Anybody know anything about Jeep Grand Cherokees ?

I don’t know anything about them, but I do know that a 15 year old vehicle with 156k on it better be pretty cheap!
How has she gotten through the winter months before? Is this something she actually needs or just wants?

I love Jeeps! I drive one, my wife drives one, my son drives one (power wheel). I have always drove a Jeep and I never had any major issues with any of them. My friend has a 94 grand cherokee with over 300,000 miles and other than normal maintenance he never had any major problems with it. I guess it depends on the condition of the jeep. Check out the carfax report to see if it was ever in any accidents or has water damage.

carfax isn't the catch all. It will only reveal what has been reported about it. I can buy a car, tear it apart, put junk parts on it, piece it back together with j.b. weld. and carfax would know nothing about it.

Is this from a private owner or dealership? Is there a warranty? Can she take it to a mechanic and have it checked over first?

In my opinion, she needs a car. But she's pretty insistant that she needs a 4-wheel drive vehicle. Preferably a Jeep, since that's what she has now.

156,000 miles is a lot of miles to me, but she seems to think that these Jeeps can go for 200K - 300 miles. The Jeep she currently drives, has 250,000 miles on it.

She wants to buy this Jeep for about $1,600.00 - which is pretty cheap. But it needs an exhaust, plus a U-Joint.

Private owner - no warranty.

I'd have it looked over by mechanic to make sure that no major maintenance is needed -- it's worth the 40-50 bucks.

Otherwise, 1996 jeeps seem pretty stable from what friends have said and MSN - http://autos.msn.com/research/vip/Reliability.aspx?year=1996&make=Jeep&model=Grand%20Cherokee

My girlfriend owns a 1996 Jeep Grand Cherokee, and it has 196,000 miles on it. I use it to tow my boat lol.

One of my relatives still has her Jeep Cherokee from 1991, and she loves it. She says she will never part with it, and that it has gotten her through a lot. It is very reliable. She has kept up with its maintenance, and it has over 250,000 miles. She is actually looking for another one from that year, hahaha. I swear, she talks about this car like it's a member of the family.

I had a '94 Grand Cherokee. Sold it last summer for $700 with 225000 miles on it & am pretty sure its still on the road. Replaced the '94 with an '04 Grand Cherokee.
My guess would be it has lots of life left to it. Its all in how they are cared for. Is is clean on the inside? Does it fire right up and run smooth? Find a couple used ones on lots to test drive and have something compare it too.
My husband & I looked at quite a few before we found 'the one'. But - thats how I do things.

buying a used vehicle is always a roll of the dice. The only thing you can do is use your head and reduce the chances of getting screwed. What are the owners like? Do they seem mature, or are they teenagers that have ripped the interior out to install 400 speakers at 250watts a piece. lol. Or are they easy going, telling you things like how often they get the oil changed, etc. Also. look at the vehicle. Is the interior clean, is it well kept inside and out? That usually means they take good care of their car. 2 quick checks you can do on your own is start the vehicle and let it warm up. While walking around it, smell the exhaust. Don't inhale it so you pass out, just a sniff. If it smells sweet like antifreeze, could be a head gasket leak. Or before the tail pipe gets too hot, put you hand over it for a couple of seconds. Then smell your hand. Lastly, once the vehicle is shut off, check the oil dipstick. You DO NOT want to see milky brown on the dipstick. That means water in the oil.
One more additional thing. Pull the transmission dipstick and smell it. Most of them will have a "burn" smell to them, but you don't want a really burnt smell to them. You should be able to tell when it's burnt too much. It's like a difference between char-broiled and burnt. Could be an indication of trans going bad.
The best thing is for a mechanic to check it out, but those helpers above could save you big trouble down the road.

I've had three. A 1999, a 2003 and a 2006 Commander. All brand new. I give them all A's except for the brakes. I suspect '96 were worse. In addition to hockeyfan's advice, ask about the brake system.

Get a trustworthy mechanic to check it out with the caveat that if you buy the car, the mechanic will do the work needed. The real concern with any vehicle that has four wheel drive is the drive train. If the vehicle was used by a bunch of kids, rest assured it has taken a beating and you're better served by finding something else.

I had a 96 JGC. I absolutely loved it. I would have bought it at the end of the lease, but Fifth Third wanted $2k more than I could buy one off the lot for. Still wish I could have had that vehicle.

ask to see the service records. I've sold 2 old but well-cared for cars in my life and the fact that I had the records was the clincher both times. go thru them and look for date gaps or odd things going wrong. hopefully the owners will be like me and save everything. I've been lucky and able to buy new every time so far, but if I ever have to buy used that's the first thing I'm going to ask for.