Perhaps the most notorious offspring of the failed Renault-AMC marriage was the paper mache-like Alliance/Encore cars. Less well known, but also infinitely less frangible were cars like today's Nice Price or Crack Pipe Renault diesel-powered Jeep Cherokee. This one has apparently stood the test of time, but will its price also pass muster?
If it's in reference to your dog, having a scooter is a bad thing and usually means you don't walk around the house barefoot. Similarly, yesterday's custom GoPed Scooter left its mark to the tune of a 72% Crack Pipe loss. Whatever, haters gonna' hate, and scooters gonna' scoot.
That slice o' wry bit of basic transportation may not have been your cup of tea, but at least it would have been monumentally slow. Another candidate for appropriate tracking of zero to sixty times using glacial sublimation is this Fargo ND located 1985 Jeep Cherokee diesel.
SpaghettiOs aren't the only thing Franco-American, as the diesel in this white over red four door is the Renault (ray-know, not ree-nawlt, philistines) J8S, an aluminum block 2.1-litre. Turbocharged, it's good for a raucous (claimed) 85-Napoleon ponies and 132 ft-lb of torque.
Back when the French owned American Motors - and hence Jeep - they leveraged the small four-by-four for sale in Europe. And of course the standard AMC six wouldn't fly over there where gas prices were already like double that in the U.S. so they had to find a suitable substitute. Renault did have a relatively large for the marque diesel in the 2.1 and so in it went. They sold in some number and a few - I mean like a really tiny number - made there way over here.
Backing up the French frier is a five-speed stick, as the 85-horses was not enough to move the Cherokee with any amount of safety when an automatic was installed. The seller says this one, along with the 4x4 hardware, power steering, etc all works as it's supposed to. The ad also claims the Jeep gets between 28 and 30 mpg.
If you've spent any time inside an ‘80s Jeep then you probably were struck by the overwhelming number of angles and pieces of which the interior is comprised. Typically over time much of the plastic in these gets scoliotic, warping and creating even more rattles and squeaks than were initially installed at the factory. The seller claims that this Jeep's interior is even better than its seemingly tidy exterior, and as the diesel will sound like a lawn mower on a gravel driveway when lit, who cares if the insides sound like a cheap motel bed?
The French notably eat snails, which to those of an uneducated palate may seem as appetizing as chowing down on someone else's snot. Truth be told while they do have somewhat the texture of old rubber bands, eating one is not totally dissimilar to downing a clam, mussel or oyster, so make of that what you will. A well documented aspect of gastropods is their inherent lethargy in movement and with the Renault diesel and only 85 ponies under hood, that sadly is a trait this Jeep shares as well. Also used in the Winnebago LaSharo of the same era, these engines were built for comfort not for speed - well, not really for comfort either - after all, the noise.
But they do get decent fuel economy and this 190,000-miler represents a unique piece of Jeep history. Either of those characteristics could sway a potential buyer who of course will then be confronted with the wagon's $4,500 price tag. What you need to do is help them with that decision. Do you think that rarity and frugality make this Cherokee worth that kind of wampum? Or, is this a Jeep a RubiCon-job?
You decide!
Fargo Craigslist or go here if the ad disappears.
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