And Five months later...

[Lou]

So I thought I'd come and put an update about my experience with my Journey after having owned it for several months. First, I love my Journey!!! I still love it when I see it and love the feeling when I get in to it, now this could be a result of it being my first "new" car but I think its because the Journey is wonderful. That's not to say I haven't had some issues with it but more about that after.

I like all the space and the third row seats have come in very handy on occassions. It is very roomy and comfortable and I have taken numerous road trips including some as far as 12 -13 hour drives, with no complaints from any of the passengers. I have continued to enjoy all the extras, thank goodness I have the navigation as my work regularly requires me to drive to new clients homes and this is a handy tool that allows me to just jump in the car without checking out mapquest first. I enjoy the visibility and I have had no concerns with blindspots. I am grateful for the auto lights function, the alarm, the seat warmers and the remote start (as we get close to winter), I know these are basic things but they were not privileges I had on my last car!

I am happy with how comfortable I feel with the Journey's safety as I regularly drive clients and their children around and I like that I don't have to think twice about their safety. This was re-inforced at the end of August when I was rear ended. It was a very slight accident as I was stopped waiting to turn right when a car slowed but did not stop. Needless to say my first thought was "You've got to be kidding me!" because I was not impressed with my still new 4 month old car being hit. This was before I saw the damage. It was VERY minimal to my car, the bumper has some paint scrapes and the tail pipe is bent, also the clips for the top of the bumper have come off and it sticks out a little. I was VERY impressed to see that this was the only damage as the other car had incredible damage with the hood being all smashed up and tented, damaged lights, smashed front end and just generally a mess. The Journey on the other hand was not even dented! Despite the paint scrapes the bumper has no dents, dings or divots at all! This encourages my notions of the car's safety, although maybe it is really a reflection of the Grand Prix that hit me.

Now, all that said about what I love hear are some of the concerns I have had:

-the driver's side vanity mirror cover fell off in my hand (I hear this is a common issue)

- the brake dust that is pretty bad (again, common and going to ask about my brake wear as this is apparently an issue and Im at 26,000 kms, though I haven't noticed anything yet)

- oil change notification came on the day after I had the oil changed and I havent had a chance for them to check in to this yet.

- gas mileage isn't great, although not that bad and I did know about this issues before I bought it.

Not that the rest of this has to do with the manufacture of the car itself, and is more about my specific Journey's luck, but I think my car has a large target painted on it! Since buying it at the end of April 09 I have had the following mishaps:

2 separate stone chips in my windshield,

a dent in the passenger door from someone throwing themselves into it,

a two foot long black scrape on the rear driver's side behind the back doors from someone's mirror hitting the car

my front licence plate fell off at some point on a road trip

and my aforementioned rear end accident.

I am almost afraid to drive it for fear of what else might occur ! Please tell me this seems like absurdly bad luck and is not a curse on the Journey cause I do still love it. Anyway, this is my update after having it for several months and other then the minor concerns I have had (not withstanding the bad luck piece) I have not experienced ANY of the major issues that have been mentioned on this site with respect to leaks, creaks, noises or engine or shifting problems. Thanks for reading my update!!

[radrob]

thanks for sharing that with us. its good to know how these new crossovers are holding up .I'm bying on myself and don't know what i'm getting into so your info helps out alot !!

[blackbear]

thanks for sharing that with us. its good to know how these new crossovers are holding up .I'm bying on myself and don't know what i'm getting into so your info helps out alot !!

well with all the problems ive read about im not sure if i should order one i road tested one the other day and my wife and i loved it so i told the salesman that i would come in and order a black rt awd but now im having second thoughts .

[dp360]

I've been looking for a thread to post this and I guess this one is as good as any...

Bought my '10 SXT back in mid November '09. It was manufactured in October '09. Had 4 miles on the odometer when I picked it up.

It's now been over 4 months and 6,600+ miles. It's only been to the dealer for an oil change (synthetic) and tire rotation. I have no real complaints, just minor little details here and there that I think they could have done better.

This past week I finally took it on my first "real" road trip - 1,400 miles round-trip to Santa Fe, NM. On the way out, which was "uphill" and into a headwind, I averaged 23 MPG, which was disappointing because EPA estimates the V6 at 24 highway (and I get 19-20 in town). On the way back, which was "downhill" and with a tailwind, I averaged 27 MPG, which made up for the initial disappointment. The ride was smooth and comfortable. The Journey performed admirably and I even got a chance to drive around during/after an 8.5" snowfall. ESC kicked in a couple times but I had no problem holding the road. I only have FWD.

My only complaint is that I experienced first hand the "econo" cruise control when driving through the mountains. This has been discussed elsewhere, but I'll recap here: basically, the cruise control will hold your speed just fine on flat or moderately hilly terrain, but when going up a steeper hill, it lets your speed drop about 4 MPH before downshifting. This bothers some people, myself included. It's especially bothersome when you are driving in a "pack" and suddenly slow down forcing everyone to pass you, only to eventually downshift and speed back up as they are passing. Makes you look like an a**hole driver! The solution, as mentioned elsewhere, is to drop into autostick and downshift to 5th as you're going uphill. The cruise will still work and hold your speed just fine.

All-in-all, I like the car and don't regret the purchase, especially since it wasn't an expensive car at all. I know plenty of people who have significantly higher payments than me but can't say they have significantly more car. In many respects, quite the contrary!