Who here has come from a recent model Grand Cherokee?

Thank you so much. This has bee very helpful.

It is too bad that they dropped the lifetime warranty - although lifetime with some Jeep products can be measured in single digit years.

How is entune better? Reviewers generally give the uconnect system high marks.

If they dropped the lifetime warranty - i'm not sure i'd buy another.

Uconnect has 3 major flaws. 1: occasionally the system will lock up and get confused, it will not play music from your flash drive, once rebooted it is fine. 2: If you update your music flash drive, it can take a while (15+ minutes) to read the drive and begin to play music.

The last is a little more serious: Uconnect will sort music based on the MP3 TITLE TAG not the filename. This means that if you are listing to an album and the 1st song is "Tom Sawyer", and the 5th song is "A Farewell to Kings"
AFTK will play first. It also basically prohibits listening to a live concert. There is a workaround to this i developed (and got free a Jeep wave extension), but it is a pain in the butt.

Both vehicles are good solid vehicles, i personally prefer the T4R, when the Jeep gets to 50 - 60k (which will take another 2 years) I'll think about replacing hers, possibly with a RX or GX.

(Rush example used in tribute to Neil Peart) :drum:
 
My son who's a die hard Jeep fan is the one who suggested i get the 4R. Hes had 2 Cherokees and a 3 Wranglers. Him an i used to work on them quite often. What was cool about the Jeeps was they never needed a oil change, just add a quart every few weeks since it leaked and burned oil so much. lol

His reasoning suggesting the 4R for me was that the 4R would be way more reliable, quieter and a much better ride. I'm super happy i didn't go with a Jeep.
 
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Thanks for the insights so far. How did the on-road comfort compare?



It sounds like the reliability might not be as horrible as the reputation Jeep has had in the past - although I've not been overly impressed by the service departments.But then again, the Toyota service departments aren't anything to write home to mother about either.



How does the on-road ride compare?



I’ve had zero issues with 4 different departments. I’m not sure why people have issues. Maybe they expect to be coddled every time they go in?
 
I used to love Jeep until Fiat ruined them. Read the news, 2019 and 2020 Wrangler the frames have faulty welds and are rusting bad.
Back to the WK2.
I loved it until one ran over the Star trek dude back in early 2016. Fiat who can't write software if you paid them double rolled out a premature software update that ruined my tranny.
Only thing I miss is the hid stock headlights, combined with the srt oem fogs was freaking amazing.
Other than that, I forgot to mention, they also ruined my 15 Cherokee KL trailhawk and had to buy it back due to ....here it is. A software update cashed the tranny. 3 tranny's later and 2 months of rentals sucked



Chrysler’s has issues long before fiat got age old of them.
 
A lady friend of mine who was living with me at the time had a Grand Cherokee and it was a real POS. Things constantly breaking on it, leaked fluids all the time. She finally moved out. I had two older Jeeps a 51 willys and a 64 Jeep wagoneer. Both were bulletproof and awesome vehicles. I almost bought a 1974 Jeep CJ5 brand new but went with a Toyota Land cruiser instead and I've been with Toyota vehicles ever since. Never a problem of any consequence. It's a shame the Jeep line has gone downhill in such a bad way regarding their reliability. In my book reliability trumps features by a long shot and my 4Runner gives me my number one requirement, reliability for the Long haul. The features it comes with are more than adequate for me.
 
If they dropped the lifetime warranty - i'm not sure i'd buy another.

Uconnect has 3 major flaws. 1: occasionally the system will lock up and get confused, it will not play music from your flash drive, once rebooted it is fine. 2: If you update your music flash drive, it can take a while (15+ minutes) to read the drive and begin to play music.

The last is a little more serious: Uconnect will sort music based on the MP3 TITLE TAG not the filename. This means that if you are listing to an album and the 1st song is "Tom Sawyer", and the 5th song is "A Farewell to Kings"
AFTK will play first. It also basically prohibits listening to a live concert. There is a workaround to this i developed (and got free a Jeep wave extension), but it is a pain in the butt.

Both vehicles are good solid vehicles, i personally prefer the T4R, when the Jeep gets to 50 - 60k (which will take another 2 years) I'll think about replacing hers, possibly with a RX or GX.

(Rush example used in tribute to Neil Peart) :drum:
MOPAR dropped the lifetime plan in 2017 or 2018. Now, the longest you can get is an 8 year 150k mile plan - still not bad, but speaks to FCA's lack of confidence in their products.

All the uconnect issues are another vote for the 4R's archaic system...

Thanks again.

I've gotten over the lack of far rear AC for my avatar and the halogen headlights. The only thing holding me back is lack of assurance about on-road ride - something difficult to ascertain on a test drive.

I've driven a GC for a month as a rental in Colorado back in 2010 (so I assume a 2010) and it was perfectly nice. I've driven a GX for a few days as a loaner and it was perfectly nice. I drove a 2016 Wrangler and would shoot myself if I had that as a daily driver. I've put 20k miles on a 2002 RX and the drive is perfectly fine (as long as you don't need to make a u-turn, park, you're under 6ft so your knee doesn't smash into the center console while driving and you never use the cup holders - I hate that car but I can't kill it and it still looks like new).

So, where does the on-road ride (either something with KDSS, a TRD PRO or a Limited)compare? Would I be as happy (or happier) driving from the east coast to Colorado as I was in my TSX wagon?
 
A lady friend of mine who was living with me at the time had a Grand Cherokee and it was a real POS. Things constantly breaking on it, leaked fluids all the time. She finally moved out. I had two older Jeeps a 51 willys and a 64 Jeep wagoneer. Both were bulletproof and awesome vehicles. I almost bought a 1974 Jeep CJ5 brand new but went with a Toyota Land cruiser instead and I've been with Toyota vehicles ever since. Never a problem of any consequence. It's a shame the Jeep line has gone downhill in such a bad way regarding their reliability. In my book reliability trumps features by a long shot and my 4Runner gives me my number one requirement, reliability for the Long haul. The features it comes with are more than adequate for me.
Was that the girlfriend or the GC? :jump:
 
So, where does the on-road ride (either something with KDSS, a TRD PRO or a Limited)compare? Would I be as happy (or happier) driving from the east coast to Colorado as I was in my TSX wagon?

I have an SR5, with a recently installed Eibach Pro Truck Kit. Before the kit was installed the ride was comfortable, a little mushy in the turns. After the kit the ride is comfortable and a little "tighter or more planted on the road". Personally i LOVE the new feel to the T4R.

one of the reasons people buy the T4R is because they are fairly easy (albeit not cheap) to mod.

that said, think of it this way: (this is an oversimplification)
if your driving cross country and you'd like to do it with the ride of an impala - the JGC is the choice (super plush and comfy). If you'd rather do the drive in a RAM / F150, the T4R is a great place to start (knowing the tires and suspension are some of the first mods made to these vehicles).
 
Don't buy a JGC new, it will lose about 10 grand driving it off the lot. Reliability has been horrible. Sometimes people get lucky, I guess the ones that are lucky are the ones that were built by Chrysler employees who don't smoke pot at lunch.

It drives much more comfortably than a 4Runner, but it has 4wheel independent suspension and is not body on frame. Of course it drives better and of course it gets better gas mileage. But it won't match the 4Runner in off-road prowess. I bought my 4Runner to go off road.
 
I have an SR5, with a recently installed Eibach Pro Truck Kit. Before the kit was installed the ride was comfortable, a little mushy in the turns. After the kit the ride is comfortable and a little "tighter or more planted on the road". Personally i LOVE the new feel to the T4R.

one of the reasons people buy the T4R is because they are fairly easy (albeit not cheap) to mod.

that said, think of it this way: (this is an oversimplification)
if your driving cross country and you'd like to do it with the ride of an impala - the JGC is the choice (super plush and comfy). If you'd rather do the drive in a RAM / F150, the T4R is a great place to start (knowing the tires and suspension are some of the first mods made to these vehicles).
Not looking for an Impala ride, but I certainly don't want a Wrangler ride.

Don't buy a JGC new, it will lose about 10 grand driving it off the lot. Reliability has been horrible. Sometimes people get lucky, I guess the ones that are lucky are the ones that were built by Chrysler employees who don't smoke pot at lunch.

It drives much more comfortably than a 4Runner, but it has 4wheel independent suspension and is not body on frame. Of course it drives better and of course it gets better gas mileage. But it won't match the 4Runner in off-road prowess. I bought my 4Runner to go off road.
True, but if you buy a used one it might break on the way out of the lot....

Anybody spent lots of time in a GX? I've driven a Prado for a week and it was perfectly fine - even on pockmarked roads outside of Mosul.

If the 4R drives/rides even close to a GX/Prado, then I think I'd be happy.
 
I had a 16 WK2 Summit 4x4 with the hemi V-8, trader my JKU Rubicon for it and regretted every day of the Grand Cherokee. GC rides like you’re in a recliner, steering was responsive, road noise was nonexistent on my Summit trim. My hatred stemmed from how NOT fun it was to drive. It was just a SUV in a sea of lookalike SUVs and midsized crossovers. It was really lacking that stand out factor. Then my transmission started skipping gears at under 2 years of ownership. Swapped the GC for a Gt350 and am currently waiting on my Toyota dealer to get my 20 black TRD Pro in.

I’ve regretted getting rid of 2 vehicles in my driving life- my 3rd gen 4Runner Limited and my Rubicon. Doubt I’ll miss the GT350 much in the long run as well.
 
I had a 16 WK2 Summit 4x4 with the hemi V-8, trader my JKU Rubicon for it and regretted every day of the Grand Cherokee. GC rides like you’re in a recliner, steering was responsive, road noise was nonexistent on my Summit trim. My hatred stemmed from how NOT fun it was to drive. It was just a SUV in a sea of lookalike SUVs and midsized crossovers. It was really lacking that stand out factor. Then my transmission started skipping gears at under 2 years of ownership. Swapped the GC for a Gt350 and am currently waiting on my Toyota dealer to get my 20 black TRD Pro in.

I’ve regretted getting rid of 2 vehicles in my driving life- my 3rd gen 4Runner Limited and my Rubicon. Doubt I’ll miss the GT350 much in the long run as well.
Thanks for the review. The ride and road noise portion sound good - the numbness and tranny issues sound miserable.

I regret selling many cars, primarily my 56 300 Adenauer, my 600 and 300 SEL 6.3 - If I'd have kept those, then I could retire now.
 
Does anyone here regret buying the 4R?

I am the ******* that paid mark up when the Pros first came out and still do not regret it. No rig is perfect. I solo camp in remote places for multi days and reliability was at the top of my list. It's never let me down.
 
As a kind of telling note, I posted the same question both here, an Acura forum and the Grand Cherokee forum.

Here and on the Acura forum, the answers have been leaning towards the 4R. I was a bit surprised by that on the Acura forum, thinking that I'd get a few recommendations for the RDX)

On the GC forum, there have been almost 90 views and zero responses...

Let me put on my surprise face. You know what really got me and led to my getting rid of it? The depreciation hit it took. My $50k loaded out with every bell and whistle Summit hemi V8 was worth $26k just under two and a half years later. In immaculate condition with 40k. My 11 JKUR with 110k was worth more than that in 16. I know cars depreciate, but I’d hoped for way better with the GC. They have well known transmission issues and iirc from my Jeep forum reading the interior and tech integrity is not there long term. I’d hoped it would be a long term daily driver and boy was I wrong on many fronts.
 
Let me put on my surprise face. You know what really got me and led to my getting rid of it? The depreciation hit it took. My $50k loaded out with every bell and whistle Summit hemi V8 was worth $26k just under two and a half years later. In immaculate condition with 40k. My 11 JKUR with 110k was worth more than that in 16. I know cars depreciate, but I’d hoped for way better with the GC. They have well known transmission issues and iirc from my Jeep forum reading the interior and tech integrity is not there long term. I’d hoped it would be a long term daily driver and boy was I wrong on many fronts.
Yeah, they're up to 145 views and not one response.

Normally I don't worry about depreciation on a vehicle like this because I'd normally keep it for 10+ years, but I doubt that the GC would make it.

I think a question now is - new 4R or a two year old GX.
 
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I am the ******* that paid mark up when the Pros first came out and still do not regret it. No rig is perfect. I solo camp in remote places for multi days and reliability was at the top of my list. It's never let me down.
Funny, there are nearly zero posts here about broken down 4Rs. There are problem of course, but few that say that the car has left them stranded.

Actually, the only one I can think of is the guy with the horn relay that killed his car.

The JGC forums are rife with broken GCs and "I just bought a 2015 GC and it needs $10k in repairs" - you don't see that here unless it is self inflicted.
 
The other thing I find unusual about the JGC forums is that people are wanting to upgrade their 2015 or 16 to a newer model.

I'm sure that happens here too but I haven't seen it.
 
I bought a new 2019 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo 4x4 in Feb 2020, trading in a 2011 Nissan Xterra 4x4 that I'd had (and loved) for 8.5 years. I thought I wanted something that was quieter and with a better ride and handling and a bit more "car-like". I considered the 4Runner but it's somewhat similar to the Xterra. I'm an older guy and generally prefer body-on-frame construction (not much left out there in the SUV market) but I got a great deal on the GC and decided to give it a try.

The 3.6 V6 in the GC coupled with the 8-speed auto did offer a sporty driving experience and the ride and quiet cabin were nice but I began to notice a lot of little things like the paint finish quality, fit/alignment of doors & panels, etc. After learning how the roof rack side rails were attached to a rather weak part of the roof, I was hesitant to considering hauling something like a canoe on it. Crawling under it, the unibody construction and aluminum suspension components just seemed so much less robust than what I was used to. It began to look to me like a lot of "value engineering" from FCA for maximum profits.

After five months of ownership, I decided that I didn't want to feel disappointment every time I looked at the GC and decided to bite the bullet and trade it for a new 2020 4Runner.

The difference in build quality and paint finish between the GC and the 4R is remarkable and I'm lovin' the frame and all the steel again! The 4R is SO much more vehicle than the GC.
 
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