1997 Jeep TJ SE review from North America

K... bought the car out of a lease.

Had to change both sway bar links. Cost about 80 bucks to change each one.

Panel vents didn't work except for window defroster, they wanted to open the whole jeep up and charge me by the hour. Then some nice mechanic knew about the problem and connected some hose under the hood and fixed it. Slipped him 10 bucks through a handshake to thank the guy.

Hmm, Changed front brake pads shortly after that.

The steering fluid always leaked. Finally got it repaired for just under 200 bucks and it's pretty good now.

The exhaust manifold bolts or something like that is a piece of crap and broke under warranty - was OK until shortly after the warranty expired and don't have the cash to fix it again.

There is a light bulb in the dash that goes out depending on the temperature. It's annoying, but I got used to it. I will probably look into one day.

Catalytic converter huge piece of crap. Broke twice under warranty. Decided to give midas a shot at is after that and then that became an even bigger headache. Took them a year of constant fixings - sometimes they charged me too - but they finally got it right.

The you joints for the front wheels are loose and about to break. That is what makes 4WD work on the front wheels. I haven't bothered to fix it yet because I don't rely on 4WD on a regular basis.

The light fixtures have a tendency to rust out - I have found that smothering the light bulb sockets with grease helps the problem.

The steering wheel does squeek in cold weather, but some wd40 down the steering column under the dash fixes the problem for a while.

Squeaking when I hit bumps is from the hood latch. Some wd40 and grease in there stops the squeaking.

Minor rusting on windshield hinges.

Once it was crazy cold outside, like ridiculously cold - I don't remember the exact temp. Anyway the check engine light came on and I got it checked out and it was nothing important - so I asked them not to fix it, and then after 2 or 3 days, the light just shut off.

A lot of the instrument cluster lights stopped working. 4wh, 4wl, ebrake.

Fuel gage is a little wonky sometimes. Anything under 1/8 of a tank is completely unreliable. Otherwise, most of the time it is somewhat reliable.

The seats are starting to crack, but I always have the top down and no doors, so the UV rays are probably gang banging the vinyl and making it crack.

Anyway - bottom line:

A lot of minor annoyances, but the vehicle has never left me stranded - this is especially impressive because I beat the hell out of it every day.

Overall a great machine and it is more reliable and fun and anything than I have ever wanted.

It is noisy and bumpy and not great on gas, but it is more fun and more worth the money than any other vehicle out there.

Take the doors off, get both tops, and get ready to have the most fun of your life.

Would I buy a jeep again? You bet.