Forget CR's reports of SUVs. They rate them on their "soccer mom" appeal
You could probably put 300K miles on a 4x4 Tacoma pick-up. You're young and single, and it's all you'll need until a family comes along. Learn to drive a manual tranny, get the 4 cylinder Tacoma with the 5 speed, and you'll have one of the most reliable machines on the beach and get decent gas mileage away from it.
Jeep stopped making the small Cherokee after 2001. But used, low miles, with the straight 4.0 six, you can do a hell of a lot worse for your buck, and they go thru anything. Air down to 15 psi and the thing just floats over anything but the softest sugar sand.
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