Is it worth the gamble?

[crazyman03]

So my wife and I are looking for another car and I came across another '00 Grand Cherokee (up in steamboat, roughly 3 hours away) with ~ 198k. Now, On the listing it says it has been ran with low oil and that it makes a noise from under the hood. its still drive-able but makes noise. All things that my old Jeep with about the same miles did; even the low oil and noise. Turns out it was just the Rod bearings that needed replaced. 

 

My question is: would it be worth the trip up there to even look at it and potentially buy it? They are selling it for a killer 1300 bucks what all else *could* it need. I believe its the 4.7 V8, I did have some issues with sensors at around 220k but everything else was pretty solid. and the Rod bearings were only 80 bucks 0.0 over or even 0.25 over.

 

I'm pretty confident it'll work but was just curious what anyone else would say? 

 

ad: http://denver.craigslist.org/cto/3558913603.html

 

 

-Justin

Edited February 8, 2013 by crazyman03

[Numbchux]

You have to go into a situation like that, assuming that the engine is junk. I bought my 4runner with similar hopes, and lost. But, I paid about that much, for a truck with 130k on it, and almost zero rust (I live in the rust belt.....that's huge). So the shell was worth that much.

 

If it were the 4.0, I'd be more tempted. A little more robust, and easier to work on.

 

"Very good winter tires" are cooper weathermasters (meh, in my experience), and look to be at least half worn. They're worth about a hundred bucks. Which makes me question "very clean interior and very good exterior"

 

 

Consider what it's worth (to you) with a good engine, how much it'll cost you to replace the engine, a little simple arithmetic, and you have your price. My math comes up with considerably less than 1300.

[mikaleda]

Jeeps are good rigs they are fairly tough but $1300 with a bad engine and those tires don't look like very good winter tires to me. IMHO I think they want to much for it even in that condition I would say $1000 max and as they don't want to negotiate price It sounds like they don't need to get rid of it. I would wait a while and see if the price goes down