No more SUV shopping
Signed the papers today.
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What did you get?
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2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee Diesel Overland. Picking up Monday or Tuesday.
Over twenty cars in my life. This definitely breaks the pattern: - second SUV ever (after short lived x5 diesel) - second diesel ever (after said x5d) - second domestic ever (after my first car, an absolute POS mercury marquis) - third automatic ever (after mercury and x5d) Color is mostly gray but has enough brown to be interesting in person, similar to sparkling graphite perhaps, but lighter. So I like that a lot. I love the interior and stitched leather. Wanted the diesel after driving the usual pentastar six and the hemi. And condition was great. It was very clean for a used suv, more so than can be achieved by detailing. It has the tow package as well. It has air suspension, rides "sportier" as well as the capacity to raise. So it has almost everything I looked for except for one thing, the rear e-LSD (so it's quadra-trac ii instead of quadra-drive ii). Well, I had to compromise somewhere and in an awd vehicle with raising and locking center ability, I think I can give up on the rear differential. Sure would have been nice, but impossible to find. The other SUV I liked to drive was the cayenne, but frankly I preferred the simpler and seemingly more spacious interior, less luxury image. |
Enjoy!
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May you enjoy many trouble-free miles with her !! |
Thank you folks. The 2011 update to the JGC was significant. I was originally looking at 2011-2013 to keep the price down. Drove a hemi, liked it, thought about it, could not come to terms with expected realistic MPG (12-14). Then realized that the 2014 facelift is also pretty significant, especially transmission (8-speed ZF & paddles), displays/entertainment and perhaps some handling improvements (elk test, a long story). So that's how the budget crept up.
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Really cool. I'm curious to hear your thoughts over time.
Now.... What snow tires are you putting on it? |
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What made you go diesel?
Edit: I just read about the AWD modes. So Quadra trac 2 is pretty hardcore, just more off road focused. https://www.autoevolution.com/news/j...ed-106633.html "Out of the two systems available for the Grand Cherokee, the Quadra-Trac II is the most capable version in off-road driving" |
Those grand cherokees are great vehicles I think you made a reallly good choice. I’ve interested in how you end up liking the diesel ... my mother in the 80’s had a couple of diesel Mercedes which were loud, needed to be plugged in in the cold weather and were pretty slow.
A couple of years ago I got a Porsche Cayenne loaner and was really impressed with that vehicle ... the funny part is when I got out of it for the first time at my office I looked it over and saw the word diesel on the side of the car, I was so surprised because it was quick and quiet ... I had no idea it was a diesel. |
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My first test drive some months ago was in a 3.6L, the 90% easy-to-find engine. Also 87-gas, so many advantages. I found it a bit lacking (at the time I was Range Rover minded). I didn't like the sound much, it was a very short drive so I might not have been fair to it. That said, it is a normally aspirated six on a 5000-5200lb vehicle. Last week, drove the Hemi 5.7L. Felt just right in terms of power. Online shopped, but I know myself, even if the fuel savings would never be made up for in price, I would not enjoy something that sucks gas so fast. Drove the diesel, liked it. The car is an amalgam. The platform is borrowed from the Mercedes ML, the AWD/4WD is pure Jeep and this engine is 3.0L turbodiesel from VM Motori in Italy, a Fiat subsidiary. It did come together, for me (as did the RR supercharged full-sized). I really do like having large range and mid to high 20's in highway mpg's. I realize there were quite a few hitches in its introduction. So I'm rolling the dice a bit here, between Jeep (not the most reliable brand), GC (not high on reliability scores) and adapted Euro-Fiat engines. I have a bit of warranty remaining and may buy an extended one. That's where domestic is a breath of air, everything costs much less than German-land. |
Sounds like a good choice. Have not been paying attention to Jeep's much recently. But - from what you have above, seems an interesting mix of capabilities and companies...
Good luck with it. |
I've had Cayenne and X5 loaners over the years. The upper trim levels of the new JGC with either the diesel or the hemi plays in the same league. Maybe not the best in all ways, but not the worst by far. Add to that the affordability and the attractiveness of staying domestic (and getting to drive something that comfortable inside without an ostentatious luxo outside), this one seemed all lined up.
Lexus (one older LX and two fresh GX's that I checked out & test drove) as well as the Toyota 4runner do not come close in straight-line response, driving dynamics or interior. I'm sure they are more reliable, but I just couldn't get over the compromise. The 4runner did have excellent/better cargo space though. That will be missed. |
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Congrats!
Think I mentioned in another thread how much I enjoyed my Grand Cherokee rental recently. Had the 3.6, and like you, I'd want more power than that. Wasn't 100% sure if i'd find the seats comfortable on a long trip but otherwise really liked it. Unlike Range Rover, I think it's cool that it lowers itself in "sport" mode when equipped w/ air suspension. |
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Awesome. Please keep us updated over time with the ownership experience. Am looking at a diesel JGC also! Or X5d. (For the inevitable time when I balk at one of the E61 repairs).
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Remind me why you didn't want an X5 again though? Price? And image? |
I've owned an X5. Interestingly, my mind worked in similar ways in late 2013, when my a4 hit 4yrs/45k and I felt like a change. I wanted a Toyota or Jeep-like SUV. Found a 6-speed FJ Cruiser sitting in my Audi dealer. I w ent to check it out, sat in it and ran out of it like the plague. The cutesy interior and the visibility were so bad for me that I did not even start the engine. A nice Vermillion Metallic/Brown X5d was sitting beside it. I took it on a drive, thought I liked it. I also realized it was previously CPO'd by BMW but was not being marked up as such (being sold by an Audi dealer - I guess they don't read their own carfaxes). Arguably, at the time I didn't have a 100lb puppy (she's mostly done growing but not entirely sure).
Anyway, for me it was the worst purchase ever. Did not have the comfort seats or adaptive suspension. The ride sucked. I changed the wheels and tires, each corner was like 70 to 80lbs. Lifting them sucked. Perhaps the JGC seats are not its strongest point, but I can lift its wheels & tires (snagged a set of used Blizzaks last night before taking delivery). Once out of the spacious suburbs where I test drove it, the x5 felt very wide. It also had a whiff of diesel fumes in it. I complained (as did the previous owner). Perhaps it wasn't a real problem, but I got a whiff. Perhaps it needed one long highway trip to regen and burn things off. I'm not sure. My good friend's ML350 CDI was quiet and smooth and clean by comparison. So was the TDI we had for 50k miles. It's no secret that I'm not a fan of xdrive and its level of grip. I didn't get to test the x5 through a full winter, just couldn't bear it. As a German SUV, I would consider a 2011+ Cayenne (either as 3.6L 6-speed or as a TDI), but they are rare and expensive. I've never found their seats all that comfortable. The bottom cushion has strange bolsters. They also have some kind of transfer case issue on certain model lines. Touareg's are cheaper but I don't particularly like how the new ones look. I didn't mind how the 2004's looked back in the day. I never drove a modern one, but the old one felt like a Cayenne with bad steering, so I'm not sure I could make peace with that. |
I really found two companies who seem to have both off and on road covered, Land Rover (pretty much any of them) and Jeep (perhaps only the GC).
The GX/Land Cruiser/LX have off-road covered but boy are the GX & Land Cruiser floaty. The 4runner Limited is less so, but still a bit trucky and - for me - a bit slow and plain jane. Of the Toyota's it's still the one I'd pick. The used prices are insanely high though. The Jeep GC dollar goes much further. We'll see if this bet pays off. |
Congrats and enjoy!
Don't know if you are aware of this, or not. But NJ's no pump gas laws are just for gas. With my first diesel, I pulled up to the diesel pump and waited, and waited for someone to pump my fuel . . . .didn't happen. I still own a small, rectangle tupperware container that held my gloves for use when pumping diesel. Used to keep it of the floor right behind the driver seat |
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Congrats! I considered a new one at the time I was looking at the LR4, but when new (would have been MY2014) it was surprisingly close in price to the LR4 and had much less interior space.
Let me know how you like it! |
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Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk |
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I think you just have to have a lower bar for SUVs. They need to be practical, safe, and decent to drive. Then you have to have a fun car to offset it. I can’t ever see spending big money again on an SUV. We’ll drive the X5 into the ground. And concentrate our future dollars and energies on the fun cars (and repairing the X5 as needed.)
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Drove it home, about 30 miles in a dark, icy/rainy night.
It's going to be a big adjustment. I have had only german cars (audi, porsche & bmw) since 2000. Steering is decent. It is a very tall truck from the inside, Q5's and other crossovers look like cars. It was a very smooth ride home on the air suspension, especially on the highway. Less great on broken city streets with the 20" wheels. Not terrible. There is definitely float & lean. The "on stilts" feeling is there as it is with most every SUV. The engine & transmission are the best part. I got 29.4 mpg without trying. The 8-speed auto is very good, much better than the 6-speed in the older RR's that I was looking at. Like the TDI, you hear the diesel clatter at low speeds and from the outside, but not when cruising on the highway. Maybe on a ramp or an overtake. Enough power and twice the mileage of comparably torquey v8's. The Overland is rather posh. Leather dash, 500W stereo, so lots of goodies that I've never had, even in expensive german machinery. Some nitpicks: - It's not pleasant to keep the vehicle at a stop in D. Not bad enough to shift to P, but definitely some vibes. I guess this is an autotragic thing. I hope buried in there is an auto-hold feature, but I'm not holding my breath. It won't matter on long trips. - seats are a bit firm and a bit flat. prefer cushier and more bolstered. Lumbar support was sufficient. I don't think I have found the perfect driving position just yet but didn't try too hard. - seems to have no auto wipers, crazy on such a loaded spec That's about it. I have lowered dynamic expectations and it meets them just fine. Hopefully, it'll grow on me. |
Check your control settings in the computer for the auto wipers. It should be in there.
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Alas, no auto-hold in D to stop the creeping, only a hill hold. I did a search, Jeep calls it "Hold'n Go". Described in the manual, not available on any JGC even as an option. |
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I'm guessing the idea is that it drives like a truck, so don't spent a shit ton as if that will make it more like a car? |
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Whereas if you start with the expectations of an off-road truck, the ride might make a lot more sense. |
Chrysler is notorious for the dashboard MPG gauge being overly optimistic, so temper your efficiency expectations some.
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As the kids have gotten older, I've found any rationale for getting an SUV (or even a big wagon) diminishing.* Equ's use case is quite specific, and I guess if I lived somewhere where it really snowed I'd change my tune. But I weep for the impending future when everything is a crossover.
*please ignore the momentary G class insanity I experienced a few months ago. I'm better now. I think. |
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This is the only time of year I’m glad for NJ’s gas pumping rules. Oregon just bailed on mandatory full-serve, so we’re the only ones left. |
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