dp360

Unfortunately, I can't offer a UK perspective on this. I CAN say that so far, my '10 SXT has been flawless. For the money, it's hard to beat. It's sad to see that the dealer hit-or-miss experience is universal. At least I have very many options and can visit a different dealer if mine starts giving me trouble. As for the state of Chrysler, it is certainly much better than it was a year ago. Now that Cerebus is out of the picture, it is being run by passionate car people who have actual car experience. They have a pretty well defined and ambitious plan to get back on their feet. If you're interested: http://www.allpar.com/corporate/chrysler-g...-year-plan.html

Congrats on the new ride! I thought they all had the SIRIUS radio - my SXT does. Shows how much I know.

Welcome gatrus! I can't answer your question about the 4cyl since I have V6. My engine is plenty powerful enough. I'm sure the 4cyl doesn't have the "zip" I'm used to, but whether or not it's adequate is entirely up to your personal needs & tastes. Many years ago I had a 4cy minivan and it was adequate for my basic transportation needs. As for built in Mexico, I don't think that's an issue at all. Mine feels very solid and I haven't had a single problem, although it's only 2.5 months old. The Toluca plant down there is very modern. It's also where the PT Cruiser is made.

FYI... The Journey was released around April 2008 as a MY '09 vehicle. The timing was terrible because this was when the car market was starting to show signs that it was heading for a collapse and Cerebus was realizing they probably bit off more than they could chew by purchasing Chrysler. Thus the marketing associated with this product launch was anemic, at best. By the end of 2008, the company was in survival mode and aggressive marketing of this new platform was low on their priority list. It also didn't help that there were some "teething pains" associated with the new vehicle and Cerebus' lack of capital AND experience resulted in mishandling the problems. Virtually all new platforms have troubles of some sort but Cerebus just simply didn't know how to deal with them. This gave the Journey somewhat of a bad reputation. By April 2009, one year after the Journey's launch, the company was forced into bankruptcy. The anemic marketing that had been performed up until then completely stopped at that point. In fact, all production and marketing stopped as the company re-organized and quickly emerged from bankruptcy with the help of new management put in place by Fiat. The new Chrysler re-evaluated all platforms and came up with a new vision for the company referred to in Chrysler circles as "The Plan". Journey production picked back up in the fall and the MY '10 vehicles eventually started being produced (in September '09, I believe). Marketing resumed, although at a fairly restrained pace. As part of the re-evaluation of all products, the Journey lineup has been reconfigured. Production stopped in December and the factory was retooled. I'm not sure if production has started back up yet, but it if it hasn't, it should start shortly. The new Journey trim packages essentially amount to a 2010.5 model year and should be available this spring. At that point, you'll start to see much more aggressive marketing and we may finally see the 'real' product launch marketing campaign that should have happened back in 2008. The Journey has been a relatively good seller for Dodge, despite all of the company problems. It's one of the few bright spots in their current lineup. All told, there have been just about 100,000 units sold through the end of '09 and they are currently selling close to the pace of the Caravan, their #1 seller (now that RAM is a separate brand). It has the potential to do much better than that as long as the 2010 "re-launch" goes well.

It all depends on the look you're trying to achieve. In this case, the smoked headlights, painted grille and black rims all work well together. Leaving the grille and headlights "stock" also looks good, but, IMO, it is a bit unbalanced towards the front of the vehicle. The stock configuration really benefits from chrome wheels - it brings balance back to the shininess. When I bought mine, there was an R/T on the lot with chrome rims and a chrome gas filler lid. It looked VERY nice! Its the kind of look I hope to eventually achieve with my SXT when I get around to replacing the rims.

Pretty nice! It still probably doesn't make up for all your frustrations but at least it takes the edge off your sorrows.

Only you can decide about whether the financials are worth it but, on the surface, it seems like a decent deal to me. I'm assuming you have taken the Journey on a test drive? It's built on the same platform as the Avenger so I imagine there are a lot of similarities. If interior space is what you're after, the Journey is definitely a step up. Probably not as sporty, though. If you're unsure whether or not you like the ride, ask if the dealer will let you take it on an extended test drive. Mine did. I *think* many other dealers will let you do this, too. All I needed to do was provide proof of insurance and a driver's license and sign a paper saying you wont drive more than X miles/day. Being able to drive it on your "home turf" will give you a much better feel for it.

I don't really know what there is to recall. If they turn on and are aimed properly, there's little that could be wrong with them. In my experience, the effectiveness of fog lamps has everything to do with the type of fog encountered. Some fog is so thick that nothing can penetrate it. Also, it's sometimes better to run JUST the fog lamps and not the low beams at the same time, although I wouldn't be surprised if that's illegal in some places. I also think running fog lamps when there is no fog may likewise be illegal in some places as it adds to road glare for opposing drivers.

Yeah, I started a thread on this last month: http://www.dodgejourneyforum.com/index.php?showtopic=1061 While the sighting was real, the current thinking is that "White CUV thing dusted my Camaro" story is just a hoax.

You might be pushing things a bit. My elementary age boys fit in the back row, but it's tight. My 5'10" daughter sits in the middle/right row but I have her scoot forward a notch or two to give the boys extra legroom. My wife needs to scoot forward a notch or two to give my daughter extra legroom. All are happy and comfortable but I wonder how many growth spurts from my boys before they are cramped again. We only have a couple more notches of scooting that we can use to absorb their growth. I don't really drive around "fully-loaded" like this that often. When we do, it is usually for short (< 1 hour) durations. For long trips, we use my wife's minivan.

Cant say that I've noticed but I'll pay extra attention to it when I get in the car tomorrow.

First a disclaimer: I'm not any sort of technician (aka mechanic). All my engine knowledge comes from hot-roding cars back in the day. That said, anyone who's worked on engines is going to suspect valve train when told of a "ticking" noise coming from the engine. On modern (meaning like last 40 years or so) engines, the noise is likely the result of a bad hydraulic tappet, commonly know as "lifters" or "lash adjusters". If the noise starts out bad but gets better after a while (usually within a matter of just a few seconds), it almost certainly is a tappet. Common recourse is to replace the faulty tappet (or all of them if it can't be identified) but many mechanics forget to ask the question "Why did it fail?" This most likely is a bad oil supply to the tappet. The oil supply to the tappet should be checked and cleaned when the tappet is being replaced. While tappets are the overwhelmingly common cause for this, I've seen exhaust leaks cause a very similar phenomenon. I've seen and heard pinhole exhaust leaks that sound indistinguishable from a tappet. This symptom has a key difference - the sound does NOT get significantly better shortly after startup. It may eventually get better, but it takes a lot longer - like several minutes. The engine as a whole must get warmer and the expansion of metal is what reduces the size of the pinhole. Some of the other things mentioned here, such as rocker arms & pistons (actually, it would be the wrist pins, not the pistons) could cause the problem. So could a myriad of other things including rod bearings or even engine accessories (which can be tested by simply removing the drive belt). However, those would be considered exotic in my mind - I'd jump straight to the tappets if it was my job to fix this engine. BTW, there's no such thing as "adjusting valves" anymore. If someone mentions this, they are probably referring to just replacing the tappets (or just blowing hot air).

Sounds to me like the dealer doesn't know what the heck is wrong and is just changing parts hoping that the problem goes away. Changing pistons in response to a ticking noise? That wouldn't be on my top ten list of possible causes when diagnosing the problem but hey, I can't really comment without having hands on access. It does sound quite odd, though. Any possibility you can take it to another dealer?

I get about 20-22 MPG with the 3.5L V6 doing mostly a 60-40% split of highway versus city driving. I've only run the A/C once or twice since getting the car in early November. I'm sure A/C hurts gas mileage by 1-2 MPG, but my bet would be on it hurting highway mileage more than city. I guess I'll find out in the Spring when it starts to warm up again.

It's my understanding that the Toluca factory is currently on holiday shutdown and wont reopen until January 8th.

Yes, you are correct.

Welcome!

Well that stinks. Looks mostly like fender damage, though, so it shouldn't be too big of deal to get fixed. I've had serious frame damage on past cars and they never drove the same after getting them "fixed".

Over on Allpar, there has been discussion in the forums of a mysterious "SRT R/T Journey" being spotted in the wild. Here's the original story that started it: SRT Journey Sighting #1 At first, I was skeptical. I thought it was just some Dodge engineers having fun. Kind of like putting the "HEMI" badge on a Neon, or something like that. But then there was a second sighting: SRT Journey Sighting #2 Now the plot thickens. Could this be for real?

Okay, I'll chime in. My '10 FWD SXT is a little over a month old now and it's pushing very close to 1400 mi (may be over it, but I don't feel like going outside and checking right now). Not a single problem up to this point. Rides very nice & smooth and, I too have found excuses to drive it. I don't normally drive this many miles a month but have tended to take "long cuts" to my destinations. I don't really know why, but I do. On my last fill-up (today), I calculated 21.4 MPG (my best yet). I drive about a 60/40 mix of city vs/ highway miles. Probably my only complaint is that under _casual_ acceleration, it seems to work it's way up to 6th gear a little quicker than I think it should and, once it reaches 6th, it holds on to that gear a little longer than I think it should. Takes a little more depression of the accelerator to get it to kick down. But, I've pretty much gotten used to that, and if that's the only thing I can complain about, then I'm in good shape. BTW, under HARD acceleration, it works through the gears nicely and has no problem merging into traffic, hehe... I've been waiting until I had a little more miles under my belt before I posted any comments. Maybe now I'll break my silence and start posting comments to the various review sites online.

Cool! Looks like there's some stuff I'll eventually be interested in.

Welcome!

Hi suriko! Glad to meet someone who helped make my car! Do you work on the assembly line?

Hah! I always have to keep from cracking up when they pull that line on me. Believe me, if they sign the deal, they're not losing money!

Whoops - you posted while I was typing my previous remarks! Like I said, YOU have decide what works. I completely understand your situation. If you do end up waiting, keep in mind the MY 2011 refresh that's coming toward the end of next year. If you're thinking about buying next summer, it might be worthwhile waiting a little longer. Either you get a superior car in the '11 or you'll get good deals as they try to clear out their '10's. Of course, I think the deals right now might be hard to beat!