Opinions on the Jeep Gande Cherokee Overland

[darylive]

that's what I thought ........ After my last trip up North driving past all those roos & wallabies on the side of the road - it got me thinking again about a bull bar .

chris

And Monkeys! don't forget the monkeys! We Won't

It is certainly a nice vehicle Chris, Ideal for what you do; as long as it all keeps working. All those flash gadgets are good when they work and as it is new they should do.

[bustastu]

After a 3 month wait our diesel overland finally was delivered today. Well worth the wait and just waiting to instal an electronic brake adjuster beefore the boat can be towed again. Just a query, has anyone got their windows tinted? One of the main companies (t.a.c) has quoted 495 for the front 2 and the rest uv protected. I thought this was fairly reasonable but just seeing whether others had paid similar.

[WalFish]

I have a Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited Diesel with 30,000km on the clock - a 2011 model - with serious transmission failure!!

Get a MAJOR vibration through the car after acceleration. Accelerate to 100km/hr on the highway, then lift the foot off to stay on 100, then the whole car attempts to remove your fillings by shaking them out. Come to think of it, massaging front seats could be a good option for the luxury pack on the next model.

It has now been in the dealership for 10 days while they attempted to narrow down the fault to drive shaft, torque converter, transfer case or transmission in an attempt to save some money. But as I told them on day 1 it is a dead transmission - this includes the torque converter as one complete assembly.

Tranny should be in to the workshop in about 7 days apparently and then another day to get back on the road. A real sham this has happened as otherwise it has been great. I bought it to tow the boat with the 550nm of torque and 3500kg towing capacity, but now I have my doubts. All very well to make a powerful donk, but all the bits between it and the wheels need to be up to the task.

[Tangles]

Any updates as looking at a diesel Laredo

thanks
Mike

[tunaticer]

My inlaws have one they run out of diesel a while ago. Had to bleed the system, cracking the tubes at the injectors.
There is no way you can possibly crack the rear injector, it is located underneath the firewall with no access. Why do they build them like that when they cant be effectively serviced?

[WalFish]

Tangles, no change as yet as we are still waiting for the new tranny to turn up. Should be mid this week... hopefully.

[NAGG]

My Diesel Overlander has just ticked over 35,000km and 12 months - at this stage I couldn't be happier with the exception of tyre ware ..... the Kumos will be flat chat getting to 45,000km

Chris

[gofishin]

Hi Nagg/PNG1M/bustastu, how are the Jeeps holding up after ~1yr. Any complaints/problems, teething issues etc? Anything you don't like about them? Did you go the std 20" wheels or drop down to the 18's for off road ability etc?

Walfish, what was the outcome with the tranny? All good now?
Cheers
Brendon

[NAGG]

Hi Nagg/PNG1M/bustastu, how are the Jeeps holding up after ~1yr. Any complaints/problems, teething issues etc? Anything you don't like about them? Did you go the std 20" wheels or drop down to the 18's for off road ability etc?

Walfish, what was the outcome with the tranny? All good now?
Cheers
Brendon

Hi Brendan

The Overlander diesel is still going very well at 17 months and 55,000km - Fuel economy is superb for such a big powerful car running at sub 10's for city driving . It's a dream tow vehicle ( towing a 1 tonne boat & a load of camping gear @ 12lts / 100km) - It really makes the prado grande look second rate in comfort , refinement , power & economy.

There are some criticisms ....... one has been addressed in the latest model
1) 5 speed auto .... the car can jump between gears if say you move off from park but then have to slow down in the next few meters (so it doesn't quite get into second gear . (If driven as full auto - drive it as a manual ... no dramas) . The new 8 speed auto fix's that .
2) Tyres . The 20" Khumos fitted were useless in anything other than normal road driving & even then they only got to 50K before the scared the bejeezus out of me. Being a 265 x 50 (20") tyre options were few and far between (& expensive). I ended up going against my bias and fitting Cooper LTZ (all terrain). They are a 285 x 50 (20") . According to the US forums a 285 wouldn't fit with Quadralift air suspension - but they do without touching the wheel fairing . So far .... so good.
3) Expensive to service ($550 / 10K) - a good deal of that is the oil (8.5Lt of a fully synthetic)

Would I buy another one ?...... in 11 months I'll tell you
Seriously - For the price (value for money /features) - there is no other 4WD wagon that comes close ..... it's that simple . Anything theoretically better will cost you $30-50K more. As a city / tourer / tow vehicle .... it's exceptional ( I'm still to really push it as a bush basher ..... but the new tyres will fix the short comings on traction).
The only reason I wouldn't buy one is if I either - want to go down the 4WD crew cab ute path or I feel I can afford a bigger 4WD (Landcruiser) - seeing that I'm relocating back to Syd later this year ...... I reckon it will be another diesel GC

hope that helps

Chris

[Reel Blue]

I have a diesel cherokee with 20000 km bought new end of 2012. Love the car so far. Averages just over 8 liters per 100 km driving to work and back. Tows my 685 cruisecrat really well. Ver comfortable and quicker than my commodore! The thing really goes.

[bustastu]

Gofishin:

So far so good. Haven't had any dramas with the car but the mrs has only done 14k in it. Very happy with it. As NAGG said $550 for the 10k service is pretty steep but that's life. My Suzuki 250 just had its 2yr service at it was $630 so everything is expensive these days. Towing our cruise craft 685 up to Airlie Beach in a fortnight so will be a good test for it and hopefully it will do it with ease.
Stu

[bustastu]

Just got back from a month on Hamilton Island. Towed the 685 explorer up from the Sunshine Coast to Airlie Beach and back without any dramas. Averaged 16.2l per 100k which was pretty good towing nearly 3 tonnes. The only criticism is the size of the fuel tank as we couldn't make it from the coast to Rockhampton on one tank and needed 10 more litres. Anyway still very happy with the car.

[NAGG]

Just got back from a month on Hamilton Island. Towed the 685 explorer up from the Sunshine Coast to Airlie Beach and back without any dramas. Averaged 16.2l per 100k which was pretty good towing nearly 3 tonnes. The only criticism is the size of the fuel tank as we couldn't make it from the coast to Rockhampton on one tank and needed 10 more litres. Anyway still very happy with the car.

Good to hear the GC is going ok
I just make it into Rocky when towing my boat from Brisbane (specially with the road works)....... get to do it again in a couple of weeks

chris