Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives 05 Grand Cherokee

I'm looking at one maybe to get for a teenager. Are there anything unique to these rigs a guy ought to look for? Aside from obvious fluid leaks et al.?

If it helps it's got the v6, and is just over 200,000 miles. Price seems on par with what I can find on the internet. Aside from some cancer the body looks clean. Just not sure if there are any particular things that I might not be aware of.

Thanks for any help,

Jason

What do you have against this teenager?

I’ve got a 2009 with the Hemi. Love it. 150,00 on mine.

lol

You may want to do a little on line research on the V-6, I think that there were some issues with those engines. The inline 6 was pretty much bullet proof, I have seen numerous of those with over 250000 and still running good.

drover

What package is it? Overland, Limited, Larado,

We've owned a pile of Jeep Grand Cherokees and prefer those with the full-time 4x4 option transfer case. Neither of my kids was good at determining when to switch from 2wd to 4wd, so the full-time 4x4 was good for them, 'cause they didn't have think about when to shift the transfer case from 2wd to 4-high.

Jeep parts tend to be expensive and a vehicle with 200K on the clock probably needs maintenance work like brakes, tires, fluid changes, maybe a transmission service. I always budget $1,500 for repairs and maintenance on used vehicles when I buy them. If you need tires, I'm a fan of Cooper tires on high mileage SUVs and particularly like the Discoverer HTP and Evolution HT styles that Discount Tire sells for around $135.

Good points.

It's a Laredo. New tires, not what I'd put on but they'd do till they needed replaced.

No 2wd/4wd button or shifter it just goes in some kinda AWD like a lezbaru I guess?

Took it for a test drive this afternoon. Tracks straight, runs fine far as I can tell. There was something rattling up front when I took it on gravel. I've got a buddy with a lift I'm going to take it to and give it a more thorough looksy if the seller is ok with it. It's something for the boy to get a couple years out of going back and forth to work and school and whatnot.

Ain't my cup o tea, but it's a good size for getting in and out of parking lots and really no blind spots.

Got a couple other rigs I'm looking at tomorrow.

My kids are forever wanting to borrow my old Ford Explorer Sport-Trac quad-cab short-bed pickup. If you can find one of them with the 4.0 V-6 and a price that is in sync with the age/condition/miles it might make for a happy teenage boy.

Quadra trac full time 4 wd maybe ? You'd be better off with an '04 with the 4.0 inline 6 and selec trac if you could find one.

All I know is it's 4wd and there's no shifter or buttons. All time whatever it is.

Id rather the inline 6 for sure if I had the option. It's not that I was out looking for Grand Cherokees this one just happened to be close to hand figured I'd giver her a looksy.

too funny.........

just buy 'em a Toyota

IIRC, Jeep moved from the 4.0 inline 6 to the 3.7 V-6 in 2005.

2005 they dropped the in line 6. (stupid mistake no.1) They also dropped the select Trak option for QuadraTrak 1 and 2. (stupid mistake no.2) The Quad1 is a full time 48/52 split AWD, Quad 2 is a computer controlled transfer case that uses sensors and 4 wheel limited slip to decide which mode of 4x4 to use. This option my daughter had and tranny problems were frequent. They also had overheating and braking problems. Seems the front rotors continually warped. Daughter had both those problems also.
I’ve had an 04 Grand Cherokee since 05 and it’s been great but can’t say anything good about 05 and up. Too many problems, plus expensive to repair.

Had a 08 with the 3.7l. Only big problem I had was head gaskets. Those 3.7l don't like to blow head gaskets, usually doesn't hold up well. Sold it as a mechanic special.

I really liked the Mercedes tranny in it though.

Is that the one with the Daimler headlights or the 2nd gen (WJ)?

Check out
http://www.wjjeeps.com.
Great resource.

‘05 is a WK not a WJ

Funny you should mention that vehicle.

I ended up buying an 03 sport trac off a buddy. Only 133,000 on the odometer. Looks gay as hell, but is kinda fun to drive.

Thanks for all the help guys. In the end I just wasn't comfortable with the mileage. Put it on a lift at a friends, and it had a couple issues I didn't want to deal with.