zmttoxics Posted January 23, 2014 Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 Let me start by saying I have had Journeys for over 4 years now. My wife and I started with a blue 2010 3.5L SXT that we loved which unfortunately met it's maker. After the blue one essentially saved my wife's life, we decided it would be stupid to not get another one so we bought the only one left on our favourite dealers lot, a silver 2011 3.6L Crew with the 8.4 screen and all of the whistles and loved it for a week (but I'll get to get that). We have had the silver one for over 3 years now, and have put around 46,000 KMs on it and done all of the regular maintenance it should ever have needed. But this car is hands down a lemon. Now this isn't to say all Journeys are bad. We drove the blue one for a year with out issue. We put over 15,000K on it before it got wrecked and didn't even wear in the brakes. I tried to keep tabs of all the times the silver one went in for repairs here on the forums but mid way, I stopped counting. Here is a list of what broke and is still braking: -Bumper clips. 3 times I had this fixed and repainted. Still broken. -FM Radio. You apparently can have working AM and SAT in 2011, but not FM radio? This took over 7 trips to the dealer ship to fix. -The external touch lock on the driver side broke, took the entire lock system with it. -Front rotors warped in the first 10k, dealer refused to admit it and cover it. I replaced them with slotted / drilled rotors and ceramic pads. -Rear calipers seized shortly after on a long road trip, melted right through the pads and screwed up the rotor. This was just after the 20k mark so of course, no coverage. I fixed them this time. -Rear calipers have seized on me 3 or 4 times since, I have taken it in to get looked at professionally twice since the initial incident. "Nope, their fine, just need more lube, well do that for you". A month later? Same problem. I have to take apart and relube the slides on those things every 3 months if I even hope to have working rear brakes. -Battery died (last winter). I call for a jump and he tells me the battery is probably toast so after that I go get a new charger, charge it up and call the dealer the next day. "Ok, we can test it, but if it passes you have to pay $70 for the test." Ok, you know whats cheaper than that? Buying a damn portable battery booster, which that car now travels with religiously. I didn't replace the battery because if it happened again, I was willing to risk the battery test. -Rust coming through the paint in the quarter panels. We have the paint and rust warranty! Nope, the only time they will actually fix it is when the paint actually bubbles and peals. But you have to prove that it wasn't a rock chip. Total waste of money, never buy the paint warranty. -A lot of other issues that were usually firmware related which meant spending hours at the dealership for them to hook up the flash tools (transmission, evic, etc). *sigh Now we were OK with a lot of that stuff. It was lot of wasted hours at the dealership which was draining... but a lot of it did get fixed *eventually*. The killer.... We moved out to the country side and in our week of moving, in the summer time, the power steering pump broke, threw the hose, all that jazz. Get it towed, new pump and hose and all that and its good. Fast forward to 3 weeks ago. I get on the highway and as I am turn to get on the on ramp, no steering, again. I strong arm it to the dealership, they claim the pump is fine still but fix up the hose, and fill it. We drive it home and guess what, all of the familiar awesome noise and shitty noisy grinding steering that comes with a boned pump. That was the last straw. My wife is pregnant and she drives the journey the most and we have lost our faith in this car. We knew the new Cherokee just came out, we knew it shares absolutely nothing with the Journey other than the uConnect, and is made in the states instead of Mexico, built on the Dart platform instead of the Avenger platform, better on gas, etc etc. After weeks of thinking about it and working with the dealer, we worked out a deal to trade in the journey and ordered a Cherokee North, 3.2L AWD, with the a lot of the fancy stuff. The waiting game is on. Unfortunately, we still need the Journey for another 8 weeks or so while we wait for our order and it's not going to stop providing entertainment it seems. Today's Journey related entertainment? Both the ABS and stability control lights are *stuck* lit up on the dash. Perfect, just what you want to see on a frozen day with slick roads. Anyways, it's a long post. I'll end it there. I loved the Journeys and wanted to keep it for 10 years but this one has had a lot of issues and it doesn't seem to stop getting them so we're moving on. If people want to see pictures / a review of the Cherokee after we get it for some expert Journey comparisons, I am happy to do just that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolly Posted January 23, 2014 Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 Wow, sorry to hear about your problems. Good luck and enjoy your new Jeep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkeaton Posted January 23, 2014 Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 Sounds def like a lemon. Good luck with the Jeep! At least you didn't give up on Chrysler, err Fiat! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Addicted to Dodge Posted January 23, 2014 Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 Sorry to see you go. Cant say I blame you after all that. Good luck with your Jeep, they are nice. hemidog 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
webslave Posted January 23, 2014 Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 I wish you luck... However, that's how I got my Journey It was a result of a "buy back" of my 2008 Jeep Commander Limited Hemi... Loved that Jeep, but, after 4 years of in the shop for a month and back for 2 days just to have the same problem come back, Chrysler made me a "buy back" offer I couldn't pass up and being "done" with Jeep for the time being, we went with the AWD R/T and haven't for a second regretted it. Here's to hoping you have better luck with your Jeep than I did with mine! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hemidog Posted January 24, 2014 Report Share Posted January 24, 2014 Can't say that I blame you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zmttoxics Posted January 24, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2014 Thanks guys! I wish you luck... However, that's how I got my Journey It was a result of a "buy back" of my 2008 Jeep Commander Limited Hemi... Loved that Jeep, but, after 4 years of in the shop for a month and back for 2 days just to have the same problem come back, Chrysler made me a "buy back" offer I couldn't pass up and being "done" with Jeep for the time being, we went with the AWD R/T and haven't for a second regretted it. Here's to hoping you have better luck with your Jeep than I did with mine! Well it happens right? Sometimes it's just a bad car. I know the newer Journeys have design changes that should fix a lot of our issues (like bigger brakes) but with the price so similar, we're just ready to try something new. Fingers crossed the new Cherokee isn't a dud from the start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
webslave Posted January 24, 2014 Report Share Posted January 24, 2014 Yes, indeed, lemons can and do come from all the manufacturers of vehicles (and almost everything else). It is "Murphy" (of Murphy's Law) at his finest. Actually, I was tempted to go with another Hemi Jeep, but, the wife gave me one of those "looks" and, even I was tired of the <15 mpg average that we were getting. We used to tow an RV with it, but, we moved up to a big 5th wheel and I have a '11 RAM 2500 LongHorn HO CTD to tow with, so we really didn't need the big engine or vehicle for towing and a smaller (the DJ actually has more enterior room than the Commander) car and engine was a better direction for us. Good luck with your new wheels, those GCs certainly are nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sexyRTboi Posted January 25, 2014 Report Share Posted January 25, 2014 funny i read this post today .... just came home from spending 3 hours at the dealership AGAIN .... had the entire radio unit replaced today as it was causing major elec bugs happen within the dash ... tire rotation again trying to solve this AWD failure that keeps happening and the new foglight housing was replaced as the old one leaked and was full of water .... While waiting for the DJ I started looking at the Cherokee in the showroom .... initally i hated the looks of it, but looking at it today, it grew on me ..... biggest tipping point? it has a 3.2 rather than the 3.6 AND it will tow 1500lbs MORE than the DJ !! ..... 4500lbs, comes with a class III and a 7pin/4pin wiring ready to go ....... --- i grabbed a book just to look some more when i got home, when i left the dealership i realized that NOW my cigarette lighter ports are not working -- front or back -- therefore cell phone charger doesnt work ..... one thing after another after another after another ..... starting to roll around the Cherokee in my mind Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris1276 Posted January 26, 2014 Report Share Posted January 26, 2014 (edited) --- i grabbed a book just to look some more when i got home, when i left the dealership i realized that NOW my cigarette lighter ports are not working -- front or back -- therefore cell phone charger doesnt work ..... -sexyrtboi- I tried cellphone charger on my cigarette lighter and it didnt work! Im confused which are broken. My cellpone charger or the cigarette lighter???? Is there any other way to check if my cigarette lighter is working. I dont have the metal thing that they use for cigarette lighter! Edited January 26, 2014 by Chris1276 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redtomatoman Posted January 26, 2014 Report Share Posted January 26, 2014 Why not just try your phone charger on another car? If if works there, you know that the charger is working and the 12v outlet on your DJ is not. Peace Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Journey_SeXT Posted January 26, 2014 Report Share Posted January 26, 2014 (edited) --- i grabbed a book just to look some more when i got home, when i left the dealership i realized that NOW my cigarette lighter ports are not working -- front or back -- therefore cell phone charger doesnt work ..... -sexyrtboi- I tried cellphone charger on my cigarette lighter and it didnt work! Im confused which are broken. My cellpone charger or the cigarette lighter???? Is there any other way to check if my cigarette lighter is working. I dont have the metal thing that they use for cigarette lighter! Is it not working with the vehicle on or off. I don't have my car phone charger to test but if I remember correctly when the vehicle is not running the cigarette lighter port will not work until you turn the vehicle on. My car is the same way but the GMC work van continues to work even when the vehicle is in the off position. If the cigarette lighter port is not working with the vehicle turned on try RTM's suggestion first and if your charger works then the fuse most likely needs replacing. Edited January 26, 2014 by Journey_SeXT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mcgusto82 Posted January 26, 2014 Report Share Posted January 26, 2014 It's probably NOT the fuse. When they were working on the radio, they probably unplugged the lighter plug, and didn't plug it back in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zmttoxics Posted January 31, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2014 funny i read this post today .... just came home from spending 3 hours at the dealership AGAIN .... had the entire radio unit replaced today as it was causing major elec bugs happen within the dash ... tire rotation again trying to solve this AWD failure that keeps happening and the new foglight housing was replaced as the old one leaked and was full of water .... While waiting for the DJ I started looking at the Cherokee in the showroom .... initally i hated the looks of it, but looking at it today, it grew on me ..... biggest tipping point? it has a 3.2 rather than the 3.6 AND it will tow 1500lbs MORE than the DJ !! ..... 4500lbs, comes with a class III and a 7pin/4pin wiring ready to go ....... --- i grabbed a book just to look some more when i got home, when i left the dealership i realized that NOW my cigarette lighter ports are not working -- front or back -- therefore cell phone charger doesnt work ..... one thing after another after another after another ..... starting to roll around the Cherokee in my mind Just a heads up. The Cherokee only tows 4500 with the class 3 hitch and all that *if* you get the tow package. Otherwise its 2000lbs with the 4x4 I believe (maybe even 1500, I don't have the book with me but its on the last page IIRC). What we ordered: Cherokee North 4x4 3.2L with Active Drive 1 Tow Group Cold Weather Group Comfort and Convenience Group Granite colour with the darker clothe interrior Didn't get the 8.4" screen, sound upgrade, backup camera, or the sun sun roof. We had the 8.4 in the journey and we like it, but the 5" (not the 4" the journeys came with) has all of the same features just with physical buttons and saves us $700 (not a cheap upgrade!). All cherokee models come stock with the bluetooth hands free so we saved some money by ignoring some features. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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