2016 Jeep Cherokee situation

[gmerkt]

My daughter has wound up driving one of these things. Here's how it works with her husband. Her Hyundai sedan got totaled in an accident. So husband gave the Jeep to my daughter and then went out and bought a Cooper Mini that he'd been wanting.

This 2016 Jeep Cherokee (with Trail Rated badge on the side, whatever that means) has 68K miles showing. They bought this thing used about three years ago. About a year ago, it started making noises in the drivetrain. My son-in-law took the thing in to the local Dodge dealer. Their diagnosis, when the vehicle was built, not all of the torque converter bolts had been installed and those that had been eventually sheared off from fatigue. Also, there was a major front suspension component that was defective. These two defects were repaired under warranty. I didn't ask if it was factory warranty or some bojack used car add-on warranty.

I assume this Jeep has the V6 engine, as my daughter says it gets pretty horrible fuel economy. She can't quote me numbers, just says that she has to buy about twice as much fuel now as she did when driving the Hyundai.

A couple of weeks ago, my daughter gave us a ride to the piers in the Jeep. I have hearing impairment, but I've always been very good at hearing (and usually diagnosing) abnormal sounds made by vehicles. Right away, I could hear this Jeep has an axle bearing on the way out. It's funny how most people are so tuned out as to hearing these sounds, as my daughter was, who said she hadn't noticed it. Since I pointed it out to her, she now says she too can hear it.

Okay, the question is, should a Jeep like this have such problems at 68K miles? Are these things any good, in general, or do they tend to be a POS? This one appears to be very clean, I don't know that it's ever been off road.

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[Flopsweat]

Okay, the question is, should a Jeep like this have such problems at 68K miles?

No vehicle should have these problems at 68K miles. It sounds like they got a Friday car. That may explain why someone sold it with so few miles, unless it's a lease vehicle.

Have a mechanic that you trust look over the entire vehicle. Then decide whether to sell it or fix it.

 

[Alexx1401]

As Flopsweat said they got a lemon. Of course this should NOT have these problems this early in its life. Sadly this kind of thing happens. Buying a used car is always a crap shoot. Even buying one with low mileage this can and does happen. As for what to do now? Either buy a GOOD extended warranty or trade the damn thing off.
As for MPG this is to be expected. Have a Trail Rated Wrangle that's a little newer. Original owner ordered it with larger off road rated tires and the V6. Running aroung 16MPG using it for work. Suspension is kind of stiff too but, buy a Jeep made to use off road this is the trade off you are making. When we were looking for this latest Jeep we steered clear of a couple for warning signs. One 2019 only 40K miles on it. When we ask to test it battery is stone dead. While the sales guy is jumping it battery looks fairly new. 1st red flag. He tried to tell me someone must have left lights on. Can't easily be done on these. Next AC is dead. 2nd red flag. Sales guy of course said they could re charge it. I told him no thanks. The AC is a sealed system. If the coolant leaked out there is a problem other than simply adding more. Battery stone dead worries me to. That one was not "trail rated" and did drive far smoother. So getting the trail rated is a trade off. Also even though we paid cash for this Jeep, I did buy 3 years of warranty for it. Now days there is so much electronic stuff on cars that it does not take much to end up with HUGE repair bills. Sounds like unless they are using a Jeep for off road stuff? Then trade that one in on something more suited for what they are doing. With the low mileage the trade in value is good.

 

[gmerkt]

That may explain why someone sold it with so few miles, unless it's a lease vehicle.

Maybe it's just my suspicious nature, but I was thinking maybe it was a repo that the surrendering owner intentionally sabotaged, referring here to that business with the bolts missing from the torque converter.

Have a mechanic that you trust look over the entire vehicle. Then decide whether to sell it or fix it

That's a thought, but by now they are working the bugs out of it by trial and error. It's always a hassle for the average person to turn over from one vehicle to another.

This Jeep is certainly not the most problematic Chrysler product that my son-in-law has bought over the years. His saga of serially owned Chrysler products would make an interesting tract about crappy design and build quality.

The Hyundai Elantra of my daughter's that got crashed was 11 years old and ran with minimal maintenance and problems. My son-in-law's Chrysler products usually turned over about every five years or so.

 

[gmerkt]

Update: The heater issue. It would blow, but not very hot. Turns out the vehicle was low on coolant. When she took it in, they told her the radiator had a hole in it. But guess what? When they bought that vehicle, they got sucked into the extended warranty sale. Which covered the cost of the new radiator, less $50 deductible. And I guess it's been paying for the other repairs that have been needed along the way:

2016 Jeep Cherokee situation

My daughter has wound up driving one of these things. Here's how it works with her husband. Her Hyundai sedan got totaled in an accident. So husband gave the Jeep to my daughter and then went out and bought a Cooper Mini that he'd been wanting. This 2016 Jeep Cherokee (with Trail Rated...

www.northwestfirearms.com

It makes my heart glad to hear someone is getting something back out of one of those extended warranties. The Chrysler dealer must sell a better version than others. Car Shield is one that I hear bad things about. It is much advertised but railed against by customers. My dear old dad used to warn me against high volume advertisers.

Update from a kinda-sorta related thread.