mmarshall

That's generally been my experience, too, in reviews (except for the RX). The ES and IS (IS, particularly), have gone to thinner, cheaper materials inside, while the GS, LS, RX, and the other SUVs have generally remained more impressive.

mmarshall

Mercedes products worsened drastically in the 1990s......particularly the late 1990s. That was due to two main reasons.....First, the decision by management that their products had been overengineered/overbuilt in the past, and, Second, the (sudden) increased competition that they were getting from Lexus and Infiniti (particularly Lexus) that forced additional cost-cutting.

SW17LS

I don't agree about the RX. I just shopped everything in that segment before buying my 2014 Grand Cherokee Overland, and IMHO the RX has the least appealing interior in class, and from a material quality standpoint its a departure from the original and the 2RX. Several areas of very poor material quality, most notably around the center console, lower dash and door panels, low quality single stitched leather, etc. The previous RXs were both higher quality feeling inside IMHO.

mmarshall

The RX, though, new or old, probably never had one of Lexus' best interiors.....though it was far from Spartan. Where it excelled, IMO, was in the superb refinement of its AWD power train and noise control. Even today, it is still one of the quietest SUVs on the market.....even compared to big extended-wheelbase Escalades and Navigators at nearly twice the price.

SW17LS

Material quality is down on the RX though, same as it is on the ES.

I just am wholly underwhelmed by the RX. I don't find it especially quiet, all these luxury SUVs are really quiet. Powertrain is refined...but they all are. I find my Jeep smoother, quieter, more refined and much more capable with a far better interior for less money.

mmarshall

No arguments on the Grand Cherokee. Classy vehicle from the ground up.....but, unlike some other new Chrysler redesigns, they still seem to be having reliability problems. Several CL members who own new JGCs have reported issues with them.

JDR76

I really like the Jeep GC. We recently had one as a rental, and I was pretty excited to try it out. While I loved the style and the utility, I ended up walking away from it somewhat disappointed. This was shortly before we went shopping for a mid sized SUV and ended up with an RX.

I didn't find it any quieter than the RX, but I would say it was competitive, and I found the interior materials to be decent enough. What I could not get past was the behavior of the new 8 speed transmission. As we'd slow down to a stop, it would exhibit this horrible "clunk" and jolt. Did it every time, even my wife was asking "what was that?". Hopefully they're addressing the issue because otherwise I did like it. We just liked the RX more.

SW17LS

Not talking about reliability though, we're talking about interiors.

Thats not normal. Mine doesn't do that, nor have any of them I've driven.

JDR76

That's good to hear. It was rather unsettling, especially in a vehicle with only 1600 miles on it.

SW17LS

Overall the 8 speed in the vehicle is great, huge improvement over the 5 speed that was in my 2011 Jeep.

pbm317

I never experienced any clunks in my Grand Cherokee, but I do know that my previous gen 4Runner and GX470, as well as today's generations, continue to suffer from driveline clunks that Toyota/Lexus can't figure out, other than trying to re-lube the driveshaft every time we take the vehicle in.

JDR76

Interesting. I never experienced anything like that in my 4Runner (2007 V8). Perhaps I was lucky.

UZJ100GXR

I experience a driveline clunk in my 2006 Land Cruiser. I Haven't noticed any in the 200 series Land Cruisers i have driven, yet, but i have heard complaints in the earlier models of it happening and Toyota replacing the drive shaft, specifically in 2008/2009 models.
I get a thud when i let my leg of the gas then coast for abit and push the pedal, It literally shakes the Garmin i have on the dash. I need to re-lube soon.

mmarshall

With many conventional torque-converter automatics, it is normal to get a noticeable downshift while slowing for a stop after cruising. Even on otherwise butter-smooth Buicks and Cadillacs, one can sometimes feel a small bump as the transmission downshifts. This is done partly to keep the vehicle from coasting and rolling too freely in the higher gears when slowing down, which would put more of a load on the brakes. But what you describe does not sound normal...it seems excessive.

A couple of questions here. Were you shifting the automatic manually when you got the clunk/jolt, or simply letting it downshift automatically?....doing it manually will sometimes make it harsher. What speeds did you get this clunk/jolt at she downshifting? Was the vehicle in 4WD/AWD or RWD when this happened? And, did you test-drive another example of the Grand Cherokee with the same engine/transmission before you decided to switch to the RX?....it could have been simply a fluke on your test car.

JDR76

I'll try to keep this short and not drag the thread off course, since it is about fit and finish, and not transmission issues.

This was definitely not a normal behavior. I know of the type of downshifts you are talking about, and these were different. These took place any time we were coming to a stop - say at a stop light, for traffic, etc.

We were in automatic mode, with no manual shifting.

We did not drive another example of a Grand Cherokee.

This particular GC was a rental car while on vacation. While it was a rental, it was very new, with only 1600 miles on it.

As we were drawing nearer to our decision on what SUV to purchase, we rented a few while on different trips to get a feel for them. While I was a past 4Runner fan, I was not enamored with the latest version, so that was out. We rented the Grand Cherokee for a week (on vacation in San Diego) and then rented a Cadillac SRX for a week (on vacation in Honolulu). The rental experiences of both of those vehicles lowered them on our list. So we looked at the Audi Q5 (too small) and Q7 (too big) and BMW X3 and X5 (good contenders, but get pricey very quickly) and the Acura MDX (too minivan-ish). We also looked at the new Highlander (only a prototype at the car show was available for viewing at the time).

Then we tried out the RX and found the interior to be our favorite. It was stylish, high quality, comfortable, and the perfect size. This RX purchase was mostly for my wife and for use as our family car, so I let her make the ultimate decision, and she really fell in love with the RX.

We bought the RX 9 months ago, and we never question whether we bought the right one. This thing is a solid, comfortable, and safe ride for my family. Our experience with the dealership (Lexus of Seattle) and service has been nothing short of phenomenal. In 9,000 miles there hasn't been so much as a hiccup with it. We really could not be any happier with it.