mydodgejourney

congrats, let us know when you get it, I have a Blue R/T, a great car, you are going to love it.

I just got this mail today from Chrysler UK, after asking them If the 2011 Journey will be available here, looks like they are keeping their cards close to their chests Thank you for contacting Chrysler UK Limited and sharing with us your opinion concerning your Dodge Journey. We very much value your feedback. In regards to the possible launch of Dodge Journey model 2011 we would like to advise that we currently have no news. Please visit our website www.dodge.co.uk as you will be able to see all updates there. Our Customer Service team remain available to further assist you if required, we are open from Monday to Friday between 9:00 and 18:00, Tel - 01753 519874. Sincerely, Metin Tahsin Customer Relationship Manager Chrysler UK Limited

Hi Cheffy, another Journey owner based in the UK ! hopefully your DJ will turn out to be a great car, Im sure you are going to enjoy it, we bought an R/T model in Sea Blue with the Auto option and leather interior, its a beautiful car and makes me smile every time I get into it, long run's in it are something I look forward to and the evening commute thru central london with my tunes playing is a pleasure. some time all the UK Journey owners should have a get together ? on another note, and this may or may not be true/relevant but just last week I took a drive down to Marlboro cars in Isleworth in West London a Dodge/Chrysler main dealer, to discuss a warranty issue with my journey (some paint peeling on a door mirror)...anyway, I brought up this subject of Dodge pulling out of the UK and the current run of Journey's being the end of the line...not so the manager explained to me...its more of a ...and these are his exact words..." a rebranding exercise"...he went on to explain to me that although the Nitro bombed in the UK the Journey has exceeded their expectations and they intend to continue with the Journey in the UK market for the forseeable future, it is the Dodge Dealerships that are going to be 'rebranded' whatever that means...so wether this is true or not we will shortly see...

please let them release this in the UK with a f*** off V6 common rail diesel lump. fantastic revamp, I want one now !

I would be interested in this. What part of the country ? Im in London but would be happy to travel reasonable distance...ie: not the Scottish Highlands :-)

Hi there Discoman, we live in Wandsworth and had to go to Manchester to pick up our DJ, we got the flowers, the chocolates and a big cuddly teddy bear for our 3 yr old, we bought from Sytners and although it was a schlep up north to collect it was worth it, speaking for myself the DJ is a fantastic car, It makes me smile everytime I get into it. I hope you enjoy yours as much as we enjoy ours. cheers. Mark Dodge Journey R/T diesel/auto Deep sea Blue.

6750 Miles as of today, picked it up 12 July 2010 brand new, no issues so far apart from a neighbor reversing into it.

Hi all, Im just curious as to the ownership demographic of the Dodge Journey who are we all, what do we do for a living etc, is there a "typical" Journey owner ? I will start off by saying Im married, Im 50 years old have a 3 year old daughter and work as a Television Producer and Photographer for an independent Production company in London U.K. I bought the Journey (R/T 2ltr Diesel, fully loaded 'Auto, Deep Sea Pearl Blue) because I wanted a 7 seater that did not look like a Van, plus it carries all my photo and filming equipment with ease. lunch break by a railway siding just outside of Bucharest, Romania August 2010.

Wandsworth. South West London. UK. Deep Sea Pearl blue R/T diesel seven seater Auto fully loaded.

Hi Michael, Hi Paul, yes, we have the front drive only model here also, thats a shame too, I wonder why Chrysler opted for that ? the brits love their 4x4's or "soft roaders" as the media call them here, so called of the X5's and Audi Q7s and Range Rover Sports which almost never get used "off road" but are hugely popular anyway as the status they imply in the class obsessed UK, their sales represent a large market share, still I guess the Journey looks the part and often I am asked if its a 4x4 and there is surprise when I explain its actually a front drive car. thats the reason why we dont have a foot rest then even with the auto option that I have, the bulkhead is probably prepped for your emergency brake and would probably involve extra cost and work to install a standard foot rest for us complainers hahaha, yes the handbrake feels like a 'stuck on' item, and it mounted, amazingly. on the far side of the center console so I actually have to kind of reach over hold it with two hand to push the button in and heave it up slightly then let it down, all in all a clumsy solution, a dash mounted handbrake like Mercedes would have been a better idea...oh well, what do I know.... have a great day guys. Mark.

Morning Pete, I read about that dual clutch thing, I wondered how that was supposed to be "different " from a regular auto, is there some other benefit to having a dual clutch on an auto box then ? other than it shifts when its supposed to? I had to have an Auto anyways, living in London a manual is not an option unless you enjoy torturing your left knee lol. the 'box is smooth and the changes imperceptible, when you engage 'Drive" it takes about 2 seconds for engagement and that "+/-" selection is great for hill climbing or jumping in and out of traffic like for example overtaking and pulling in between long lines of trucks and other slow moving traffic, you see the gear number next to the mileage reading with a little box around the number so you always know what gear you are in, interestingly you cannot hold it in 1st gear in this mode, if the revs go past a certain point it will still change to 2nd whether you want it too or not, but once in second it will hang on all the way until you change to 3rd, I guess thats to prevent any 'box or clutch damage ? the changes are instant and I would even go so far as to call it "sporty" which I guess is part of the idea, the other point to buying an auto was the wife is learning to drive Auto's only as she says changing gears gives her "too much to think about when driving" lol. have a great day Pete. Mark

I have read some good things about that 2.2 Merc engine, that would be a fantastic choice for the Journey in my humble opinion. my RT is an Auto, I didn't mention that before, mated to the current diesel its a bit sluggish on the pick up from standing, but once it gets going its not so bad, Im being picky. we drove to Tamworth to the "Thomas Land" amusement park on Saturday from London, M25, M40 M42 and I was doing 90-100mph most of the way, that was actually its first real motorway run without being loaded to bursting with luggage so I had a chance to really push it and was very surprised at the torque at those speeds, my daughter slept most of the way thru and engine noise is minimal and the ride is beautiful, composed and direct, and very "car like" but for me the armrest is definitely too far back and the lack of a footrest is bloody annoying, but those are personal driver aids that Im sure vary from person to person. good point about the engine oil, I thought that was a bit suspicious, Mobil 1 it is from now on... big run this weekend as I have to go to Antwerp in Belgium, Im looking forward to that..... have a great week wherever you all are. Mark

Daaammmnnn I knew there was something else ! when I wrote up some of my experiences and personal views on another thread I completely forgot to add that the one thing that really really really ticked me off was the lack of a footrest for for my left foot, there is just a dirty great empty spot and it makes you damn ankle ache on long motorway journeys, so much so that I have asked my local garage to look into making me a home brewed affair to compensate, otherwise you get a 2.7 V6 option ? wow, how I wish it had a different motor in RT guise over here, we get a 2ltr Volkswagen 138hp Diesel engine only which is a shame for such a fantastic wagon, hopefully if European sales are sufficient then Chrysler may consider a facelifted version in 2 years time with a V6 Diesel, are you listening Mr Chrysler ? hehehehe take it easy Michael. Mark.

it was seeing one on the streets of London a few months ago that inspired me to do a web search and find out more about what sort of car it was and read up some reviews, needless to say the wife and I bought one a few weeks later ! while driving in Europe this past month the only DJ we saw was one on a Belgian highway near Antwerp, a black SXT, the driver hauled up alongside to give me the thumbs up, other than that I haven't come across any more in London, though Im sure there are a few around, its still a model here with little or no product recognition judging by the comments I receive filling it up at the local gas station and the car park of the local Sainsburys. A day after we bought it in fact I was waiting for my wife to get back from the shops and my daughter and I were watching "Peppa Pig" on the DVD screen, the back windows are darkened and I saw a face with hands cupped over peering inside the opposite window, I wound the window down much to his surprise, and he apologized, he had his kids with him and his wife was putting some bags in their E46 Beemer Estate, "nice car" he said " what is it ? " I explained everything and he was enthused enough to take down the details of the dealer and the car type as he was looking to upgrade to a seven seater but didn't like the look of the standard Euro box offerings from Ford, Citroen, Peugeot or VW, "and this looks perfect" he said... and was well within his price range so it seems there must be more like this guy, I was certainly one of those people looking for something practical and a little bit different, so marketing in Europe has to ratchet up a gear then the sales of the DJ will surely match its aspirations, but right now Im really enjoying the blank looks of curiosity the car generates.

picked up the DJ after work yesterday, £220 for the full service using genuine parts, biggest shock was the engine oil, the boss told me it was a special order item from Chrysler only something about it being "low ash" oil and it was £15 a litre so that mobil turbo diesel stuff that I used abroad to top it up was probably not a good idea then, Im going to have to order 5 litres to keep around for top ups now and again, and the brake pads where fine just the calipers where a 'little stiff' and the scoring was caused by road conditions, not surprising considering what we drove on over there, the Pads are good for another 3K he reckons but I shall keep a close eye on that. have a great day wherever you are.

I dropped the DJ off at commodore motors today in Wandsworth SW London for her first service , I felt it needed a thorough going over after the Romanian trek, I picked her up new on july 12 with zero miles and have almost 5k on her now, oil needs changing and I noticed some heavy scoring on the brake discs so have asked the garage to check that out and replace with higher grade pads, I have noticed other posts/comments alluding to unusually heavy brake wear at lower mileages so I guess this must be it, I have also asked them to check the car over in all departments for possible faults, not that I really noticed anything to cause concern but she took a serious thrashing on the highway and climbing the carpathians in 37 degree heat. Overtaking was an issue, fully loaded with luggage with the heat and the altitude it was a struggle to overtake the myriad of trucks clogging up the Romanian roads, Im going to look at an engine re-map to try to release a bit more power before we go again next summer. my overall thoughts on this "pumpe duse" 2ltr VW lump is that while its adequate to do the job it just does not seem to do the car justice overall, I have the R/T model fully loaded yet this 4 banger oiler is the same as fitted to the SXT here in Europe, what the R/T really needs to set it one model up in the range is a different diesel lump, something with a little more power and a couple of more cylinders, that V6 2.5 ltr that they used to put in the old model Passat, that would be a perfect engine for the R/T, not so large as to affect the cars tax bracket too much or its emissions, but big enough to set it up as the top of the range model, this current diesel just feels a little to ..well...unrefined...if thats the right word, its a bit noisy on cold startup, but then I suppose most VW diesels are, and although it cruises nicely at 100mph its spinning at over 3500rpm which is a tad fast for that speed I think, my old Seat Alhambra tdi would spin at 3k at 100mph so gearing is obviously playing a part, but to summarize, a different diesel has got to be a consideration when the next gen Journey is announced, Dodge/Chrysler are selling a fabulous idea short with this particular diesel, I think its fine for the SXT but If Im weighing up more cash then I want a bigger diesel, no question. then there is the gearbox, now this is a weird one, I did a lot of crawling along in traffic on the Romanian run, lots of 2 and 3 mph in first gear, and if you lift off the gas at that low engine speed the DJ lurches forward as if stamping on the brakes sending contents and passengers bumping forward, you have to let the gas off ever ever so gently when crawling it seems then the car slows down as you would expect an Auto to do, its not really a fault, more a foible that you have to get used to, other small niggles were the center armrest, its too far back for my left elbow whilst driving long distances meaning I soon got an achey left shoulder until the missus came up with the bright idea of a small cushion she stuck between me and the center armrest, did the job perfect, another curious thing, the first time I took it into a jet wash I noticed a layer of paint came off the passenger door mirror, just a thin strip not the whole mirror and no where else was effected so that was a bit annoying, but the icing on the cake...after all that driving thru some seriously dangerous road conditions thru Romania I managed to avoid getting so much as a scratch on the DJ, lots of very hairy near misses some of which I have to say we were lucky to escape with our lives. next jaunt will be to Tamworth is Staffordshire this saturday for a visit to Thomas the Tank Engine Land....

we just got back from Romania, what a trip, four thousand three hundred and thirteen miles in 4 weeks, lots of thoughts about the DJ now I have had a really good chance to drive it thru some of Eastern Europe's toughest and most dangerous roads, avoiding upturned trucks, mangled horses, and hundreds of shaven headed tattoo'd young men driving A8's like maniacs thinking they are the "Transporter" across the backroads of Romania, going to put up some pics and will give you a full run down ;-) cheers to you all and hope you are all enjoying the Summer where ever you are. Mark

Hello all, it feels great to join here after reading this forum for weeks and scouring the net for all the info I could find on the DJ. Yesterday my wife and I finally took delivery of a brand new 2010 RT in sea blue from Sytners in Manchester, we had traded in our 4 year old Seat Alhambra tdi Stylance for it after seeing one on the road then googling it to find out what the hell it was ! The drive back to London was eye opening to say the least, a smooth competent drive and very very cool looks, with gadgets for everything, and motorway speeds with the 2ltr diesel are more than enough for the job. Dodge have really stumbled onto something here, Euro people carriers tend to be about as stylish as the ass end of a constipated dog and built to be functional at the expense of every other trait such as sportiness and road presence, and the DJ has this in spades, we absolutely love this car and time will tell if it delivers all it promises. in two days we leave London for our annual one month motoring expedition to South Eastern Romania, something we have been doing in the Seat Alhambra these past 3 years, but now we will be heading off in our new DJ, its a 2K mile ride taking us about 3 days across France, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary and finally Romania, I will be reporting back with updates on how the DJ takes the punishment of Romanian highways ! regards to you all. Mark