My jeep sucks....Tell us about your experience with your vehicle

[loborugger]

My first car was a 92 Ford Escort. It was running fine at 140 grand when my wife was T-boned in it and it was totaled.

The next vehicle I bought was Saturn SL. I would say that I am not a huge Saturn fan, and the interior was very cheap and plastic, but that car serviced us well until we outgrew it. I think we bailed on it at 175 k or something like that.

In the time after my Escort got crunched, I had a couple of used VWs, and they were cool, but then in 2000 I replaced them with a 2000 Jeep Wrangler. No problems with the Wrangler. Its only got 76 (or is it 67, cant remember) K on it, but no problems.

Then 3 1/2 years ago I bought my wife a Chevy Tahoe. She loved it. I now live in Bolivia, so we gave the Chevy to my sister's family members, but they arent having any problems, either.

Finally, in Feb 06, I bought a Mustang. Right off the show room floor, only had 71 miles on it. Now, I havent put 10 grand on it (its sitting back in NM with a car cover on it teasing my minister father-in-law), but its been a pleasure, too.

Railing on US manufactured cars is a common theme here, and I have known people burned by them, but I havent ever had much of a problem. I've never bought a new import, and outside of 2 used VWs (a 78 Scirocco and 90 Corrado), I've never owned an import.

Its funny, Meck, that you should be so perturbed with Jeeps, cuz when I went and looked at Jeeps in 2000, my far and away largest concern was that it was a Chrysler product. Nonetheless, I have had many friends that had Cherokees, and they loved them. A friend of mine totaled their Cherokee and replaced it with another.

Good luck with yours.

[Meck77]

Originally Posted by orinjkrush

jeez, just check out consumer reports already.
jeeps are known as POSs.

I had a momentary lapse of reason. It happens!

I will say my 87 MCI has been reliable though. Only broke down on me once. Turned out it was only a fuse but when your vehicle is 40 feet long it takes awhile to figure out where all of them are.

[alkemical]

Lemme tell ya bout the engine design flaws in a 1990 Bronco II 2.9L V6.....

[Rigs11]

I have a 96 tacoma 4x4, that facker goes anywhere.Through mud, snow, not once broken down, has 170,000 miles on it.I also have a 97 mitsubishi montero sport with 130,000. same thing, jap cars will run forever.

[smalltowngrll]

My durango saved my life!! Does that count?

[Meck77]

Originally Posted by smalltowngrll

My durango saved my life!! Does that count?

How so?

So I edited the thread title. Thought I'd tone down my hatred for American cars a bit. I guess a few of you (very few) have had some better luck than me!

[Master___Pain]

I've had Japanese cars my entire life until my wife and I got married. She has two American cars. A 2002 Denali and a 1999 convertible Firebird. While the Firebird is fun to drive I don't trust it at all. It's got 140k on it and I'm just waiting for it to break down. The Denali on the other hand is a great car, 100K and has been on a lot of road trips. I drive an 2001 Nissan Pathfinder, the second Pathfinder I've owned and it's just as awesome as the first one. I've also had two different Acuras that were fantastic cars as well. If I were looking at a full size truck right now it's be a Titan or Tundra.

[Los Broncos]

I've driven my Tercel back and fourth to Utah many times, never missed a beat.

[missingnumber7]

You should get an MRAP those things can take a blast and keep ticking.

[Dead Head]

I drive an 07 Toyota FJC TRD. It owns it. Snow, rock, sand, or dirt/mud it doesn't matter. The BFG A/T tires make it so. It's been to the atlantic ocean and independence pass all in the same week.

[Florida_Bronco]

Sorry to hear about your problems with the Jeep Meck. Part of me wonders what the vehicle was treated like before you owned it. In alot of the circles of car guys I run with, Jeep Grand Cherokees seem to be a favorite for daily drivers. I hear many stories of people running up over 200-300k miles on them without any major repairs. Seems like you must have got one that was abused and/or just plain bad luck.

I own a 1994 Mustang GT. Purchased it on June 26th of 2004. When I bought the car it had 202k miles on it. As of right now it has close to 230k miles on it. I've only had the following problems.

- Rebuilt the transmission
- Replace the starter
- Replace tailshaft housing

It should be noted that every one of those problems was my fault. Since I've owned the car it's made several trips per year to the local dragstrip for the test and tune nights. The transmission went bad after I did too much powershifting chasing a low E.T, the starter went bad when I kept trying to crank it on a very dead batter after leaving the lights on and the tailshaft housing cracked due to being run on the dyno with a worn U-joint.

Almost 230k miles on the original non-rebuilt engine. It's driven everyday (and sometimes, hard) taken to the dragstrip and raced and modified (exhaust, pullies, intake, shifter, removed emissions equipment) and it runs perfectly.

That is what happens when you maintain a car. I have all the receipts on this car since it left the dealer lot in late 1993 and can verify all maintence was done on time. Despite me being hard on the car, she still runs great with only the aforementioned problems and replacing a window switch and door lock actuator (less then $40 for both repairs total)

As far as American vs Japense quality, well the gap is very small now. For decades American cars have had quality engines like the small block Fords and Chevys, but the smaller less produced engines tended to be problematic as were the interiors. However back in the early to mid 90's alot of the domestic car companies took those things more seriously and they have improved alot. Cars like the Ford Escort/Taurus Chevy Malibu and so forth, which used to be jokes compared to their Japanese brethen, have now closed the gap and are equaling or surpassing them.

[Bronco Yoda]

I have a Jeep Grand Cherokee. They are notorious for electrical problems.