4WD (Cherokee?) recommendations please

Hello!

After 240K miles, my trusty old Toyota pickup is going out to pasture
(literally, as a ranch work truck). I need a new main ride now, and I
think a used cherokee may be my best choice. My driving habits are
about 70% pavement (with pretty good snow/ice coverages in winter
though), 20% dirt/gravel rural roads (sometimes pretty muddy in wet
springs) and 10% off-road (not recreational 4-wheeling, but getting
back on lousy ‘roads,' 2-track or worse to hunt, fish, hike, etc.).
‘No kids, just the girlfriend and a buddy or two now and then (and
plenty of gear) for trips. 'Maybe some light towing now and then
(small horse trailer). And I want to stay under about $15,000 if I
can.

Like other folks with similar driving needs, I thought about some of
the compact SUVs like the Subaru Forester and the Honda CRV. I like
the idea of a full-time AWD system to leave "on" at times when in my
neck of the woods you're not sure where your next patch of black ice
is going to show up. However, the lack of a 4-low option for slow
crawling and pulling concerned me, as did the basic fact that (based
on my reading the opinions of others) these are on-road vehicles with
*some* limited off-road capability. I do spend a fair amount of time
"off-pavement," and I need a vehicle that can deal with that.

When I put everything together, it seemed to me a used jeep cherokee
might be a good choice. While I'm not thrilled with jeep's
reliability compared to the likes of Toyota, Honda & Subaru (my
immediate and extended family have driven jeeps for as long as I can
remember, and they've spent more time in the shop than I think they
should have), I need to think of performance as well as reliability.
And when things do go wrong, my chances of getting decent service on a
cherokee out here in rural America seem a whole lot better than Subaru
or Honda.

From what I've read, it seemed like maybe a late 90s Cherokee sport
with the Select-Tract drivetrain (which apparently has a selectable
full-time AWD option or something similar) would be an ideal choice
for my needs. I would appreciate any thoughts others might have on
the matter though—esp. any known "good" or "bad" years for Cherokee,
features to look for/avoid, etc.

Thanks so much-

Coyotefred in Wyoming

I like my Command-Trac ... let's me 2 wheel it most of the time which saves
a bit on gas ... with the 4H there on demand for snow, rain, gravel. A note
on the 4 low ... not selectable on the fly ... from what I've read the
majority of us have to select neutral before selecting/deselecting 4L. And I
like my lockup 4 spd auto for smooth trailer pulling and saving a bit on
fuel. And I like that 4.0 litre HO ... a bit of performance/torque. And it's
light ... 3100 lbs ... with that uniframe or whatever it's called. And ... I
find the open differentials work just fine. Still going strong at 240,000 km
.... oh yeah, had to replace the starter last week ... got to the point where
I had to whack it to get it to work ... and the cost was only $188 cdn at
the dealers ... about half what I was expecting.


"coyotefred" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Hello!
>
> After 240K miles, my trusty old Toyota pickup is going out to pasture
> (literally, as a ranch work truck). I need a new main ride now, and I
> think a used cherokee may be my best choice. My driving habits are
> about 70% pavement (with pretty good snow/ice coverages in winter
> though), 20% dirt/gravel rural roads (sometimes pretty muddy in wet
> springs) and 10% off-road (not recreational 4-wheeling, but getting
> back on lousy 'roads,' 2-track or worse to hunt, fish, hike, etc.).
> 'No kids, just the girlfriend and a buddy or two now and then (and
> plenty of gear) for trips. 'Maybe some light towing now and then
> (small horse trailer). And I want to stay under about $15,000 if I
> can.
>
> Like other folks with similar driving needs, I thought about some of
> the compact SUVs like the Subaru Forester and the Honda CRV. I like
> the idea of a full-time AWD system to leave "on" at times when in my
> neck of the woods you're not sure where your next patch of black ice
> is going to show up. However, the lack of a 4-low option for slow
> crawling and pulling concerned me, as did the basic fact that (based
> on my reading the opinions of others) these are on-road vehicles with
> *some* limited off-road capability. I do spend a fair amount of time
> "off-pavement," and I need a vehicle that can deal with that.
>
> When I put everything together, it seemed to me a used jeep cherokee
> might be a good choice. While I'm not thrilled with jeep's
> reliability compared to the likes of Toyota, Honda & Subaru (my
> immediate and extended family have driven jeeps for as long as I can
> remember, and they've spent more time in the shop than I think they
> should have), I need to think of performance as well as reliability.
> And when things do go wrong, my chances of getting decent service on a
> cherokee out here in rural America seem a whole lot better than Subaru
> or Honda.
>
> From what I've read, it seemed like maybe a late 90s Cherokee sport
> with the Select-Tract drivetrain (which apparently has a selectable
> full-time AWD option or something similar) would be an ideal choice
> for my needs. I would appreciate any thoughts others might have on
> the matter though-esp. any known "good" or "bad" years for Cherokee,
> features to look for/avoid, etc.
>
> Thanks so much-
>
> Coyotefred in Wyoming

Hello! What year/model do you have with that Command-Trac?

"Bowgus" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> I like my Command-Trac ... let's me 2 wheel it most of the time which saves
> a bit on gas ... with the 4H there on demand for snow, rain, gravel. A note
> on the 4 low ... not selectable on the fly ... from what I've read the
> majority of us have to select neutral before selecting/deselecting 4L. And I
> like my lockup 4 spd auto for smooth trailer pulling and saving a bit on
> fuel. And I like that 4.0 litre HO ... a bit of performance/torque. And it's
> light ... 3100 lbs ... with that uniframe or whatever it's called. And ... I
> find the open differentials work just fine. Still going strong at 240,000 km
> ... oh yeah, had to replace the starter last week ... got to the point where
> I had to whack it to get it to work ... and the cost was only $188 cdn at
> the dealers ... about half what I was expecting.

I had a Cherokee (either a 1999 or 2000, I can't remember, whichever was the
last year they made the Cherokee) and I loved it. Rode smooth on highway,
great offroad. decent gas mileage. Nice amount of power, i guess since it
was so light it just jumped to go when you stepped on the gas. a ton of room
for gear. man i loved that jeep. traded it in to get a Wrangler Unlimited.
IF i could have afforded both, i would have loved to keep that Cherokee, but
I'm so glad to have the Unlimited.
Go for the Cherokee if you are leaning that way, you'll love it.
"coyotefred" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Hello! What year/model do you have with that Command-Trac?
>
> "Bowgus" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> > I like my Command-Trac ... let's me 2 wheel it most of the time which
saves
> > a bit on gas ... with the 4H there on demand for snow, rain, gravel. A
note
> > on the 4 low ... not selectable on the fly ... from what I've read the
> > majority of us have to select neutral before selecting/deselecting 4L.
And I
> > like my lockup 4 spd auto for smooth trailer pulling and saving a bit on
> > fuel. And I like that 4.0 litre HO ... a bit of performance/torque. And
it's
> > light ... 3100 lbs ... with that uniframe or whatever it's called. And
.... I
> > find the open differentials work just fine. Still going strong at
240,000 km
> > ... oh yeah, had to replace the starter last week ... got to the point
where
> > I had to whack it to get it to work ... and the cost was only $188 cdn
at
> > the dealers ... about half what I was expecting.