JD Powers Reliability

[frankg813]

Hi,

Still waiting for my dealer to stock the new Renegade. Any ideas of when this is going to happen. I live in West Texas and they're hinting at May?!?!?

I subscribe to a service that provides research on Auto purchasing. I could help but to feel a bit let down by the fact that Jeep is ranked near the bottom in reliability and quality according to JD Powers rankings. Any idea why this is the case?

I enjoy listening to the podcast - keep up the good work!

Frank

[4.3LXJ]

Frank, I don't know the answer to your questions specifically. There is a member here on the forum that works for a dealership who may be able to answer the stocking question. As far as rankings go, it has been my experience when looking at them that most of the rankers just don't like Jeep in general. Many of the vehicles Jeep has just don't fit into general criteria well with cars. Just my 2 cents on that one. I think another thing to consider on this is that Chrysler had a number of computer programing problems with the new 8 speed tranny when they came out. IIRC, there were two reboots on it before they got off the lot.

[xj-jake]

Hi,

Still waiting for my dealer to stock the new Renegade. Any ideas of when this is going to happen. I live in West Texas and they're hinting at May?!?!?

I subscribe to a service that provides research on Auto purchasing. I could help but to feel a bit let down by the fact that Jeep is ranked near the bottom in reliability and quality according to JD Powers rankings. Any idea why this is the case?

I enjoy listening to the podcast - keep up the good work!

Frank

Frank,

According to what we have been told the Renegades SHOULD be hitting the dealerships within the next 4-5 weeks. However, they are still not available to order via Dealerconnect, which leads us to believe they may just ship a couple stock orders to the dealers and let us order after that.

[frankg813]

Thanks for that heads up on the Renegade. Any quality issues that you all have heard about on any Jeep models?

[xj-jake]

Thanks for that heads up on the Renegade. Any quality issues that you all have heard about on any Jeep models?

As Steve stated the 9 speed had some programming hiccups in the first couple of months but it seems as though they are ironed out as of now. The 9 speed is definitely an interesting critter. It needs to "learn" how you drive. Don't judge it on your first drive is what I'm saying. Low speed "jerkiness" is common in this transmission for the first few weeks as it is still learning how you drive. The more you drive it the better off you'll be.

[Brasscatz]

I work for a dealer group as well and can state that TONS of cars just feel cheap and past their prime after being a few years old. I won't buy another new chrysler product after purchasing my wife's Patriot. BUT, that's just how I feel. Doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with it ;)

[abebehrmann]

I think there's a few things that can explain this.
#1) Consumer Reports and places like that do these rankings for your average consumer. The average consumer is happy driving a 4cyl Camry every day and really only cares about gas mileage and that it won't break down on the way home.

#2) All the tests are about on road performance. Usually offroad performance is barely a factor if at all.

#3) Fiat/Chrysler QC is terrible. Last time I checked, of the bottom 6 brands, 4 of them were Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Fiat...

[frankg813]

I guess it's just too much to ask to get a car that ;
- has off road capabilities - not too extreme mind you
- has a bit of character
- is highly reliable

I'm a man of simple needs, but apparently this is just a bit much to ask for. I realize this should be a different thread but anyone have any experience with the Mini Cooper Countryman 4wd? I ran into the same snags there...it got rave reviews for quality matierials but ranked in the lower tiers of JD Powers. They claim that these quality rankings were based too much on earlier models and they have fixed all these issues, but there was simply too much internet noise being made about these things breaking down and being really expensive to fix and maintain. Oh yea, it needing premium gas was not too nice either.

Frank

[4.3LXJ]

Frank, I would suggest that the more complicated and increasingly electronic the cars become, the more they will break. I think another example is the Land Rover Defender. Notorious for electronic failure

[frankg813]

Good point...sort of reminds me about the time my father in law bought a 2004 Sierra. He insisted (and looked high and low) for one that was manual in every sense (i.e. windows etc.). He was not able to find one with a manual transmission unfortunately for him, but he did finally locate one with no frills. I'm somewhat mechanically savvy - I've changed out the engine and transmission of my first car many years ago, and really have no desire to be a grease monkey - been there done that. I know many in this forum are quite the opposite - especially when I'm seeing words like 'Builds' being used as nouns instead of verbs. That's cool, more power to ya, maybe I just want too much...I like the electronics (I'm a computer geek in my day job), but still want something to be able to go remote camping with....and with some sort of confidence that it won't leave me stranded.

Dreamin...

[4.3LXJ]

Frank, I consider myself fairly savvy, but I have to tell ya, starting with the 99 grand Cherokee, I need a real factory service manual to understand all the electronics and how to repair them. I think we will get one for the wife, but I think my limit will be 04. We are both getting where the hassle of all the new stuff is not what we are willing to deal with