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Invisible Dodge Journey


dhh3

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Has the Dodge Journey always been so invisible? Since I have had mine only since the end of June, I have no idea.

About two weeks after I bought mine, I was leaving Church and as I walked toward my DJ, a man remarked, "Nice color! BTW, what kind of car is that? Nice looking". He had no idea that Dodge had such a car in its lineup.

None of my friends knew what it was, but all of them like it. No complaints here!

Last weekend, I was at a regional Slot Car Race. In between races, I went outside for some fresh air - might have been the last warm day of the season. One of the racers asked me if the copper car was mine. When I said yes, he wanted to know which model Ford it was. He could not believe that it was a Dodge until I showed him the grill.

I see DJs all the time, even when I was still driving my Nitro. In fact, I was looking at DJs when I bought my Nitro back in 2011.

When I am driving, I do get looks all of the time. Mostly from other DJ drivers. I see people looking at it when I am parked in a lot. Is it the color? The fact that it is a Crossroad? Granted, I have only seen one advertisement for the DJ on TV. Come on Dodge; lets get some name recognition out there!

Edited by dhh3
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It's true; many people don't know the car at all. I promote it constantly at my dealership and have helped sell a few as a result, but you are correct in that it is hardly promoted. I see Jeep commercials all the time but rarely a DJ spot. No one in my town has another one in Copper Pearl either (I like that, though!) And yet our friends in Canada have made them hugely popular (thank you!). I read the U.S. sales reports from Chrysler and each year they have increased, but where I do not know.

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It's true; many people don't know the car at all. I promote it constantly at my dealership and have helped sell a few as a result, but you are correct in that it is hardly promoted. I see Jeep commercials all the time but rarely a DJ spot. No one in my town has another one in Copper Pearl either (I like that, though!) And yet our friends in Canada have made them hugely popular (thank you!). I read the U.S. sales reports from Chrysler and each year they have increased, but where I do not know.

There are a buttload of them in Minnesota... I had no idea they existed until I started looking for a new vehicle and I'm a Dodge guy...

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The DJ isn't invisible, people are brand blind. Marketing is everything. When all my friends really look at my DJ, they are impressed. When I get after it and the Pentastar pushes them back in their seat they are wow'd! They're not diggin' their 4 cyl as much anymore. Ha. Fit and finish in our DJs is just as good as anything out there, IMO.

Last 450 mile trip my DJ got 24.2 mpg with a bike on the roof, 3 passengers, and luggage. I'm still impressed.

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Everytime I visit friends and family Jersey, FL, PA, MD, DE, etc, I never see a Journey. Not one. As soon as I return to MI, Journeys are rolling around as far as the proverbial eye can see. No idea why. I recall seeing commercials for the Journey in 2008 for the 2009 model year. I thought it was a nice enough vehicle, but didn't consider buying one since I didn't need one. Then I started getting interested in wagons, and when I decided to take the plunge and look at them, Journey was second to the Grand Cherokee in my mind, having seen so many of them around here. Value is what won me on it.

Sadly, most of the people I know who aren't already Mopar or No Car types look at it and ask me why I bought a minivan at 27 years old. I think there is a stigma attached to it since the first two model years were indistinguishable from the minivans at the front and were designed to be alternatives to the minivans, which themselves are stigmatized as family haulers that people trade in sports cars for when they start having kids. Fiat did an amazing job redesigning and separating it from the vans, but I don't think it will gain national attention at least until it's re-engineered for 2016 and falls more in line with Dodge's performance image (with Caravan being dropped in support of that image).

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