The XJ Cherokee is a true classic. I paid homage to it and its French influence here. And there’s still a healthy number around. But the two-door version is becoming a bit rare, especially the early years, like this one, which dates to the 1984 – 1987 era thanks to its 2.8 V6 badge (the wheels are from a later version). Given that we owned a 1985 Cherokee for 15 years, seeing one of these does bring back the memories.
Of course, we had a four-door, given our two little kids. Thanks to that extra set of doors, as well as its ruggedly-cute looks and all-round goodness, the Cherokee was a huge hit, especially so in West LA were we lived. They were the hot new car de jour in those years, the first major break-through SUV. Given that AMC first used the term ‘crossover’ in reference to the Cherokee in 1987 or so, perhaps it really is the mother of the genre. Which is ironic, because it was also highly off-road capable, and continues to be in demand for that role.
This one has the optional Chevy 2.8 60 degree V6, as also used in its own S-10 Blazer. It was hardly a powerhouse what with its 110-115 hp. Ours seemed particularly feeble; at about 100k miles or so, I took a closer look at the throttle linkage and realized that it had never been properly adjusted from the factory and didn’t open the throttle all the way. I reset it, and suddenly unleased an extra 15-20 hp or so! It’s nice to have a car suddenly feel peppier in its old age, but I would have preferred to have it be that way from the beginning, especially considering how expensive that little sucker was (over $35k adjusted), and the interest rate on the loan was like 14%. I remember the monthly payment being well over $400, which is about a thousand bucks today. That hurt.
Today’s cars are so much cheaper based on their features and most of all the low interest rates.
Ours was a Pioneer like this one, which started at about $10k, but but it was “loaded”, meaning all the basic comfort and convenience items one takes for granted on the most basic stripper nowadays.
That’s what ours looked like, except it was brown on the inside too. Leather? Fat chance. We did have the automatic, which was the rugged Chrysler Torqueflite. Hows that for an oddball combo: a Chevy V6 backed by a Torqueflite. Good old AMC. Ours had the full-time Quadratrac AWD system, which could be switched in and out of 4WD at any speed. Unfortunately, one time I really needed it getting to a ski resort, it wouldn’t switch into 4WD. Had to turn around and buy chains in the next town back! Turns out a little cotter pin in the vacuum-operated switch had fallen out; coulda’ fixed it with a piece of wire.
There were a few other annoying and niggling issues, but except for the transfer case going out, the basics were rugged, and it lasted 15 years and 180k miles. The Chevy V6 gave no trouble, except for needing a new (expensive) carb. And I had folks eager to snap it our of my hands when I put it up for sale.
I was going to talk a bout the two door version, but as I said, it was rare, from the get-go. I’m sure AMC was caught off-guard at the lop-sided proportion of four doors to two doors. But I’m sure they were mighty glad they offered a four-door, unlike Ford and Chevy. It took Chevy close to decade to finally cobble up a four door S-10 Blazer, by which time it was dead meat, or a Deadly Sin, in other words. Ford got the message and built an even more family-friendly if not off-road friendly four door, the Explorer. Which brings up a scary reality: we’ve never done a proper Ford Explorer CC! Better shoot one quick, before they all explode.
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I had a Camaro with that carb’d engine, I noticed that the secondary barrel wouldn’t open up 100% because a tab limited it. I took a chance & filed it till it did, I was rewarded with a nice boast in power.
What’s even more rare than the 2 door is the pickup.
I think I’ve seen at least one near town. Those ones were cool.
The pickup was called the “Commanche”
it’s funny i used to be totally unimpressed by these jeeps. they had poor space utilization, a meh interior and terrible gas mileage. i was all about euro style. fortunately, i’ve outgrown my hate of all automotive things american. currently, my number one dream car is a two door cherokee with a 4.0 i6, manual transmission, leather and the vent widows. i might desecrate it with a third party pop-up moon roof.
a have an acquaintance who bought a two door manual trans new and parked it on the streets of brooklyn for about 15 years. the cherokee still looked great when i last saw it. it was equipped with under the car lights and fishing rod brackets so that he could drive it on the beach at montauk at night without spooking the fish. i was dumbfounded when he sold it and bought something that his wife approved of…
For their size, the interiors of these really were cramped. I wonder how much more popular they might have been with a more thoughtful design of the interior. OTOH, old school drivetrains, partial body-on-frame construction, and AWD doesn’t really lend itself to an efficient interior.
It’s also worth noting that the base two-door Cherokees actually looked better than the upper tier models, thanks to the lack of the ungainly flipper window vent. The early ones didn’t have the rear seat shoulder belts hanging down, either.
A Chevy V6 and Chrysler Torqueflite in an AMC could be considered an ironic foretelling of things to come in today’s world of components being shared between global manufacturers.
They are not partial body on frame construction they are just your basic unibody construction that goes way way back to the first unibody vehicles that Chrysler made. Having full length frame rails did fall out of popularity on non truck vehicles but it has made a comeback and many unibody cars of the last couple of decades have those full length or near full length rails welded to their floor pan.
Like Paul, I had a 4 door as a family hauler, though mine was newer (96). I6 and manual, with the real 4 wheel drive that I rarely used. It was fun to drive and gave me no problems except a water pump and the steering damper. (That was scary – driving down the freeway and suddenly the wheel was shaking really reallt violently. Cheap fix at least.
It still ran great when I sold it at 120k, though the rear diff was starting to howl.
CC Effect! I just saw this from my mom’s Sunday school classroom she teaches in! And…it just left.
My father had 2 of these, both 2 doors and both purchased new, that I spent quite a bit of time with. His first one was an ’84 Chief, 2.5 5 speed. I drove it to Colorado in ’86 and it was economical and trouble-free, though a little short on power.
He traded it in ’89 on a new Ranger, which he hated. Six months later he had another Cherokee, this time a loaded 4.0 automatic. This one was somewhat trouble-prone, and he only kept it a couple years.
I would love to have one, but the 2 doors are pretty rare and most have had the life beaten out of them.
It seems like the two-door models are more common now than they were when new. Probably the same old story as with musclecar-era midsizes.
I do agree these are rare and wonder if there was ever a wood paneled two door version? The newest ones came in a rainbow of colors.
A guy I worked with bought the most basic two-door Cherokee I’ve ever seen. It was tan,with tan seats and rubber floor covering. Powered by the 2.5-liter four-banger hooked to a manual transmission. With the correct markings and a buggy-whip antenna, it would have looked like Ranger Bob’s FAVORITERIDE.
One thing worth mentioning about the 2-door XJs: there’s a common misconception that they’re a SWB version of the 4-door. They’re not; both sit on exactly the same 101.4-inch wheelbase. The original design called for the XJ to be a 2-door model, but the rear doors were added in before full production without altering the wheelbase. This goes quite a way towards explaining the small rear door openings on the 4-door models.
These were arguably the best all-around Jeep ever made. Capable in the dirt, decent to drive on-road, and powerful (with the 4.0) in a legitimately-compact body. I’ve had three of them and would happily snatch up a minty 2000 or 2001 in a heartbeat if it came up at the right money. Look after them and they’re capable of lasting pretty much indefinitely.
In China market where cars/trucks even like this get driven by chauffeurs, they figured out the problem and spent some money managing fixing it, but it was a slow fix. By 2000, they released a long wheel base version of XJ Cherokee but it was too late for US anyway.
Notice the longer rear doors
True, but if I remember correctly the Chinese-built Jeeps weren’t considered to be fully part of the XJ model line by Chrysler, which gave them their own designation. They are definitely related, to be sure, but drivetrains, bodies, and (as you point out) unit bodies could be significantly different depending on year and model.
That one also has the high-roof option, which I believe was also China-specific.
In the mid-80s, Jeep was still owned by AMC and they brought the toolings to Beijing for those cars. After Chrysler takeover, they barely made any changes as such a western car was quite enough for a market full of Lada Nivas from Soviet or expensive Mitsubishi off-road SUVs from black market. And per regulation from Beijing, still heavily influenced by communism regulation from Soviet at the time, they had BJ 2021 code for Cherokee XJ. It didn’t make sense to Chrysler, as it was more of a number to entertain those people in Beijing. Those from Beijing were not capable of making any real changes to cars neither ( they were still bragging about making styling changes in grills back then ) and definitely they didn’t dare to change drivetrains nor unit body, making few inches longer was the best they could do. It wasn’t until early ’00s they could do something more than chopping and cutting to unit body, and by ’05 they could make cylinders move properly than sticking up ( before that, engines were either copycat, or leftover units like Chrysler K car engines )
They can do much more nowadays though, and I’m quite surprised. I suspect GM W-Body teaches engineers from Shanghai a lot.
Funny that you mention the Niva; I’ve owned one as well as three XJ Cherokees. In some ways, it’s surprising that the Niva came from the time and place that it did as many of its basic features (independent coil-sprung front suspension, unitary construction, full-time AWD) really set the stage for both 4x4s and crossovers over the following three decades. They were definitely a Soviet vehicle, but very, very good at what they were, even taking into account their limitations.
It sounds as though you’ve got a good deal of background regarding Jeep in China. This is something I would love to hear more about, and suspect others might as well. If you are interested in writing about it, please contact the site admins – I don’t know if they’d be interested as well, but it can’t hurt to do so.
Despite the whole misery of Soviet automobile industry, they had few good engineers, but that was too few for a country in that size. They had few good designs, but it was too few for a country appearing that strong. Niva was one of the good designs from Soviet, but thinking of how many else we get from European/US companies, Niva was far from enough. And the gap of industry was too great to cover by few good engineers for Niva then.
Jeep Cherokee XJ in China is just another typical American car in a developing country. A probably good 1st world car with an engine bigger than what they dared to imagine was thrown in a 3rd world country and it was unnecessary to update it in 20yrs, as the 3rd world was million miles away in technology and buying power, until one day the big company realized it was the time to leave. It happened to Dodge Dart, Chevy Nova ( In Iran ) and many more models.
These days I’m busy in university messing around cars majoring engineering, those Chinese Cherokee XJ, or GAZ-3102 are just distant memories to me ( even though I am surrounded by plenty of rusty XJ nowadays ) but they do come back on odd occasions.
“they had few good engineers, but that was too few for a country in that size. They had few good designs, but it was too few for a country appearing that strong.”
The Soviets had a massive amount of absolutely brilliant engineers, the education system there was truly spectacular (unlike now I’d say). A farm kid like my dad from the farthest reaches of the Siberian Far East was able to attend one of the top Soviet universities to become a PhD Physicist strictly on his academic merit. It’s just that the resources from the state were very skewed towards the defense industry, and personal automobiles were always an afterthought. The fact that the Niva is so brilliant and forward thinking becomes even more impressive when you realize the constraints within which the engineers were operating: maximize commonality with the RWD Fiat based Ladas, minimize unique parts. That they were able to recycle so many non-optimal ‘Zhiguli’ parts and make such a capable and smooth riding full-time 4×4 is nothing short of a miracle.
Usually for a country capable of good defense industry, automobile should be acceptable if not that brilliant, because of the close relationship between those two. ( Detroit was the backbone of WWII allies. ) Even though the design of many Soviet automobile relating products are brilliant, but the resource is too humble. The resource was so humble I can tell the capability from Chrysler during the same time period was even larger. Considering how big Soviet was, something wasn’t right. I was amazed by the designs in GAZ-3102, as such a car for the elite in Soviets was even far behind M-Body, a cut and chop also runner starting with economy car.
“Usually for a country capable of good defense industry, automobile should be acceptable if not that brilliant, because of the close relationship between those two.”
You’re forgetting that in a command economy, the car companies don’t decide for themselves (through gauging of consumer demand and the market) what to build. Some Politburo expert hands down some engineering requirements and what things should cost, and that’s that. Soviet cars may not have been anywhere as advanced or luxurious or powerful, but they fit the climate and condition of the roads better than just about anything else at the time. Build quality wise, Ladas and Volgas, and especially Izhevsk made Moskvitchi (same factory used to manufacture Kalashnikovs, with strict QC) were at least comparable to what Detroit was making in the 70s (for better or for worse), earlier Volgas from the 60s were perhaps the highest quality, with very good rust protection and extremely durable construction.
I think Soviet left too little resource for car industry. For the elite class, they got rather good cars initially ( Chaika and Zil ) but those models were starting to show the age when they were introduced. Keeping Chaika til ’83 was too far beyond, and elite class should know something wrong by that time. Or, something more wrong in other field caught their attention.
I found Volga-24 would be in a similar level comparing to a base Falcon, but too many details still showed the problem ( the humble front end design, and brake system. Even by ’76, Chrysler F-Body was ahead by a margin and F-Body wasn’t a good benchmark. ) and by early ’80s, newly released GAZ-3102 was too spartan even compared to Chrysler M-Body.
Amazing how long AMC/Jeep stuck with GM steering columns, Ford starters and alternators, Chrysler & GM transmissions. And I am sure I am missing a part or two. Truly the last of the “assemblers”
And on the 7th day God invented the Cherokee! here’s my 88 @almost 200K, and going strong…
There’s a 4 door model of this vintage, or there was, just a few blocks from my house. It never seemed to move but even more striking was the wood “siding” and the NON “classic” grille with more than 7 grille slats.
Isn’t the “bugaboo” of this model it’s cramped interior?
Sounds like one of the relatively slow-selling XJ Wagoneers. Early ones had the regular Cherokee single square headlights over horizontal blinkers with a chrome grille as you described; stacked square headlights came later.
And probably a good thing Paul, you got rid of yours when you did, that is about the mileage those 2.8L V6’s are known to spin rod bearings. Funny tale about these engines. Knew a guy who was a career VW tech. Bought, brand new, an 84 Camaro with 2.8L and 5 speed. One morning, just pulling into driveway at work, it loses all oil pressure. He and fellow techs tear it apart after work. The oil pump had literally fallen off of the rear main bearing cap. They are attached with a single bolt like other Chev engines. 80’s GM quality at its finest.
$40K in constant dollars for a Cherokee. Wow. Look what you can buy for $40K today. I think the combination of low interest rates, and incredible advances in technology have combined to deliver us to a golden era of automobiles, whether we recognize it or not.
Really nice rig, its in great shape. Between the craptacular 2.8 and a guaranteed ‘glass jaw’ manual trans (likely a B-W T-4/5) in this, this must have been pampered. The 2 doors are indeed rare. Ive always wanted a 2 door XJ but only if its a 4×4 4.0 with the beefier AX-15 or NV3500 trans. Never could find one that I liked. Usually they dont have that setup or theyre thrashed beyond belief. OR the owner knows he/she has a unicorn and wont let go of it.
The first of my 3 Cherokees was a Pioneer model (4-door), and one of the things I liked most about it was that it lacked the tinted rear glass found on most XJs. The interior was all black with vinyl buckets just like this, too – although I remember the seats being a little different (hard vinyl with large perforations). I liked the all-black look and the purposeful nature of the interior, but it was definitely not very high quality. Lots of squeaks and rattles. The manual window crank mechanisms would also bind and grind constantly, which was really annoying. The two Cherokees I had afterwards both had power windows, and on each of them, one of the rear windows didn’t roll down – but I’d say that was actually preferable to the horrible noise that the manual cranks made.
Those are, of course, very minor niggles and to this day I still think the XJ Cherokee is one of the greatest American automobiles of all time. I’d love to have another one.
On the early models like this one, I think I’d actually rather have the AMC 2.5l four. It gained EFI early on and made nearly as much power as the V6.
Here’s my old Cherokee Pioneer climbing a mountain of filthy snow in a parking lot:
That Enclave parked next to it looks positively massive.
Somehow the Traverse/Enclave/Acadia remind me of the clamshell wagons.
Great find. And I’ve had my eyes open for an early Explorer since I started writing for this site. They’re mighty rare out here, it turns out.
Good cars- they really signalled the comeback of Jeep in Oz after being reduced to a joke in the 1970s, and were one of the first American vehicles sold in any number in a generation. A CC Greatest hit or both AMC and Chrysler!
Not only is this the 2door, it also is a stick shift, which was about as rare. My sister bought a new 4 door with a stick in about 1993. I’m still mad at her for selling it without letting me know.
Even today, a really clean white XJ 4 door lives across the street from me, taunting me daily.
Jim Grey,
A small used car lot near me has a bit of a unicorn vis a vis an early Explorer in that they have a mid 90s Mazda Navajo. Early Explorers aren’t all that hard to find…just the early 2 door models.
Long time reader, first time commenter.
This was the first vehicle I fully researched and test drove multiple vehicles. Most vehicles I’ve owned have “found” me and I was “forced” to buy them. There were of course entirely beaters. The Jeep wasn’t. It checked all my boxes; 4.0l straight 6, 5 spd, 2 door, it was the last year AMC (’87), and black. I must admit to being a AMC geek.
I test drove a bunch of Jeeps from that era, but avoided any 2.8 or 2.5 GM motors. There were lots of 4drs and automatics but I really wanted a 2dr stick. The 2.5 AMC was suprisingly powerful, probably more so than the 2.8 GM. I even found a Comanche, but my 18 year old self needed room for my friends, even if it meant they had to fenagle through the very tight space behind the front seats. After all, I never sat back there.
All in all, it was a great Jeep; lots of power, fun to drive and great off-road. Sadly I had to sell it for tuition money, such is life.
Dad bought a used ’84 4 door part time 4wd 5 speed stick Cherokee with the 2.8 V6. It had around 70k miles on it and had a “rebuilt” engine. It sounds like Paul was lucky to get a good engine in his. I told him he should get the 4.0 inline 6, but he bought it anyway. It was rough running and under powered, but otherwise seemed good. Never checked the throttle for full opening, it may have had that problem as well. He got about a year’s use out of it and the engine failed. I have a feeling it may have had a quick fix repair instead of an actual rebuilt engine. He replaced the engine and sold it after another year of use. It was a nice truck otherwise.
My Dad’s had three of these now (and he currently drives a ’10 Grand Cherokee) His first was an 84, 4-cyl auto 2-door. That got stolen, and replaced by an 86 Wagoneer (2.8 V6/5-speed) with the goofy fake wood. THat one burned to the ground, the wiring under the dash started on fire while he was driving it… That got replaced by a 94, this time a basic one with the 4.0 and an automatic. He kept that one until it was so rusty the garage he took it to wouldn’t work on it anymore. The 84 was so DOG slow, we were all afraid he’d get run over while merging on the freeway. THat’s why he picked the manual trans 6 in the next one, but it didn’t seem any faster (and it fried it’s bearings a few years later, but that got fixed under warranty) He just really liked the design, and kept saying he’d never be without one. His current one still has really low mileage, since he retired he doesn’t go as far daily but it still goes from northern WI to Gulf Shores AL and back every winter.
I have one, actually two Cherokees, but my special one is a 2dr. , L6, SelectTrac, with the AX15 manual! It is also loaded, power everything, cruise control, roof console, A/C and all.
The other is the same year 1999 but 2WD automatic… Love them and i always will. They are so consistent even to break down. I know exactly what to replace and where to get it.
Fuel mileage is also better on city for the manual, but the auto gets better on the highway, hah!
It is funny how some Renault/AMC seems there still, Considering i own the very Chrysler era facelifted XJ.
Recently purchased an 85 two door 4×4. 1,000 bucks was what I gave. 2.8 and torqueflite. Has brand new 30×9.50lt15 all the way round and two parts motors cam with it. Not the prettiest but not rotted out either.