Addicted to Dodge

I don't totally buy into OEM tires spec'd so that they wear out quickly though I can understand if they are a softer compound to give a nice soft ride- yes, they may wear quicker if a driver is aggressive.
If this is true, can someone explain how the OEM Michelins on my Ram lasted 111,000 miles?
The OEM Kumho's on both the '09 Journey and the '10 Journey we've had were basically worn out at 40K miles. I put Firestone Affinity tires on the '10 at 42K miles and after 30K they are about 1/3 worn. Funny how the ride feels the same as the Kumho's.
The OEM tires (forget what brand - GY I think) I had on the '92 Acclaim we bought new lasted 60K miles easily.
Whether the Kumho's were spec'd by Chrysler or not, I am not impressed and won't purchase them as replacement tire for any vehicle I have in the future.

My review is as follows: Setup can be improved, as the included directions are somewhat confusing because it's translated. A quick google search turned up others who have this that explains how to set it up. You can select either 2,3 ,5 or 10 minute lengths for the video files. I have it set for 3 minutes. Meaning it records 3 minute clips. If the card gets full, it just overwrites the first and starts over. Honestly, once I got it configured and mounted, I never worry about it. It starts recording on its own, so no operator interaction is involved. Set it and forget it kind of thing. Is it top quality? No, is it a good entry level dash cam for someone new to dash cam scene. Yes. I read all the reviews on this particular one. Most people complained about the instructions or lack of quality on the units display. Others complain how "cheap" it feels (well, duh, it's only $20 : ) I use the display only to get it aimed correctly, if I want to review a recorded video, I pop the card out and watch it on a PC. I suggest you read all the reviews. It works great for me and for $20, it works just fine for my needs. I will try and get a video posted up later.

Do an internet search for Ford Lemon, or Chevy Lemon,toyota lemon, volvo lemon.....etc, etc.....every manufacturer has them.

It seems to me that Dealer negligence is the biggest part of the complaint. You can dig up stories like this on any car via the internet, not just Dodge Journey's. I love mine and will definitely buy another someday.

I work for a dealer. We've put, on average, 2-3 new Cherokees on the road per week since the car came out.
1) We've had over 60" of snow this winter and no complaints about the lights in any way.
2) Not one single complaint about the transmission. Jeep delayed the release of the Cherokee because of a software issue that affected the engagement of a dog clutch in the transmission. They flashed all the transmission controllers before they left the storage yards and that solved the problem. None of my customers have returned for any shifting issues whatsoever.
3) I have had no complaints of fuel economy specifically for the Cherokee. That being said, consider that the vehicle was released just before the onset of winter. Let's let the engines break in a little and let the temps come up and switch over from winter blend fuels. Everyone is complaining about a drop in fuel economy because of those reasons, on everything we sell.
4) No HVAC concerns have come across my desk, either. As a matter of fact, the only Cherokee that I've seen a problem with was a front end noise when the ambient temperature dropped well below freezing - like in the teens and colder. The problem was traced to an upper strut mount bearing. We replaced both sides and that corrected the issue. Other than that, my customers love them - and so do we. They are selling very well at my store.
I posted this information just to show the other side of a story. Yes, I am a bit biased because I work for a C/J/D/R SRT store, and maybe I sound a bit defensive. If I saw evidence of the issues posted on those forums, I would either concur or offer some insight as to why they are occuring. But so far, the Cherokee has been a good car right out of the box - at least for us at my store. I hope it continues.
The styling is definitely polarizing. I like the front end but not the rear. Kudos to Jeep for giving us something different. Let the people be free to love it or hate it.
Just returned from a 600 mile weekend road trip with our Journey. 27.7 MPG going, 28.1 on the return trip. 3.6, FWD, four passengers and our stuff, 68 MPH with cruise on. Relatively flat terrain. Very impressive for a 4000 lb 283 HP CUV. No complaints from me about those fuel economy numbers. About 2 MPG better than my 300M with a smaller, less powerful V6 and better aerodynamics.

All new designs come with growing pains, the Cherokee will be no different. To say the transmissions were blowing up like popcorn is a bit of exaggeration. The design was definitely a change that cars need nowadays. Manufactures seem to play it safe and stay with the trends, creating cars that look the same all across the board. Kudos to Jeep for thinking outside the box and pushing the envelope to expand the way cars look today. I also remember in the late 90's when the Dodge Ram was redesigned. Most people I talked to didn't like it, myself included, but it didn't take long before all trucks were made to look like this. Now, 15 years later, the grill and front ends still favor that trend.
Its no secret that CR has never been partial to Chrysler. If I listened to CR, then I would be driving a Toyota, Kia, or Honda. Me personally, I would never be happy driving a gas sipping, economy vehicle. I will gladly spend an extra dollar or two a day to enjoy 285hp and something that can haul my family of 5 and my dog. If gas mileage is a big concern then I wouldn't buy a Journey, but if you want performance and value, I would highly recommend the Journey.

All new designs come with growing pains, the Cherokee will be no different. To say the transmissions were blowing up like popcorn is a bit of exaggeration. The design was definitely a change that cars need nowadays. Manufactures seem to play it safe and stay with the trends, creating cars that look the same all across the board. Kudos to Jeep for thinking outside the box and pushing the envelope to expand the way cars look today. I also remember in the late 90's when the Dodge Ram was redesigned. Most people I talked to didn't like it, myself included, but it didn't take long before all trucks were made to look like this. Now, 15 years later, the grill and front ends still favor that trend.
Its no secret that CR has never been partial to Chrysler. If I listened to CR, then I would be driving a Toyota, Kia, or Honda. Me personally, I would never be happy driving a gas sipping, economy vehicle. I will gladly spend an extra dollar or two a day to enjoy 285hp and something that can haul my family of 5 and my dog. If gas mileage is a big concern then I wouldn't buy a Journey, but if you want performance and value, I would highly recommend the Journey.

I agree with most of his comments about apples and oranges - his last
paragraph is his allowable rant just as Journey41 had his in his post.
Have driven both and there distinct differences and as a non off-roader
urban driver I really like the Cherokee where as guys on the Jeep forum
tend to be hardcore users with different standards.
Again there are usually only 3 type of people on car forums happy
dedicated , pissed off unhappy and people stuck with questions
looking for help.
Usually not good to get in a pissing match.

Thank you my point exactly....it's the reason why Michelin's are held in very high regard as opposed to Khumo's. The dollars maybe good today but a bad reputation will last a very long time.

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.

That has got to be the longest sentence I have ever read....

Finally - car has been covered with road salt and spray for weeks. Temp is 50 degrees and sunny now. Snow in tomorrow morning's forecast, and again on Wednesday with temps in the teens and 20's. I don't care if it is only going to look good for a few hours - I just HAD to clean it!

Thanks for your input. You have made your point and we appreciate your insight into your particular vehicle. I would ask that you please stop flaming every thread you post in with your bashing of the DJ. You have problems with YOUR vehicle. Let others come to their own conclusions. You are not helping anyone.

Wow, Nina is one hot momma
Nice ride Benny!!

Looks like we have a troll in our midst. Not very sharp for a razor!

Sorry but we get the same or better with the V6 than we did with the 4. That 4 is just too undersized for this big of a vehicle. Even on trips we would barely crack 22 mpg. We are getting 19 around town, up0 to 26 on trips with the V6.

I have a 2013 sxt with the 4 and it never drops below 23.5 around town. On trips it usually stays between 27-28. A couple times it has got to 30.

As high as that is, it's not that much higher than the dealer. The dealer wanted $390 + tax for the rear pads and rotors. I bet the fronts would be $450-475+tax. I would be pushing $950 U.S. with the tax for the brakes. Thanks, but no thanks. DIY, my brakes were about $250 including that nice caliper tool kit and shipping!.

I got 40,300 miles out of the Kumhos. Honestly, I probably should have replaced them about 36,000 miles, but I'm stubborn in that on a ordinary, non-performance vehicles, radials ought to last at least 40k miles

Interesting how I got 40,000 kms. out of the tires but replaced my front brakes at 30,000 kms. so I too would have to agree it' not the driving style.
Terry

FWIW, I had to replace the OEM tires at around 28000km (17398 miles). The brakes are still good after 40000km (crossing fingers), so I don't think it's my driving style.

I know Dodge will not replace them as wear with tire is a fact of life. I replaced my original 19" Kumhos at 40,000 kilometers (24,000 miles), I know that many people have criticized the Kumhos and who am I to argue, in my case they were decent tires but there is always the other side. I replaced them with MIchelin Latitude HP's, and so far am very pleased. The store said I would probably get another summer from them but advised using them this winter. I live up north on the Canadian Prairies where winters can be tough. Personally I would have liked to get more mileage from them but I realize they were OEM tires and were probably quite soft so that the ride would be even nicer. I truly think to get maximum wear from them, you should rotate them faithfully, make sure the wheel alignment is proper and get them up to the proper tire pressure all the time so that the wear is consistent. This is just my opinion and should be taken as such.
Terry

in this picture we see the phone connected with the messaging active. I blacked out quick numbers at the top between dial and mute. I do want to make edits to the images clear.

This image shows the inbox. There are two options either view or listen to the text. Where the +1 is the phone number of the incoming message. I have blacked it out.

Finally we see the text content in the final image. Again the 1+ is where the phone number of the sender of the text.

So in the end a simple Samsung flip phone with bluetooth works very well if texting is important.

Understand that the tires that came with your car were not designed by Kumho. They were designed by Chrysler. If your new car came with a set of Kumho's, Kumho made the tire but they made it to the specifications set by Chrysler. The OEM tires that came with your car can’t be replaced (which is a good thing) after they’ve worn out. And they will wear out much sooner than they should. This is because virtually all auto manufacturers specify very soft rubber which means they wear out too fast. You can buy what you think is the same tire, but it will have a different model number when sold by a tire store. Auto manufacturers do this because they want that new car to have the smoothest ride possible, even at your expense of having to buy a new set of tires at half the mileage you should have to. When you test drive that brand new car and it rides very, very smoothly you’re more likely to buy it. You’ll find out how fast the tires wear out much later, and when you do you’ll blame it on the tire maker. Don't blame the tire maker, blame the vehicle manufacturer.

First complete wash and polish done on it! And looks better now! :D and thanks guys! I love it!