Girlfriend wants to replace her Beater 96 Grand Cherokee with another Grand Cherokee

[Logans91XJ]

Her current ZJ is a POS and the previous owners took horrible care of this Jeep and has electric gremlins coming out of nowhere. The other problem is that its a limited with leather and also has the AWD Transfer case which I hate. The leather is in crappy shape and I prefer cloth and also want to stick to the I-6 since they are easier to work on. She loves the size of the ZJ or WJ and with her budget a ZJ is probably gonna be the winner.

My question is what are the best years of the ZJ and is the 5.2 V8 a worthy choice?

I owned a 96 Grand Cherokee Laredo with a I-6 Cloth and the part time transfer case.

I want to know what the better of the two transmissions and also part time transfer cases.

Her budget is pretty small but I really want to get her into something that is more reliable then what she has now.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,

Logan Wild


Also thought I would throw in some pics of my 91 XJ

 

[jeep-N-montero]

Hey Logan, I am getting ready to put my 96 up for sale, PM me your number if you want to discuss it.

 

[Logans91XJ]

It might be a few months and I want to find something very clean that won't require a ton of replacement parts.

 

[TMPhoto]

i have the 96 5.2 limited with full time AWD tcase and I really like it. Bummer the one she has is so crappy, there are some nice ones out there. I trolled the local craigslist for months until I found mine. relatively low mileage and owned by an old couple that basically did whatever the mechanic said it needed when it was taken in for regular service. I personally like the look of the WJ more but the ZJ is quite nice too and seems easier to get off the road for less money.

 

[Logans91XJ]

I like the ZJ and the 5.2 a lot as well I just don't like the transfer case that they use and the fulltime AWD. I don't like the loss of turning radius and its harder on parts. But who knows I just need to keep trolling CL.

 

[Quill]

Radiators can be bad in any of them, but even more so the automatic transmission. Find one you think is good and have a specialist drop the transmission pan and inspect it. The overdrive is the first part to fail if not cared for really well. Both the I6 and the 318 has been around a long time. Although the magnum 5.2 is quite an advancement over the older models. Just take your time.

 

[Logans91XJ]

Yeah she is now saying that she would rather have a Toyota 4runner than a Jeep Grand Cherokee. I am leaving for work and will be out the state for almost two months so I am leaving her my XJ I'm curious to see how she likes that over her ZJ. I do enjoy how smooth her ZJ is but I feel confident that once I get long arms and OME Leafs and some nice quality Bilstein's it will have a smoother ride. I was hoping the replacement Brown Dog Motor Mounts would help but it has just added to the vibes now at idle.