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45 Posts
Clearly things have changed. I owned a 2007 Grand Cherokee that I finally sold to my niece. It has around 200k miles on it without any major issues. in fact, they only non standard maintenance issue was the oil pan rusted out and had to be replaced. I currently also have a 2001 Dakota, one of my favorites to drive. It has 110k on it currently and still runs like a champion. Chrysler products have been good to me, just need them to step up, prioritize this issue and get my Compass radio fixed!Every automaker is in a constant state of getting sued, none of it ever goes anywhere, they all have top notch lawyers and are pumping millions of dollars into legal defense non-stop year-round. Anything you read about class action stuff is just the hungry small-potatoes lawyers groups trying to drum up attention and find a * in the armor. They are just beating their heads against the wall. If you wait for class-action to come down and force Jeep to fix your car it will never happen.
This doesn't help you but for anyone else's sake or anyone who ever asks me I tell them the same thing: Never buy a used Jeep. Jeep isn't the only brand you shouldn't buy used, but its definitely one of them. Would you buy a used BMW or Audi? Most people would say "No, they have too many quirky issues, once they are out of warranty they are too complicated and expensive to maintain." Well, sorry to say Jeeps are like that nowadays too. They didn't used to be, and not a lot of people are willing to admit it but that's how I see it (and we own two of them).
Jeep has evolved constantly over its long and tremulous history, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. It seems like every time they start to get a good grip on what they're doing, they suddenly have new foster parents (meaning, the brand gets sold again) and the direction changes and things fall apart internally.
The Wrangler is its own thing with its own division, it has its issues too but outside of the Wrangler I'm talking about all the other cars that Jeep's name gets put on, but Jeep doesn't really make anything of their own besides the Wrangler. Its all rebadged cars and platforms from sister brands under its owner's umbrella (which is and always has been constantly changing for them). Its always a re-mix of parts from the sibling companies with half-assed supervision from whatever current foster parents they have at the time and lo and behold the remix of parts always comes out as vehicles with stupid problems that shouldn't have happened.
Huge consistency issues. Some lucky ducks get "good ones" that either don't have a lot of issues and/or the issues they have don't affect that particular owner and the way they use the car. One of my rear doors does not work in the winter. You can't open it if its below freezing outside. I just deal with that one because I don't have kids and I almost never have passengers. Stupid, but true.
My car was haunted with issues out the gate and has spent more time in the shop than any other car I've ever owned put together, (and I've owned many more cars than most people ever will in their entire lifetime).
When its working properly, its one of the best car's I've ever owned. The most comfortable. The most stylish. The coolest features. Great handling. Excellent capability. When its working its awesome.
But Jeep is not a reliable brand. It just isn't. They aren't reliable and they aren't consistent. Some have great experiences, some are mixed like mine, and some are just plain bad.
Nobody should buy a used Jeep that is not covered by a thorough warranty.
The only way to buy a Jeep, in my eyes, is to lease a new one for long enough to ensure its not a lemon and let the dealership service department work out all the kinks under warranty. If all goes well you will either feel OK about keeping the Jeep and buying it out at the end of the lease, because you can live with whatever stupid issues are remaining (my car has been into the shop for the door issue twice, they simply can't fix it) , OR, you will not feel OK about keeping it due to too many unresolved, unlivable issues and so you return the lease and make a graceful exit into something else.
I truly believe that's the only way to not land in the spot the OP is in right now. The OP is stuck holding the bag of someone else's returned problematic lease (or they failed to get issues addressed when it was still under warranty).
You need a thorough warranty, and it needs to be an extended one because Jeep's factory warranty is the shortest and worst in the industry and is gone before you can blink.
These are really cool lifestyle vehicles they try to make but Jeep's home life is terrible, like I said they basically just got bought and sold again and watch out because the newest foster parents appear to be homeopathic vegans... who knows what's going to happen to the brand in the next five years. It's definitely not headed in a real good direction right now.
Circling way back to the OP's current problem, you are going to have to decide whether to chip away at these things fighting with the dealer service department or unload the vehicle if its too unbearable. Most likely you will never get all the issues resolved (like me) but you might get it to an acceptable state. It will be a constant fight at the dealership because the service centers are between a rock and a hard place too, corporate won't pay them for a lot of things that should be covered under warranty which forces them to push back on you to avoid them eating a dirt sandwich. That's not really your problem but you have to work with them somehow.
Depending on the miles you might still be able to snag some kind of third-party warranty, tread carefully though as they can be treacherous and expensive. Seems like the only time you can get Jeep to halfway try to work on these things' problems is that short period when they are brand new off the lot. After that you become chopped liver, even with extended warranty sometimes...
Well, anyways, I'm off to go spread sunshine and rainbows elsewhere (as I do) 😁 Good luck!
