I don't know why, but I think the Dodge Journey hates me.
Before I met it today at the New York auto show, I knew Dodge's new crossover primarily from pictures. I didn't get a chance to poke around inside while it spun on a platform at my local show in Washington, D.C. And it didn't make a negative impression in pictures...
It certainly appeared a clear cut above Chrysler's much-lambasted designs of recent years. Even sitting inside, my first impression was positive. Knobs and buttons were attractive and didn't feel chintzy, and there was a fairly generous (by Chrysler standards) use of soft-touch materials.
But then I decided to check out the backseat, and that's where the Journey unleashed its wrath. A former occupant of the car, presumably a journalist taking a break from a grueling auto show, had left the front passenger seat too reclined for me to get in. I located and pulled the appropriate handle to let the seatback return to its upright and locked position so I could see how I fit in the back. But overeager to demonstrate its fold-flat capability, the seat did not stop at its default position, instead whipping around and catching my thumb. I suppose if the car had its battery connected, I would have seen Christine II's full assault.
It was not a grudge, I promise, that led my impression of the Journey's interior downhill from there. But further poking around illustrated that even as Chrysler had improved most of the materials used in that car's interior, it had not mastered the art of giving moving parts a quality feel. The fore-aft adjustable rear seat required a solid push to move, the glovebox door fell straight down and bounced on its check, and folding down the center-row armrest left a large and unsightly fastener sticking several inches out of the side of the passenger-side seat. The one piece of the interior that seemed to move nicely was the bin at the top center of the dash; it opened slowly and didn't bounce up and down upon reaching its full height, but it consistently required a solid slam to get it to latch shut again.
Incidentally, the junky feel of moving parts is the only thing that for me marred the interior quality of the Volkswagen Routan, the Grand Caravan-based minivan that I also explored today for the first time. While the individual plastics have been upgraded to suitable Volkswagen appearance and quality, the retractable cupholders and the glovebox feel much more Sebring than Passat. -- Brady Holt, Student Journalist
But then I decided to check out the backseat, and that's where the Journey unleashed its wrath. A former occupant of the car, presumably a journalist taking a break from a grueling auto show, had left the front passenger seat too reclined for me to get in. I located and pulled the appropriate handle to let the seatback return to its upright and locked position so I could see how I fit in the back. But overeager to demonstrate its fold-flat capability, the seat did not stop at its default position, instead whipping around and catching my thumb. I suppose if the car had its battery connected, I would have seen Christine II's full assault.
It was not a grudge, I promise, that led my impression of the Journey's interior downhill from there. But further poking around illustrated that even as Chrysler had improved most of the materials used in that car's interior, it had not mastered the art of giving moving parts a quality feel. The fore-aft adjustable rear seat required a solid push to move, the glovebox door fell straight down and bounced on its check, and folding down the center-row armrest left a large and unsightly fastener sticking several inches out of the side of the passenger-side seat. The one piece of the interior that seemed to move nicely was the bin at the top center of the dash; it opened slowly and didn't bounce up and down upon reaching its full height, but it consistently required a solid slam to get it to latch shut again.
Incidentally, the junky feel of moving parts is the only thing that for me marred the interior quality of the Volkswagen Routan, the Grand Caravan-based minivan that I also explored today for the first time. While the individual plastics have been upgraded to suitable Volkswagen appearance and quality, the retractable cupholders and the glovebox feel much more Sebring than Passat. -- Brady Holt, Student Journalist
ateixeira says:
12:17 PM, 03/20/08
I wasn't impressed with the Chrysler vans either. I'll have to check out the Journey and the VW van in person.