Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives What would you buy?

Really just day dreaming here, but what would you buy for a cheap 4x4? Say you had less than $3000. For a hunting vehicle and for snowy roads and some highway travel. Probably thinking more suv than truck, mainly to seat a family of 4. What are ones you'd avoid?

You are dreaming if you want to get a family of 4 into a 4x4 for under $3000.

Maybe an old Bronco?

2004 or 2005 Mitsubishi Endeavor. At that price, probably higher mileage. Looked at them when they first came out, nice vehicle, but never owned one as the Mits brand scared me.

I can find all kinds of blazers, suburbans, explorers, pathfinders, tahoes, etc for sale in that price range. Yes they are usually mid 90s to very early 2000s with 120-170k on them.

I didn't mean I wanted a new family car for trips to Disneyland. I just mean an ok 4x4 for hunting and occasional trips to town, which is 30 miles for us.

http://www.ksl.com/auto/search/index?perPage=48

That link is just an example of vehicles I found searching one classifieds page with the filters I posted plus newer than '92.

30 miles 1 way? With most of the older SUV's that's 5 to 6 gal of gas for a round trip.

If it were me I'd find a zj grand Cherokee with a v8 for that kind of money

Ford Expedition...I see 97-02s in that price range all the time, and the platform is solid.

Cherokee sport with a 4.0. Great suv and the 4 liter is bullet proof.

I had good luck with Suburbans. Look for a 3/4 ton with the vortec engine and a 4L80E tranny.

late 90's 'Yota........or 'Zuki Samarie (spelling)

As is the AW4 transmission and solid front axle.

As far as mpg's go my '96 XJ gets 16-17 on our rural roads and 21 hwy.

Good option.

Stay away from the Grands.

^^^^^^^^ This or an older Toyota 4 runner with the 2.4L (22RE)..

For a woods runner my Samurai is perfect. If you are wanting to haul a family of 4 you guys better be dwarfs if you are going to put everyone in there.



The solid axle Cherokees have a big following around here. My pick would be an old 4 Runner.

I agree on the 4 runner but they usually get more for them and also listen to Add, stay away from the grand cherokee!

I don't own a jeep sport but several of my friends do, I do own a wrangler with a 4.0 and it has been the most dependable vehicles I have ever owned. 196k and zero problems with meachical failure. Rear main't seal at 150k and oil pan drain plug stripped out and a few weeks ago a fuel pump relay went out. All of this was over a period between 2002-present.

Auto correct sux.

Curious to know what your rationale is behind that suggestion

Grand Cherokees had electrical issues. My favorite car dealer has told me the same thing. The little Cherokee with the 4.0 is a great vehicle. Bought one new in 1996. Wish I still had it instead of my Yukon. mtmuley

I was heavy into the zj scene for a number of years, I don't recall any serious electric issues popping up. The 4.0 zjs were absolute turds, but the v8 zjs are pretty good. The biggest problem I can think of is viscous coupler issues with the np249 transfer case, but swapping a 231 or 242 is a couple hours work at most

I've never owned a Grand, but when looking for a rig for my kid, I did find more than a few for sale cheap because of electrical bugs. Mostly lights that wouln't turn off, mysterious radio issues and starting problems. I like the looks of certain Grands better than the XJ, but the little Cherokee is tough to beat. mtmuley

look underneath real good for rust on whatever you get. in rust belt areas $3000 will just get you a guaranteed repair bill every time you turn around. hell $10k isn't much better. i learned that lesson and will never do it again.

Grands had WAY more problems than electrical issues, try electrical, differential, broken blend motor/gate, and on and on. 4.0s may not roast the tires but if longevity is what your looking for look no further.

Blend doors were an issue on wj grand Cherokees with auto climate control, not zjs. The magnum 5.2 has just as good of reliability record as the 4.0. The rear differentials on the v8 zjs do tend to eat bearings as they have an aluminum center section that allows a lot of flex in the housing, but the Dana 35 is an even bigger turd and that was used in the xj too.

Those v8s in the grands were peppy for sure I owned 3 over the years well my wife did. Your right about the 35 but most of the problems with those were from rednecks putting 35/12/50s on them.

My son-in-law recently bought a 2000 Dodge 1500 extended cab 4X4 with 160,000 on it for just over $3000. It came with a cap on the bed and is in decent shape. Of course the AC compressor went out about a month later which added another $1000 to his cost. But he drove it home for close to your budget.

We have a old Trooper that we leave out at the ranch. 1991 model with 4 cyl. motor. Works pretty good and don't have to bang up the pick up out in pasture

While an suv has better seating arrangements for four, they have very little cargo area. I'd say an extra cab truck with a shell over the bed is a much better hunting vehicle than an SUV.

I wouldn't be brand or model specific in your price range, much more important is the condition of the individual vehicle. Just remember a $4k truck is a better deal than a $3k truck in need of $2+k in repairs.

K5 with a manual. Almost the entire truck can be fixed with hand tools. You can find parts at any auto parts store in anytown USA.

I'd save up a bit to make it to the $5k range. An older 4.0L Cherokee would be on my radar. I really like the Toyotas, but rarely see good ones for under $5k.

I just sold an 01 grand cherokee for 3k. 100% ready to drive anywhere. Had 170k on the clock and did not burn oil or leak anything. Probably let it go cheap but it went to a friends daughter as her first vehicle. We had zero electrical or any other problems beyond normal maintenance. Good ones are out there in your price range. I have been told that that the wj 4.0 engines are not as bullet proof as the earlier models, but ours was great.

I have run k5 Blazers for years...can't be beat. Currently have an 89.. Only now good ones are hard to come by...recently I bought a 99 suburban HD...has a 14 bolt full floater and vortex big block had 140k on the clock got it for 2200 dollars and spent about 1000 on tune fluids an rubber....it's more than a hunting rig I tow my 36 ft travel trailer for work and drive it daily....look at suburban they are usually cheap for condition...