Our Jeep Commander is back in service! Thanks to Harper Ford / Kia / Jeep, their helpful Green Team service writer Scott List, and an anonymous mechanic, a new starter arrived in the morning shipment from San Francisco and was installed by lunch. And no, I don't think we received any special treatment, as I never let on where I work or what I do for a living.
Total cost: Zero, zilch, nada. That goes for the Daimler-Chrysler roadside assistance tow, the shuttle rides for the family, and the new starter. As a bonus, they washed the Jeep and topped-off the fuel tank. I don't know how many gallons they added, so my next fuel economy numbers might be a bit bogus, but I'm just glad to be back on the road. Thanks guys!
My father and I drove the 120 miles south to pick up our friend, and then headed back. We arrived home in time to take the Jeep on a run through the woods and up to the top of a nearby mountain to watch the sun set over the Pacific.
Dad, riding shotgun, complained of the lack of a roof-mounted grab handle as we bounced along the track. Mom had one in the back seat, but dad couldn't find anything decent to hang on to. Yes, there is a grab handle on the a-pillar, but that one is for getting in and out and is in the wrong location for off-roading.
Day 4 tally: 130.5 miles, 4 of which were a steep low-range hill climb.
Dan Edmunds, Director of Automotive Testing @ 24,745 miles
rsholland says:
07:39 AM, 08/24/06
The problem I'm having here is that new cars shouldn't break, let alone break twice. It's great not having it cost a dime to repair, but the cost in aggravation and time lost must be worth something...
lmyers92123 says:
02:15 PM, 08/24/06
Life is never as perfect as we wish. Sometimes our quest for perfection leads us to false expectations. Yes, I would upset but like driver Dan I would go with the flow. I guess the compensation was a tank of gas. OK..reasonable by me.
editor_karl says:
04:41 PM, 08/24/06
The wife made the exact same statement, regarding the lack of a passenger grab handle, during our family flog in the Commander last month.
Glad you're back on the road!
jerrywimer says:
09:46 AM, 08/25/06
New cars shouldn't break Bob. But then reality sets in and you find out that there is at least some small portion of every batch of products that have issues. Just be happy that it's so rare now.
Also, in case anyone's thinking this is a Jeep thing- I still remember something about a certain Honda product leaving some reviewers sitting on the side of the road a while back. (Not saying Honda's terrible too, just illustrating the first point above)
actualsize says:
11:40 AM, 08/25/06
Yes, but a starter? How difficult is that technology? Value engineering is the only thing that has been done to parts like this for years. Ah, perhaps that's why.
Believe me, the time and inconvenience was no picnic. Rather than my planned 120 mile drive north in one vehicle, there were 5 total vehicel trips of this length: Two up and back trip of 240 miles each in dad's Odyssey at $3 per gallon, and one trip up in the repaired Commander. And since the Jeep only made it 11.4 miles after its last fill-up before breaking, the dealer's top-off "gift" amounted to, what, 2 gallons tops? ;-)
steve_ says:
01:07 PM, 08/25/06
If anyone is confused, Actualsize is Dan. :-)
lol @ jerrywimer and the Honda comment. Here's the link to Karl's breakdown in an '03 Pilot:
http://www.edmunds.com/news/column/carmudgeon/100237/article.html
desmolicious says:
02:53 PM, 08/25/06
Break downs can happen in any vehicle, but I think it's sport to jump on them when it is an American one. Toyotas (for example) have had a bunch of recalls recently, and now I forget, was it them or Honda that was having the sludge issue?
Anyway, just get the car that makes you happy, get a membership to a tow service (if it didn't come with the car), have fun and good luck!
As an aside, my Ducati motorcycle has been perfectly reliable while the Honda Goldwing that it replaced was anything but. My Golf 1.8T was horrible, my Wrangler has been absolutely rock solid over 50K miles. My girlfriend's Mini Cooper S cabrio has been perfect over 20K miles, her Audi TT cabrio was awful etc etc
jerrywimer says:
11:20 AM, 08/28/06
Yep. Thanks for digging that up steve_. That was exactly what I was talking about when I mentioned the Honda. As for the starter thing Dan- like everything else there will be the rare defective part make it to someone's production vehicle. If not we wouldn't all be clamoring for that 10 year / 100,000 mile warranty and harranging any manufacturer not offering it, would we? ;-)