Well, if you have read through my recent thread and kept up with it, I was looking to sell my '97 Ram in favor of a midsized SUV. Long story made short, I looked at a couple of Grand Cherokees and was not impressed with the power or size.

Oh my latest test drive the used car dealership also had some high mileage Chevy Blazers. The one that I drove was very clean inside and out. It was a '95 LS 4.3L 4x4 with 140k+ miles on it. It drove great. Everything worked and worked flawlessly. Plus it had plenty of power to boot. So that got me thinking. Now I could have picked this one up for pretty cheap, but my wife and I want something with lower miles.

My quick search through Autotrader.com and Cars.com yeilded me with several canidates in the immediate area. One of them is a '99 GMC Jimmy SLT that is fully loaded! Leather, Sunroof, tow package, the works, with only 57,000 miles on it for $7995 showing on the internet listing (so the price is negotiable from there). I'm going to try to get everything (tax, title, etc) for $7600 (if I can). The thing is BEAUTIFUL (atleast in the pictures).

Having test drove a slightly older and WAY more miles version of this truck, I am very dedicated to finding one for myself! I can't wait to be back to ALL GM!!! It'* so exciting!

I spent a good amount of time looking at the 98-00 blazers before I got my last cars. They were really nice, and like you said, they had a good amount of power. There were any real major issues that I can remember from when I was looking. The only reason I don't have one is because I am taller, I wasn't overly comfortable and because I am in college and picky, I couldn't get one in my price range. Hope this one works out for you.

yup my parents have a 00 LT blazer with all the goodies, its a sweet ride

I've got two in mind right now. One is a 98 Jimmy SLT fully loaded with 80k miles on it for $5800 obo personal sale and the other is a 99 Jimmy SLT fully loaded with 57k miles but $7995 firm at a used car dealership (have to pay taxes on this one). I would love to have the second one, but I don't know if I can sell my truck for $8000 + taxes to cover the cost of the Jimmy. This needs to be either an even $$$ sale or alittle in my favor, lol. We can't afford to spend money on this with a baby on the way...

Blazers and Jimmys are nice. They have good options and are very versitile. However, the Trail Blazer and Envoy have much more hp. Much more than even a V8 Explorer. Even the older ones are kinda expensive, though. I'd stick with Jimmys and Blazers if you can't afford a Trail Blazer.

For right now, the Trailblazer/Envoy is out of the financial picture. I have gotten the go ahead on buying the 99 Jimmy SLT with 57k miles on it for whatever I can talk the guy down to. My neighbor is buying my truck for $7k and the used car dealership wants $7995 for the Jimmy. I should be able to talk him down a bit especially seeing as how I'm going to be handing him everything in CASH $$$ the universal language.

I don't know if this will work or if it does, for how long it will work, but here'* the picture of the 99 Jimmy:

Glad that you've decided on a 4.3-powered vehicle. I suggested it in the last thread too! The Blazers are nice rides and will last a very long time. The entire drivetrain is strong.

Good luck!

Thanks! I am very familiar with the drive train seeing as it hasn't changed much since my '86 S10 4x4. I really like the torsion bar front suspension (always have). On my initial search, it didn't seem like the Blazer/Jimmy was going to be in my price range, but I ended up finding some great deals that made the extra spending easier to take. Plus I just didn't like the interior layout of the Grand Cherokee.

I'd take a Blazer over the Cherokee too. My bias toward the Cherokee is that you can get it with the inline 6. ...talk about a machine!! However, the 4.3 is right up there.

The 4.3 is equal to, if not greater (in reliability) than the 3800. Just plain die hards.

We couldn't find a Blazer/Jimmy that looked nice and clean and was in our price range so we had to settle for a Bravada, lol. Big difference there - well there is, the Bravada is much nicer inside than the Blazer/Jimmy and I felt that the Bravada had much less body roll to it than any of the Blazers and Jimmys that we had test drove. I put the down payment on a 2000 Olds Bravada AWD today. It has 72k miles on it and looked perfect inside and out plus it'* fully loaded. New tires and everything has been serviced. $8700 total delivered. I didn't think that was too bad. It was a bit more than we originally wanted to spend, but we figured it was worth it. Plus, it comes with everything (floor mats, keyfobs, etc) while just about all of the other ones we had looked were missing things (no floor mats, keyless entry, but no keyfobs). The only thing with the Bravada that I don't understand is the fact that it has running boards on it. They are getting taken off as soon as I get it home next week.