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Rover800.Info • 2001 Grand Cherokee WJ V8
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2001 Grand Cherokee WJ V8

Posted: Thu May 03, 2012 7:22 am
by Richard Moss
Allow me to introduce my new toy: a 2001 WJ Jeep Grand Cherokee Limted (4.7L V8).

Purchased yesterday at a very attractive price, it has leather interior, fake wood, CD player (knackered), rust around the sunroof and a wonderful engine note! Almost sounds like an 800 (except that would be real wood!).

210,000 km and goes like stink. Drives nicely and is smooth and reasonably refined. It has a 2" suspension lift, Bilstein shock, engine rebuild 20,000km ago and a fruity exhaust. Jobs to do include fix the sunroof rust, repair/replace the switch for the folding door mirrors, fix a few bumps and scrapes, replace the CD player and so on. Nothing major (I hope).

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Re: 2001 Grand Cherokee WJ V8

Posted: Thu May 03, 2012 8:36 am
by Very Tall Brad
At last. Someone here has bought a proper 4x4. I do like these. Now my Fronteras have gone, I shall be looking for one of these Jeeps for next winter. Excellent!

Re: 2001 Grand Cherokee WJ V8

Posted: Thu May 03, 2012 9:34 am
by MG Mal
Very nice Richard (if you like Jeeps lol)

Brad Wrote:
At last. Someone here has bought a proper 4x4.
Excuse me? I take it I towed the Coupe' down to you on the back of a metro then? LOL :shock:

Theres a proper 4x4 on my drive, it's green, and it's not a gin palace of gadgets, and it's not something generaly used for the school run in Chelsea. :mrgreen:

Mal.

Re: 2001 Grand Cherokee WJ V8

Posted: Thu May 03, 2012 3:34 pm
by Very Tall Brad
Ooops! I meant a powerful and civilised mud plugger rather than a tank like yours or an underpowered namby pseudo off roader like my old 2.0 Frontera Sport. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Re: 2001 Grand Cherokee WJ V8

Posted: Thu May 03, 2012 5:01 pm
by MG Mal
Tank? Tank!? :shock:

Mines not a tank! :D

Its just short of being an armoured personel carrier, but not a tank LOL :mrgreen:

Re: 2001 Grand Cherokee WJ V8

Posted: Thu May 03, 2012 6:55 pm
by CHR15E
How does it compare to the old one Rich?

Re: 2001 Grand Cherokee WJ V8

Posted: Thu May 03, 2012 8:32 pm
by Richard Moss
CHR15E wrote:How does it compare to the old one Rich?
Smoother, faster, much more refined, faster, louder, bigger, more thirsty, faster and louder! Then inside is much more upmarket, too - the extra 10+ years of development really shows. It feels softer too, but that may just be the fact that the old one has polybushes and very firm shocks.

Re: 2001 Grand Cherokee WJ V8

Posted: Fri May 04, 2012 5:43 am
by CHR15E
Is the steering any better?

Re: 2001 Grand Cherokee WJ V8

Posted: Fri May 04, 2012 5:50 am
by Richard Moss
It's a similar design but seems to be better - that said, I haven't ever tried a ZJ that was in 100% condition!

Re: 2001 Grand Cherokee WJ V8

Posted: Fri May 04, 2012 7:25 pm
by CHR15E
It's the one issue I have with mine if I'm honest.

Especially when you've been driving a decent driving car for a bit. It's a shock to say the least. :lol:

Re: 2001 Grand Cherokee WJ V8

Posted: Fri May 04, 2012 8:18 pm
by Richard Moss
It's very much designed for off road use first and onroad is a secondary consideration. It is rather vague, though!

Re: 2001 Grand Cherokee WJ V8

Posted: Sat May 05, 2012 5:21 am
by CHR15E
Do you think on road was even secondary? :lol:

I like mine but after driving a car it shows up how bad a design it is. I live with it but don't like it.

Though I'm not sure what the alternative is for similar money? A rusty Disco no doubt. :lol:

Re: 2001 Grand Cherokee WJ V8

Posted: Fri May 25, 2012 8:23 pm
by Richard Moss
I realise that I haven't updated this, perhaps because I'm still trying to evaluate it.

On road this WJ is leagues ahead of the other one (the ZJ) in terms of space, performance, refinement etc and makes a decent family car as long as you can stand the fuel costs (which I can). Off road, though, it's nowhere near as capable as the older one. It's heavier and too softly sprung and is currently sitting on narrower 245 tyres, all of which mean that it's harder work to drive on sand. Also the transmission is a bit of a pain - it is effectively 2wd until the rear wheels start to slip and then the fronts get power, too. This means that it's a bit on-off-on-off and not as predictable as the older one.

It does, though, have a lovely engine and more power than I could ever need - on or off road. The extra space compared to the ZJ is very useful and compared to the Luminaro it's positively palatial - and being a 5 door is much more practical than the 2 door Lumina. Using the WJ eliminates the moaning and groaning from the rest of the family!

To get it sorted it needs: new shocks, stiffer springs, new brake discs and pads, sunroof repair, new door mirrors plus a few other things. To be fair, though, it needs that stuff for on-road use, too.

So, the cunning plan is now:

Do the necessary jobs on the WJ to bring it up to scratch and use it as a (mostly) on-road vehicle, with occasional off-road use.
Do the last few remaining jobs on the ZJ and use that as the primary off-road vehicle with occasional on-road use.
Sell the Lumina because the kids moan too much about it being a 2 door. Shame really, as it's the best on-road vehicle of the lot.

Of course, this may all change next week :)

Re: 2001 Grand Cherokee WJ V8

Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2012 6:45 am
by Richard Moss
Well, plans have a habit of changing, don't they?

Since my last post I have replaced the front and rear discs/pads, half of the exhaust, front CV boots, engine mounts and a few other bits. I have TWICE replaced a wheel bearing which has been wrecked (it would appear) by a faulty CV joint and also discovered that almost every other rubber component underneath the car is knackered.

All at would not be so bad if I was getting any driving pleasure from it but it's on-road handling is so bad that, coupled with it being useless on sand, it just feels like an expensive waste of time.

So the new plan is; fix and flog. Fix it up well enough to flog it and buy something more suitable for on-road use. A people carrier (e.g. Chrysler Voyager) would fit the bill, be cheaper to run, more practical and hopefully more reliable. The red Jeep will stay an be treated to some TLC and maybe some more upgrades.

Re: 2001 Grand Cherokee WJ V8

Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2012 8:19 am
by Richard C
Keep the chevy :D