Looking to buy a jeep

Hi I am looking to buy a jeep cherokee but I don't know what year or model I should look at. I want it to be a capable off roader which I can build up but it also needs to be street worthy. Any ideas or opinions would be appreciated!!! Let me know what you think.

Any year is a good year. The last year the Cherokees were made was 2002; and the design was basically the same all the way through.

Get the 4.0 Liter six cylinder. Manual transmission models are hard to find, but that would be my preference.

Look on ebay. They dont resale as high as they would at a dealer or even the newspaper.

Go to www.autotrader.com that's how i found my 96 xj. if i was buying another i would look at a 97 + i like the interior setup on those better than what i have
but really any year would be good you can do alot with a jeep just make sure you road test any that you look at, Death wobble is a common issue with xj's so be sure to check out the suspension real good

If you are looking to buy a cherokee for the purpose of building it up, I would actually suggest looking into buying a repairable. I bought my 94 cherokee that was a theft recovery for $1500. It was missing wheels, tires, a steering column, and had a bent front left fender. The driver side window was broken and there was no stereo. However, it had really low miles and was RUST FREE(in Michigan that's a big deal). I put about another $1000 dollars into it and I plan on building it up for trail use. I like the newer jeeps for everyday driving, my girlfriend has a 99 cherokee, but I would go with something older if building up for trails. Things like no airbag, parts available at almost every junkyard in the country, and aftermarket parts are plentiful because the body didn't change much make a mid 90s jeep nice for build ups and repairs of the mid 90s jeeps. Go with the 4.0, runs forever. Standard would be nice but are hard to find. This post is long but I hope it helps.

www.dandaauto.com is where I found my 94.

My 2 cents worth.
Try the autoauctions.gsa.gov website.
They have auctions in every state on a regular basis.
There are a lot of low mileage Cherokees available.
They (ususally) have all of their maintainance done and are in very good condition. Two years ago I bought a '98 Cherokee SE w/4.0l,5-speed,A/C,cruise,LSD with 78K miles for $3400.
It was in very good condition and I have enjoyed driving it everyday to work. I now have 120K miles on it and have only had to replace the Serpentine Belt, probably b/c I have a lead foot problem and keep hitting the REV limiter coming out of second gear.
I would only consider buying a '97 or newer Cherokee. They made improvements to the unibody in '97 (stiffer chassis, stronger roof for rollover protection) and the interior was redesigned to use more Chysler parts (easier to rob upgrade parts from other Chrysler group vehicles).

I agree with the auction thing as well, a lot of good deals come out of there. Just be sure to walk the lot and really look it over before the bids begin. Neon RT made a good point with the unibody thing also. My 94 lacks several bars on the unibody that I really wish were there.

Thanks for the tips. I have never heard of the GSA governement auction. I looked up jeeps and they have a lot of low milage trucks. Can you test drive them? Is there a lot of competition in biding? I think I am going to try it. Thanks again

I had to go to two of them to get what I wanted.
The first time there were too many people (about 500 people and 300 vehicles).
The second time they only advertised 70 vehicles and only about 50 people showed up. When I got there, there was a notice that 117 more vehicles had been added to the line up at last minute, about 15 of them were Cherokees. I bought the first one on the auction block and immediately paid for it and left. I probably should have waited until later in the auction, I might have got one for half price.

i got mine at the auction, im looking to sell it now for a pick-up so anyone in mass who wants a cherokee can PM me