generaltso

But I think this is really the heart of the issue. There are various reasons why people may want this feature while others couldn't care less about it. Everyone's entitled to their opinions. In my case, I want to easily be able to select a song because my kids ask for specific songs all the time at random, and I don't want to have to enter text on the screen to search while I'm driving. Not having the ability to select songs by title with voice command is a dealbreaker for me, and I wouldn't buy the car without it. If I had ordered a 2011 after seeing this feature detailed in the Dodge Journey literature only to find out that it didn't exist, I'd be upset. I understand that sometimes literature can be wrong, but the 2011 has been for sale for over a year now and this functionality is STILL listed as a feature on the Dodge website. Knowing about this disparity with the 2011 system, I made sure to get confirmation from Chris (DodgeCares) that the 2012 definitely does have this ability before placing my order. I can only imagine how upset I would be if I ordered a 2011 and waited 3 months for my order to come in only to find out that this advertised feature was missing. I think anyone in that boat does have a legitimate complaint.

Do you know if the Rear Seat Video Group comes with Sirius Backseat TV? It looks like it did in 2010, but I can't find any mention of it for 2011 or 2012.

And they release how-to videos specifically for the 2011 Journey that mention features that aren't available even as options. I have yet to find an accurate list of options that actually are available on the 2012 Journey.

I didn't think so. The SmartBeam feature is mentioned briefly in the owner's manual, but there's no mention of rain sensing wipers. I wonder why these features end up in Journey documentation and videos but don't actually exist as options for the Journey. It makes it hard to tell what you really can and can't get.

I noticed that this video mentions rain sensing wipers and a "smart beam" system that can automatically turn off your high beams when another car approaches. Do those two options really exist on the Journey?

I don't think the Canadian R/T is the same as the American R/T, which is why you're seeing differences. Are you sure chrome wheels weren't an option? They kept getting automatically added to my Crew order even thought I don't want them.

It's not a bad idea to hide a fob without the battery somewhere in the car, but you're right that you wouldn't be able to get into the car if you don't have another key. I guess you could hide the fob in the car without the battery and then also hide the emergency physical key on the outside of the car somewhere. Even if you don't have a battery, you should be able to start the car by pushing the start button with the end of the fob. The reason this works is that it relies on RFID instead of the active transmitter in the remote that requires a battery. Same tech as SpeedPass.

Hmm. So the factory Nav doesn't use the satellite position to display it's speed? It uses the VSS signal from the car instead? I guess it's not a huge deal if the Nav always says that it's going 0mph, but I like how the speed turns red when I go over the speed limit on my standalone Garmin. I suppose that will never work on the factory Nav when it's lockpicked.

Does that mean that the Lockpick doesn't interfere with the speed display on the Nav?

As promised, a rep from Chrysler got back to me today and told me that they have added the rear seat entertainment to my order. I'm very impressed with the communication!

You can't actually track it with the order number. You have to wait until they assign a VIN before you can track it. I'm told that a VIN gets assigned within a couple weeks of the order. If your email address is on the order, you should receive the VIN as soon as it's assigned. If you have any questions, you can send an email to the Chrysler ordering group. I got an email back from them right away, and they've been very helpful. They were even able to make a change to my order that my dealer told me wasn't possible. Their email is voimteam@chrysler.com.

Is that how the lockpick gets around the Nav input restriction? How can it navigate properly if it always thinks that it's not moving? The Coastaletech site says that the Lockpick won't interfere with any Navigation functions. But if the speed is always shown as 0, that's certainly an interference. I would imaging that it also won't tell you when you're speeding if it doesn't think you're moving?

Congrats! I ordered a 2012 Crew in the same color, but it will probably be a while before I see it. Any chance you can post more pics of the inside and outside? The more the better!

Should be easy to test. Just reformat the hard drive to FAT32 and see if it works.

The crossbars don't come on the US models. I still have to buy them as an accessory for the 2012 Crew I ordered.

Do the AVS and Weathertech hood deflectors have the little plastic nubs that the Mopar deflector has to hold it away from the hood? Or are the aftermarket deflectors positioned farther from the hood so they're not needed?

Well, it turns out the dealer was wrong. My car doesn't have a VIN yet, it has a VON which is just an order number. But they still don't think the order can be changed. I sent an email directly to Chrysler, and they got right back to me saying that they'll send the request to the factory and get back to me Monday. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

For this point, I'm talking about the 2011 RB5 (8.4N) radio with Bluetooth and Voice Recognition. I understand that not all radios have the voice recognition system. But reports from people here indicate that even the radios that do have the voice recognition system are not capable of selecting songs by name or artist by voice. That's what I'm confused about since it's specifically listed as a feature in so many places. That being said, you already confirmed for me that the 2012 model will definitely have this functionality, which is what I was most concerned about, so I greatly appreciate that confirmation. The functionality of the 2011 VR system is more curiosity for me at this point, but I know there are a lot of 2011 owners that want this functionality. Thanks for the confirmation on the ability to pause Sirius. That was a feature I didn't realize it had, but am looking forward to using.

I just read the VEC section in the owner's manual that details how the rear seat entertainment integrates with the head unit, and it sounds like it's really slick! Now I'm thinking I should have included the rear entertainment in my order. Did you have any trouble adding the packages to your order after it was already submitted? I called my dealer to see if I could add it, and they said that the car is in "D1" status and already has a VIN number assigned, so they can't make any changes. But that seems weird since your order was placed before mine.

Not to beat a dead horse, but I just saw this on the 2011 Uconnect description page (http://www.dodge.com/en/2011/journey/innovations/uconnect/). Integrated Gracenotes® database provides Music ID and Album Art as well as generates voice tags, allowing songs and artists to be selected using voice recognition commands It doesn't get much clearer than that. How is it possible that there's so much documentation (including the owner's manual) that states that you can select songs and artists with voice command when it doesn't actually work with 2011 systems? Unrelated, I also noticed that it says you can pause and playback live Sirius radio. Does that feature really exist? Can you pause FM also or just Sirius?

That's interesting. It looks like the rear HVAC is missing a knob in that picture. Do you know if the rear screen is controlled by the front head unit and plays the DVD from the front? It doesn't look like there's a separate DVD player in the rear.

They gave me the $1500 Customer Cash and came down $1200 on the price, so I only got about $2700 below MSRP. I thought I could do better, but the dealer wouldn't budge on that price. That equates to about $32k. I went with: 2012 Crew AWD - Navigation and Sound Group - Flexible Seating Group - Heated Seats - Second Row Booster Seats - Power Sunroof - Trailer Tow Prep Package - OEM Hitch w/ Install By the way, where did you find specifics on how the rear seat entertainment integrates with the front head unit? I haven't seen those details before.

Yeah, the packages have some redundant features since you can add them to the different trim levels that may or may not already come with them. You'd think there would be a discount on the package price if some of the features are already included as standard or part of another package, but sadly, that's not the case.

Could be. I wonder if that's any different with the 8.4.

Yeah, it is pretty silly. I was thinking I would go with the 7 way plug if given the option since it has the spring loaded cap and doesn't require the plastic adapter plate. But it sounds like the car definitely won't come with the right harness for that. I guess I should just order the adapter plate since I'm sure the dealer won't have one. Is there any option for a cap to protect the 4 pin plug?