Time for a change of vehicle

[jmc]

Been reading this with interest. I am very happy with my fronty but my wife would prefer something with a more go and air con.The fronty answers pretty much most of what I need to do but I have been looking at alternatives. I do like the look of old Jeep Cherokees (also a bit wider in the boot ) and a 4 litre petrol lpg one would presumably have more go and from reading ads on ebay would be about the same cost to run as the fronty but reading here it would seem that they have problems with a melting ecu.

[stretch]

@jmc bit more go and aircon? fronty 3.2 lol

[RatCav]

Ahem JMC:

Don't ever get a petrol Jeep on LPG. The ECU melts down quicker than a 2.2i petrol Frontera (voice of experience)

Every time you start the ECU logs a fault as it switches to LPG because the LPG emissions confuse the ECU. After about a month of starts the ECU is full with fault codes it runs out of memory and locks down to limp mode. You then have to go to the dealership and have the ECU reset. Even without the ECU getting clogged it still runs like a bag of poo as the LPG emissions cause confusion.

My partners brother go so fed up with the truck he dumped it at a friends with the keys and told him to "make it disappear" and went out and bought another car.

[RatCav]

Oh and it is American .. Will never own another American piece of s$%t ever again. Hate them with a passion. Always going wrong. Parts are a pain to get hold of.

[JEOH]

My sister-in-law had once a Cherokee with LPG. After changing the lamdda thingy (different make and models) several times by try-and-error it ran fine.

[yaki]

Oh and it is American .. Will never own another American piece of s$%t ever again. Hate them with a passion. Always going wrong. Parts are a pain to get hold of.

Had a Cherokee XJ Sport, 2.5TD and was probably one of the better 4x4's I've owned. OK it had the 2.5 Isuzu TDS engine with manual gearbox but was uber reliable, 30mpg even with a heavy right foot and despite being 15 years old it had no rust. Bought it for £320 off eBay with a duff power steering box, full tank of diesel and 4 new Bridgestone duellers. Flew through every MOT and only ever needed service items

[RatCav]

OK it had the 2.5 Isuzu TDS engine with manual gearbox but was uber reliable

Thought the 2.5 was the VM engine as fitted to the Frontera?

The Isuzu 4JA1 2.5 was only fitted to the TF pickups I believe.

[jmc]

Vm engine in the 2.5 cherokees same as the one I have in the fronty. I like it as (like some Ducati's)it has an internal bevel to drive the cam.
Thanks for the thoughts , I had forgotten about the 3.2 frontys ! won't the ecu melt with lpg like the jeeps?

[RatCav]

Nope .. plenty of Troopers and Frontera's running on LPG .. just stupid Jeep ECU's that have issues.

[jmc]

ok thanks ratcav...food for thought. I wondered why there are quite a few lpg jeeps on ebay ,maybe thats why.

[stretch]

Yeah the 2.5 is vm engine. I miss my one.

[Fatbaz]

From memory the Jeep Grand Cherokee Diesels with the 3.1 was a Merc based engine and returned god-ish MPG. On the other hand you could go for an ML270 CDI. I had one for a while as company car, drove well and 30/31 to the gallon just driving normally. Driving like miss Daisy got more but driving it like I stole it dropped it down to mid 20's. MPG got better as it got older but I only had it for 7.000 miles then it was changed for another new car as per company rules. If you do go down this route get one without the spare tyre hung on a swing out frame on the back, it was a pain in the a£se having to open it to get in the boot. The big brother with the 320CDI is a better drive but noticeably thirstier.

What Model G wagen have you got and might you be persueded to part with it?

Regards

Stuart

[yaki]

My bad, yes same engine as the Frontera 2.5, assumed it was another VM/Isuzu colabaration

Stu: Yes, am looking to sell, it does need some body work doing and a really really good clean, once the Frontera is sorted I am going to be be bringing it over to spruce it up, MOT and then sell it. It is a 300GD, non-turbo, 5sp manual, Merc alloys with BFG AT tyres. Have a load of spares for it as well, probably nearly a complete replacement set of mechanicals

[Fatbaz]

Hi Yaki

Sent you a pm.

Regards

Stuart

[yaki]

So the hunt for a suitable Pathfinder is underway and the 1st one I want to look at has already set alarm bells ringing

Advert says

'Here we have a perfect family car which is fantastic for towing! We have had the great pleasure of owning this beast from new.'

And its supposed to be in Cornwall

Just had an email from the seller and they reckon they are working in Scotland so ran a HPI check and its had 3 previous owners, latest one was on 8th March this year and has £6k finance on it from Barclays again from 8th March

Mmmm, something tells me I should leave this one alone

[Retro Pedro]

Certainly there are risks involved and caution is the order of the day - wasn't that long ago that Mark posted about getting turned over with a log book loan on a motor that he bought. How the law of the land allows that to happen is beyond me. Loan companies should be forced to register a charge against the vehicle on the central database so that the unsuspecting don't become the innocent victims. If they don't register the charge then they should have no claim against the new purchaser and the liability should firmly stay with person who originally took out the loan.
The other risk is online auctions. I clocked a motor that was approximately half price - to good to be true then it usually isn't and all that. First listing was that the car was located in Scotland. I done a check and it didn't come up with any records. I reported to eBay and all that happened was the listing was removed. A few weeks later same motor reappeared only located in Manchester this time. Same pictures clearly showing reg. no. Played the seller along this time asking how I could arrange a viewing and how I could pay. Response came through via a mobile text saying He was selling on behalf of his sister and to ring a mobile. Needless to say I didn't get involved any further.
Again after a short period a new listing appeared only this time London was the location. Put a request to eBay to ring me so that they could pursue a potential scammer. Guest what, no phone call so shows how intent fleabay are at protecting buyers from scum bags on their auction site.

[jmc]

Any progress on finding a pathfinder? There's one that turns up now and again and parks outside my forge,it does look good.

[yaki]

Am still looking now and then, Disco is in bits again and I need to sell it first.

Looking for one with leather interior and must be pre March 2006 but there are never any locally

Did find one in Hampshire that was worth a look but then the Disco played up again. Hopefully have it back together again later this week, then get it in to have a few bits of paintwork done and get it advertised

[JEOH]

Yaki infected my mind with the look for an alternative vehicle.

Unfortunatly, there is nothing available for the Mrs and me as a substitute for our trucks. The thought in minimizing our 'fleet' and replacing two cars by one more powerful with a reliable source for spareparts available (@Greg - no mean to offend you!) out of the shelf Brand New I think.

Digging deeper into sheets oft data oft Land Rovers and G-Wagons I realized that affordable trucks including running costs would mean less power and a long er travel in European motorways and roads to Italy - no way!

Others, more modern trucks lacking the cabrio-style back or simply enough space in the Boot (freelander, wrangler).

So, we will keep the Fronteras!