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Congrats bit! My CX-5 has many of the same features, for likely less money, but the JGC Summit is an all around better car than the CX-5. It likely has more oomph, less road/wind noise etc. Nice pickup!
As far as reliability goes? Do your maintenance and you're golden. I am assuming you have the 3.6 Pentastar V-6. Pretty stellar motor. Reviews are great, and though I havent driven one, I have ridden in them. They are extremely punchy for a V6. That same one moves the heavy (6,000lb) 1/2 ton Ram around with the 8 speed, so I am sure it has little issue carting around the JGC with the same trans.
The trans is made by ZF, so relaibiltiy woes there go pretty much out the window as well.
A quick cruise around the interwebs reveals the most serious problem on the new JGC has been programming and software update issues.
You will no doubt be happy wiht your purchase for years to come, and with any luck it will be worth double what the 'sploder was at the same age.
Congratulations, bit. A fitting replacement for the Explorer. Sorry for all that nonsense you had to go through with that CR-V. IMO, from your story, you actually handled it very well on your part. A shame, too, because the CR-V has an excellent reputation, quality-wise...the chances of randomly finding a brand new one on the lot with a defective sensor/module are pretty low.
Just out of curiosity, did you check out the Lincoln MKC? I didn't see that on your list of possibilities.
You've read enough of my posts and comments to pretty much know my opinion of the new JGC....which is generally quite high, especially for the interior ambience. Chrysler put a lot of effort into the interior, chassis, and drivetrain refinement on the present model, making it head and shoulders above the former-generation. Long-term reliability could (?) eventually be an issue, but, as Josh pointed out above, proper maintenance will minimize the chances of trouble.
PM me, of course, if you want a complementary bottle of you-know-what....my standard new-car-warming gift.
Did i miss something here? What was so crazy about your story expepr that is was 30 minites read????
Originally Posted by bitkahuna
part 2...
Got home yesterday, being down about the car I decided to do a casual quick look online for my short list alternates… ’16 Sorento SX Limited? AWOL. ’15 Jeep Grand Cherokee Summit in gray? Oh my, the local dealer actually HAS a 2WD V6 gray Summit trim in stock, crazy. But did I want to spend that much? WAY more than the CRV!
Called the dealer, sales guy said he’d call back with their ‘best deal’ which wasn’t bad and I drove over (in my loaner CRV!!!) to see the vehicle. Aaaannnd… long story short, I bought it, without them even seeing my trade-in (they were trusting me, plus it was sadly not worth much either way). BUT, now I had a logistical hurdle because I had the CRV loaner with me and a new Jeep Grand Cherokee. So sales guy took one vehicle and I took the other to my home and I drove him back to the dealer. This morning I (felt somewhat guilty) dropped the CRV loaner back to the Honda dealer (sales guy had to come in his day off because he'd locked my keys in his desk but I gave him $20 for the gas), got my Explorer back, drove it to the Jeep dealer (!), then got a ride home.
So why a Jeep Grand Cherokee Summit?
Well if you haven’t been in one and you’re expecting it to not be that fancy, you might be shocked. It has a stellar interior and almost every tech feature you can think of. I didn’t need the 4x4 (with air suspension) or V8 (or uber crazy fast SRT version) or the excellent diesel, but the standard 3.6 V6 is PLENTY powerful (about 295HP I think) and smooth with an 8 speed transmission.
The trim details inside and out are very very nice. My car has illuminated sill plates (say Summit), the main instrument panel is a highly configurable LCD panel (love how the nav direction next turn shows in the middle of it). There’s leather on the instrument panel, real wood, and a suede-like headliner. Rather than go on and on, here’s a link to the brochure: https://www.jeep.com/assets/pdf/grand_cherokee_2015.pdf
The audio system is Harmon Kardon, 19 speakers, 825W. Yeah it sounds good. The UConnect infotainment system is very good (being a techie it could always be better). Tons of features, but I do find it odd that seat heating/cooling is on the touch screen, not buttons. I tried the voice recognition for setting a navigation destination and it didn’t work for me – maybe with a bit of practice it will go better.
There’s many nice touches like auto high beams (drop to low beams when car senses it should). The HID headlights are adaptive (they look around the curve automatically). The radar cruise is full range (to stop). The shifter does NOT have a leather boot around it (yay) because to me all they do is collect dust and look messy. It has paddle shifters, not that I expect I will ever use them except out of curiosity. The main shifter is a bit odd though in that you don’t move the lever to a gear position you just rock it back or forward to select P,R,D,etc.
Mine’s gray with a black interior. Black wasn’t my first choice but I’m ok with it because of the cooled seats, plus the car has remote start built in to cool things down!
We all know of Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep’s reliability ratings and challenges, so that’s naturally my only concern, but hopefully the car will be ok. The build quality looks impeccable to me.
Did i miss something here? What was so crazy about your story expepr that is was 30 minites read????
I was thinking the same thing.
The only crazy/exciting part was that new CRV broke before it leave the dealer's lot, then he changed his mind and bought a different car at the last minute.
Did i miss something here? What was so crazy about your story expepr that is was 30 minites read????
Sure, it seems everyone walks out the house in the morning to pickup the new car they ordered, trade their car in, the new car is broke so they take a loaner then buy a different car at a different dealer the same day for 40% more while driving the loaner from the first car dealer then drive back to get your old car and trade it in with the other dealer...... sounds pretty common to me, unless you never bought / ordered a new car before and dont know the drill.
yeah it was a crazy couple of days... plans, expectations, disappointment, casual alternative exploration, to wild possibility, to new plan, to resolving collateral consequences.
yeah it was a crazy couple of days... plans, expectations, disappointment, casual alternative exploration, to wild possibility, to new plan, to resolving collateral consequences.
Talk about luck of the draw. The chances of finding any brand-new Honda-built vehicle, at random, sitting on the lot with bad electronics (other than a dead battery, which is fairly common from disuse on the lot), are not good at all. Most Honda and Acura products come out of the factory assembled like a Swiss Watch. About the worst I ever see on them is an occasional small body or trim scratch.
Talk about luck of the draw. The chances of finding any brand-new Honda-built vehicle, at random, sitting on the lot with bad electronics (other than a dead battery, which is fairly common from disuse on the lot), are not good at all. Most Honda and Acura products come out of the factory assembled like a Swiss Watch. About the worst I ever see on them is an occasional small body or trim scratch.
i agree completely! if it hadn't had the problem, i'm sure i'd be driving it and be happy (and less poor ), but sometimes an event can change the course of things, the electronics issue alone wasn't it, the loaner also had an effect. Not necessarily 'fair' (things break now and then, and the loaner was bottom trim compared to top), but regardless, I don't regret my change of heart and decision (so far!).
i did find something today about the jeep you would appreciate. like many cars from a dealer's lot i learned the tire pressures were WAY HIGH. i like that the car has separate tire pressure display that can be brought up on the main gauge. the numbers differed a bit from my cheap rotary gauge but i think that makes sense as it might only recalibrate/measure once the car is driven again. ? would you trust the manual gauge or the tpms display more? lots of debate on the internet i learned.
01-27-15, 10:40 AM
A fitting replacement for the Explorer. 
A shame, too, because the CR-V has an excellent reputation, quality-wise...the chances of randomly finding a brand new one on the lot with a defective sensor/module are pretty low. 
), but sometimes an event can change the course of things, the electronics issue alone wasn't it, the loaner also had an effect. Not necessarily 'fair' (things break now and then, and the loaner was bottom trim compared to top), but regardless, I don't regret my change of heart and decision (so far!).