Looking at used vehicles, my choices seem to be pretty limited when trying to find something that will accommodate my extra-long legs.

I found a 2009 Grand Cherokee, 130,000 miles, loaded, at a reputable dealer (Ford dealer).

The big question I have is the engine. Do I really need a 5.7L V-8 hemi? Is it a major gas-sucker?

Are all of these 4WD? I did not see that mentioned on the listing, did not think to ask when I looked at it, at the dealer.

I only saw two vehicles in my price range (as far below $15K as I can get) that both fit my long legs, and did not have accidents reported on CarFax: this 2009 Grand Cherokee Limited, and a 2010 Ford Edge Limited with the 3.5L V-6. Similar prices, similar mileage (130K and 118K, respectively).

Planning to take another look at them this evening.

Any experience with either, good or bad, please post.

Thanks

This message has been edited. Last edited by: V-Tail,

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
Looking at used vehicles, my choices seem to be pretty limited when trying to find something that will accommodate my extra-long legs.

I found a 2009 Grand Cherokee, 130,000 miles, loaded, at a reputable dealer (Ford dealer).

The big question I have is the engine. Do I really need a 5.7L V-8 hemi? Is it a major gas-sucker?

Are all of these 4WD? I did not see that mentioned on the listing, did not think to ask when I looked at it, at the dealer.

I only saw two vehicles in my price range (as far below $15K as I can get) that both fit my long legs, and did not have accidents reported on CarFax: this 2009 Grand Cherokee Limited, and a 2010 Ford Edge Limited with the 3.5L V-6. Similar prices, similar mileage (130K and 118K, respectively).

Planning to take another look at them this evening.

Any experience with either, good or bad, please post.

Thanks

My father and I had experiences with one in the 1990s...

I'm sure you'll find people that love them, but it was a POS and a money sucker until we got rid of it. From day one it was never problem-free...from little electrical problems to major transmission and engine issues to major electrical problems. We could never be confident it would start...and if it started, we could never be really confident it would get us where we were going.

I vowed never to have any type of Jeep ever after that short-lived debacle.

Steaming pile of manure.

YMMV. (And if you purchase one, I hope you experience zero problems)

I recollect that my B-I-L's of similar vintage got around 15mpg. It had 4wd.

Make sure it doesn't require premium fuel. Our early 90's model did, and it got around 12mpg. That was a completely different vehicle than you are considering, though.

Never had one myself but I've known others that did and it never ended well.
Most cars run over 100,000 miles easily today but Jeeps seemed to have problems well below that number and weren't inexpensive to repair.
There are too many other good options out there.

Use Car Gurus and do a search with your selected parameters:

https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/...filtersModified=true

Like buying a home, now 70 percent of homes bought are found doing a search which is up from 60 percent from 5 years ago.

41

quote:

Originally posted by bcereuss:
My father and I had experiences with one in the 1990s...

I'm sure you'll find people that love them, but it was a POS and a money sucker until we got rid of it. From day one it was never problem-free...from little electrical problems to major transmission and engine issues to major electrical problems. We could never be confident it would start...and if it started, we could never be really confident it would get us where we were going.

I vowed never to have any type of Jeep ever after that shower-lived debacle.

Stemaming pile of manure.

YMMV. (And if you purchase one, I hope you experience zero problems)

OOPS!

So sorry that you had a bad experience.

As I said, of everything I have looked at so far, either I don't have the leg room that I need (in the driver's seat, I'm not worried about any other seat), or the CarFax showed accident history, except for this Jeep and the 2010 Edge.

I hate buying cars. Last time I bought one was a 1995 Jimmy, bought it in 1996. I would keep it, but three different maintenance shops have been baffled by the brake problem; it appears that nobody has an answer for that, so the Jimmy needs to be replaced. I'm not going to continue to drive a vehicle with a brake problem that nobody knows how to fix.

quote:

Originally posted by 41:
Use Car Gurus and do a search with your selected parameters:

https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/...filtersModified=true

Like buying a home, now 70 percent of homes bought are found doing a search which is up from 60 percent from 5 years ago.

41

Yup, tried that. Best candidates that I came up with, in terms of comfortable fit for my legs and clean CarFax, were the Jeep and the Edge that I mentioned.

So far, every one of y'all who has commented has said negatives about the Jeep, nothing positive.

Nobody has commented on the Edge, yet. I'm not a big fan of front wheel drive, but it's not a deal-killer, either.

The 5.7 hemi head is prone to drop valve seats and wreck the engine.
Avoid it.

The 5.7 or the 4.7? I know the 4.7 is. I own an '03 WJ with the 4.7HO and 190K. It's the only thing I worry about. The trick is to never let them overheat. It was corrected in later 4.7's but I don't know when.

My 6'4" Son has a 2006 GC with the Hemi. He likes it.

Yes, it does suck the gas. I am uncertain he has ever achieved 14 mpg.

It does have plenty of power, with the Hemi.

I enjoy driving it whenever he lets me.

He owned it for a year when we had to rebuild the tranny. $3,500. But it has performed well since then.

PA28's rule.

V-tail will get it...

As I've said elsewhere, I wouldn't buy a Chrysler product on a bet.

I spent 13 years working as a vehicle test and inspection engineer and Chrysler was our largest client. From 1999-2012 I watched them aggressively pull cost out of the vehicles. Nothing wrong with that, if you don't jeopardize quality, but tbh it didn't seem like that was a concern.

An example is probably in order- in 1999 full body undercoating was pretty much the standard. Over time, the undercoated areas shrank down, and the function intent of the undercoat changed. When applied to the entire underside, it functions well as a rust inhibitor. When limited to the larger flat areas, it's just for sound deadening. The ones they were making in 2012 had undercoat on the broad flat expanses of the floor, and adjacent areas were simply painted metal. Might work ok in AZ I guess, but around here it's an invitation to body rot.

In a word.... shite.

$0.02.

I inherited my dad's '03 Grand Cherokee. It has the 4.7 V8 and 45,400 miles. Yes that is correct! It runs and drives fine but to me is just a small vehicle that I only drive around town. It's best mpg has been about 17. It has full time 4wd. Not a bad vehicle and my son will be getting it next year when he is driving.

quote:

Originally posted by porterdog:
As I've said elsewhere, I wouldn't buy a Chrysler product on a bet.

I spent 13 years working as a vehicle test and inspection engineer and Chrysler was our largest client. From 1999-2012 I watched them aggressively pull cost out of the vehicles. Nothing wrong with that, if you don't jeopardize quality, but tbh it didn't seem like that was a concern.

An example is probably in order- in 1999 full body undercoating was pretty much the standard. Over time, the undercoated areas shrank down, and the function intent of the undercoat changed. When applied to the entire underside, it functions well as a rust inhibitor. When limited to the larger flat areas, it's just for sound deadening. The ones they were making in 2012 had undercoat on the broad flat expanses of the floor, and adjacent areas were simply painted metal. Might work ok in AZ I guess, but around here it's an invitation to body rot.

In a word.... shite.

$0.02.

Body undercoatings went away as better e-coats emerged in the 90s along with better galvanized metals and aluminums. Most OEMs abandoned such coatings or severely reduced their use years ago. Stone guard coats, blackouts, and undercoatings have become things only used as rarely as possible anymore.

LASDs (liquid applied sound deadener) are also now mostly used in the interior of the body, not the exteriors or underbodies , and new structural as well as sound reducing foams are increasingly used inside the body panels for better weight and cost reduction. As technology got better all OEMs realized you can lay specific and targeted seams or beads of LASD in certain areas instead of blanket coating the whole floor. Also as plastics are used more instead of metals you have less areas that will require rust protection

And there isn't an OEM around that paints the floor plan of your vehicle. It will get ecoat, but no topcoats.

My $0.02. Fiat Chrysler Dodge Jeep do come out low on reliability. New cars, in general, are far more reliable than the old, so the new Fiat+ products are still reliable compared to older products.

In my case, we have 2 of their products. They were chosen because they are a unique value, reliability risk was covered by buying a factory extended warranty.

One is a 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT -- nothing comes close to this SUV at a comparable price. 475 hp v8, AWD, great in snow and on the track (with the right tires). To me, there is nothing more intoxicating than on-demand power in a vehicle. 40,000 miles, no maintenance/repair problems. Two recalls required software updates, no broken parts and no impact to driveablility.

The second is a 2016 Chrylser 200C. Price out the cost of an almost 300hp AWD midsize sedan with all the available tech (adaptive cruise, etc.). Nothing came close to the 200C. Only 4500 miles on this one. No maintenance issues.

A Toyota 4Runner will be more reliable, but you will pay more. For a used SUV, the most important issue will be how it was treated by the previous owner. If it was maintained per the manual and not abused, you should do OK.

"Anything Bad To Say About A Grand Cherokee?"

Well, it's a Chrysler. That's enough for me to stay away.

I had an earlier Grand Cherokee. We loved it until it became highly unreliable at the 5-6 year mark. Cant recommend it. My only other Chrysler product was a mini van. Engine was reliable but the suspension SUCKED.

Just say no.

quote:

Originally posted by craigcpa:
"Anything Bad To Say About A Grand Cherokee?"

Well, it's a Chrysler. That's enough for me to stay away.

Wouldn't touch one with a ten foot pole. Any Chrysler.

My partner and I have company vehicles. He has had 2 Grand Cherokees, a '12 and a '15. No problems with either. I always drove Avalanches until they were discontinued. I tried a 2015 Ram 1500. 25000 miles and no issues so far.

I had a 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee. I only had it for 2 yrs., but it was a BEAST in the winter. I couldn't get it stuck. Only bad thing with my experience was the gas mileage. It was full-time 4 wheel drive & I only got 11 mpg. It had over 300,000 miles on it. Now I have a 2015 Subaru Forester that gets over 20+ mpg.