| 2016 Jeep Grand Cherokee Eco Diesel |
Subject: 2016 Jeep Grand Cherokee Eco Diesel by rklessdriver on 2016/8/4 19:09:43 The wife bought this about 6 months ago. Brand new only showed 2 miles on the odometer, when we test drove it. She daily drives it 2hrs in DC traffic to work... which is only 14 miles one way. We have taken it on 1 trip to Florida to see her folks last month. It's averaging 24mpg around town and 31mpg on the hwy. Crazy how much better it is on fuel compared to the 5.7L Hemi GC that we (gleefully) traded in (9mpg and 17mpg). It just turned 9,000 miles... gonna be due for it's first oil change pretty soon. [URL=http://s50.photobucket.com/user/rklessdriver/media/IMG_20151220_121924616_HDR_zps2ngpx3qa.jpg.html]  [/URL]I personally wanted her to have the new Diesel.... but the wife... well she was skeptical because the only Diesels she has ever been in was a 1981 VW Rabbit and my Dads/Brothers F350 7.3L or 6.7L Cummings Pick Up Trucks.... I found a dealer close by that had a few Grand Cherokees optioned out comparable to her 2009 model with both gas and Diesel engines. I wanted her to be able to see, hear and drive the difference for herself. After driving the Diesel she didn't even want to test drive a gas powered one..... It was all about the options, colors and price after that. This is a pretty awesome little Jeep. Exterior styling is very nice. Build quality is pretty good as well.... we are talking about Chrysler Corp. here, so our expectations in this area were low... I mean we both owned a bunch of Jeeps in the past, but we were pleasantly surprised here. Fit and finish on the paint and body panels is very good. My only complaint there is the typical orange peel in the paint finish that all new cars seem to exhibit... with all the hi tech water based paint and computer run booths, I don't understand why OEMs can't lay down slick paint. Door, sunroof and rear hatch seals are great - this thing is eerily quiet inside. Interior is very comfy, the leather seats are well put together, not a stitch out of place anywhere and everything is easy to operate.... except the damn shifter assembly (lots of complaints about them). That POS takes some getting use to... it's no wonder people are getting run over and killed by their own Jeeps. We just apply the emergency brake before we even try to put it in "Park". The 3.0L Turbo Diesel is great. LOTS of power in the Grand Cherokee chassis. Fuel economy is almost unbelievable compared to her 2009 with the 5.7L Hemi. A little "Diesel" noise when it's cold outside but overall very quiet and mild mannered little engine for an oil burner. 99% of the people we have driven around in it didn't even know it was a Diesel until we told them.... 8 speed Tourqueflite transmission. That's a lot of gears and it's shifting gears all the time... Shift quality is very smooth.... not CVT like as you can tell there is an RPM drop but it's very smooth and it's seemingly never in the wrong gear. Chrysler did this one right IMO. My only real complaint with this thing is that it's EXPENSIVE! All new cars seem to be more money than they should be to me these days, but darn, $45K is a pretty penny.... that did include the 100K mile extended Warrantee ($2500) thou... I just couldn't in good conscience drive off the lot with the standard 3/36 Warrantee deal on something I know will be as expensive and difficult to repair as a Eurotrash Diesel engine. It hasn't snowed yet so no idea how well it drives in bad weather but it has like 10 different 4WD settings and all kinds of electronic stability controls, so I would think it's at least as good as the 2009 was (ie - totally awesome). I'll probably never get to test it out in the mud but on Daytona Beach it was great..... The ride and driving manner on the road are very good. It's a very easy SUV to drive long distances in.... settles in at 75-80mph like nothing. Hopefully this is going be really reliable.... I waited a few yrs for Chrysler to get the kinks worked out of the little Diesel before we went and seriously look at it. Timing worked out good, because the 2009 GC had just turned 110,000 miles and was throwing random codes for the Cat converters which was going to be at least $2K to get fixed. It needed new plugs again (16 of them too), I had just put new brakes and tires on it.... plus the gas mileage was just total crap (and to think she actually wanted a 2008 GC SRT-8 when we bought it).... I am hoping that this new Grand Cherokee will stay with us for a long time. It's off to a good start so far. Will |
