Hi everybody, I'm thinking about buying this 2001 TJ SE with 175,000 miles on it. It's got manual transmission and the 2.5 L engine. I'm negotiating with private party a price between 6 and 7k. I have a hunch even 6k is too high, but I live in rural West Texas and I haven't seen too many Jeeps on the market in town, so I'm thinking I'd be willing to pay more for the convenience of not having to drive too far out. Would love y'alls feedback!
The guy I'm buying from put in a new steering stabilizer and tie rod at the mechanic, for which he says he has receipts--he told me that it had death wobble when he bought it from a dealer last year. I drove it around town and on the highway for half an hour and didn't notice anything off. The clutch and gear stick felt good. From reading the forums, I've been told to look for the 4.0 since the SE's are underpowered, but I don't really mind taking a bit to get to 70mph. I intend to mostly use it as a daily driver and some medium off-roading every month or so (my last car was a Honda Civic so what I call medium might not even be considered off-roading...). Comes with half doors and a 3rd party soft top that's got a broken zipper in the back--the current owner normally drives without the back soft top panel.
Big issues are that according to the carfax, there were 5 previous owners and there's an open manufacturer safety recall from 2002 for the ignition switch. There's a remedy available that seems pretty simple enough, but I wonder if this indicates a lack of care with which the many previous owners maintained this jeep.
Another issue is that it was reported as a total loss due to minor damage on the front and right side. I didn't notice anything weird.
Lastly, I'm going to need to replace the two back tires and spare. It's currently fitted with 31 10.5 15 tires.
Despite having many owners, it seems the car's stayed exclusively in the Dallas area before the current owner bought it in West Texas. There's some rust, but me being an absolute amateur, I've very little idea if it's surface rust or FUBAR. Random pictures attached from when I crawled around the bottom.
Of course, before I make any final purchase I'm going to do a pre-purchase inspection. But I figure before I drop the change for that, I'd love to see if there are any obvious issues y'all can identify for me, or points with which to haggle the price down.
Whether or not I buy this Jeep, I'd like to learn as much as possible about the process of buying a TJ, or any car for that matter (this is my first!). I can ask the seller for more photos if need be. Thanks!
The guy I'm buying from put in a new steering stabilizer and tie rod at the mechanic, for which he says he has receipts--he told me that it had death wobble when he bought it from a dealer last year. I drove it around town and on the highway for half an hour and didn't notice anything off. The clutch and gear stick felt good. From reading the forums, I've been told to look for the 4.0 since the SE's are underpowered, but I don't really mind taking a bit to get to 70mph. I intend to mostly use it as a daily driver and some medium off-roading every month or so (my last car was a Honda Civic so what I call medium might not even be considered off-roading...). Comes with half doors and a 3rd party soft top that's got a broken zipper in the back--the current owner normally drives without the back soft top panel.
Big issues are that according to the carfax, there were 5 previous owners and there's an open manufacturer safety recall from 2002 for the ignition switch. There's a remedy available that seems pretty simple enough, but I wonder if this indicates a lack of care with which the many previous owners maintained this jeep.
Another issue is that it was reported as a total loss due to minor damage on the front and right side. I didn't notice anything weird.
Lastly, I'm going to need to replace the two back tires and spare. It's currently fitted with 31 10.5 15 tires.
Despite having many owners, it seems the car's stayed exclusively in the Dallas area before the current owner bought it in West Texas. There's some rust, but me being an absolute amateur, I've very little idea if it's surface rust or FUBAR. Random pictures attached from when I crawled around the bottom.
Of course, before I make any final purchase I'm going to do a pre-purchase inspection. But I figure before I drop the change for that, I'd love to see if there are any obvious issues y'all can identify for me, or points with which to haggle the price down.
Whether or not I buy this Jeep, I'd like to learn as much as possible about the process of buying a TJ, or any car for that matter (this is my first!). I can ask the seller for more photos if need be. Thanks!
