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Old 18-01-2019
Silvarbullit  Silvarbullit is offline
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Default GJC MY14/15 buying opinions/questions

Hi AJOR Community,

First time poster so please forgive my n00bness.

I'm seriously thinking about buying a used MY14 or 15 GJC in probably Limited spec but have a few questions/concerns so would love to hear some opinions from other WK2 owners. I've ruled out the older WKs out of reliability fears and the 5 speed auto for fuel economy reasons, as far as I can tell except for the occasional lemon horror stories, the WK2 are fairly mechanically reliable once the various recalls were done but are more often let down by weird electronics gremlins and crap dealer network.

The GJC would be a daily driver but the end goal would be to use it as an Overland Tourer for going around the country or through the middle such as Simpson desert crossing or Canning stock route etc more than a hardcore trail crawler. I don't intend to ever tow anything that would needs trailer brakes.

Most of my concerns stems from the Diesel vs Petrol question. Interested in the oiler due to the apparent driveability due to the torque, the better fuel economy and the issue of fuel availability of premium petrol in the outback (if it's even really still an issue?) plus the safety advantages of carrying Diesel over Petrol off road.

I'm still not sure if the price premium on the 2nd hand diesels (while better than new) is worth it over the petrol given the $/L of diesel and the fact that most of the diesels available here have much higher KMs than most of the Petrols available so are probably closer hitting more expensive maintenance intervals soon. As a rule I typically only do 10-15k KMs a year in normal city driving with my current car averaging 12k per year since new.

1. There doesn't seem to be many 3.0 Diesels available in my city at my preferred price range and the ones that are usually have much much higher kms for their age than the equivalent 3.6 petrols. There are a lot of Petrols with 80-90k kms available too with a few in the 50-60k km range. All around that 2013-2015 build year.

Should I be concerned about buying a 3.0 with 100-120k km's in the 2013/2014 years? Did the earlier years of the WK2 have any known issues with the Diesel (or petrol) that were fixed in later MY's so would be good to avoid? Are there any known reliability issues around that km's to be aware of?

100 or 120k doesn't seem to be much for most older diesels however I'm not so sure with newer turbo diesels with high pressure injection or DPF's which concern me much more.

2. Most of the reviews say the Diesel is much better for driveability around town with the extra torque, is the Petrol really that bad for city driving? I might find it difficult to back to back drive the 3.0 and 3.6 to get a good comparative feel given how few of them seem to be available in the same MY and price ranges. I've mostly driven petrol sports sedans around home and diesel 4WD's at work so I don't really have any feeling for what to really expect from a more than 2T Petrol 4WD.

3. Are there any simple obvious known issues with the earlier MY WK2s to look out for? I've researched a couple of potential cars by slipping the VIN number into the recall search on Mopar.com which suggest that they have each had various recalls done, are there any other obvious/simple things to watch out for? Seems most of the issues are electronics problems which would be difficult to replicate during a short test drive.

4. What is the state of iPhone integration in the UConnect 8.4's going back to MY14/15 ? Are they able to be updated to use Siri hands free or did Jeep stop providing updates to those radios years ago?

5. Are map updates on the the MY14/15's still easy to get? Assume the Uconnect 8.4" can still get sat nav mapping updates but are they only available through Dealers or are you able to pay and update the maps yourself at home etc.

6. Are there any tips anyone can offer on what might indicate if the GJC has been abused other than looking under the car for obvious dents and dings from off roading, full sets of under body skid plates or armouring and things like electronic brake controllers from towing heaving trailers or vans. Are there any body or structural issues which might also show signs of a hard life or should simply be checked like faulty door or window seals etc? I haven't seen any really consistent lists of genuine known issues on WK2's to look for, it all seems to be random stuff compiled by owners over the years but not consistently known issues.

For example some Prados had cracked inner guards or broken engine chasis mounts from offroading or bull bars.

7. Did all of the WK2 3.0 Diesels have DPF's and need Urea/Adblue or was it only more recent MY's say MY16 or 17 onwards?

8. Is there any truth to the suggestion that late 2014 build or MY15's had better build quality and assembly QA than the earlier 2013/14 MY14's so should ideally be looking for a 2015 build to get a better quality machine?

9. What's with the CD or DVD drive in the centre console which seems to take up half the space? Was that an option on some cars or is that common to all of the UConnects with the 8" screen? Seems a bit ridiculous!

Any opinions on all of that would be greatly appreciated. I think the GJC is a great mix of comfort, technology, styling and off road capability which most of its competitors really don't match.. if only they had the reliability and build quality reputation to go with!

Cheers!

Last edited by Silvarbullit; 18-01-2019 at 09:56 PM.
  #2  
Old 19-01-2019
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Hi Silvarbullet,

I am about to sell my 2014 Grand Cherokee Limited.
The specs on this vehicle are endless.

PM me your phone number and I will run through the specs, ins and outs of diesel over petrol etc.

Cheers, Craig
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Old 19-01-2019
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1. There was a quality drive at the GC assembly plant in sept 2013, so build dates after this are the way to go. The MY14s (8 speeds) began production early 2013. Not seeing a lot of DPF issues, there are dpf cleaning products that some like to use. A catch can may be worth while. There have been some main bearing failures in the diesels, particularly when towing. Jeep made some changes to shift points and oil viscosity to address this. Haven't been hearing much of these lately, but they happen.

2. I haven't driven the petrol, but a lot of petrol owners on the forums and facebook pages seem happy with them. Something that is noticeable in the diesel (may also affect the petrol) is a bit of lag off the line or when rolling to an intersection and then getting on the power. It can take it a second or two to grab a gear and go, some have used iDrive units with some improvement.

3. Nothing obvious, most common issue going around is alternator failures (jeep is doing a recall on the petrol alternator, but not the diesel alternator). Aircon condenser cracking, get an aftermarket replacement if you get this. ELSD motor failure ont eh rear diff pops up now and then. Overlands have leather covered dash, it can tend to lift and bubble, expensive to fix. In the test drive check for rough transmission changes, check for rough idle from a cold start, any warning lights on the dash, and suspension clunking. The QL suspension does clunk over big bumps, especially in OR1 or OR2 modes, thats normal, but the steel suspension is known for rattling and killing shocks, look for seeping from the shocks.

4. iPhone does handsfree calls and phone book integration, the bluetooth for music is a bit clunky. Mine did read texts out, until there was an update and it doesn't anymore.

5. Map updates have been a long running saga, just recently there have been some map updates released, dealers are charging around $200 for the update.

6. Wheel well liners can tell a story, lots of holes in them may suggest rubbing tyres and offroad work.

7. WK2s all have DPFs, no adblue.

8. See point 1

9. The CD player was pot luck, some got them, some didn't. There are kits to remove them and replace with a larger console tub. It may be discussed in a previous thread on here or on jeep garage forum.

If you want to go offroad, the rear elsd is good, and that also comes with the air suspension. I have this optioned on a limited, but it can be hard to find 2nd hand. Overlands came with it standard.

Also look at chief products for underbody protection, uneek do some stuff too. The front plastic/felt belly pan under the sump is the first thing to get ripped off when offroading. Mine is 5 years old, diesel limited, done lots of offroading, been very good, no problems so far.

Oh, and a lot of info on this facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/jeep...clubaustralia/
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Last edited by Benn0; 19-01-2019 at 01:21 PM.
  #4  
Old 19-01-2019
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Benno, has covered just about every issue known to have happened on a WK2, so I wont bother covering old ground.

My son in law has a 2013 WK2 3.6 2WD, mainly used in the City occassional Country run 100+klm no problems.

My son has my old 3.0L diesel Jeep commander, standard except for pre fuel filter added, 200+klm, no problems original DPF no issues.

I have 2016 WK2 Overland, 3.0L diesel, as Benno says, they can hesitate on take off, otherwise no problems, great car.

The Commander was my first Jeep would I buy another, without question.
The son in law is going to replace his with an Overland.
The son is going to replace his Commander with my Overland, when I've finished with it.
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Old 19-01-2019
Silvarbullit  Silvarbullit is offline
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Thanks for the really great replies Cherokee30D, Benn0 and 08crd.

I took a really well looked after low KM MY15 Limited 3.6 optioned with Quadra Lift (has never had a tow kit fitted) and full dealer service log books for a test drive and a newish MY18 Limited with the 3.0 (didn't have an equivalent age 3.0 in the yard) back to back just to get a feel for the diesel and I did notice the slight turbo lag on the Diesel but it wasn't that bad to me, was expecting worse but it felt pretty good and the engine wasn't that noisy but I'm not sure how much of that is really good sound deadening in the GC vs engine design as the 3.6 was also quiet unless I pushed it hard.

The Diesel did feel like it had a bit more urgency once it was moving but it did have that off idle hesitation that everyone mentioned although it didn't really turn me off the diesel. Both engines actually felt pretty good to drive, I thought the Petrol might have been a bit slow but it seems plenty strong enough at all the road speeds I could get it up to and the 8sp was really smooth to the point that I hardly noticed the gear shifts. I've had a car with an older ZF 6sp before and the 8sp seems just as nice. Overall the whole package (petrol or deez) feels awesome to drive and I was really impressed.

I'm only doing around 12k km's per year average in normal driving so I think the difference in Petrol price vs Diesel per litre and the lack of need to tow anything frequently probably pushes me towards the petrol for the price difference in fuel and car over the longer term.

I might have a look at another couple of cars just for reference but this particular car seemed to tick all the right boxes for me and the QL was just a nice cherry so I might end up making an offer on it. The VIN checks out for all the recalls that it seems to need according to the gov recalls site so it does seem to be a well sorted car.

It also does have the annoying CD player in the center console so I'll definitely have to look at the removal options if I end up buying it!
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Last edited by Silvarbullit; 19-01-2019 at 04:46 PM.
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Old 19-01-2019
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Most points have been covered here. Only thing I might add is if doing a fair bit of offroading, especially sandy types, the petrol would be very thirsty I would imagine compared to the diesel but if not going offroad much, I don't think it would be an issue.

I have a diesel limited MY15 with QL and find it extremely stiff and clunky when lifted but if you can put up with that they just walk up everything.

I had the CD in the centre console, bought a laredo bin from US (I used moparamerica) and it took maybe 1/2-1hr to change over. So worth it. There is so much space in that centre console without the stupid cd player.
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Old 19-01-2019
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Silvarbullit View Post
Thanks for the really great replies Cherokee30D, Benn0 and 08crd.

I took a really well looked after low KM MY15 Limited 3.6 optioned with Quadra Lift (has never had a tow kit fitted) and full dealer service log books for a test drive and a newish MY18 Limited with the 3.0 (didn't have an equivalent age 3.0 in the yard) back to back just to get a feel for the diesel and I did notice the slight turbo lag on the Diesel but it wasn't that bad to me, was expecting worse but it felt pretty good and the engine wasn't that noisy but I'm not sure how much of that is really good sound deadening in the GC vs engine design as the 3.6 was also quiet unless I pushed it hard.

The Diesel did feel like it had a bit more urgency once it was moving but it did have that off idle hesitation that everyone mentioned although it didn't really turn me off the diesel. Both engines actually felt pretty good to drive, I thought the Petrol might have been a bit slow but it seems plenty strong enough at all the road speeds I could get it up to and the 8sp was really smooth to the point that I hardly noticed the gear shifts. I've had a car with an older ZF 6sp before and the 8sp seems just as nice. Overall the whole package (petrol or deez) feels awesome to drive and I was really impressed.

I'm only doing around 12k km's per year average in normal driving so I think the difference in Petrol price vs Diesel per litre and the lack of need to tow anything frequently probably pushes me towards the petrol for the price difference in fuel and car over the longer term.

I might have a look at another couple of cars just for reference but this particular car seemed to tick all the right boxes for me and the QL was just a nice cherry so I might end up making an offer on it. The VIN checks out for all the recalls that it seems to need according to the gov recalls site so it does seem to be a well sorted car.

It also does have the annoying CD player in the center console so I'll definitely have to look at the removal options if I end up buying it!
You are pretty well on the money, if you aren't doing a lot of outback or offroad work, go the petrol. It will be cheaper to buy, fuel will be cheaper and unless you are towing or heavy off road, consumption wont be a lot different.
It makes me cry because I love diesels.
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