Originally posted by Slimshady:
If i had to do it again i would have bought the Volkswagon toureag 8 CYL.
I think that truck is pretty sweet and it's priced about the same.



V8 touareg is closer to $50k - 6 cyl. JGC shouldn't be higher than low 30's. even a fully loaded JGC overland 4x4 w/ the HO V8 barely tops $40k...which is more in line w/ the V6 touareg, not the V8. the VW is definitely nice, but a bit porky...and slow w/ the 6 cyl. w/ daimler-chrysler discounts and incentives, the price gap widens even more.

depreciation is a bummer, though - my $40k+ 2k JGC is probably worth, at most, on the private-sale market, $15k - having 80k miles doesn't help, but they're all down there in that range.

Originally posted by baco99:
ask these guys. my folks have a JGC Laredo V6 and they love it.



I-6, not V6. the JU folks are very defensive about the arrangement of their cylinders....you'd best not call the 4.0 a vee-six in their presence with one heck of a flame-suit.

a few more tidbits, now that i'm looking back at the original post a day later:
-- maintenance: trans fluid every 30k, diffs at least every 30k, the usual stuff. nothing terribly unusual, though the 4wd systems will obviously have their own set of additional maintenance required.
-- notorious problems: early WJ's ('99-00's, in particular) had some sort of issue with the front brake calipers, which would prematurely warp the rotors. a TSB fixes this w/ new calipers - the new calipers should be silver; the old style would be black (i think - could be backwards - check JU for confirmation). most jeeps tend to develop leaky diff seals and other oil leaks as they age, so check for those if you're looking at used ones. i haven't heard of any longevity issues w/ the 4.7L V8 (or the 4.0L six), and i really haven't heard of many trans failures with the newer 45RFE or 545RFE trans. fwiw, the older 45RFE 4-spd. auto can be re-flashed with the newer software to give the extra gear ratios in the 545RFE - it's all software-controlled. the hardware is all there, just untapped - i believe the bugs in the system were still being worked out when the '99's and '00's were released, so they waited till '01 to introduce the new tranny ratios (there's an extra overdrive and two different 2nd gear ratios for accelerating, or something like that).

fwiw, the WJ (99+) is much more refined than the ZJ...and while the 5.9L '98 ZJ is fast, the 4.7L V8 isn't that much slower but gets better gas mileage - and the 4.7 HO is almost on par w/ the 5.9, though to get that performance you have to run premium.

hth..

blake --former CSVT owner-- MINE: 2002 jeep grand cherokee limited 4x4 - stone white/taupe HERS: 2005 acura TL 5AT non-navi - satin silver/quartz GARAGE ORNAMENT: 1962 chevy C10 fleetside pickup - tan/rust