The early Jeep XJ Cherokees were less than wonderful. But about '91 someone in Jeep engineering managed to get one over on the bean counters and for about 10 years they built a reliable, durable, comfortable vehicle that tended not to break much and induced people to actually keep them beyond pay off date and expiration of warranty. It is my understanding that that mistake was corrected for the 2002 model year.
My daily driver is a '92 Cherokee Laredo with 250K miles on it. Other than normal wear items like brakes and tires, belts and hoses and such I've had to replace the alternator and the water pump.
A few years ago I accidentally stumbled on a thing I would have said didn't exist: A 1993 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo with a 5-speed stick. I was stunned. I had been browsing the ads looking for a used Cherokee with a stick, and ran across this ad for the Grand containing the words "new clutch." Wait . . . what? The Grand doesn't have a clutch. The photos, however, made it clear that there was, indeed, a third pedal, and the badge atop the shift lever clearly indicated 5-speed.
After a little research, I discovered that the Grand had a 5-speed option for the year models 1993, 1994, and 1995. I looked it over, found that it had some rust that indicated I'd have a steep restoration bill sometime in the future, and bought it anyway.
Damn thing ran like a clock. Comfortable. Heated power seats, power windows & locks, cruise control, leather steering wheel, factory alloy wheels. That winter I used it to pull some guy's Camry out of a ditch, and it dragged that sedan like it was a bag of feathers.
And then one day, when my son was borrowing it while his car was being worked on, some lady in a 9-passenger van rear-ended him and totaled the Jeep.
It took me another year and a half to find another 5-speed Grand Cherokee. The one I have now -- a 1994 -- is not as nice as the 1993 was. It has various electrical quirks (windows & locks
mostly work), has awful paint, and it still needs some mechanical work (front transfer case), but otherwise it's solid and runs well. Of course, considering the cash I plowed into it the first week I had it, it had friggin' better run well.
I will eventually rebuild this thing, and it will look like new. It will cost me more than the Jeep did fresh off the lot, but until Chrysler makes a new 5-speed four-door 4x4 in its class with equivalent features, I'm keepin' this one.
I've since met just one other 5-speed Grand, a 1995 in almost pristine condition. I nearly wept.
