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Any happy Journey owners out there???


llw2234

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We bought our 2009 (I think 1st owner sale was in July 2008) in Dec 2010, so it's been almost 10 years our family car.  Had some repairs from time to time, but it's been a great car over-all.  I think we've put nearly 75,000 miles on it in that time.  I drive a Dodge Caravan (2010) for my work car, and the Journey handles better on curves, etc.  We also live in the "rust belt" (Ohio), and it still shows no rust anywhere.

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Where do I start, right now I am making car payments on a vehicle that is not drivable.  My lovely 2010 Journey is very pretty lawn ornament.  First off the ERG valve is bad so it dies when driving and is purging the coolant.   Which also causes the check engine light to be on so the remote start doesn't work.  The low tire light comes on when it gets 40 degrees or lower.  2 tires i aired up the stem snapped right off.  It needs all the struts, control arms, sway bar bushings and stabilizer links replaced.  The whole suspension took a dump at once.  The whole front end bangs and pops when its drivable and rear end is sagging and the one tire is wearing at an angle.  The doors lock on its own and the horn honks while driving or sitting in the drive when not on.  Neighbors loved me at 2 am when it started honking randomly, so I pulled the fuses for the horn.  I found that this is caused by the main computer being bad which.  I just replaced the brake pads and rotors.  The U connect don't work, says it will not connect.  When it runs its a good vehicle.  But right now its a thorn in my side.  I am driving a 94 Dakota  it looks rough but much more dependable than the Journey.   

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7 minutes ago, ChargedUp said:

Where do I start, right now I am making car payments on a vehicle that is not drivable.  My lovely 2010 Journey is very pretty lawn ornament.  First off the ERG valve is bad so it dies when driving and is purging the coolant.   Which also causes the check engine light to be on so the remote start doesn't work.  The low tire light comes on when it gets 40 degrees or lower.  2 tires i aired up the stem snapped right off.  It needs all the struts, control arms, sway bar bushings and stabilizer links replaced.  The whole suspension took a dump at once.  The whole front end bangs and pops when its drivable and rear end is sagging and the one tire is wearing at an angle.  The doors lock on its own and the horn honks while driving or sitting in the drive when not on.  Neighbors loved me at 2 am when it started honking randomly, so I pulled the fuses for the horn.  I found that this is caused by the main computer being bad which.  I just replaced the brake pads and rotors.  The U connect don't work, says it will not connect.  When it runs its a good vehicle.  But right now its a thorn in my side.  I am driving a 94 Dakota  it looks rough but much more dependable than the Journey.   


 

let me get this straight...you own a car that is at least 10 years old (regardless of when you bought it) and you list multiple wear and tear items, and your surprised?  My 09, which I bought new in July 08, has had the entire front and rear suspension replaced, 3 sets of tires, about 5 sets of brakes and rotors, various engine components (some under warranty, some not) and it has 98,000 miles on it.  It’s 12 years old, crap going to wear out, brake, go bad.  It’s what old cars do.

 

 UConnect sucks, so I yanked the factory radio and put in a Kenwood with Apple CarPlay.

 

If your that unhappy, get it running and dump it.  Likely worth around 3-4 thousand dollars on a trade in.  That’s what my 09 R/T is worth anyway....

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Just now, OhareFred said:


 

let me get this straight...you own a car that is at least 10 years old (regardless of when you bought it) and you list multiple wear and tear items, and your surprised?  My 09, which I bought new in July 08, has had the entire front and rear suspension replaced, 3 sets of tires, about 5 sets of brakes and rotors, various engine components (some under warranty, some not) and it has 98,000 miles on it.  It’s 12 years old, crap going to wear out, brake, go bad.  It’s what old cars do.

 

 UConnect sucks, so I yanked the factory radio and put in a Kenwood with Apple CarPlay.

 

If your that unhappy, get it running and dump it.  Likely worth around 3-4 thousand dollars on a trade in.  That’s what my 09 R/T is worth anyway....

The question was if you were happy with it.  I know some of this is normal wear, the electrical system components are not.  And no its not worth 3 to 4 thousand to trade in.  I am not sure where you are located but I was already informed the trade in is only 1200 to 1800.    

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  • 1 month later...

Aside from financing a 10 year old car being an all timer for poor decisions, keep in mind it’s 10 years old and it seems like we don’t know much about the history before you had it. How do we/you know that it wasn’t used to beat on by a college kid courtesy of mom and dads savings account?

 

not sure what the mileage is, but the resale on these isn’t terrible. I’m not looking to sell but I’m driving a 2012 FWD SXT with 160k and i don’t know that i would even take 4 grand for it. You underestimate the need folks have for a third row vehicle that isn’t a minivan. 

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As per the title of this "topic".....

       YES we are out there. My son and I are totally happy with our recently acquired 2011 AWD main street edition DJ! Did NOT finance purchase of $4 k, and YES did have to spend another $1.1 k for another transmission. BUT here in Western NY, this Maryland transplant DJ is all my son's needs and more. Underneath is like new yet and NO body rust (rare for a 10 yr old car here)! Plan on keeping this ride for a VERY LONG TIME.....  :)
 

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  • 3 months later...

Currently at 16,000 miles and six months in and no issues so far. Though I know they will happen eventually! ?. I’m still happy with it of course I used to have two as rentals so I knew what I was getting into before I bought one. No weird crap yet but hey maybe I got a Wednesday built Journey?? 

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Hi all, it's been a while since I've posted anything here. I am still a very happy Journey owner. Washed and detailed it today and it's sitting in my driveway looking beautiful. Eight years and 140,000 miles, and the car has been superb. We had a major collision late in 2014 at 30K miles when a young driver blew a red light and destroyed the whole front end of the car. It was repaired properly and 110K miles later, the car has had very few issues. The Radio Frequency Hub began intermittently dropping phone connectivity and was replaced. I had a bad temperature door actuator for the rear heater, and the usual P0128 thermostat rationality that affects nearly every 3.6 ever built. The important thing is that the car has never once left my wife stranded anywhere, and it remains quiet, comfortable and economical. It could now use a set of shocks - the body motions are not as controlled as they used to be. I went 110K miles on the original rear brakes. Three years after the last payment, we have no intention to get rid of it anytime soon. She loves the car as do I. My kids are out of the house now but our yellow lab goes everywhere in it with us. If I had to replace it tomorrow, I'd be disappointed that I couldn't buy another new one. 

 

Here's a shot in the driveway from two years ago with the coffin up top getting ready to help move my oldest son home from college. 

IMG_7610.JPG

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  • 5 months later...

Had Journey 2014, still running excellent! I like the 3.6 liter engine. Had clock around 130K KM already. Small SUV with big engine. early on, we have issue with steering but was replaced under warranty. Happy owner and looking forward for more KMs for this car. 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

my daughter has a 2016 patriot 2.4   4 wheel drive with the AT 6 sp auto. that she uses for her mail route and has around 120 k on it as of now with no problems, but she knows other in her office that got the 2.4 and the 2. engine with the cvt that they all have had trans problems.....

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1 hour ago, Appalachian Journey said:

The transmission in mine has been reliable. I can't say a CVT would have lasted as long. But if CVTs were really so bad Nissan/Jatco would've abandoned them decades ago or gone out of business.  

ANY trans by any make taken care of properly and not abused by harsh driving habits will hold up. I'm not a fan of "CVT" trannies as I've seen many go bad on older HIGH MILEAGE never serviced and abused (spinning tires, shifting to get unstuck,etc.) and THEN owners complain about lack of "durability. Most of the folks I encounter on this and other forums I use, think "high mileage" is above 60k miles, that's just getting broken in time AND the time to have trans oil and filter(if equipped) renewed. It's RARE that any car I've had during the last 25 years has had less than 100k miles on it and at the TOP of the list of "to do's" on purchase is to drop the trans pan and change oil and filter. Many folk this is anathema to have to do, yet usually are the ones first complaining when their car's trannie go bad. 

   I like to use the adage of the long past FRAM filter advertising of  ... "you can pay me now or pay me later"(much more for replacement repair)!

   YES a "CVT" is seamless in shifting compared to a "traditional" trans., if that is what ones likings are, but I prefer to feel a nice crisp(but not hard) change of gears.

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  • 7 months later...
19 minutes ago, Armando G said:

Did you two ( @5rebel9 & @2late4u ) team up to buy the same years? Lol

Just did a 1k mile trip on my '15 DJ, and she did great. Still loving mine :thumbsup:

LOL  :)   !   Hardly a "team up" as I started my "journey" with the Journey model in 2020. and still have that 2011 for my son's use. And just bought the 2014 for the wife. Member 2late4u started out in 2011 by membership join date. My big buying point for  the model was their durability(when properly cared for) and the PRICE to aquire them, a total of around 10 grand for BOTH cars is not a bad investment!

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Still a very happy Journey owner. Nine years, 158.000 miles, and the car continues to be extremely reliable, comfortable, quiet and fun to drive. We've done a lot of traveling in this car and it has never been problematic on any road trip. It has not once failed to start. I'm not crazy about the 62TE transmission's shift programming and sometimes I use AutoStick and just do it myself, but the transmission itself is trouble-free. Last fall I replaced all four struts and installed new Michelin Primacy Touring A/S tires which are even smoother and quieter than the Kumho Solus tires that came with it, plus they are much better in the snow (my Journey is FWD, not AWD). Had the cam and lifter tick which developed a few thousand miles ago - it was just noisy, no engine light, and I have Lifetime Maximum Care which covered that repair with a $100.00 deductible and she's once again smooth and silent. Everything works. Here's a photo of it next to my new Challenger. Hard to tell which is the new car in this photo!

 

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Edited by Journeyman425
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