Car Shopping With the Wife + Bonus Jeep Grand Cherokee Diesel Review

"getFuckedHerb" (goongetfuckedherb) 03/03/2014 at 14:45 • Filed to: diesel, jeep, car hunting

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Can I get the wife to buy a diesel!?

After the wife and I got back from !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in Arizona, (the trip to get there is another story, which we'll get into later) we decided to take a day and do some car shopping. While we agreed the Jeep Grand Cherokee seemed to meet our general requirements as a replacement for her Rav4 daily driver, she hadn't yet driven a diesel, and I wanted her to (in -5 degree weather) to see if it was acceptable.

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The Jeep Dealership

We stopped at Walser Jeep in the twin cities assuming they'd have something for us to look at / drive. We were correct! They had a Limited Diesel (sort of a rare option to put on a limited) so we were eager to get in and drive. They also had a Dodge Durango Citadel which checked most boxes other than the diesel for us, so we opted to drive both.

The Jeep: Look mom, no rolling coal!

We opted to go along with the salesperson (much to his dismay) to find the Jeep despite the -5 weather so we could watch it cold start. He was very nervous and reminded us that it hadn't moved in a week or so, and the battery wasn't always charged from the factory (BS alert) and any other excuse for why it might not start nicely. After he found it with the panic function I asked him to remote start it, which he did.

It fired up like it had been sitting in the sun on a nice summer day.

Okay, it was obviously a diesel when cold starting (really, really cold starting that is). A little bit of classic diesel noise was heard, but no smell, no smoke and no fuss on the start up.

Zomg! Diesel+TURBO!!!

We jumped in and proceeded to walk through the tech bits, and was happily surprised how quickly the heat got warm (and any sign of being in a diesel disappeared). The butt warmers and heated steering wheel were certainly nice touches as we idled and played with the radio/hvac/everything screen. I was impressed with the tech, though I think that some of the stuff you have to go into the screen to change (heated seats, steering wheel spring to mind) would be better left as buttons somewhere. I also strongly dislike the uconnect apps that require a $20 /month data connection to use when my phone is right there- I think the CUE system (which we'll discuss later) is better for this.

The interior is very nicely equipped.

The drive was a good route around the city including some stop and go, some snow/ice and some highways. The diesel was likely the most un-remarkable part of the drive- nothing besides the tach suggested it was shifting a lot, or working hard. No noise or sense of urgency in the car when accelerating hard. I felt it got up to speed in a reasonable time, and acceleration, while not staggering, was perfectly acceptable during rush hour merging. The 4x4 was fantastic, I did some aggressive starts from a stop on ice and it performed very very well.

Overall we walked away impressed- the wife was confident daily driving a diesel would work fine with this truck, she was happy with the get up and go, and loved the features available (ventilated seats and remote start specifically).

The Dodge: Disappointment

Then, for the sake of comparisons (hey they're the same platform, how bad can it be!) we jumped in a Dodge Durango. We opted for the uber loaded citadel version with the v6 (no diesel option yet) and took off. It felt very similar inside, the screen, the steering wheel, etc but somehow cheaper. (Remember, we're driving a $46k truck after getting out of a $44k one)

We hated the running boards but didn't count them against the truck. The seats felt smaller in the rear- as if I didn't quite fit. I'm not skinny (36 inch waist) but I'm not the biggest guy to get in one of these either. The ride coming from the Jeep (which was even without the excellent air ride) was harsh and taught.

Enging and transmission wise, the V6 sounded out of breath, and seemed to always be hunting for a gear, and revving up. I know the diesel was getting a work out when I drove it, but nothing in the ride/drive suggested it. The dodge made everything a production- Yuck.

The dealership factor

We got out of the Dodge and the salesman asked if we liked it. We reported our findings, that we'd much rather the Jeep. He asked if we were interested in buying one- and I said "Yes, yes we are!".

Then everything went wrong.

I told him I didn't want the one he had on the lot- it was black she wanted blue, it had black inside she wanted the light stuff, it was missing the off road adventure group 2 (and the all important air ride).

Could he order one for us?

Yes of course! He would like to check to see if anything in the region met our needs, would be interested in leasing one, if perhaps he found a nicely loaded up overland that had everything?

....

Seeing where this was going, I let him know that I had an option to order one locally for 1% under invoice, and if he couldn't beat that we'd just go elsewhere. He got very unhappy, asked several times if I knew what I was talking about (invoice != MSRP) and then told me to come back if I "got serious", turned around, and walked away from us. I wasn't surprised that was his tact, he had been sexist and fit the stereo-typical sleezy car salesman the whole time (telling us about other peoples financing woes, saying that they had some "REALLY GREAT DEALS" and quoting the MSRP, but then offering to knock off the $995 destination fee!! etc).

In the next installment:

The Cadillac Dealership
The Volvo Dealership ( !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! )
The Mercedes Dealership

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TL/DR: Jeep Grand Cherokee Diesels are nice, they start in the cold and the butt warmers work great. Car salesman can still be sleazy and the Dodge Durango isn't everything Ron Burgandy says it is.

95HondaV6 > getFuckedHerb 03/03/2014 at 14:52

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Very enjoyable read...thanks for posting!

Collin > getFuckedHerb 03/03/2014 at 14:58

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But how many tubes of chap stick can you fit in the glove compartment of the Jeep? Hmmm?

doodon2whls > getFuckedHerb 03/03/2014 at 14:59

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Thanks for this write-up !

We're considering a replacement for our 10 year old Durango and looking at the new JGC/Durango platform as well as the pre-2015 generation Tahoe. The biggest problem is that the JGC does not come with third row seats and the Durango does not come with a Diesel... Mutually exclusive options on this platform. This might explain your legroom comment in the Durango - it probably had the third row seats which may steal some space from the second row... I haven't gotten serious enough to go compare them next to one another yet...

Can you elaborate more on the driving performance of the Diesel JGC ? How was the 8-speed transmission ? Smooth shifts ? Gear hunting ? etc. ? Any Diesel engine clatter or turbo whistling noise ?

getFuckedHerb > doodon2whls 03/03/2014 at 15:06

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Just to clarify, the seats I felt were smaller in the dodge were the front seats- the way they were stitched just made me feel like my ass was getting clamped.

We personally wanted the bench second row (heated second row!) and have no use for the 3rd row so it was a good fit, but I can understand the pain of needing 6 or 7 seats and not being able to get diesely goodness.

As for the driving, my wife was ginger but firm, and I was downright naughty to it and it didn't let out a single diesel related noise after initial startup. I had no clue there was a turbo on the motor based on noise, though there was some extra power surge when it spooled up (or the diesel came into the power band? I don't know because the damn thing was so quiet).

The 8 speed was a joy. Cruising around sub 50mph we moved through the gears mostly starting in 2nd and cruising in 6th. At highway speeds it did finally fall into 7th and then 8th, but I had to watch the display carefully to track gear changes- very smooth. No gear hunting that I could feel, undoubtedly the torque from the diesel helped.

The 8speed + gas v6 in the durango was annoying but smooth. I think I noticed how much it shifted mostly because the v6 was so dang loud compared to it's oil burner cousin. Perhaps the Jeep tuning of the gas v6+8spd would be better.

I do know the 8speeds in the v6 is different than the 8spd in the V8 and diesel.

getFuckedHerb > Collin 03/03/2014 at 15:07

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Thankfully I do know because it' very obvious that the glove box is identical between the two!

Ilike_cougars > getFuckedHerb 03/03/2014 at 16:15

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Really like the review. Coming to the salesperson, I got similar treatment at a Ford dealer in Jersey City, not too long ago. I went in to test drive a 5.0 Mustang, all they had was v6 autos in the lot. He wouldnt let me drive a 2013 v6 either (they were really new at the time). I walked away pissed off, by that time I didnt feel like buying a Ford after how I was treated, so ended up going to a Ford dealer in PA, and bought a BMW that someone had traded in..

getFuckedHerb > Ilike_cougars 03/03/2014 at 17:23

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My wife (who basically said 'no just order one' when I was finding similar but not perfect ones) told the salesman at MB (who was freaking fantastic ) that if he worked at Jeep we'd have taken home the one we drove, even though it didn't have the stuff she wanted on it.

Ilike_cougars > getFuckedHerb 03/03/2014 at 18:08

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Yeah, some of them are great, the salesperson in PA was brilliant, well I did for a fact drive close to 200 miles to go see the specific BMW, so he probably knew he had me in the bag regadrless, so probably didnt try any crazy sales tactics, but I was able to negotiate down the price by 2500 so it still worked out. So did you guys get an MB? some models are discounted if you go for the euro delivery I believe. My girl is looking at a CLA and is looking to do the Euro delivery if available, should be a good holiday for both of us, I think.

getFuckedHerb > Ilike_cougars 03/03/2014 at 23:42

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No, no MB for us, we aren't going to choose to afford the ML and the GLK is just too small when you have the Jeep to compare against.

BAMafyde > getFuckedHerb 03/21/2014 at 09:10

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I love this car! I'm wanting to get a '14 diesel burner within a few months. Really great tech in the vehicle too.

BAMafyde > BAMafyde 03/21/2014 at 09:30

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Just wanted to add: What's great about the diesel is it's actually better on fuel costs than the normal 6-banger. And I'm with you on the seat/steering wheel heater. It's very nice, but I'd prefer them to have dedicated buttons. The infotainment system however, is very good IMO, and I think makes up for the fact they don't have their own buttons. I'm not a huge fan of the console layout. I prefer the GM full size truck/suv concole setup, where there are a few more places to store things like cell phones. I know it has the small hideway storage in front of the gear shifter, but I'd like an additional area for cell phones by the cupholder as well. Other than that I feel like everything is laid out really well.

I've talked to the local stealership and they offered 3K off the MSRP for an overland diesel and I could order one if I put 1K down toward the purchase. I'm fine with that, because not only did they not have the exact model I wanted, but when a new engine like this is offered in a vehicle, salesmen drive it around.. a lot. Our test diesel had almost 200 miles on it. So if I got the same deal for one that came straight off the line from Jeep that didn't have a salesmen's grubby paws all over it, that's the deal for me.

rql > getFuckedHerb 03/24/2014 at 17:39

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Hey Chris, loved this write up. I'm going through the same thing right now. Did you drive the Audi Q5 tdi as a comparison? same hp, similar torque.

getFuckedHerb > rql 03/24/2014 at 22:38

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We did in fact. That and the GLK diesel. The GLK was about the size of her Rav and wasn't "big enough", the Q5 was similar, I felt that in order to get the same size vehicle we'd have to do the Q7 and that was way out of the price range. Also, we couldn't get vented seats in either and the tech actually felt a bit 'behind' in both sadly. (no freaking remote start on the MB either!)