Hi, I’m In Delaware: 1998 Jeep Cherokee vs 2000 Volvo S70

Good morning! Today’s Shitbox Showdown takes us to that car-unfriendly strip of coastline to the northeast of me: the great state of Delaware. One Craigslist site covers the whole state, and pickings are slim. These were the best of the bunch when it came to cheap and interesting rides.

So … I screwed up again yesterday, and I’m owning up to it. Yes, that Achieva is indeed a Quad 4, and probably does have an overdrive transmission. I suspect that I was looking up specs for the wrong year; after looking up the ’92 323, I had a brain fart and searched for a ’92 Achieva as well, instead of a ’95. And for what it’s worth, I did have an Olds Calais with a Quad 4 for a while (and a five-speed stick) and never had any trouble with overheating or blowing the head gasket. It’s a sample size of one, but my experience with that engine is 100% positive.

Much to my surprise, the Achieva actually won the vote. I expected the little Mazda to run away with it, but then again, an 80-something-horsepower economy car with an automatic isn’t really in a position to run away with anything. The Achieva gets my vote as well. The transmission makes the decision for me; I could tolerate the Olds with a slushbox, but not the Mazda.

Now then: When we first started talking about moving to the East Coast, I naturally looked up the important stuff first: Vehicle inspection requirements in the various states we were considering. I almost immediately nixed Delaware, based on their testing requirements; no way was my 1971 MG going to pass an emissions test, and it would be required to do so there every two years. Other oddly strict rules turned me off as well. Maryland inspections were no picnic either, but we passed them, and don’t need to go through them again.

I understand why the requirements are there, and after seeing some of the deathtraps rolling around the streets of Portland, I’m thankful for safety inspections. But it makes fun and interesting cars few and far between in Delaware. These two are almost fun and interesting; let’s check them out.

1998 Jeep Cherokee Sport – $2,350

Engine/drivetrain: 4.0-liter overhead valve inline 6, four-speed automatic, 4WD

Location: Wilmington, DE

Odometer reading: 178,000 miles

Operational status: Runs and drives well

Take a box, and stick another, smaller box on the front of it. Give it four-wheel-drive and an archaic but effective inline-six engine. Sell it for almost two decades with very few changes. That’s the XJ-series Jeep Cherokee formula, and it proved a reliable ride for everyone from Mama Fratelli to Buffy the Vampire Slayer to our own David Tracy. (Strange company, indeed.)

This is a later Cherokee, towards the end of the run, when Jeep took a file to the Cherokee’s sharp corners and rounded them off a bit, both inside and out. I would show you the inside, but this seller has declined to show any photos of it; instead, they say “photos on request,” and fill up all the available slots with exterior, underside, and underhood photos. They claim the interior is in good condition, though it has a broken driver’s seat frame. Not sure how you accomplish that.

Mechanically it sounds all right, and like any good Jeep from the ’90s, it’s powered by a 4.0 liter inline six. As a side note, these engines were the bane of my existence when I worked at a garage in the mid-1990s, for one reason: The oil filter. AMC spec’d a filter that had 19mm threads; when Chrysler took over, they changed it to 3/4 inch threads. The filters were identical sizes, and one would even screw onto the other’s mounting stud, but not tighten properly. I never mixed them up, but my co-workers constantly did, and I always had to go check and make sure they were installing the right one.

Apart from clueless mechanics, the Cherokee’s only real natural enemy is rust. This one doesn’t look bad, but there are some signs of corrosion starting to appear on the rocker panels. Underneath it’s fairly clean, though, so any rust problems should be a good long ways off.

2000 Volvo S70 – $2,000

Engine/drivetrain: 2.4-liter dual overhead cam inline 5, five-speed automatic, FWD

Location: Bear, DE

Odometer reading: 164,000 miles

Operational status: Runs and drives well

Here we have another boxy car that got its edges rounded off. The Volvo 850, this car’s predecessor, was only slightly less brutally rectilinear than the 240 and 740 that it replaced. When the name changed from 850 to S70, the corners softened. It’s hard to tell unless you’re looking at them side-by-side, though. It’s still boxy, and it’s still good.

Like the 850, the S70 is front-wheel-drive, powered by a transverse inline five. You don’t see a lot of five-cylinder engines; Audi is probably the most famous purveyor of them, but I bet Volvo actually built just as many of them, if not more. This one runs “perfect,” the seller says, and even has good cold air conditioning.

It’s in good condition for its age and mileage. Lots of toys, too: heated leather seats, a sunroof, and power everything. From the sounds of it, it all works, even. Actually, this is one of the nicest $2,000 cars I’ve seen in a while. I guess that’s the upside of inspections – they weed out the junk.

It looks pretty good outside too, though there is a little ding below one taillight. Strangely, this isn’t the first S70 that I’ve seen with damage in this same spot. I don’t know if the sightlines are bad, or if Volvo drivers just can’t reverse properly, or what. It’s not as prevalent as the fabled “Camry dent,” but it definitely seems to be a thing.

Maybe I just got spoiled by the car culture in Portland, and in Los Angeles before that, but this whole area doesn’t seem to be much of a car-guy haven. There aren’t a lot of interesting cars on the road, nor, clearly, for sale. But I guess you could do a lot worse than an XJ and an old Volvo. It could be a land of nothing but Nissan Altimas, for example. With that in mind, these aren’t bad at all. Which one would you choose?

(Image credits: Craigslist sellers)