we had XJs for years back home, my dad swears by these cars, we had one till 2004 that was lifted and put on some mean rubbers and it was a beast offroad on 4x4 trials, now my dad drives grands and i have a CJ for offroading and while it looks a lot meaner, it's actually not all that good offroad compared to the XJ ...
and i agree with the person above, the amc straight six is a beast! our XJ for trials had a snorkel for deepwater wading. in 2001 while wading through a mud puddle/pond, the water came to about mid windshield and we slammed our side against the bank thereby breaking off the snorkel and drowning the engine, long story short they pulled our car out and back to the camping. (It happened on the first day of a 4 day event.) So we just started taking the car apart on the camping, parts where all over the place, the entire engine came out and was completely disassembled, in the end we worked 2 days on the car, cleaned and dried every part of the engine put in new oil and grease, a new battery and a handful of replacement parts like airfilters and other minimal stuff.
and what would you know, she started perfectly and we ended up driving it through the last day and even drove it 400km back home. in 2004 we sold this particular car and for all that we know now, it's still being used at a small airstrip as a tow and plow vehicle ....
if i didn't have the CJ already i'd buy an XJ in a heartbeat!
now on the other hand i think i'd be better off looking for something easier to maintain, with better mileage, and with a bit better handling on the road ...
