it seemed to me a used jeep cherokee might be a good choice. While I'm not thrilled with jeep's reliability compared to the likes of Toyota, Honda & Subaru (my immediate and extended family have driven jeeps for as long as I can remember, and they've spent more time in the shop than I think they should have), I need to think of performance as well as reliability. And when things do go wrong, my chances of getting decent service on a cherokee out here in rural America seem a whole lot better than Subaru or Honda.
From what I've read, it seemed like maybe a late 90s Cherokee sport with the Select-Tract drivetrain (which apparently has a selectable full-time AWD option or something similar) would be an ideal choice for my needs. I would appreciate any thoughts others might have on the matter though?esp. any known "good" or "bad" years for Cherokee, features to look for/avoid, etc.
Thanks so much-
Coyotefred in Wyoming