Old Top Gear 1997 - Jeep Cherokee

Quentin Wilson takes a look at the Jeep Cherokee as a used car bargain.
Taken from a early 1997 edition of the old format Top Gear.

[@trainguy1792]

"They're built like jeeps" Not much of a compliment these days

[@jakey20022]

Have you heard of the JEEP GRAND CHEROKEE TRACKHAWK OR Trailhawk version ??

[@firingallcylinders2949]

That meant something in the 90s

[@jesusserrano8769]

​@@jakey20022cool cars but anything from jeep/crysler/dodge/ram (stellantis) in general have horrendous reliability

[@Groobl]

These things are the best. I've got a 2-door, a 4-door, and a Comanche because I absolutely don't have a problem help

[@jamestoomer1330]

I'll take the manche off your hands haha

[@TJ-ob9ro]

Thinking about selling one?😂😇

[@sutherlandA1]

Jeeps back in their heyday when they still had AMC engineering before Chrysler eventually diluted it's reputation with its modern junk

[@lioncelica5170]

The last AMC influence died in 2006 when Chrysler did away with the 4.0 straight six );

[@1598hi]

We love all modern Jeeps and Subarus at my work. They are such garbage and always broken down. Make a ton of money selling them the repairs. AMC would have put us out of business. Which is exactly why I love my Cherokee. Extremely offroad capable, 350,000 miles no issues and very nice to look at

[@corymagnus7452]

Chrysler actually improved them....Cherokee used a GM V6 in the 1980's in the Cherokee! I worked at Chrysler in the early 1990's and a AMC fan/guru and X AMC employee even said don't buy a Jeep until after 1990 because AMC had bad electronics and Chrysler improved the electronics and the 4.0 engine! Chrysler improved the Jeep line-up tenfold! Remember everyone put a Chevy 350 in the Jeep CJ before Chrysler came along! The 4.0 was developed but re-engineered by Chrysler and the electronics,drive line etc.. You're thinking of how Mercedes cheapened Jeep but today they are strong again!

[@The_sinner_Jim_Whitney]

Cory Magnus The FCA Jeeps are far and away the worst Jeeps ever built, Fiat's going to bankrupt Chrysler as soon as the novelty of the Hellcats and Demons and everything wears off. A damn shame, I've always been kind of a Mopar man. They went pretty far south with the Daimler-Benz merger, and just when they started to get their shit together again, along came Fiat and crippled them again to the point that I'm not sure they can recover. The interiors and 'infotainment' systems are fantastic, though, and the prices low, MAYBE they can sell enough to the lease and 'trade it in as soon as the warranty runs out' crowd to keep them alive til they can do well again. Here's hoping.

[@jamestoomer1330]

@@corymagnus7452 jeeps today are strong? Lmao are you smoking crack? The last decent jeeps were the XJ's and TJ's imo

[@champagne6534]

2020 and the cherokee XJ is still around!

[@nathanknepper1431]

You betcha! I currently have a 96 XJ in my shop that I’m resurrecting. Saved it from an untimely demise due to being more rust than metal.

[@aidanmakinster922]

Hell yeh!!! I'm 17 and I daily one!

[@iahmadmu]

Because the 90s car is gold

[@jakey20022]

I had a ZJ loved that SUV. And yes She saw alot of snow ❄️❄️ and off road

[@firingallcylinders2949]

Yep still drive mine everyday

[@kensmith2796]

I'm still driving one of these. It saves me a lot of money with no car payment and cheap and easy repairs.

[@MaybachDay]

Got tired of car payments. Got me one a few weeks ago. Became a mechanic (lol) and it's running so nice. Honestly fell in love with these 90's jeeps now.

[@CharlezEggs]

Last MOT for that Jeep was in October 2009, passed at 142,498 miles.

[@ash7990]

Without a shadow of a doubt, the same can deffinatly NOT be said for newer Jeeps. The new Grand Cherokee's WILL break the bank, and will break, well yes, break.

[@foch3]

I swear the Germans set out to destroy our beloved brand.

[@1598hi]

Have two, one I restored in 2016 and another thats all original was my dads before mine, 350,000 miles never let me down. Best vehicles ever made, by far

[@KucingKurus.]

Mine is 94 XJ Limited, having it for 26years till now since brand new, still in great condition, love it.. Cheers from Indonesia.

[@EstaDePiPi]

Still have it ? Just got a 94 2 door my mom had one when i was a kid great memories, and now finally have my own ❤️

[@strictlyyoutube6881]

I had my 1997 in 2008 and even though it was 11 years old at that point there was nothing wrong with it at all except a few minor rust parts on the edge of the boot. I bought it at the time for £500, it did 10-15 miles per gallon. I saw it on Autotrader recently for £5000.

[@alastorisgone9948]

I had a 1997 Grand Cherokee Laredo in 2019, given it's old age and poor care from owners previously, it was in bad shape. No rear shocks, holes in the gas tank, crack in the frame, every door was broken and had to use the seat belts to keep closed, the back bumper had been cracked off. And the only problems I had were the things that would normally need to be replaced as the car gets older, and the more miles are driven. But once it was fixed, I never had problems with those things again. I decided to park it once the ball joints and power steering went out. Got a bit too dangerous. I have a new body for it, just waitin on switching ovee the beautiful inline 6 and get the baby roaring again

[@strictlyyoutube6881]

@@alastorisgone9948 I know that model. It was the all-American Colorado dad car. You do not see many around anymore. These are definitely classic cars.

[@alastorisgone9948]

@@strictlyyoutube6881 I love them, old cars will forever have my favor. Give or take some of the good newer cars. I'm just not very comfortable with all the fancy stuff electric wise

[@DoubleDeckerAnton]

I love these old 4.0 litre Cherokees...👌

[@The_sinner_Jim_Whitney]

Yep. A 4.0/5-speed low-mile clean Cherokee is one of the greatest possible automotive finds. And with a rear locker, a small, simple lift, and 31-32" tires, they're almost unbelievably capable, indestructible off-roaders.

[@boraucler2176]

@@The_sinner_Jim_Whitney i have it like your all sayed man. You're so right. It makes me feel so reliable and powerful. Cherokee's don't need an extreme lifts or unnessesary off road equipments. Simple lift, a locker ,32'' tires and H.O engine with manuel transmission. Perfect combination for onroad and offroad.

[@thebaronv7909]

2023 and just bought a used '98 cherokee!

[@99AmethystZJ]

Me too! A '99 Orvis, love it, are you happy with yours? 👌

[@BurntTransGarage]

Same. My daily is now a 2000 with 160kmi and I just picked up a clean 99 with 103kmi. Cannot love this thing enough.

[@memiyago8246]

Just hit 320k miles on my cherokee and have never touched the engine. It will not die

[@kingdevoneomusic]

This makes me want to buy one even more knowing how reliable it is 😂💯

[@chriskendall3388]

20 years later and theyre more valuable.

[@QuintinGellar]

love our jeeps. we have two

[@V8AmericanMuscleCar]

Two Jeeps in my family too! 😀

[@mika1257]

have 2, -1998 4.0 L, and got hand on a -2000 2,5TD too.

[@mastery200]

They break often?

[@fubar12345]

@@mastery200 Only major thing to watch out for is the head gasket - it used an unusual design where the head was made of several pieces - one piece for each cylinder. Have been known to blow. Otherwise the 4.0 is regarded as largely bulletproof.

[@FCT8306onTwoWheels]

Found a 96 xj for my Dad and have been fixing it up for him to drive. Just little bits interior that needed replacing and the usual fluids. And its a 5 speed 4x4, its nice to drive and pretty fun. Wish I'd found one for me too, dang. Got an 03 F150 and now know what to replace it with.

[@jakey20022]

4.0 LITER Inline 6 awesome long lasting engine .

[@eddiespaghetti54321]

It’s sad to see that Jeeps aren’t like this anymore. I have a 2014 Cherokee Latitude and it’s a steaming pile of shit but it’s my steaming pile of shit.

[@pedropaulomelo9050]

É o clássico carro americano, grande e potente, o muscle car.

[@FirstLast-kb7kn]

Remember when Jeeps were actually reliable? FCA ruined its reliability.

[@TJ-ob9ro]

Cherokee's are just great

[@catchagrip1322]

Bought a fked up 2.5 petrol sport, amazing car. Caught a limited edition with leather interior before it went to the scrap yard with a cracked and rotten frame. My 2.5lt now looks like a serious piece of kit. Love the fact there's zero computers telling me somethings up with flashy led's in my face. I thinks it's getting pulled out of the garage pretty soon to finish of the work. Over heating issue, hoods wired the the tempo gauge ass about face, as they do with anything they touch. Sticky brake caliber and electric window switch box to place and we're good to go.

[@RLee-zs1ds]

I have had three Jeep Grand Cherokees, 1994, 2004, 2014 each one racked up 350,000 km plus, biggest repair was brake replacement. We have temperatures from -40C to +40C , some years we get 4m of snow, plus freezing rain 4 or 5 times a winter, and living on a private road, I have never been stuck. My next car will be a Jeep Grand Cherokee. The only difference I have found is there are more recalls (so far 5) on the 2014 than there were on the 1994 model.

[@melviniha]

2023..jeep cherokee xj got a lot of demand all of the sudden and in the UAE a lot of the oil hustlers collect this jeeps...

[@lance62]

Love my two door XJ!

[@CTRLaltKNIFE]

Yank tank

[@andysaunders3708]

Made us feel broke with their 4.7 litre OHC V8s. WJ Grand Cherokee Overland with the High Output engine.

[@julianlord2697]

I still drive a 1995 xj 4.0 limited. Never been bettered by an SUV, it had all you needed.

[@walidelharrak2140]

Who the fuck is this guy

[@roderickjones7479]

When his ex said " me love you long time"...he should of known...

[@papagee100]

Had phase 1 96, now have 97 limited as daily driver 27 years old

[@norcatch]

It's always about class for Quentin.

[@thomaskruyer251]

Do you have more old top Gear video's? Thanks!

[@MrMcKane]

I think a lot of what I have left has already been posted to youtube. I'll see what else I have left, it's just finding the time to get it all transferred from VHS to youtube

[@thomaskruyer251]

@@MrMcKane Thanks! Love the 90s vibe, will see what you find!

[@GlennBrown958]

I have a 96 xj classic.... i don't know how well the statement "poke around and show you the oily bits.... there are none" holds up anymore! You need to wrnech on these a lot now

[@georgesakellaropoulos8162]

I have a 96 xj sport. Yeah, stuff has to be done to it, but it's 25 years old.

[@couchsurfingfriends2378]

24 years later me regret buyging a jeep and wished I bought a 1980s toyota landcruiser

[@30AndHatingIt]

There’s always one Debbie downer.

[@MHZ901]

the car is shit compared to Toyota. @@30AndHatingIt

[@Firebert79TA]

1997? Looks like 1987

[@martinogold]

The dashboard on the pre-facelift and the wheels are lovely Quentin from the past. I bet present day Quentin would love their kitcshe charm.

[@austinaubinoe2195]

2024 and I still see these on a daily basis. Still have two. Only downside to an XJ is they are not super safe in a crash.

[@Paumonsu]

I have a Grand Cherokee WJ, still working and takes me everywhere I want

[@30AndHatingIt]

The XJ was better by a little bit, but I love my WJ!

[@JasnoGT]

Still have my 4.0 2004 WJ. Love it. Only 128k. Still just a baby. My friend has 500k on her 2004 . Same engine.

[@guinnessharvey4476]

I gotta disagree with you about the wheels. Those wheels look great! They’re iconic Cherokee wire alloys

[@JimboJette]

They did build them good in a way they’re easy to repair with some help. My dad and I replaced the head, radiator and water pump on my 99. Once you get the air filter and the the electric fan out there’s so much room

[@andysaunders3708]

The XJ WAS a good car. They rust in the roof in NZ.

[@steveh5005]

Just bought '99 3 door gettig rare

[@hughjass2745]

weird how the SUV trend never went away, they just more and more popular. And Jeep became largely irrelevant.

[@30AndHatingIt]

Irrelevant? They’re fu**ing eveywhere!

[@Blaidd7542]

@@30AndHatingIt in the UK Jeep has basically died off completely. Jeep used to be competitive in sales with Land Rover Mitsubishi and Toyota in the 4x4 SUV area 20-25 years ago. Used to see a whole bunch of jeeps every day, but now you go weeks without seeing one, and when you do it’s a compass or Cherokee. Wranglers are insanely rare, have seen maybe 3 since they originally came out, last one like 4 years ago. FCA used to have near 300 dealers with all of them selling jeeps. they’ve closed down a lot of dealerships, basically halved from near 300 to 145 or something. And of the 145 FCA dealerships left only 18 are actual Jeep dealerships with signs that say Jeep and jeeps on the lot. You can order a Jeep from any FCA dealer but obviously that doesn’t really sell many cars at all. So yeah 18 actual dealerships down from almost 300, I can’t imagine Jeep says around much longer in the UK.

[@nwezetx1]

​@30AndHatingIt 🙄

[@nwezetx1]

​@@Blaidd7542Exactly! Americans.

[@2needey1]

It’s a burn out and a 4 camping trip machine. My 2001 3.5in lift pulled a semi back on an icy pass, in two feet of snow. Trust me they’re very capable vehicles. Mud, snow, water crossing. I’ve been through it all . My Jeep crossed a 3.5 or so with a winch. Never forget a winch.

[@jasonbell1698]

my 1996 has 296k miles and still runs like a champ.

[@haoruchen4216]

Obnoxious bloke

[@keithlea6804]

Why they made it a unibody il never understand. The only downside to it.

[@djdawson9206]

dude that's one of its most iconic parts. It started the whole cross over class. and it also what helps make it off road legend that it is

[@element271]

Xj is a classic but the leaf springs bother me more then unibody, it’s very 19th century

[@exxusdrugstore300]

@@element271 I always thought they had coils all around until my friend bought one, there was really no reason to keep leafs in the back for it's entire run

[@exxusdrugstore300]

@Steve Williams Agreed, they get kind of floppy as the miles add up

[@1598hi]

I have one lifted and use it offroad often. Doesnt have an issue. I see no downside to the unibody. Its lighter and probably the safest vehicle to get in an accident in. Never heard anyone making it out of a worse crash than in a cherokee. I get the body on frame thing. Getting ready to do a full rotisserie restoration on one of these and removing the unibody and getting it back on without changing the angles is going to be a pain. But thats about all there is to complain about in my book

[@Swissair171]

Wait, doesn’t this model of Jeep (along with several others) have a tendency to burst into flames in a rear-end collision? (Spoilers: Yes, it does.)

[@riogrande163]

Youre thinking of the pinto.

[@jamestoomer1330]

Do you smoke crack? (Spoilers: yes, you do) All jokes aside though, I've never heard of a single XJ going up in flames unless something in the engine bay caught alight due to dodgy aftermarket wiring or similar

[@30AndHatingIt]

Unsure on the XJ, but they highly recommend a hitch install on the WJ for the chance it may happen on those. But if you’ve got a Jeep without a hitch… you’re doing it wrong anyway.

[@Swissair171]

@@30AndHatingIt The ZJ Jeep Grand Cherokee, WJ Jeep Grand Cherokee, XJ Jeep Cherokee and KJ Jeep Liberty are affected by this. (Incidentally, here in Europe, the KJ Liberty was, rather confusingly, sold as the Jeep Cherokee.) kzbin.info/www/bejne/b5PFl4OmobyMp6s

[@Swissair171]

@@riogrande163 @pvsheridan would probably beg to differ. kzbin.info/www/bejne/b5PFl4OmobyMp6s