KS2002

I'm having this issue with my 2013 Dodge Journey. It's been in the shop twice as it made creaking noise going over bumps. After the first "fix" it starting making an awful clicking/popping sound every time we turn the steering wheel. It's loud! They said they've replaced everything it could be, but the"fixes" only last a day or less. When I turn my wheel while turning, there is a clicking sound while turning and straightening the steering wheel back out. Peoe that ride in the car with me make comments about the popping noises while turning. It is coming from the front if the car, not the steering wheel. Unfortunately, we are now over 36,000 miles. We had it repaired twice before 36,000. So frustrating! Is it safe to drive? The Dodge dealership seems uncertain of why it is happening. They had my car for 9 days during the last "repair".

Let's hope it was really this easy to fix!

Well, I was using an after market iphone cable each time it happened. I just came in and grabbed the authentic iPhone cable....no issues. I plugged it in and out several times, left the console open to watch the light, and left it going for a while. No issues! The lights are on and all is working. The phone is even charging. It didn't recognize it was plugged in with the last cable. I will keep testing it to make sure and keep everyone posted. Very strange!

Yep. The ends are fine and it still works fine when plugging the phone into the laptop. So, I'm not sure what happened in the console. The lights went off as soon as I touched it before it was fully inserted into the USB plug. It wasn't plugged into the phone yet on the other end, it was just the cable. The lights around the USB and audio jack are still out.

Hi Devin, Sorry you are having issues with your new Journey. I have an iPhone 5 and operating the newest software. I was able to connect just fine to the 2013 Journey with Bluetooth. I had to make sure my Bluetooth setting on my phone was set to "on" under setting before trying to pair it with the car. After that, it worked fine. However, it will not send or receive texts through Uconnect. Everything else works through Bluetooth, though. Although, I just found out the USB port in my console isn't working so I'm investigating that. Keep us posted if you get your phone to pair with the Uconnect.

I'm sorry if this has been answered somewhere else. If so, point me in the right direction. My new to me 2013 Journey is having an issue with the console USB port. It was lit up blue and I tried to plug in a USB cable. As soon as the plug touched the outlet, lights out in the console. It is not connecting and the lights did not come back on. Any thoughts? I only have 25,000 miles on it so whatever it is should still be under the factory warranty, I hope. I will call the Dodge dealership in the morning

Devin- Did you get your new Journey? Keep us posted.

Devin, I'm so happy for you. I love our Journey, so far. Still trying to figure out all of the buttons this morning! The 2013 models are great ones from all I've researched. Congratulations on your new vehicle! That's fantastic!

Finally! The Journey came in and this one was not damaged during transport nor did it have any other damage. We thoroughly checked out the vehicle history and the vehicle. We drove it home last night! So, it is ours. The storm grey pearl coat is gorgeous! And, we purchased the extended warranty as well as gap coverage. We are always ridiculously over warrantied and insured on everything we own, but knew the one time we didn't purchase it that something would go wrong. Thank you for all of you input and advice. Love how it drives so far. It has a bit more power than my older 4 cylinder SUV and the brakes are much more sensitive, which is a good thing. I can't wait to sit in it and figure out all the buttons.

Too bad I don't live in Minnesota, Wisconsin, or Illinois. That's where they all seem to be that have what we want in a car...followed by Georgia. There are quite a few in Georgia. :-)

Jkeaton...I don't want to pay $$$ to have one shipped in from too far away given the last one came in damaged. Getting the model and features we are looking for is not an easy task. Yes, CarMax has Journeys nationwide. But, the U.S. is pretty large and it costs money to bring them in from out of state. I'm not willing to pay hundreds of dollars to look at a car that might turn out to be a dud. Some of the transfer fees are $249 to $749 to our area. Having a car transferred in is a gamble and the fees are non-refundable. We are being practical. Our local Dodge dealership only has the newer AVP models. We found a couple of 2009s, but they didn't have good reviews and looked like they had been through the ringer. When we search for vehicles on CarMax within 250 miles of the closest store, there are 3 that are 2011 or later. We are less than impressed with Carmax this time around. We've purchased vehicles in the past, but this has not been a good experience for multiple reasons. The "replacement" transfer for the damaged white one was supposed to be 7 days. We are on day 15 and are now told it will be 3 more days. This is after waiting a week for the damaged one to be transferred. If this car doesn't work out, we will call it quits with Carmax. A car is a big investment and not one we take lightly. Our next car will be with us for many years, so we want to make a wise investment. We are still watching the local Dodge dealership for any leads. And, no worries, we will purchase an extended warranty no matter where we find our next vehicle.

And we are still waiting... We finally have an update that the Journey from an out of state lot was picked up yesterday morning. Hopefully, it will be here for us to view by this weekend. I don't know how many stops the transporter has to make on the way to Kansas. We couldn't find another pearl white one anywhere near us, so this one is grey. I'm not sure what I will think about the color. We almost went with red for my Arkansas Razorbacks, but it was a year older and didn't have all of the features. Dang it! :-) Hopefully, we will be Journey owners soon. This has been a LONG process. I don't know why there are so few Journeys is this area of the U.S. They are great vehicles for a very reasonable price, in my opinion. There are a couple of lots that have the brand new AVP, but for the same price we can get a 2013 with most of the bells and whistles. I guess they must be good to hold on to since we can't find any used ones for sale!

I will say that we previously purchased 3 vehicles through carmax without a hitch and didn't have a single issue with any of them. This most recent situation was very bizarre and the manager offered to make it right by offering to transfer is other journeys from other lots for free. So, we may see where that goes, but we will be cautious. We visited other local dealerships, as well. One dealership wouldn't tell us the price of the vehicle! The simply kept asking, "What do you want your monthly payment to be?" My husband explained that he wanted to know the actual list price of the car because it wasn't listed on the vehicle or any others. We were told, "Well, we'll get to that later. It's just better to start with what you are willing to pay for a vehicle monthly." Are you kidding me? So, if we say $400-$500, suddenly this vehicle is $500 a month because you know that's what we are willing to pay? We asked several times for the asking price and the salesman kept dodging the question until he said he would need to ask his "manager" to get the best price for us. We promptly left the lot. We are keeping our options open and researching. We would prefer a 2013 or 2014 model because we've been burned on a brand new vehicle many years ago and decided never again. ;-) That's just a personal choice, though. We will wait for the right car for us, which will be a Journey. But, it needs to be the right Journey!

We are passing on the white one because the beautiful color couldn't make up for all of the potential issues! However, we found a gray one that looks lovely and has fewer miles. So, the waiting begins anew. Let's hope this one is better taken care of. The VIN doesn't show any issues, but we will have it thoroughly checked out before purchase. I will post back if all goes well.

Thank you for the input. I am walking away from this one. We found a gray one that looks to be in excellent condition. As always, we will have it fully inspected before purchase by an outside mechanic. We never made it off the lot for a test drive this time. There was no need. :-)

Bfurth...I agree with you. Something doesn't feel right, but they keep trying to explain it away. They said the rear bumper license plate imprint is because it rolled during transportation and not from an accident. I think I would need some proof of that as the autocheck report says accident, but no damage reported. Something isn't right. We will keep looking. I just wanted some advice about their explanations.

I believe I'm referring to the lift struts that hold the lift gate up without bashing a person in the head. :-) They looked corroded and rusty in color. There is a lot of build up of something on them. Should this be normal for a 2013 model?

I'm not sure exactly what to call the hinges. It looks like some fluid may have leaked out or they were over oiled? I'm not sure how to explain it, but it's the part that you see inside the glass on the back lift gate. It had quite a bit of build up.

Sorry! I double posted this and can't delete it using my iPhone. It will only let me edit. Please ignore this post! It's been a really long day!

Hello, Is it common for the rotors to look rusty and for the interior hinges on the inside of the back lift gate to have some corrosion? Also, the back silver plate that says Journey looks corroded. We are going to pass in this 2013 used model, but we're curious what to expect/look for while car shopping. (I posted similar questions on my welcome thread, but it got a bit buried. So, I thought I would try here.) Thanks for your advice.

We've purchased 3 cars from CarMax with no issues, but this experience was very different than 2 years ago. No real customer service and no assistance with issues we brought up. The rust was on the inside hydroloc part of the back glass window. I'm not using the right terms, but my 2008 Escape with 87,000 doesn't have that issue with the lift gate and the tread on the tires is about half. I figured something was wrong with the car since all of the tread was worn off one tire on the back. Very disappointing. We will look around at other dealerships in the area. Not a lot of Journeys in Kansas, though.

I am SO disappointed. First, I loved the exterior color and the interior was perfection. However, a few things were concerning... 1. obvious accident as the imprint of a license plate frame was visible on the back bumper (they said no problem to fix it) 2. One of the brackets on the front bumper was loose. I could see it. (They said no problem to fix it) 3. A few minor paint chips...very small. They said they could give us touch up paint. 4. The interior hinges (?) Inside the car back lift gate showed signs of rust? 5. One tire...only one...was completely worn. Almost bare. The rest were fine. Alignment problem? They were the factory tires. The other back was a little worn, the front ones were in good shape. Under 30,000 miles on this car! So, we are taking pass, for now. We will keep looking. We really want a Journey, but this one wasn't well cared for. I loved carmax, but this experience has been less than stellar. They brought a buyer out who states that the car wasn't ip to their expectations and would be fixed. But why would I pay the same price for a repaired car as one that hasn't been in an accident and doesn't need repairs?

I am still waiting for the '13 to transfer from another lot. They had a new one with the same features that we took for a test drive, but it was a little over $7,000 more (U.S.). It did have the 3rd row and entertainment, which we don't need. The '13 has low miles and it's quite a savings. I believe it will meet our needs and we will get the extended warranty. We've only had one brand new car off the lot and it was not a good experience. So, we always buy a year or two older so we can look at the reviews. :-) We will be purchasing through CarMax. We've purchased 3 previous cars with them and have always had great luck.

So it's the same amount of air, just more vents for it to circulate through. Got it. Thanks. That is something to consider. The 2 row should be here for me to test drive any day. I'm getting impatient. :-) I think I will like the pearl white, but wish had a few more options than black or white. It seems to be the only available color in the Midwest unless I want to pay $750 to have a different one shipped in from another lot, which I do not.

Thank you jKeaton and DJcowboy as well as everyone else. Just for clarification....do the 2 row models only have a/c vents in the front driver's area and not on the second row? We test drove a 3 row version, but it seemed a bit much for us. We don't anticipate using the 3rd row and I don't think our dogs will really use the DVD/Entertainment package, but you never know. :-) We had the dealership send over a 2 row 2013 crew instead for us to check out. I can't imagine not having a/c vents in the 2nd row for passengers...human or dog. I appreciate all of the responses. This forum is quite helpful.