Why is Jeep an unreliable brand? Mine has been faultless…
QUESTION
Hello John,
Have just read your de-construction of the FCA Brand in Australia AGAIN (in particular Jeep).
Working on the 99th percentile or something less than that for that matter, I’m confused.
If 90-something-per cent of Jeep owners are happy with their experience, be it:
Driving enjoyment
Vehicle quality (reliability)
Warranty experience
Then extrapolating this view how can design be deficient? I’d suggest the problem is more to do with quality control at the factory?
My experience: 2014 Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk. No reliability issues until PSU (Rear diff?) suffered failure at 100km/h. Outside the then Jeep warranty of three years and whatever k. Cost to rectify many thousands… Jeep warranty response marginal.
Asked Jeep to trade in on a 2018 Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk. Jeep agreed to trade as if my 2014 had no PSU issue. Great, did the deal. Picked up my 2018 Trailhawk. Vehicle had no GPS. It transpired that my 2018 was a misbuild and the car wiring did not support U-Connect GPS without major modification. Bottom line after 7,000kms and six months’ ownership Jeep give me a brand new 2019 Trailhawk (with GPS) and 12 months rego.
Now there was a lot of tooing and frooing involved but I had a good dealer and like a challenge (Gold Coast Jeep). End result have had 10,000km trouble free motoring in my Trailhawk and it really is a good car (so far). Nothing in the toy SUV market can touch it off road, it’s seriously good in this respect.
I also have a 2000 Porsche 986s – 6sp manual, purchased 18 months ago with 71,000km on it. It’s now done 83,000.00 with costs of a new RMS, New Front discs and pads. New suspension boot (RHF), new bump stops and new Yoko tyres…etc. Again for $20,000 plus above expenses, nothing can touch it. Really, it’s quite the drive. Methinks that while your views are valid, you are positioning your approach to the refrigerator demographic (ie those that consider their car a whitegood).
When are you going to open up your “Enthusiast Channel” cause I know you are one. (Hyundai N and Kia Stinger V6) so that we can hear what you really think. Your mainstream channel appears to mute your personality somewhat? Just sayin…
Joel
NB: Sometime it’s the consumer’s fault…?
ANSWER
There were about 150 Space Shuttle missions and two spectacular failures. On the basis of this, you might want to re-frame your (rhetorical) inquiry into design deficiency at the 99th percentile. Both failures were inside the 99th percentile - both were design deficiency related, although other factors (such as management deficiency) also pertained.
You should re-read your e-mail analytically: you spend most of the words apologising for the design and construction inadequacy of the vehicles you referenced. Also, you haven’t had trouble-free motoring in your latest shitbox Jeep - it was mis-built, hence your “tooing and frooing”. Pro Tip: Only one ‘o’ in ‘to-ing’ and ‘fro-ing’. (It derives from going to and coming from).
Another inconvenient fact that fails to register: Most people who buy new cars just want them to be reliable and do everything reasonably well (the so-called whitegood demographic you refer to). The ‘car enthusiast’ segment is commercially irrelevant.
USEFUL LINKS FOR POTENTIAL JEEP BUYERS
My ‘enthusiast channel’ - what an awesome way to go broke. Fancy that: me positioning myself commercially where the vast majority of new-car buyer interest actually is. Go figure. I wonder, ‘why did I do that?’
I get that you’re a Jeep- and Volkswagen-owning enthusiast nutter (in a nice-ish way) - that’s allowed.
But I’m not about to join that particular boy-band, with all due respect. I’m quite glad you still like your unreliable, badly built but exciting Jeeps and Volkswagens.
Sincerely,
JC
NB: Sometimes the consumer doesn’t even realise they’re being taken for a ride, Joel…
Joel,
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