Mr. Friendly

I'm looking for a recommendation for a starter vehicle. I'm 32, but never learned to drive until I started about a year ago. I moved to Vancouver and suddenly found my access to all my previous hobbies as limited (astronomy, shooting, hunting etc)...so now my drive to drive is much higher!

I'm not sure how well I'll be able to drive, due to injuries when I was a teen, so I don't want to make a large investment until I know I can do this. so with that in mind, what year/make/model would you suggest as best to start with?

I know that question can't be answered until some further details are provided...so hopefully these things will cover that for you:
- My budget is as low as possible, but is flexible if worth it
- I want 4x4 capability (my brother RWD B3000 wouldn't go some of the places we needed last season)
- 4 doors, no two door (unless there's an actual Jeep TJ/YJ etc that's worth it)
- must be automatic, not manual (due to previously mentioned injuries)
- I'm your standard 6' height, but I've short legs and long torso. I bang my head on most vehicles and have found Jeep Cherokee/Grand Cherokees, Trucks and Mini-Van's the only vehicles I can get in/out of comfortably.

If this is in the wrong forum, I apologize. Please feel free to relocate this thread wherever it needs to go. :)

Mr White

iTrader: (1)

Welcome to the forum. This is a hard question to reply to as I would first (unless you have already) get a drivers license and then whatever you do decide to buy you can test drive it. Next you say your more comfortable in a cherokee, yes there much more comfortable then a short wheel base yj or tj. I would NOT look towards anything older than a TJ unless your mechanically inclined. Your looking for a daily driver? Something you can safely do some trails to get to your hunting/field area's and like to carry camping gear and other stuff the cherokee again has the room, An XJ you'll find will be roughly from min $1000. and up, rusted rocker panels,floor might be rusted out, main thing is motor anything under 200000 km is usually good..A member on here picked up a 92 with 175000 on it and did wonders to it and believe he paid under $1000 for him right place at the right time.He did repairs to it. Ck your local shpg centers usually have free-bie magazines showing sales on jeeps, chk internet for sales, ck this site for jeep and 4x4 parts for sale (there are a couple in there) don't buy the first one u see shop around. When u get around to finding THAT jeep take a mechanically inclined friend along to help out with things to look for, I did when I bot mine..nice having those type of friends..:)

Mr. Friendly

hey Mr. White, thanks for your reply. I have my first step in a learners...want to buy a cheap vehicle to practice in and take driving lessons in. As I had mentioned, most vehicles are a pain in the head (LITERALLY!) to get in/out of due to my height, so if I'm going to see if driving is for me, I want to do it in relative comfort.

I've kept my eye out on Craigslist and Kijiji in the lower mainland almost every day and see there are a number of options that are affordable in the 1998 to 2000 year range. I am not mechanically inclined at all...I've two hands that are full of thumbs. If something does interest me, I would 'definitely' take it to a mechanic for an overview to see if there were any issues with it.

I was leaning towards the Grand Cherokee most of the time, as they're just a handsome vehicle, but upon reading about the Liberty and the 2005/2006 model's with a diesel, I've started contemplating the necessity of spending more! ;) I'm not going to drop $15,000 into a vehicle until I know I can drive right now, so I'm looking to cap it at a more reasonable $3K...which should be fine for a starter.

I was hoping that the more experienced here could provide me with some pointers as to years/model's that have been proven winners or pointers on what to watch out for and avoid. I 4.0L V6 has reasonable mileage for a 4x4, but I've read the transmissions can be iffy. I just debate whether I should look at high mileage has half worn out or proven reliability... ;)

So any advice any of you can provide me with would be a boon! Mucho Grassy ***!

edit - I am noticing that most of the stuff I'm willing to look at has 250K+ mileage...I commented about this earlier, but anything to watch for with mileage this high would be REALLY helpful.

oldfart

An xj or zj would probably be your best bet. the 4 liter straight six would be the motor of choice as they're extremely reliable and long lived, I've seen many with over three hundred thousand klicks on them.