Required expert opinion on buying 1998/99 jeep XJ

[ShereenMK]

Dear Marshals,

I am looking for an expert opinion on changing from my 2002 V6 land cruiser to 1998/1999 Jeep XJ. I feel little powerless with my land cruiser at certain places. But as the opponent is Jeep, i have personal doubts on its reliability.  As we say Jeep can take us anywhere but toyotas can bring us back safe and sound. 

I would like to know the pros and cons of jeep in terms of reliabilitY. Mainly from @Srikumar. It was used as offroader by an american later for some time by an Indian, so would like experts opinion on what to be looked prior making final decision.

[Srikumar]

Few questions :

1. Is it a GCC Spec or a US import

2. Manual or Automatic

3. What is the price

4. Do you have an interest to fix small things in your car by yourself?

[Anton Dimov]

I’m thinking of buying same model or an old wrangler instead of trimming GX460 front bumper

I would be looking for manual transmission, no problem with fixing minor issues myself.

But I haven’t thought of specs (gcc or import). Does it make big difference?

 

[sertac]

I used to have XJ 2000 model GCC Auto. I have one word about this car. DONT. 

It was the most fun car i have ever had but no never again. Unless you are super rich or you yourself able to work as mechanic. When i see this picture all i see is financial mistake. 

[Zed]

49 minutes ago, ShereenMK said:

I would like to know the pros and cons of jeep in terms of reliabilitY. Mainly from @Srikumar. It was used as offroader by an american later for some time by an Indian, so would like experts opinion on what to be looked prior making final decision.

My friend sold this model as he was tired of fixing it. Buying old car means loving it and taking care of it, no old car is going to magically cure itself from sickness... 

@ShereenMK i am hurt you're going to get rid of the GCC Inline-6 LC100 for another older car 😄  Kidding aside, can I confirm that the reason you want to change car is because you feel "powerless" with the LC100? If so, here are my recommendations:

1. If you want this bad and become @Srikumar's disciple, make sure it's Manual. With a Mechanical Clutch and No Slushee Torque Converter, manual old cars are faster than automatic old cars. 

2. Find a more modern engine (minimum 4.0L with 5-speed) at cheaper price points: these are X-Terras, LC200 4.0 or even 3.6L Jeeps.

Can I test-drive your car next time? I've sent my V8 LC100 to garages numerous times that I can sense issues with similar LandCruisers just by driving it...  who knows, it could be an overheated torque converter that a 2000dhs rebuild can fix 😁  (still cheaper than buying a 15,000dhs car)

[Srikumar]

To start off, I absolute love my Manual XJ for driving either on road or offroad. So I am going to try and keep my bias aside and give you as Neutral an answer as possible:

Good Points

• This version of the XJ has minimal electronics, and if you look around within our Club as well, you will notice the amount of electronic failures that keep happening on newer cars especially Wranglers. So from the electronic angle, there is very little which can go wrong.
• The engine, gear (both manual and automatic), transfer case and differentials are super reliable and I will bet my money on this than even a Toyota or Nissan
• The car does have a border line overheating issue, which will need an upgrade of radiator, aux fans. But once added, you will not face any troubles either on engine side or for transmission, unless there is some other underlying issue
• Car is pretty simple and there are things that can be fixed by yourself if you have an interest. Today, I can change my steering pump, tensioners and few other basic things,
• Parts are relatively easy to get and the aftermarket supply from US is enormous.

Negative Points

• Firstly, we need to realize that we are buying a car that is about 22 - 23 years old. So you will have to change all the bushing, rubber parts, etc as they would be completely worn out by now. So you will need to be patient and consider it as a Project. 
• Steering components are a bit of an issue, and a bit of misalignment or worn tyres and you can have the famous Death Wobble which you seriously dont want to experience at 100 km/h.
• As with all Jeeps we are more eager to modify it by lifting it, putting bigger tyres. We tend to do this less on Japenese cars. Such modifications do change the drive train angle causes additional wear than in stock condition
• The automatic transmission does have an upshifting issue from 1st gear to 2nd gear once you cross 50 km/h. So the automatic version is not a big dune climber like the Manual version
• @sertac suffered mainly on the air conditioning system of the car and had multiple repeated work which was sad to watch. 

I bought my car for AED 11.5K in 2017, and have spent till date approx AED 30K on it over the past 4.5 years and this is with pretty heavy offroading. And I have Zero regrets till date.

[ShereenMK]

@Srikumar Thank you for perfect advice. Well I went to the workshop (the mechanic is my friend) asked him regarding the history, so he said I will get the car for max 5k or 6k, he said we need to change the housing as the previous owner bashed it heavily some where in desert, more over it is an automatic. Well when you said you spent approx 30k, i prefer to keep my LC as all i need to do as of now is to replace its steering rack, coz of small leakage. 

@sertac thanks brother for your kindly advice, as you mentioned shifting from toyota to jeep is kind of decision that we need to take after consulting PRO's.

@Zed you are always welcome to give a try, any recommendation on power increase is welcome. Well just for your info i raised my shocks using profender, when i met REDFOX team during our full day trip to yellow truck, they mentioned that I just did a "what they call as sharjah lift" thats the issue of loosing power. I didnt get time to discuss with them what to do next, well what i felt is i will have to change the top front arms of both side as it is not changed yet. Other than that i am in the dark.

[Srikumar]

If it's just about a steering rack then I would say continue with the LC. But if you are looking to change your off-road vehicle, then 5k -6k seems a good price.

When you say housing do you mean the engine and gear mounts?

[Gaurav]

From the looks and your mechanic feedback + price, it sounds you will be buying a Cherokee shell only.

My two cents: Stay Away, unless you like to rebuild from ground up with 10-20k expense.

[ShereenMK]

3 hours ago, Srikumar said:

If it's just about a steering rack then I would say continue with the LC. But if you are looking to change your off-road vehicle, then 5k -6k seems a good price.

When you say housing do you mean the engine and gear mounts?

I have seen this vehicle on the lift with all engine and gear removed for almost one month in my friends garage. He informed me will have to spent another 4-5k on rebuild plua another 4 set of new tires to get it passed. 

Any way as @Gaurav mentioned, i am moving away from it. Hopefully will come across a manual xterra.

Once again Thank you for saying myself from a lot of trouble.