Here are the reasons that my 2015 Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk will be my first and last FCA vehicle:

54K - Defective Battery Replaced
57K - Ignition Coil Replaced
85K - Brake Booster Replaced
92K - Blower Motor Replaced
122K - LR Axle Seal & Rear Drive Shaft Replaced
126K - Evap System (all components) Replaced
147K - Head Unit Replaced
187K - LR Stabilizer Link Replaced
190K - Shifter & Oil Filter Housing Replaced
209K - Another Ignition Coil Replaced
214K - O2 Sensor & Starter Relay Replaced
216K - Engine (Yes, the long block) Replaced
241K - PTU Replaced

That was all done under the MaxCare Unlimited Mileage/Lifetime warranty that I paid something like $2,600 for. Cost me approximately $1,100 in deductibles, so I'm clearly on the upside financially. Since they don't sell the Unlimited Mileage/Lifetime warranty any more (gee, I wonder why), I can't imagine paying for everything that broke after the standard warranty would have run. Probably would have cost me another $12K or more over the last six years.

I'm at 255K now and am paying out of pocket for both lower control arms (the bushings are considered wear items, not covered, and integrated into the arms), which is good for 3.8 hours book time (gotta take off the front bumper to get to them), and my independent mechanic is throwing in a left ball joint for a total of $1,400, which is still less than the dealer would charge me for the control arms alone.

Things wear out. Things break. But I drove a series of Nissans before this and my last Altima ran to 350K+ without any major maintenance issues other than replacing the cats around 280K.

Yep. I'm sticking with Nissan/Toyota/Honda going forward unless there's a compelling reason not to.

UPDATED BITCH:

260K and I have a problem with the charging system. Engine Start/Stop Needs Service, the computer tells me. And it drained a relatively new battery (which I've recovered nicely on a charger, so that's fine).

Take it to the dealer (who usually never has a part the same day) and they finally call in the late afternoon to tell me that they think it needs a starter but FCA won't approve coverage for that until the relay is replaced (under warranty). Fine. They have to order the relay. I need the car the next day, so I bring it back to them the day after and they get it installed.

Next day, the error message is back. Needs a new starter, obviously. Like they said. So... order the starter and I'll bring it in for replacement, right? NO! FCA won't approve the starter now until they look at it again and they won't order the starter until FCA approves it.

Two more extremely inconvenient days without my vehicle because the dealer doesn't stock parts and FCA builds unnecessary delays into the warranty approval process.



-Rob

This message has been edited. Last edited by: BurtonRW,

Dang you got a Fiat that made it to 241K before the body rusted off?

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
Dang you got a Fiat that made it to 241K before the body rusted off?

Hey - 255K, almost 256K right now.

And the only rust is in a tiny spot w/ unrepaired body damage.

It's the powertrain that prompted me buy the warranty.

-Rob

Holy mileage! That is pretty remarkable ..

Sell it and get an XJ. I paid ~3500 for my '96 in 2002, and I've probably got 5k in repairs in it since then. I've had a couple of newer vehicles, but nothing I've ever owned has been as dead reliable as my Jeep and I beat the hell out of it. I'm actually considering getting another XJ to keep completely stock, I figure if I do I can drive the pair of them until I die of old age hopefully a long time down the road.

Wow, that's a hefty list.

Our lab manager had the opposite from her 2 GCs, last one was an Overland, both 2wd, both at or near 100k when traded.

She's in an RST Tahoe now, wanted a bit more space than the GC & the GC L wasn't out yet.

My Jeep GC wasn’t so good reliability wise. Not so bad as yours but I punted long before you.

I'm impressed you got what you did out of that car.

That's amazing you got that many miles out of the car with relatively few repairs, especially for it being a Chrysler. I've never owned a car that had over 100,000 miles, even 25 year old cars I've owned all had less than 100k. Pretty impressed with the life you've squeezed out of it.

I wish the list was that short with the Blazer I had. All before 40k.

I will never buy any American union made car ever again.

My Nissan Frontier got 250k before the clutch needed replacing and then I had to put a starter on it at 275k. Number three exhaust valve finally went bad at a little over 300K.

I have a 2010 Dodge Nitro since new that,for the most part, has been pretty good to me. A few years ago it started giving me problems- ignition coils,front wheel bearings, computer module and a bunch of sensors. Fortunately, I was able to do the repairs myself and I don't even have a 100,000 miles on it yet. For 250K+, you are doing pretty good.

The worst Chrysler I ever owned was the PT Cruiser. My wife liked the look of it and the way it drove. A friend of ours had one and he never had a problem. I bought it used and it was only needing to last about a year or so but the problems came right away,within a month, with the main problem being a engine seal/oil leak from the crank shaft. After that, it was just a money pit- the starter, alternator, electrical door and hatch switches,radiator leak, heater coil in the dash leaking, then a/c issues to name a few off the top of my head. We wound up trading it in on a new car and couldn't come to soon. Again, fortunately, I was able to do the repairs-that I could, but it was the worst car I ever had by far.

My work car is a 2018 Durango. It's got less than 50k on it. It's a nice vehicle, and drives nice, but it's not what I'd call reliable. At 38K, the water pump went out. Covered under warranty. At 47K, the AC stopped working. Condenser needed replaced....to the tune of $1400. I barely got it back from the A/C repair and now it has some kind of evap issue. The boss was giving me a hard time that it's how I drive it, but none of these issues are related to how the car is driven...it's just shoddy Chrysler workmanship and components.

Oh, and the entire radio/HVAC/bluetooth management cluster in the center console locks up about 1 in 10 times that you turn it on. You can turn it off, but that's it. Volume controls, channel buttons...all stuck at where they were when you last turned it off. The only way to reset it is to shut the car off and let it sit for 5-10 minutes. Dodge dealer has no answers. There's no firmware update, and no combination of buttons you can hold down to force it to reset. It wouldn't be such a huge deal, except the car is my office and we get in trouble for handheld cell-phone use, so I need the stupid thing to work.


My personally owned 18 year-old Suburban has over 400K on it...almost 10x the mileage...and has fewer issues than this thing. Same with my 20 year-old 220K Silverado.

Chrysler sucks.

Meanwhile, in addition to the above 2 WK2 GCs
On my street, we have a JKU Wrangler, another WK2 GC, a WK2 Durango and a newer Challenger.
No issues reported on any of them.

Consumer reports recently did a piece on cars that have really poor reliability, yet they continue to enjoy a loyal fanbase. Jeep was prominently mentioned.

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
Dang you got a Fiat that made it to 241K before the body rusted off?

He definitely got the TruCoat

I leased a number of Dodge cars and trucks about 20 years ago. 7 to be exact. They were fine for the term of the lease. That is until I leased a 2003 Dodge Durango. The engine lost the tops of all 8 pistons with about 3,400 miles on the engine. I was 300 miles from home.

The company treated me like shit. After a fight, they ended up renting a car for me for the 29 days it took to put a 'jeep' branded engine in the car.

No more.

My wife's 2014 Grand Cherokee she bought new before we had met is the biggest piece of crap I've ever seen and it only has 60k miles. I can't wait to be rid of it.

I just spent $1,000 for a computer replacement on my Nissan Armada. To fix the stereo controls on the steering wheel would have been another $695. My Nissan only has 65k miles so I'm not all that enthused with Nissan right now.

In contrast, I have two 2004 Toyotas with 138k to 165k mikes and a 2007 with over 202k miles that have performed better.

I'm just amazed how you get that kind of mileage based on your location... 40K a year is nuts up here are we're way more rural and spread out.

We've been lucky with out 2017 Ford Escape and 2006 Nissan Pathfinder. The wife was really wanting a JK Wrangler, but just not sure how much I trust them. Really hoping for good feedback on the new Full-size Broncos, whenever they actually start hitting the streets in number.

quote:

Originally posted by BB61:
I just spent $1,000 for a computer replacement on my Nissan Armada. To fix the stereo controls on the steering wheel would have been another $695. My Nissan only has 65k miles so I'm not all that enthused with Nissan right now.

In contrast, I have two 2004 Toyotas with 138k to 165k mikes and a 2007 with over 202k miles that have performed better.

I have always known Nissan to be markedly higher on parts costs compared to the other Japanese brands.

Had a former coworker with a 2007 Sentra that needed either a window motor or regulator (can't recall which it was).
Priced the part on RockAuto, >$200
Same part for my 2000 Acura TL, $68

Experienced similar for the short time that I had an Infiniti J30 (pretty much an automatic non-turbo 300ZX sedan).
No parts commonality with any other Nissan (other than the VG30 under the hood), and everything was big $$ to repair. Ditched it when reverse went out in the trans & dealer wanted >$4k to R&R it. I only paid $3k for the car