I've had the misfortune of being a mechanic while my gf had a 00 cherokee. At the same time I was wheeling my 89 4runner. She went jeep because my friend that got me into it runs jeeps (cj's and a rubicon). She couldn't afford the wrangler so she went with the cherokee. In owning my 4runner and doing more wheeling than she was doing with hers there is absolutely no comparison. My 4runner had a problem with having the exhaust fall off after the cat (came like that from the PO). Her cherokee had the CEL come on after the first trip, went off a day later so we didn't find out what it was, intermittent power window problems after the first trip, no recovery point in the front, got stuck in a few places with taking the exact lines that I was taking, and the fuel pump started leaking after the third wheeling trip. She's driving a VW now lol

 

I think i would buy a cherokee XJ over a 89-newer 4runner. the 4.0 have a ton of power and they ride nice, I dont really like the unibody but its works. My friend bashed his 500 dollar stock 95 cherokee in the desert with 4 people in it and it rode nice, Now with a 3 inch lift its a lot nicer and goes almost everywhere with open diffs.anothe rnice thing about cherokee is the auto transmission are made by Aisin (aw4). It would be a tough decision if i had to choose between the two. If it was between a jeep wrangler or toyota i would go toyota all the way, i dont like those things.

 

Cherokees are notorious for wearing out front diffs., power window motors, front end brake problems, and driveshafts.

 

Because everytime you get in the back seat you will get a seat belt up your rear. Even my friends that do have Jeeps are trying to trade for toys