Journeyman425 Posted June 28, 2015 Report Share Posted June 28, 2015 We have a 2013 and love it. We have 40,000 miles on it now and the only factory defect was in the radio. The unit worked perfectly but the navigation map became corrupted and the only way to correct it was to replace the radio - a warranty repair. It is as smooth and silent as it was on day one. 2013's received the larger brakes which makes a huge difference in wear and reduced vibration. Ours has been hit three times - one was a major collision - and yet the car continues to be flawless. Very, very happy with it. I work for a dealer and Journeys have been very reliable from 2011 and up. Fewest recalls of anything in our lineup, too. Good idea to get a Maximum Care Service Contract from Chrysler, though - even though the car has been great, all it takes is one major failure to recoup the cost of a good service contract. Those radios, for instance...$$$$! KS2002 and dhh3 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
webslave Posted June 28, 2015 Report Share Posted June 28, 2015 Note. There isn't more cooling capacity in the 3 zone system. Just an extra air box, blower and vents. I have no issues with my 2 row - ultimately it comes down to personal choice/need, cost and availability. Actually, it does have additional capacity. The rear components also include a separate (for the 3rd row rear) heater core and A/C evaporator (in addition to the ones for the front) along with blower and air box... The only thing it doesn't have is its own A/C compressor (no engine in the back to drive it), but, it does have everything else. That's the same setup as what I had in my '96 Grand Caravan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkeaton Posted June 29, 2015 Report Share Posted June 29, 2015 Never buy from CarMax. No price negotation? No sale. They ask top dollar blue book, even though the vehicle in question clearly isn't worth it. As for any kind of "thorough" inspection they may perform? Forget it - clearly quality control is not their thing. That vehicle they tried to sell you must have frame damage - no other reason for the tailgate area to have rust. Why they would even TRY to sell a car with obvious unrepaired collision damage is beyond me. It might even be considered a bad-faith negotiation. There aren't really any major changes from '13 to '15 model year, other than some trim options. The powertrain hasn't changed since 2011 (other than tweaks to the Pentastar after the first production run). The 2.4L is not going to win any drag races, but it's an adequate engine (unless you're towing). We didn't see many used Journeys when we went looking to replace my old car - I took that as a sign that the original owners are keeping them. The used models that were available were all SXT Plus - most likely fleet vehicles. I didn't want the V6 - not enough space under the hood for me to do the maintenance as easily as I can with the 2.4L - and I got a new '15 SE with more or less exactly what I wanted in it for less than a used '13 or '14 with things I don't need. Have purchased 3 vehicles from carmax. Including our current DJ. Never had a problem. They have given us top dollar in our trades each time. I will continue to use them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bfurth Posted June 29, 2015 Report Share Posted June 29, 2015 If they were priced fairly (ie, took the exact vehicle condition and used a formula combined with blue book.to create a sliding scale of relative value - which a savvy buyer will do with a dealer anyway), then I would recommend using them. As with any other large purchase retailer - if you don't have room for negotiation (Toyota, youre eguilty too), then I see no reason to give them money. Some people like they they do business. Good for them! Do what works for you. Personally, I don't, and I do what works for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bramfrank Posted June 29, 2015 Report Share Posted June 29, 2015 Actually, it does have additional capacity. The rear components also include a separate (for the 3rd row rear) heater core and A/C evaporator (in addition to the ones for the front) along with blower and air box... The only thing it doesn't have is its own A/C compressor (no engine in the back to drive it), but, it does have everything else. That's the same setup as what I had in my '96 Grand Caravan. If it doesn't have additional compressor capacity or a larger radiator, the total number of BTUs available will be the same, albeit distributed differently about the cabin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KS2002 Posted June 29, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 29, 2015 I will say that we previously purchased 3 vehicles through carmax without a hitch and didn't have a single issue with any of them. This most recent situation was very bizarre and the manager offered to make it right by offering to transfer is other journeys from other lots for free. So, we may see where that goes, but we will be cautious. We visited other local dealerships, as well. One dealership wouldn't tell us the price of the vehicle! The simply kept asking, "What do you want your monthly payment to be?" My husband explained that he wanted to know the actual list price of the car because it wasn't listed on the vehicle or any others. We were told, "Well, we'll get to that later. It's just better to start with what you are willing to pay for a vehicle monthly." Are you kidding me? So, if we say $400-$500, suddenly this vehicle is $500 a month because you know that's what we are willing to pay? We asked several times for the asking price and the salesman kept dodging the question until he said he would need to ask his "manager" to get the best price for us. We promptly left the lot. We are keeping our options open and researching. We would prefer a 2013 or 2014 model because we've been burned on a brand new vehicle many years ago and decided never again. ;-) That's just a personal choice, though. We will wait for the right car for us, which will be a Journey. But, it needs to be the right Journey! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bramfrank Posted June 29, 2015 Report Share Posted June 29, 2015 My buddy just replaced his way overpriced fully tricked out leased Ford pickup with a brand new one with the entire tech package - the motivator was that he needed brakes and tires and while his lease wasn't up, for some reason they are a lot more aggressive doing upgrades than they are at end-of lease.So he got a new vehicle that listed at >$15K more than the old with no cash down and is paying the exact same amount of money every month - and of course he saved the expense of four very large and expensive tires and a full set of brakes, restarted the warranty, his Sirius subscription . . . . and they didn't hit him up for paint damage because there was no end-of-lease inspection.So just give the sales guy a price that is somewhat below what you want to pay for the target vehicle and make THEM work to have it fit YOUR pricing - it cuts both ways - they are often hot enough to close the deal that they will chop the price well below what you were really willing to pay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
webslave Posted June 29, 2015 Report Share Posted June 29, 2015 If it doesn't have additional compressor capacity or a larger radiator, the total number of BTUs available will be the same, albeit distributed differently about the cabin. While the front heater core or evaporator can move X number BTUs, that fluid is not by any means brought down to 0 BTUs (either available to pull or available to remove). The addition of an addition heater core or evaporator can pull additional or absorb additional BTUs (N BTUs) from that same fluid system yielding X + N BTUs = BTUs available. That is an increase in both efficiency and number of BTUs provided. If the front heater core or evaporator could remove all the available BTUs from the fluid then you would be correct, however there are plenty of BTUs left to be utilized by the rear core or evaporator, thereby increasing the available BTUs for utilization in the cabin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KS2002 Posted July 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 9, 2015 And we are still waiting... We finally have an update that the Journey from an out of state lot was picked up yesterday morning. Hopefully, it will be here for us to view by this weekend. I don't know how many stops the transporter has to make on the way to Kansas. We couldn't find another pearl white one anywhere near us, so this one is grey. I'm not sure what I will think about the color. We almost went with red for my Arkansas Razorbacks, but it was a year older and didn't have all of the features. Dang it! :-) Hopefully, we will be Journey owners soon. This has been a LONG process. I don't know why there are so few Journeys is this area of the U.S. They are great vehicles for a very reasonable price, in my opinion. There are a couple of lots that have the brand new AVP, but for the same price we can get a 2013 with most of the bells and whistles. I guess they must be good to hold on to since we can't find any used ones for sale! dhh3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bramfrank Posted July 9, 2015 Report Share Posted July 9, 2015 Remember the mantra for modern vehicles; OEM extended warranties are relatively inexpensive insurance. So reserve enough money to get one because if anything goes wrong after the basic warranty expires it can be extremely expensive. jkeaton, dhh3 and rolly 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhh3 Posted July 10, 2015 Report Share Posted July 10, 2015 And we are still waiting... We finally have an update that the Journey from an out of state lot was picked up yesterday morning. Hopefully, it will be here for us to view by this weekend. I don't know how many stops the transporter has to make on the way to Kansas. We couldn't find another pearl white one anywhere near us, so this one is grey. I'm not sure what I will think about the color. We almost went with red for my Arkansas Razorbacks, but it was a year older and didn't have all of the features. Dang it! :-) Hopefully, we will be Journey owners soon. This has been a LONG process. I don't know why there are so few Journeys is this area of the U.S. They are great vehicles for a very reasonable price, in my opinion. There are a couple of lots that have the brand new AVP, but for the same price we can get a 2013 with most of the bells and whistles. I guess they must be good to hold on to since we can't find any used ones for sale! No used ones, because every one keeps theirs! Devin Riches 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkeaton Posted July 10, 2015 Report Share Posted July 10, 2015 Can't find a used one? I just did a quick search on carmax and there are currently 366 DJ's for sale nationwide. Don't know where you are looking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KS2002 Posted July 10, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2015 (edited) Jkeaton...I don't want to pay $$$ to have one shipped in from too far away given the last one came in damaged. Getting the model and features we are looking for is not an easy task. Yes, CarMax has Journeys nationwide. But, the U.S. is pretty large and it costs money to bring them in from out of state. I'm not willing to pay hundreds of dollars to look at a car that might turn out to be a dud. Some of the transfer fees are $249 to $749 to our area. Having a car transferred in is a gamble and the fees are non-refundable. We are being practical. Our local Dodge dealership only has the newer AVP models. We found a couple of 2009s, but they didn't have good reviews and looked like they had been through the ringer. When we search for vehicles on CarMax within 250 miles of the closest store, there are 3 that are 2011 or later. We are less than impressed with Carmax this time around. We've purchased vehicles in the past, but this has not been a good experience for multiple reasons. The "replacement" transfer for the damaged white one was supposed to be 7 days. We are on day 15 and are now told it will be 3 more days. This is after waiting a week for the damaged one to be transferred. If this car doesn't work out, we will call it quits with Carmax. A car is a big investment and not one we take lightly. Our next car will be with us for many years, so we want to make a wise investment. We are still watching the local Dodge dealership for any leads. And, no worries, we will purchase an extended warranty no matter where we find our next vehicle. Edited July 10, 2015 by KS2002 dhh3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KS2002 Posted July 10, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2015 Too bad I don't live in Minnesota, Wisconsin, or Illinois. That's where they all seem to be that have what we want in a car...followed by Georgia. There are quite a few in Georgia. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhh3 Posted July 11, 2015 Report Share Posted July 11, 2015 Last check, my dealer had three new ones, and I didn't see any used ones on the lot. When i bought mine last June, there were at least 12 lined up in on area of the lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lobitz68 Posted July 14, 2015 Report Share Posted July 14, 2015 Too bad I don't live in Minnesota, Wisconsin, or Illinois. That's where they all seem to be that have what we want in a car...followed by Georgia. There are quite a few in Georgia. :-) Yeah, they are all over the place here in MN... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KS2002 Posted July 16, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2015 Finally! The Journey came in and this one was not damaged during transport nor did it have any other damage. We thoroughly checked out the vehicle history and the vehicle. We drove it home last night! So, it is ours. The storm grey pearl coat is gorgeous! And, we purchased the extended warranty as well as gap coverage. We are always ridiculously over warrantied and insured on everything we own, but knew the one time we didn't purchase it that something would go wrong. Thank you for all of you input and advice. Love how it drives so far. It has a bit more power than my older 4 cylinder SUV and the brakes are much more sensitive, which is a good thing. I can't wait to sit in it and figure out all the buttons. Devin Riches, Journeyman425, DodgeCares and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolly Posted July 16, 2015 Report Share Posted July 16, 2015 Congratulations. When we got our Journey I spent a couple of hours going over all the features while sitting in the driveway. My wife had to come looking for me as she was wondering where I was. Take your time and enjoy the ride! jkeaton and KS2002 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lobitz68 Posted July 16, 2015 Report Share Posted July 16, 2015 Finally! The Journey came in and this one was not damaged during transport nor did it have any other damage. We thoroughly checked out the vehicle history and the vehicle. We drove it home last night! So, it is ours. The storm grey pearl coat is gorgeous! And, we purchased the extended warranty as well as gap coverage. We are always ridiculously over warrantied and insured on everything we own, but knew the one time we didn't purchase it that something would go wrong. Thank you for all of you input and advice. Love how it drives so far. It has a bit more power than my older 4 cylinder SUV and the brakes are much more sensitive, which is a good thing. I can't wait to sit in it and figure out all the buttons. Finally! Congrats on the purchase... dhh3, jkeaton and rolly 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devin Riches Posted July 16, 2015 Report Share Posted July 16, 2015 Finally! The Journey came in and this one was not damaged during transport nor did it have any other damage. We thoroughly checked out the vehicle history and the vehicle. We drove it home last night! So, it is ours. The storm grey pearl coat is gorgeous! And, we purchased the extended warranty as well as gap coverage. We are always ridiculously over warrantied and insured on everything we own, but knew the one time we didn't purchase it that something would go wrong. Thank you for all of you input and advice. Love how it drives so far. It has a bit more power than my older 4 cylinder SUV and the brakes are much more sensitive, which is a good thing. I can't wait to sit in it and figure out all the buttons. Congrats KS. After reading your post, it gave me a lot of insight. My wife and I were test driving a few DJs recently, and came across a similar situation. The one we really liked and wanted to get had quite a few small problems with it. We decided to pass on it, but took a 2013 R/T out for a test drive that the dealer had just got a couple of days ago. A very smooth ride. We did the vehicle check, and it wasn't in any accidents or anything. We totally lucked out in going that day to test drive Journeys when we came across this one. My wife's cousin does the car detailing at the dealership we are purchasing it from, and she is working on it today. Chances are, we will be picking up the vehicle after work today! We can't wait! DodgeCares, dhh3, jkeaton and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KS2002 Posted July 16, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2015 Devin, I'm so happy for you. I love our Journey, so far. Still trying to figure out all of the buttons this morning! The 2013 models are great ones from all I've researched. Congratulations on your new vehicle! That's fantastic! rolly, dhh3, Devin Riches and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bfurth Posted July 16, 2015 Report Share Posted July 16, 2015 Finally! The Journey came in and this one was not damaged during transport nor did it have any other damage. We thoroughly checked out the vehicle history and the vehicle. We drove it home last night! So, it is ours. The storm grey pearl coat is gorgeous! And, we purchased the extended warranty as well as gap coverage. We are always ridiculously over warrantied and insured on everything we own, but knew the one time we didn't purchase it that something would go wrong. Thank you for all of you input and advice. Love how it drives so far. It has a bit more power than my older 4 cylinder SUV and the brakes are much more sensitive, which is a good thing. I can't wait to sit in it and figure out all the buttons. Welcome to the fleet! Here's to hundreds of thousands of care-free mileage! dhh3, jkeaton and rolly 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Official Dodge Support DodgeCares Posted July 17, 2015 Official Dodge Support Report Share Posted July 17, 2015 Congrats, KS and Devin! Devin Riches 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhh3 Posted July 18, 2015 Report Share Posted July 18, 2015 Congratulations to both of you. Devin Riches 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bramfrank Posted July 19, 2015 Report Share Posted July 19, 2015 Congrats on finally getting through the process. Enjoy the new ride. However I do hope that your extended warranty is FCA branded - aftermarket warranties are usually way too restrictive and have lots of loopholes. rolly 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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