How many miles is too many with a mid 00's grand Cherokee?

[Funstuie]

Hi all

I have been looking for a dd, 4x and something i can upgrade/mod myself.

I bought a 96 4Runner but my wife hated it and refused to drive it so I ended up having to sell it on (made money due to market changes in the Bay Area). I then got an X5 and regretted it right away (ridiculously expensive service parts and intervals) also again my wife hated it. Sold that one on at a small loss.

I ended up buying a dirt cheap Honda Civic as my get to work and back car. It's horrible but it gets 40+mpg and it was cheaper than renting.

So now I am in a position to look for an SUV without the urgency. whatever I get will replace the civic as my DD (I realise I will lose the mpg savings but that's fine). I have settled on getting a grand Cherokee as I have always wanted one and I like the style (as does my wife so she will drive it). It would seem to offer dd comfort with off-road options and enough room to take the family camping

Right now I am budgeting $6k as the buying price and on CL (I live in northern CA - Bay Area) and there are a lot of options. Mainly mid 00's in my budget the mileage is in the 150k range. Which engine should I focus on? Is 150k ok?

There are a couple of lower mileage options but the price jumps to $9k which wouldn't give me much room to upgrade. There are also some already lifted/modded trucks for sale in the $8.5k range but I'm not sure about someone else's work.

At this point I am settled on keep due to the massive aftermarket options and support already in place.

What should I be looking for?

 

[Sisyphus]

Stick with the 4.0 six cylinder engines, as they were the most reliable. 150k on one of those, if well maintained, should serve you well for a long time.

 

[BCobe]

Stick with the 4.0 six cylinder engines, as they were the most reliable. 150k on one of those, if well maintained, should serve you well for a long time.

Would concur. I never had a problem with my 4.6 though, other than an oil pressure sensor going out but that was an easy fix. When I sold mine it had like 14XK on it. Ran fine and the added power was nice.

 

[Capercrew02]

Many will say stick to the 4.0 but if you dive deeper into the wj (99-2004) threads you'll find reliability is about the same between the 4.0 and 4.7, each has strengths and weeknesses. The 4.7 has a much stronger trans, and axle set. The engine is very reliable as long as it doesn't get overheated. I choose a low mile 4.7. Picked up a well maintained 99 with 114k on the clock and it's been bulletproof. Depending on the type of off-roading you plan to do, you need to decide between the wj with a solid front axle, or the newer wk with ifs suspension. My understanding is all the engine options in the wk are reliable. But a 3.0 diesel would be ideal for that model.

 

[slicklizzard]

You'll see a lot of stuff on the interwebs about the perceived unreliability of the 4.7L V8. It has aluminum heads on an iron block, so like Capercrew said, once overheated there's a good chance it's toast. When shopping for mine a few years ago, I had to strike a beautiful one from my list specifically because the Carfax showed multiple trips to the dealership for all kinds of work on the cooling system. Anyway, I specifically said "perceived unreliability," and while we all know that perception usually reflects reality, from what I've seen on JeepForum, there's not necessarily a drop-dead mileage for the 4.7L. Several folks have over 200k on theirs, but there's always a healthy amount of WJ's with bad and rebuilt engines on my local Craigslist.

Speaking of Craigslist, I'm sure you'll find like I did that prices are all over the place. There are 2WD I6 Laredo WJ's all day every day for under $3000. An optioned-out Limited with the V8 and 4WD can be had around $5k, but with 190k miles. Three years ago, I paid $8200 at a dealer for an '04 with every single option short of navigation (who wants 10 year old nav anyway?) with 117k miles and a solid Carfax.

Anyway, your last question was what to be looking for. Here's a great thread: http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f310/ultimate-wj-grand-cherokee-buyer-s-guide-1271979/