1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited 6 in line 4l.

Summary:

Not the most practical boy-toy

Faults:

In general the car has been very reliable, however in the last 8 years things have gone wrong besides the general maintenance.

When the car was new a sunroof was installed and this roof has been leaking a lot from the very first day, only last year “Webasto” in the Netherlands repaired the source of the problem, before that time the car had been to the dealer for repairs and this would last only a couple of months before water entered the car again.

The aircon has also been a pain and has been broken several times with very expensive costs to repair as the dashboard had to be taken out. But when working the climate-control works very well especially with the heated front seats.

All suspension bits and peaces have all been renewed in due time, as well as new sets of tires every 35,000km.

A couple of car batteries had to be changed as they would be broken from one day to another, very strange!

Last year the car had trouble running smooth with a cold engine, and would stop running when I tried to drive off or give more gas. After taking the jeep to service the problem was solved with no clear explanation to the course of the problem.

General Comments:

I must say it has been one of the most reliable cars I had and very comfortable to drive, however not such a good highway drive when fully loaded as the Citroen XM turbo CT exclusive break.

In Portugal it is very wise to drive a strong car with good all around vision as the Portuguese roads and drivers are not known as the best in the world. This is probably on of the reasons why I really like driving this car.

I must admit this car does not drive cheap, especially in the city it is very thirsty so I tend to use this car only for longer distances and keep it in the garage when not used, in this way the car stay in good condition and very reliable.

I and very pleased about the performance of the engine, especially the power is wonderful, it does not go fast, but can seed up and outperform many cars due to pure power.

The car is not as specious as you would expect, nevertheless a good car and I tend to keep it for the coming years.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know

Review Date: 13th July, 2005

3rd Apr 2006, 22:34

I too own a 1997 Grand Cherokee limited, and I have had very little trouble with it for the past two years I have owned it. The only major problem was when the boots of the front axles had to be replaced after doing a little four wheel driving. It does not get great gas mileage either. Overall I am very satisfied with this car and would buy another Jeep.

17th Jul 2007, 09:11

Are you sure you are from Portugal? cause you said that you repaired the car in Holland??!!These cars have a very bad reputation in Portugal and you can often see them in second hand sale for 1/5 of the original price and not with many years on them, comparing with other second hand car prices they come very cheap cause their just a big bunch of trouble (oil leaks, gearbox problems) and usually, serious problems.

6th Oct 2009, 09:16

I also have a 1997 Grand Cherokee with the 4.0L inline 6. I love it. it has plenty of towing and climbing power, but I agree with you it is not a good highway vehicle (that's what we get for not having the V8). Mine has never left me stranded or stuck in snow! I have had it for about 6 years and it has 155,xxx miles on it and seems to run stronger as it gets older! I would definitely buy another Jeep.

11th Mar 2014, 08:49

I also have a 97 Jeep Grand Cherokee, and it's been great except gas mileage is I'd say 12 in the city and 18 on the highway. Bad speakers too, but given all one could complain about, it's gone above expectations.

2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited 3.1 turbo diesel

Summary:

The best off road ride!

Faults:

The front brake disks started to shake the steering wheel. It happens every 10000 Km.

General Comments:

This car really rock's! Simply the best, better than all the rest.

Great handling on the road and any other car can stay with it all the way when the road ends.

Some people say bad things about Grand Cherokee because they don't know that a jeep is for off road use, not for supermarket shopping only. Those people should buy a Fiat or so...

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 2nd October, 2002

19th May 2003, 07:28

Well I've been to Portugal so I know that some of your back roads can be rough, but not too rough for a Fiat panda. I live in New Hampshire, and some of our unsurfaced washboard mountain roads can be far worse. But that is about the limit for a Grand Cherokee. In spite of the butch ads, these vehicles are neither designed or implemented for true off-roading without thousands of $$$ of undercarriage upgrades.

Infact, when I took mine in for its $2000 front end replacement a few months ago (40,000 miles), the dealer suspiciously asked me if I was taking it off road. "Because that'll kill your front end, you know..."

By the way I grew up in Wales around spartan SWB Land Rovers that could climb a greased flagpole, so I know what I'd take off road and it wouldn't be a bloody Jeep.