I have too many cars!! Help!

[Nick_S]

I’m having a dilemma and I can’t decide what I should do, looking for some outside opinions. Basically I currently have too many cars and I can’t decide what to do with them. Long winded story ahead…


I have my E30, the never ending project/weekend car that I can’t for see selling any time soon.





Then I have my 99 CRV which I bought in LA to commute with. It’s a great car, decent mileage, dead reliable, comfortable, clean and well maintained. 232K miles





And I just recently picked up a 95 2 door Cherokee for fairly cheap. I bought it knowing it needed some work but the plan was to fix it back up, sell my CRV and daily drive this. Huge bonus is 0 rust, floors are rock solid. 241K miles


My CRV has been a great car, it’s lowered on coilovers, RSX wheels and a nice stereo, otherwise is bone stock. I bought in LA but have since moved to Colorado and my issue with it is this, it's way too underpowered when you start to get up in elevation. Around town it does perfectly fine but when I go out to the mountains, which I do often it’s painfully slow and I constantly have to have the thing floored (should add it’s an autotragic, I bought it for commuting after all). There have been a few times off while adventuring off the beaten path that it will barely move out of its own way. If it were a manual I could get the revs up and it wouldn’t be quite as bad but the automatic just plain sucks so I had the idea to get something a bit more capable. I’ve had a few XJ Cherokees so I picked up another for fairly cheap.

I bought this one because it has a beefed up cooling system, 3 row alum radiation, dual electric cooling fans, new WP, new power steering and a lot of new front suspension bit and I always liked 2 doors. When I test drove it all seemed fine but would clunk a bit in 4WD. I initially thought it was U-joints so I bought some but the more I drive it, the more I realize it’s probably a busted transfer case or the chain is slipping. Add that to a growing list of annoyances and mechanical work needing done I’m starting to think I bit off more than I wanted to chew with this thing.

So this is where I’m stuck. I can’t afford to own 3 cars currently (technically 4 since I own my GF’s CRV which is identical to mine). Which one do I get rid of? Couple of scenario’s I’ve been looking into:

-Sell my CRV and keep the Jeep. It’s easily worth the most of the two and is a clean title, all California car up until this past year. Maintenance is up to date and the only thing it needs are rear shock inserts for the coilovers, they recently blew ($79/ea). I’d take some of the money and put it into the Jeep and the rest back in my savings/credit card. I’d have a more capable off road rig that does much better at elevation but on the downside it gets miserable gas mileage and is a bit chunky and awkward on the highway and it would be a decent project to get it up to solid daily driver duties.

- Sell the Jeep. I’m about $2300 invested in the whole thing so I basically just want my money back out of it. It’s solid, great start to a good truck but I just don’t know if I want to take on another project that will have to be a DD.

- Sell Both. Once the weather warms up and the snow melts I can DD the E30 for a bit. I have had this idea of picking up a late 90’s or early 2000’s Subaru (Outback, Forester or Impreza) and doing a mild lift and some bigger tires on it. It would sort of be the best of both world in having a decent car to daily as well as something I can take on lite off road trails without too much worry. Lift blocks are cheap and readily available as well as Subaru’s are EVERYWHERE out here.



Something along these lines…


I really like this style



There's my options, I'm leaning towards selling both for a Subaru but I really like my CRV and I really like the idea of rugged Cherokee. As much as I want to, I can't keep them all.

Opinions welcome!
-Nick

[Panici]

I say sell the CRV, but I may be biased ;)

Realistically there's nothing wrong with DDing the XJ and the E30, if you keep up the maintenance on both, they'll be just as reliable as something new.

Fuel mileage is probably the biggest concern, at least with the Jeep. I know the 4.0L does love it's petrol!

How does the subframe look on your XJ rust wise? I know around here in the last 2-3 years I've seen the number of XJs drop significantly, but that's due to the large amount of salt they use on the roads.

[Nick_S]

I say sell the CRV, but I may be biased ;)

Realistically there's nothing wrong with DDing the XJ and the E30, if you keep up the maintenance on both, they'll be just as reliable as something new.

Fuel mileage is probably the biggest concern, at least with the Jeep. I know the 4.0L does love it's petrol!

How does the subframe look on your XJ rust wise? I know around here in the last 2-3 years I've seen the number of XJs drop significantly, but that's due to the large amount of salt they use on the roads.

It's been a Colorado car it's whole life and they really don't use salt. The floor and the subframe are rust free. The gas mileage is a concern, on the last tank I got 14mpg. I was planning on doing the injector upgrade if I keep it which I've read helps.

[Kershaw]

1. Sell the Jeep.

I'm of the mindset that unless you have a 2 car garage, you can only have 1 project car at a time. You need 1 bay per project. So selling the CRV and getting a project Subaru is also probably not the best idea. How about using the Jeep money to mildy turbo/supercharge the CRV? Nothing crazy, but like 5lbs of boost. Would totally take care of your elevation issues.

Edit: That's only if you have a two car garage.

[MT325is]

what about keep the cry and do a b20v swap well since it's a b20, just swap the head out? not expensive. will give it the extra power you're looking for?

[rturbo 930]

Sell both and buy a vehicle that isn't a project and suits your needs.

[Nick_S]

1. Sell the Jeep.

I'm of the mindset that unless you have a 2 car garage, you can only have 1 project car at a time. You need 1 bay per project. So selling the CRV and getting a project Subaru is also probably not the best idea. How about using the Jeep money to mildy turbo/supercharge the CRV? Nothing crazy, but like 5lbs of boost. Would totally take care of your elevation issues.

Edit: That's only if you have a two car garage.

Great point. I do have a garage for the E30 and alittle extra space I can park short term projects.

I have looked into superchargers. I believe Jackson Racing makes one for the B20 that can fit a CRV with minimal modification. Base boost only runs like 6psi, probably good for an extra 30hp. I had a Jackson blower on my old SVT focus and gave me 100K miles of trouble free performance.

Regarding the Subaru. I'm not really looking into one as a project. You can get simple 1-2" lift spacers that bolt between the top hat and the body and then just some larger tires. It wouldn't really be anymore of a project car than me putting coilovers and wheels on my CRV.

I really have no interest in buying a newer car nor do I want payments and I like having something I can most of my maintenance on and tinker with a bit.

[Kevinl]

I'd keep the CRV

I don't like XJ's and I despise Subaru's

[gart]

I would think the Subaru with big tires would feel like a dog also. The jeep is going to suck on gas no matter what if it's the 4.0 compared to the crv so I say keep that.

[Nick_S]

I would think the Subaru with big tires would feel like a dog also. The jeep is going to suck on gas no matter what if it's the 4.0 compared to the crv so I say keep that.

I don't think it would be as bad as you think. a 99 Impreza has a 2.5l 4cyl and with 165 hp/tq, it would a far cry better than 145hp and about 130/tq. And with a manual trans, a slightly larger tire wouldn't be all that noticeable.

This is my 4th Cherokee. I've never got better than 18mpg, 16 is about average.

[frontin40]

All TCL darlings on VWVortex

[Nick_S]

All TCL darlings on VWVortex

LOL I've been on TheCarLounge for awhile. I posted it over there aswell. Everyone is saying keep the Jeep there. I don't actually base what I do off what forums say, but it's nice to hear other peoples opinions.

[2mAn]

The CRV would be a better daily than the Jeep, but will suck way more as the offroad vehicle.

Which is harder? Making the Jeep a solid daily or making the CRV have more power?

I think you should sell both the CRV and the Jeep and buy my buddies IX in Seattle.

[Das Delfin]

If you end up going with the Subaru keep an eye on which suspensions are easiest to lift. Ie the 2000+ Legacy has multi link rear which isn't as easy to lift as the cars before

I like the style of Subaru you're going for but I would keep the Jeep because gas is cheap now, it's the most capable off road of the group, and there's tons of aftermarket support.

In trucks you can regear the diffs to accomodate for larger tires. It's probably going to be harder/more expensive than it's worth to find taller diffs for the subaru.

If you sell both I would say get an old 4 cyl 5 speed dual transfercase Toyota pickup or other older truck which is body-on-frame

[UlrichFennec]

No rob option. OP is slacking.

Considering how sporadic weather changes are here in CO, I'd drop the CRV and put that money into the Jeep.

If I really wanted some bang for my buck, I'd drop both of them and look for a Nissan D21 Hardbody. I have a big love for those little trucks, and they are incredibly strong. Decent enough gas mileage, and you won't have to deal with the Subaru bashing. Although, an Outback doesn't sound like a bad idea either, I have a bias towards Hardbodies.