Gentlemen! I wish to learn a bit from your collective and varied knowledge base. Now before I start, I realize there really is no such thing as a cheap suv. Been looking at the mid sized models. Older Jeep Cherokee's, Chevy Blazer's, Ford Explorer's, and such. About 1999 or so, up to 2003 or 4. Got a budget of about $5500. This is vehicle #3 for us so I'm not going to put a pile of money (hopefully) into it. Looked at a couple Explorer's. Going to look at a Blazer and Cherokee this weekend. I'm really leaning towards the Cherokee. It is my opinion (right or wrong) that the Cherokee has the best reliability record. It also has a solid front axle. Are there any glaring deficiencies in any of these models? The best one may very well be the one that has the best maintenance record's. Any older high mileage vehicle is a [censored] shoot, especially a 4x4, but I'd enjoy listening to your experience's here.