New Car - Sorta

I had a 97 Jeep Grand Cherokee and I hated it. Huge POC. Sheetmetal is like tin foil (look at it wrong and - oops! A new dent or crease).

It had no more room than my Maxima for people and stuff. It just had a bigger trunk opening.

The check engine light came on (cause was faulty BAP sensors - on multiple occasions) resulting in numerous trips to the dealer.

The gas gauge was fubar'd. It showed ~1/4 tank and it was really empty. It left my then pregnant wife stranded on Central expreessway with our 2 other sons during rush hour traffic. Cool, huh?

I would have loved to have pushed it off a cliff...
Instead I PAYED the remainder of the lease and turned it in early just to get rid of it so I could buy our GMC Suburban we now have.

Do you wanna know how I really feel about Jeeps?

-jeffd

Wew had a Rodeo for a while, the wife loved it. She thought it was "sportier" than the other offerings (and the '94 S-Blazer we traded for it).

It ended up on the move list when I thought it lunched the motor one morning. Turned out to be flooded (which I didn't know could happen to a fuel-injected rig). Traded it for a 96 S-Blazer, which has since moved down the road for a 97 Tahoe.

Now she wants a Suburban!:debil:

I wouldn't shy away, except there's a lot of valves in there to worry about!

As far as a Jeep, well, I kinda agree with jeffd!

I think the Jeep thing is a love / hate relationship. I've had friends that have owned Jeeps and no one ever said "it's okay," they either loved or hated it. I do remember them saying it had no power but I can't remember what motor any had.

When I bought my 95 S10 Blazer I looked at the Rodeo first. The little Blazer had more rear cargo room by far than any of the others. I ended up going to all of them with a tape measure and measuring the rear opening because the cubic space is a bunch of crap. If a 27" TV won't go in the door then it won't fit!

I've had a lot of cars over the years and I have to say the best was the 4 door S10 Blazer (95 model). The worst was my 96 Tahoe, what a p.o.s.. That was followed closely by my 87 S10 Blazer, both front wheels layed down (seperate times) while driving 70 mph down the hgwy. The cause was poor welding of the upper control arm support to the frame and GM said "it aint our fault." I never had it off the road.

If you're gonna buy a small/mid-sized SUV, you've got to consider if it's going to see all street use, or some off-road. Some of the smaller SUVs, (such as the Jeep) are uni-body construction, while others ( Explorer, Isuzu, S-10) are ladder frame. Uni-body equals quieter, smoother ride-sucks off-road. Ladder frame is more of a truck, more off-road/tow worthy, but noisier/rougher ride. I would not recommend the Explorer (since I own one), but have heard good things about Isuzus and Toyotas.