A big black Beijing-Jeep Cherokee 2500, seen near a small repair shop in the far east of Beijing in December 2019. The 2500 looked brilliant with raised suspension and big off-road tires with shiny alloy wheels. The rest of the vehicle is original. The Beijing-Jeep 2500 was a heavily updated variant of the Beijing-Jeep Cherokee XJ.
The XJ was made in China by Beijing-Jeep from 1984 until 2009. Over the years the joint venture literally made hundreds of variants. One of those was the Jeep 2500, which was made from 2003 until 2006. Design wise the 2500 was quite a jump. It had a totally new grille, new headlights, new fender flares, new bumpers, new mirrors, and an updated interior with a new dashboard.
The interior of this car was in a great shape, with beige faux-leather seats and lots of other beige trim. The ash tray had a central position. At the time the 2500 came out smoking was still extremely common in China, especially, as I know from experience, among Beijing-Jeep owners. There are two cup holders and a large storage compartment between the seats. The radio is an after-market unit.
Big tires look okay but the wheel is rusty and seems of questionable quality.
The Jeep 25oo was available with two engines: a 2.5 liter four-cylinder petrol with 116 hp and 185 Nm, and a 4.0 liter 6-in-line petrol with 190 hp and 297 Nm. These engines were locally-made variants of the original AMC units.
The 2.5 was mated to a five-speed manual, rear wheel drive or four-wheel drive. The 4.0 was mated to a 4-speed automatic, and always four-wheel drive. The Jeep 2500 with the 4.0 engine is very rare. It was only made for two model years; 2003 and 2004.
The 2500 has the standard 2576 mm wheelbase, the same as the U.S. Cherokee XJ. Beijing-Jeep also made Cherokee variants with a longer wheelbase. It wasn’t very expensive. In 2003 the 2.5 started at 119.000 yuan and the 4.0 at 158.800 yuan
Tow hooks were a very popular accessory among drivers of rugged SUVs, cars like Beijing-Jeeps, Toyota Land Cruisers, and Nissan Petrols and such. But is was really for the looks only. I bet 99.9% of the folks who installed a tow hook never ever used it. License plate is of Jiangsu Province.
Our black car has the 2.5 under the bonnet, the five-speed manual, and four-wheel drive. BJ2021EB was the factory designation of this particular model. Until the 2010’s all passenger cars had to have the full designation of the car by law. It is no longer obligatory on passenger cars today but it still is on commercial vehicles. ABS was still considered a special feature in period, so most cars equipped with ABS in China in those days had cool ABS badges.
BJC stands for Beijing Jeep Corporation, the full name of the joint venture.
There repair shop had a few more 2500’s around. This example was in a great original shape and fitted with dealer-optional wind deflectors on the darkened windows.
This one was completely standard, looked great, with Shandong Province license plates.
The repair area with two older Cherokee XJ’s and two Land Cruisers. There was another pretty Land Cruiser nearby, more on that one in a separate post.