I've got a great ride...

[silverbear]

Back in October of 2001, I went out and bought a 1998 Jeep Cherokee Sport... it cost me fifteen grand back then (it had like 40,000 miles on it), and man, that's just about the best investment I ever made...

When I first got it, I wasn't happy at all with the typical Jeep gas mileage, it was only giving me about 17-17.5 MPG... so I spent a few hundred more, put in a K&N Filtercharger air cleaner, did a tune up with Bosch Platinum 4 plugs (matched with Bosch mag core plug wires), switched over the synthetic oil, that kind of thing... and now, it knocks down about 19.5 MPG in the winter, and as much as 21-21.5 in the summer...

Most important, it can go through most snowfalls we have around here, up to about a foot (I didn't test it in the 2 blizzards we had this winter, I came up here to Winchester and stayed at the hotel to make sure I could get to work)...

In the intervening 8 and a half years, the only repair bills I've had for-- outside of basic maintenance-- were a flat tire (picked up a nail), and back right after the first of this year, I had to replace the alternator... and that's it... well, I wrecked it twice, but that was on me...

So, I've got a vehicle that has been quite reliable, one that gets me through all but the worst bad weather we have around here... and when I get off in 3 hours, about 10 minutes after I leave work I'll trip 300,000 miles on the old odomoter...

That's 260,000 miles in 8 and a half years... that's what happens when you live nearly 50 miles from your job... yes sir, I've got a great ride... and even though it's now 12 years old, the paint job is good on it, the interior is in good shape, and it runs... I'm not in any hurry to replace it...

Here's to another couple hundred thousand miles...

 

[tomson75]

Yep...owned a Cherokee Sport for five or six years. Great vehicle. That 4.0L will run forever. In fact, I was just talking to my girl about getting rid of her 2004 Passat in exchange for a 2001 Cherokee....probably won't make sense to anyone that's never owned one.

 

[arglebargle]

Interesting. Do you do your own maintenance? When I was looking at vehicles in the mid-90's, Jeeps had terrible records for repair and customer satisfaction.

Did they clean up their act? Or did you get vehicles made on wednesday?

 

[rkell87]

Yep...owned a Cherokee Sport for five or six years. Great vehicle. That 4.0L will run forever. In fact, I was just talking to my girl about getting rid of her 2004 Passat in exchange for a 2001 Cherokee....probably won't make sense to anyone that's never owned one.

get rid of it NOW! if you don't already know about the litany of things that go wrong on the passat you soon will.

 

[Jon88]

I can't wait to get rid of my 2001 Tacoma. It's got 136,000 miles on it. It started to get 14 mpg (2.7L 4 cylinder) so I replaced the spark plugs and air filter. The greedy dealership wanted like $230 to replace the plugs. Me and a friend of mine did it for about $60 total with the plugs and right tools in 30 minutes. I've had to replace the starter recently and it's gone through two batteries. It used to get 21.9 mpg now it get's about 20.7. I will never get another Toyota truck or Toyota period. I just don't think Toyota knows how to make trucks and they sure as hell can't make cars that work right. I hope they get the crap sued out of them.

 

[tomson75]

Interesting. Do you do your own maintenance? When I was looking at vehicles in the mid-90's, Jeeps had terrible records for repair and customer satisfaction.

Did they clean up their act? Or did you get vehicles made on wednesday?

You're likely thinking of the Grand Cherokees. The 8 cylinder in those was garbage. The 4.0L inline 6 found in the regular Cherokees and Wranglers is one of the best engines of the last 25 years. They still had their issues, of course, but you have a reasonable chance of getting a vehicle with a drivetrain capable of going for 300+K. Similar to the 22R 4 cylinder found in the 80's toyota trucks. Just GREAT engines.

 

[tomson75]

I can't wait to get rid of my 2001 Tacoma. It's got 136,000 miles on it. It started to get 14 mpg (2.7L 4 cylinder) so I replaced the spark plugs and air filter. The greedy dealership wanted like $230 to replace the plugs. Me and a friend of mine did it for about $60 total with the plugs and right tools in 30 minutes. I've had to replace the starter recently and it's gone through two batteries. It used to get 21.9 mpg now it get's about 20.7. I will never get another Toyota truck or Toyota period. I just don't think Toyota knows how to make trucks and they sure as hell can't make cars that work right. I hope they get the crap sued out of them.

I'm not going to vouch for Toyota truck after about '93, but their earlier truck were unstoppable. I have several friends that have newer Tacoma's, and they love them, too.

....if you're upset that your truck's gas mileage has deteriorated by 1.2 mpg after 136 K, you should consider that ALL vehicles' mpg decreases over time....most by a FAR greater margin than you've experienced. Most full size trucks can expect about a 4-5 mpg difference after about 125K.

It happens.

 

[bbgun]

I'm not going to vouch for Toyota truck after about '93, but their earlier truck were unstoppable.

no pun intended

 

[Jon88]

I'm not going to vouch for Toyota truck after about '93, but their earlier truck were unstoppable. I have several friends that have newer Tacoma's, and they love them, too.

....if you're upset that your truck's gas mileage has deteriorated by 1.2 mpg after 136 K, you should consider that ALL vehicles' mpg decreases over time....most by a FAR greater margin than you've experienced. Most full size trucks can expect about a 4-5 mpg difference after about 125K.

It happens.

I agree about their earlier model trucks that had those 4 cylinder engines. I used to have a 1995 Tacoma 4wd and it ran great. I got rid of it in favor of this one, a newer model that's also automatic and little nicer. I won't buy another one because they clearly starting putting out crap as fast as they could once their trucks got popular. My stepdad bought a 1999 V6 Tacoma that wore out quick.

I understand about gas mileage. It's still got a lot of power, but 20 mpg for a 2.7 liter kinda sucks IMO.

Another thing about Toyotas...my mom used to have like a 2000 model Camry that caught fire in the garage. The only way we knew it was burning was when the tire exploded. The piece of crap almost burned the whole house down.

I'm not big on domestic cars either because I think they're crap too. If I were to get a car it would be a Honda or Nissan. I'll probably get an SUV or mid-size 4 door truck next - Nissan probably.

 

[Sarge]

I can't wait to get rid of my 2001 Tacoma. It's got 136,000 miles on it. It started to get 14 mpg (2.7L 4 cylinder) so I replaced the spark plugs and air filter. The greedy dealership wanted like $230 to replace the plugs. Me and a friend of mine did it for about $60 total with the plugs and right tools in 30 minutes. I've had to replace the starter recently and it's gone through two batteries. It used to get 21.9 mpg now it get's about 20.7. I will never get another Toyota truck or Toyota period. I just don't think Toyota knows how to make trucks and they sure as hell can't make cars that work right. I hope they get the crap sued out of them.

OK - so you have a 9 year old truck and your complaining that you had to change an air filter and spark plugs? ....and it's getting about 1 mile per gallon less than it use to? 2 batteries in 9 years isn't anything to complain about either, nor is a starter after 9 years. Coming outta college I drove a Toyota Pickup for over 310,000 miles. If Toyota does ONE thing right, it's in their trucks - pre 1993 to date.

 

[Jon88]

OK - so you have a 9 year old truck and your complaining that you had to change an air filter and spark plugs? ....and it's getting about 1 mile per gallon less than it use to? 2 batteries in 9 years isn't anything to complain about either, nor is a starter after 9 years. Coming outta college I drove a Toyota Pickup for over 310,000 miles. If Toyota does ONE thing right, it's in their trucks - pre 1993 to date.

Yeah maybe I need to change my perspective. This is my truck coming out of college.

It's just annoying that everything's hit at once - battery, starter, spark plugs, air filter.

 

[MapleLeaf]

You're likely thinking of the Grand Cherokees. The 8 cylinder in those was garbage. The 4.0L inline 6 found in the regular Cherokees and Wranglers is one of the best engines of the last 25 years. They still had their issues, of course, but you have a reasonable chance of getting a vehicle with a drivetrain capable of going for 300+K. Similar to the 22R 4 cylinder found in the 80's toyota trucks. Just GREAT engines.

...the inline 6 on a Grand Cherokee. I have one. It was one of the first (50) that came off the line back in 92 when I worked for Chrysler.

I still drive that vehicle to this day and it runs like a top. I've only changed the plugs once. I've had to do a few mufflers, but those are a snap. Changed the battery twice since 92 and up here in Canada that's practically considered amazing.

The gas mileage is getting to be a bit of a problem, but I am considering handing the vehicle over to my two boys to use as their hunting wagon on the farm.

That engine is a work horse and it can take a lot of abuse.