New to Canada, new to Calgary, new to Jeep, eager to learn

[Hirosimez]

Hello to allmighty All,

I'm coming to Calgary from the other side of the Pond in mid September. Besides, I should confess that I am somewhat of a virgin to the whole Jeep thingy, couple rides and drives in my pal's '96 ZJ Orvis nothwithstanding.
Well, after 6 years and 200Kkm of SAABing (been through 4 9000s so far), I want to try something really different and methinks, the move is a good excuse to change old habits. Besides, there are too many wonderful places over there, which I would not dare explore in fwd turbocharged beast  :lol:
Oh, and a warm and friendly community, of course... You know, I noticed one intersting thing - quirky, full-of-caracter-and-charisma cars, that at the same time are by no means the paragons of reliability, attract lots of people with the same positive qualities :lol:  I witnessed it in SAAB forums and clubs, in Alfa-Romeo and Land-Rover fan groups, in our local Jeep forum out here, where I have a couple of friends. On the contrary, an afficionado club of Toyota-Tercel owners, anybody :wink: ?
So, the Prelude (darn fine automobile and girl puller, but an off-topic here :lol: ) is over and here is some practical stuff:
 :?:
- Is it possible to buy a decent ZJ (circa 95-97) with 4.0L/NC242 TC for 5.5-7kCAD without the need to buy another one as a source of spares? I heard from friends in Calgary, that such gems do exist, although autotrader.ca and buysell.com make me believe otherwise. I am not a big fun of an XJ, and the prices do not differ much anyway.
 :?:
- Provided the car was not subject to weekend wheeling sessions, how reliable mechanically are they? Engines/trannies, axles? I've read a lot that the aux stuff (pumps,A/c, electrics, etc.) might cause you a headache (from autos.msn.com). On the other hand, all I hear over here - is that they are pretty durable. As an example, the Orvis I drove, runs perfectly, all running gear is top notch, despite 160 Kmiles on the odo...
 :idea:
The reason I ask - Being that I will be all on my own before i find a job, will it be the act of sheer stupidity to get into the Jeep ownership thing? I can only spend something close to 6000-6500 on the motor, 7000 being the absolute limit. Or should I play prudent&safe and buy a usual newcomer special - close to sell by date trusty&rusty Civic and suffer the ignominy? :lol:  :lol:
 :!:  :wink:
Buy the way, I am a professional translater/interpreter, with fluent English, Japanese and Russian... Guess which one is native!  :lol:
 Not sure I can easily find something to do here in the same field  :cry:

[Bnine]

Welcome to the forum, and Canada.

I think you might find some work interpreting Japanese quite easily here. There is a ton of popular Japanese tourism spots nearby. The town of banff would be the largest one I think.

Most the cherokee lines can be had here for fairly cheap. I swear that Calgary is the country's SUV capital. This city is in a pretty big boom right now, so lots of people are buying new vehicles. If you bide your time you'll probably see something pretty good come along.

If you dont wheel much at first the repairs should be minimal. The 4 litre is the most reliable and probably longest lasting motor you can find in just about any jeep model.

I dont know a lot about cherokee's, so I'll leave those details to someone else.

By the way, never call a jeep a car, you wont hear the end of it

[kevman]

I've heard alot of bad things about the reliability of the ZJ's but haven't expierienced any of them.  Apart from the basics the only thing to fail on mine was the water pump 2 summers ago and I just redid the front wheel bearings.  Everything else has been extremely reliable (5.2/46RH/249).  Personally I'd go with the V8, the fuel economy isn't much worse (1mpg), it gets going alot easier and it's been a part of the Chrysler line up for 30+years which shows some reliability.  Alot of guys have well over 250k miles on theirs.  In '95 they changed the cam shaft to get another 15 ft/lbs out of it but they also coupled it with the "weaker" 44RE.  Also if you're lucky you can find a 242 behind that V8 because I anticipate the 249 to be the next thing to go...

The other Jeeps will make fun of you a bit....untill you effortlessly make it up that same climb they just got stuck on. :lol:

[Hirosimez]

Thanks for the input, guys. As for 4L vs 5.2 I heard too many stories here about the 5.2 overheating badly and the fan coupling failure...

Ah, by the way, what is the going rate at the pumps right now? :wink:  Regular/Premium?

Here in our club it is common, when somebody looks for a new car, there is always someone who does not mind to join in the initial inspection of the vehicle and the chat with a seller. Heck, sometimes it is just too good excuse for a party to miss it.
As a result the apprehensive seller has to cope with a crowd of talkative, pushy, loud and nit-picking hungry SAABisti, which makes bargaining a breeze! :lol:  :lol:
What about your community? Do you meet somewhere in town, not just in McLean Forest muds? :wink:
And it goes without saying that the one who called for help buys beers for all :wink: .

[Jaguar]

Welcome!

The going rate for regular is around 90c.... that puts premium around 1.00.. ofcourse you can find cheaper

http://www.calgarygasprices.com/

[CanaMatt]

$1.10 for reg in Edmonton

$0.95 for reg in Grand Prairie

Even tho it sucks big time, that it costs $70 to fill a tank that goes 400 km, this is what Alberta thrives on; oil and gas.  I guess its all relative, costs more to fill a tank, but everyone is all making it up in the stock market, hopefully.

[Hirosimez]

Hey, I did it!..

To hell with the gas prices, to hell with the unpredictable reliability woes, but I got it and enjoy it - the '97 ZJ Laredo with 4.0/242, 180 000 km and minimum of problems that can be addressed later - sweating rear diff, cracked windshield (welcome to the club) and turn indicator and tiny bubbles of rust on the bottom edge of two doors. Ran it to 140 km/h way outside of the city limits - no undue whines, goes straight, no shimmies... After some hard bargaining, got just a tad above the book value... Shocked with the prices you have here... Back in Russia it would cost twice as much, blame the custom charges (whoppin' EUR 8000 for 4.0L engine)...

So far only had to replace the right headlight bulb...

When do you guys meet then?.. :lol:  :lol:

[apex]

Congratulations! Welcome to Canada and welcome jeep hell.

check out the events calander to see when the next meeting is.