onecrazyfoo4u

As long as you stick to a 2012 or above, you'll be fine. Most of the kinks have been worked out with the brakes, and the bad cooling passeges on the cylinder heads. I believe those were really the only two big issues.
I too looked at consumer reports and laughed at how it was rated. It's all subjective matter; every magazine or website will rate it differently. I personally, don't base my buying decision on what a magazine says. I test drive it and join a forum to get the inside scoop on what to look for and common problems. That's where you'll get the real information.
When it comes to everything you can get for the price; it is very hard to beat the value of the Journey. My price cutoff was $25k for a hopefully new vehicle. I was looking at used Toyota's, Honda's, Hyundai's, etc for 5-7 seat suv's and crossovers. I could either get a used vehicle with 50k+ miles with less options and worse gas mileage. Or get a fully loaded brand new Journey Crew with tons of extra options and a great warranty. The choice was pretty obvious for me. You can't get a new vehicle with this many options for under $25k, except for the DJ. That's what my research showed at least...

There's a lot that goes into mileage calculations. Driving conditions, driving style, seasonal fuel changes etc. I didn't notice any significant change in mileage until 8,000 Kilometres and it steadily improved after that. My combined city/highway average has been 10.5 L/100km which equates to 22.4 mpg (U.S) or 26.9 (Imperial). That total is for 36,000 plus kilometres. It's not a fuel miser or a glutton. Given the size of the Journey and the performance of the 3.6, I'm quite satisfied. My wife and I went on an extended (13,654 KM's or 8484 miles) road trip in 2013 and I wrote a report on the forum in which I shared our experience. You can search for it in "Owner Impressions" page 2. The winter fuel makes a huge difference, as does a heavy foot which the 3.6 tempts me to have on occasion. As long as I act my age it's not so bad LOL. Whatever you decide I wish you the best. The only thing to fear is fear itself.

I regularly get 24-25mpg with 70-80% highway driving. On road trips of 100% highway I get around 28mpg. The city driving is what kills mileage. But that's similar for every vehicle.

onecrazyfoo4u, is absolutely right about getting the information from the forum instead of Consumer Reports. I joined this forum in May of 2012 and we ordered our 2013 Journey in September 2012. The information and advice I got from the members convinced me that the Journey was a good buy. I have over 36,000 kilometres of trouble free driving on it now. It's been the best vehicle I've ever owned. Have there been dissatisfied Journey owners? You bet. But there are a lot more that love their Journeys. In Windsor where I live, there are so many they seem to travel in herds LOL! As you admit yourself there's a lot on the roads and I think that's a better testament to the Journey's value and reliability than someone who spent a few hours behind the wheel.

I wouldn't waste money trying to re-balance the tires. Those kuhmos just never could get balanced perfectly. I always had a slight shudder around 60 mpg. Mine lasted till 40k miles. Just get them replaced when the tread runs out, then see if you need an alignment after the new tires.

I wouldn't waste money trying to re-balance the tires. Those kuhmos just never could get balanced perfectly. I always had a slight shudder around 60 mpg. Mine lasted till 40k miles. Just get them replaced when the tread runs out, then see if you need an alignment after the new tires.

Man, looking good. How much does a set that big run you?

This is exactly why I always do my own oil changes. 10 years ago I took my honda to a shop...they didn't put an o-ring on with the oil filter. Needless to say, all the oil drained out after I drove it a couple miles. I drove it very gently dry (no oil) for about 5 miles to the store to get a new filter/oil. It never had a problem many years after that.
How far did you drive it? Did you drive it very gently? If it's a very small amount, IMO you should be fine. I would still save all paperwork, take pictures with a date stamp, save the oil you drained, confront the shop manager. See what they say. They should put you on some official record so that if anything happens in the future, the shop would be liable to pay. If they refuse to do anything, then you'll have to file a lawsuit.
Please never use these cheap oil change shops again!!!

Forbes can suck my walnuts. I personally never care what an organization says. If I like the car, and the price is right, I'm going to buy it. Almost at 20k miles on my 2012 Crew...not a single problem. Still love the heck out of it!

Just upgrade your interior lighting so it's all LED bulbs. We did that first thing when we got ours and it makes a huge difference. Super annoying how Dodge couldn't splurge the extra $10 to make everything inside LED.
I wonder if there's any way to retrofit a power lift for the hatch? That would be nice to have too. Just give the transmission time to break in; it'll get better. At least ours did after probably 6 months of driving or so. Have you had the TSB done to reflash the transmission?

Why not just spray the tail lights with VHT night shades? That's what I've done in the past to get tinted tailights. Just personal preference, but I won't be spraying the tail lights on my DJ, I like the way the look stock (at least in 2012+ years).

Correct, one hand touch unlocks everything. On my 2012 there's a button on the rear hatch like klingoff describes...that also unlocks everything.

Do you realize that you just paid almost $1000 on labor to install brakes? You can easily get good quality 4 rotors and 4 pads for around $300. It's about a 3-4 hour job do replace all 4 corners.
I don't feel bad for people that complain about the labor costs for things. That's why I do it all myself; saves a lot of money.

Dealer finally got the head in. Got my appointment scheduled for tomorrow so we'll see how it goes!

Holy cow, 8000k HIDs are like purple. Why did you go with that choice?

Forbes can suck my walnuts. I personally never care what an organization says. If I like the car, and the price is right, I'm going to buy it. Almost at 20k miles on my 2012 Crew...not a single problem. Still love the heck out of it!

Man, there comes a point when you just need to replace the brakes on your own with your own cash. It's only a few hundred bucks for some good quality rotors/pads. STOP USING THE CRAPPY OEM BRAKES!!
My plan is to just replace the front rotors/pads soon with wagners. Why continue to waste your time at the dealer using crappy oem parts? Even if it is covered under warranty, wasting 4-6hours at the dealer each visit would cost me more in work hours missed than just replacing them with my own parts that will last years. That's my opinion on the matter at least.

I would be concerned since they aren't name brand or anything. Probably not much better quality than the oem ones. I good set of brakes for all 4 corners should cost you closer to $400 (about $100 for good ceramic pads front/rear) and (about $300 for all 4 rotors). You'll probably be back to square one if you get cheap brakes on ebay.
Stick to name brands like Powerslot, Wagner, Hawk, EBC, etc.

Thank you for mentioning the transmission. My wife and I were ready on buying the Ford Escape until I googled a few reviews and found they had a chronic problem with their transmissions.......my neighbour who owns one said his was repaired twice. No thanks, don't want to go anywhere near a big expensive headache like that!

Just put some garbage bags or tarps under them . I didn't get the integrated booster seats, but just put in a couple of car seat mats under our two car seats. I know that doesn't help you at all...