[dell2028]

I drive a YJ and my wife currently has a 95 Grand Cherokee, but it is time for a new car for her and we have been looking at 1999-2004 Grand Cherokees. We found one that is a 99 Limited 4x4 with the 4.7L V8. My question is how have you guys found these types of grand cherokees hold up? It has 106000 miles, but it has been dealer serviced from day one. Her's has held up really well, its just that after a few accidents things start to not run the way they should. So, any thoughts?

[nierace]

Heres a pretty good list to search for through the forum :

1. blend door tests ******************
2. window regulators
3. rear wiper
4. hood struts
5. leaks of any kind under vehicle
6. acc self diag


And heres a good thread on the subject :

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f13/help-buying-2000-limited-wed-298860/

The blend doors are probably the biggest and one of the most common problems.

The brakes are another problem thats pretty common.

And wjjeeps.com has a ton of great info.

[Woody]

I'd avoid 99's, I know now more than fifteen people who wish they would have walked away from them at the lot. Myself included.

WJ's did not have as good a build quality as the ZJ's.

[nierace]

I love my WJ...but its true alot of problems were not worked out until 2002. I will actually admit that you may be better off with a 97-98 ZJ over a 99-01 WJ, even though theres many who love theirs in those year ranges and haven't had trouble.

But if you're set on a WJ you may want to look into the later years...

[Arkansas_WJ]

my 2000 has not had many problems over 6 years....tranny sensor and window reg (that was replaced by first owner)

Many people have had good luck with 99's but its hit or miss

[Wheelin98TJ]

I'm not sure why so many people recommend 02+, but it seems to me 02 was one of the worst years.

[///BHRpowered]

01/02 etc were better because for some the calipers were wrapping the rotors (although this could be the result of hard driving and cheap carwashes) and because frankly, every single car has problems at some point down the road, being the first year out, especially with a new powerplant there are going to be more problems that won't be addressed until later years.

On my 00 I haven't had any problems at all except a leaky transfer case and hood struts that sound like a 1970's graveyard gate. Frankly it depends alot of how it was taken care of. Things can dealer serviced sure, but that only works when the driver brings it to the dealer if theres a problem instead of waiting 8 months.

[dell2028]

Wow, sounds hit or miss on a lot of stuff. I know that her's has had its problems. Door locks, windows, rear hatch struts, ccv issues, brakes were aweful, and no ac. I set up a time to go look at it on Saturday and talked with the people again this morning. They pretty much had the last two big checks very recently. One at 90K and one at 105K. The brakes, rotors, and calipers were all replaced at the last service. AC runs great.

My biggest fear out of everything was drivetrain. She has had some issues with her 4.0L and it wasn't serviced properly a couple of times so I know that plays into it. I know 106K is a good bit of miles, but I know lots of people that have 180K on a Jeep that still runs strong. I'm kinda unfamilar with the 4.7L V8 and that is where I'm a little nervous. I've always worked on the I6 so I'm a little more familar with that.

So what I'm reading is give it the full rundown of everything from blend doors to drivetrain. Any other special sensors or anything I should look out for?

[Turbonut]

Personally I think the WJ for all around driveabilty is much better than the ZJ, however people that own a ZJ will object. We've had 4 ZJ's (3-5.2 1-4.0) in the household, and let me tell you, they are not troublefree. My old '93 4.0 was great with 233,000 and all original, and my neighbor has just passed 250,000 and no problems except the evaporator. The ZJ's were notorious for rotted evaps, trans problems, rear noise, out of spec rotors, radiator problems, water pump problems, and the list goes on.
My '01 Laredo 4.7 with 99,000 miles has been troublefree, great performance and better mileage than the ZJ (17 opposed to 16), and still has the original rotors and calipers. Forgot passenger regulator was replaced last year.
Just be careful with the AZC. Test it through all cycles, and turn both sides down to max cool, then check to be certain the temps are the same for the passenger and driver's sides.

Good Luck

[///BHRpowered]

My Zj was trouble-free, sure I had some issues, but they were items that I expected to wear out at a certain mileage, lasted slightly longer then I excepted then went out. Sure at the time I may have been furious, but frankly I can't be mad for what is suppose to happen. Fixed it and it ran stronger then ever.

The 4.7 is stronger, faster, nicer etc, but it feels bigger and feels like your driving a car instead of becoming the car. The ZJ's simply have more personality to them imo.

[nierace]

I think the WJ has that same personality that the ZJ had and has a similar type of feel when driving it, however performs better on road in any aspect.

In my opinion one of the things that seperates the Jeeps from most other vehicles is that the more you drive it the more you like it, I find that when I drive most other vehicles, the more I drive it the less I like it and the more I like my WJ.

When ever I drive something else and then go back into my WJ I remember why I bought it.

[///BHRpowered]

Well, the more I drive my millenia the more I love it, far more then any jeep.

But the WJ feels much bigger on the road and less on its feet so to speak. When I first sat in a Wj to test drive I noticed the ride height difference,but the driving is pretty different, especially the front end. It's bigger, doesn't seem to want to turn into corners as easily and the rear seems lazy. Get back in a ZJ and you instantly feel another huge difference.