Walmart trip on an mission. Parked in front of a pale yellow, large 4 door SUV. Saw Chrysler emblem on drivers door. Whats Dat? Walk behind it, it says ASPEN and a HEMI badge. In good outward condition except the headlights needed polished.

Chrysler Aspen, produced 2007-2009. A dressed up Dodge Durango. Didn't make many,

Never saw one before, didn't even know they existed.

I see one every day, neighbor at the end of the road has one. Have never seen it move.

It was a thing for a while. I imagine it still spends just as much time in the shop as a Durango, but you pay more for it in exchange for more cabin comforts between visits.

"Badge engineering" at its finest. (Not the worst example.)

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
I see one every day, neighbor at the end of the road has one. Have never seen it move.

a mid 2000s Dodge product not moving? I'm shocked!

quote:

Originally posted by egregore:
"Badge engineering" at its finest. (Not the worst example.)

Not entirely different to a Tahoe/Yukon.
Not quite 'badge engineered' as much as something like the Passport/Rodeo of the 90s, or even the BRZ/GT86/FRS triplets where they were fully different brands, not under the same parent company.

A buddy of mine had one as a family vehicle, but it wasn’t a hot rod version. He took a group of us around, and I remember everyone was impressed.

I’ll notice one every now and then.

IIRC, that was available as a hybrid with the Hemi. A rare bird indeed.

You could check all the same boxes with a Jeep Commander with the HEMI and get a top 4x4 system as a bonus.

quote:

Originally posted by motor59:
IIRC, that was available as a hybrid with the Hemi. A rare bird indeed.

Hemi/Hybrid doesn't make sense. I'm guessing not a powerful V8. And if it doesn't have a powerful V8, then it can't be a Hemi. Sounds wiered, have to look it up.

quote:

Originally posted by armored:
You could check all the same boxes with a Jeep Commander with the HEMI and get a top 4x4 system as a bonus.

Thread drift warning - I heard Jeeps in general suck from the electrical/systems design angle. Is this true for all Jeeps ? And when they go bad they go really bad more than "normal" bad. Is that true ?

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
BRZ/GT86/FRS triplets where they were fully different brands, not under the same parent company.

Scion was a Toyota sub brand, And Toyota owns around 20% of Subaru. they're just a lot better at hiding that sort of thing.

quote:

Originally posted by wrightd:

Thread drift warning - I heard Jeeps in general suck from the electrical/systems design angle. Is this true for all Jeeps ? And when they go bad they go really bad more than "normal" bad. Is that true ?

It's a "prince of darkness" reputation carried over from the factory Star Scan days of Chrysler.

Quote:
In 2009, Chrysler introduced the wiTECH platform, another CAN/PCI-based tool. This marks when Chrysler went completely PC-based with their scan tools. Like the StarMobile, the wiTECH uses a desktop client (wiTECH Desktop Client) to run the tool from a PC. Unlike the StarMobile, the wiTECH no longer has the ability to function in any standalone manor. Another difference is the wiTECH can only be used by a PC setup on a special Chrysler-authorized router and a paid yearly subscription fee to work. A neat feature that the wiTECH brings to the table is a DRB3 emulator that allows communication with PCI BUS systems. This includes the ability to program most PCI and CAN modules and even program most keys.
End Quote
For many years Chrysler has had problems with their Factory scanners, they have improved considerably since then but will carry that reputation for a long time.

https://www.autoinc.org/scan-tool-review-chrysler/

quote:

Originally posted by wrightd:

quote:

Originally posted by motor59:
IIRC, that was available as a hybrid with the Hemi. A rare bird indeed.

Hemi/Hybrid doesn't make sense. I'm guessing not a powerful V8. And if it doesn't have a powerful V8, then it can't be a Hemi. Sounds wiered, have to look it up.

The first Chrysler hybrid