4 Month Impression

[Robu]

So I got my 2013 Journey R/T in Late Feb of this year (the 24th to be exact).

Pro's are

- Engine is adequate power for the size of the vehicle

- Roomy enough for me, 3 friends and two 100LB dogs

- Good noise dampening on highways (not amazing, but better than some)

- Seat's offer good firm support for back, and the flexible storage built in helps

- Solid feel to the car, I got rear ended and well.. My passenger side tail pipe got bent, and some scuffs on the bumper.. Kid's 2004 Ford focus was a write off

- Enough 12V connectors to keep anyone happy, and a 120V AV connector (although would of been amazing if this was you know.. 3 Prong so I could charge my laptop while on extended trips)

Cons Are:

- 6 speed transmission still has the same issues as my 2011 Chrysler 200 did ( clunky shifts a time, especially in manual mode and near refusal to go down to 1st if your not at a dead stop)

- Neither the Chrysler dealership or Chrysler corporate knew the policy/process on how to deal with defective tires as at 5000km in one of my tires got a sidewall bulge, and was confirmed by multiple tire

retailer/repair shops (including my dealership) that it was indeed a defect and not road hazard damage.. Despite what Kumho thinks (seriously Dodge, do not use this crappy Korean tires again)

- AWD really needs an option to manually engage/disable as at -10C there isn't always snow or ice on the ground.

- While Fuel economy is decent, it does have some room to be desired.

- uConnect / 8.4N console needs to support a wider variety of devices, and being with how long services like Siri etc have been out, should support this natively. (If my Lumia 900 could do voice to text via the
deck there's zero reason Siri shouldn't be able to do so either.. And Yes I already know Siri is a different protocol than Windows phone with uses MAPS)

- No electric recline on the driver seat, seriously.. This was a rather silly over sight, and honestly both front seats should be electronically adjustable since there's already wiring runs going to them anyway

Over all, I'd say it's a good purchase for what you pay. The majority of issues I have (well the one of two so far) aren't Dodge's fault directly, although they should of had better foresight than using some no name Korean tire maker with terrible customer service while selling over priced tires. I'll possibly update this Tuesday once I find out what exactly caused the check engine light to activate and what keeps causing my remote start to randomly disable it self.

Edited June 28, 2013 by Robu

[wingit11]

Good review Robu. I would like to give a review on our 2013 DJ Crew but it has not been home much for me to get the chance to drive it. Between my wife going to the West Coast (Vancouver) and being up in Calgary for the last month I have not seen it much but all reports from the wife says she really likes it. We traded a 2009 DJ SXT primarily for the greater comfort of the drivers seat. With her arthritis the challenge was to find a seat that she could sit in for an extended time and after looking at almost everything under $40,000 we settled on the DJ again.

[Robu]

Just a slight update, after I stopped spazzing over the check engine light I checked all the EVIC readings... I suspect it's the oil pressure sensor or something related to it as even when I'm in "Run" but not actually have the engine started my oil pressure is 668KPa. This figure does not change even if I drop it to 1st and bring it to 5K rpm, so pretty much nothing major since sensors fail all the time.

When I say for the price also, I got this vehicle new (14KM, three of which were from my test drive) for 30,225 + warranty and all the standard taxes / financing fee's..

My package is

- 8.4N + upgraded sound + uUconnect

- R/T Trim

- Sunroof

- Towing Group