New JLU owner... Not too Happy

[Smarrtazz]

Yep, it begins. Let me try to stop this before it begins. A auto manufacturer produces hundreds of thousands if not more of each vehicles yearly. Yes, everyone has issues, recalls, things to work out that may affect some people. Find one manufacturer who has never delt with a recall, issue, whatever. Am I making excuses, hell no. Am I defending the company I work for, hell no. Am I saying chill out and don’t worry, yes. Maybe you got a lemon, maybe it’s all f-ed up. Maybe they will all be just terrible. I’ve been doing this long enough to know, not everything is perfect. Has everything you have ever bought, worked perfectly for the time you owned it? Doubtful. Yes, it’s a lot of money, the great tjing is, it’s under warranty! Not hating on the OP here. I’m just saying I was waiting for the first one and here it is. I’m not commenting on any more of these and don’t ask my thread about issues down the road. I hope you issue gets resolved Leticia.

Word @JLWF Dealer Guy

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[DanW]

For those worried, I've discovered no mechanical or electrical issues of any kind in my Jeep yet. No fit/finish issues, either, other than about 1/2 milimeter of the corner of protective clear tape over the right rear fender flare that is sticking up. Oh, I forgot one more...a drip of what appears to be adhesive from attaching the right rear window to the hard top. It dripped on the hard top itself. Only someone meticulously handwaxing in the bright sun would have ever found it. (Don't worry about the sun. Turtle Wax Ice applies better in direct sunlight.) I've been in 4wd, but not in 4 low, which means I've not engaged lockers or the swaybar disconnect. I'll get to those soon enough. I'll report back if I have any problems.

I hope those whose Jeeps have issues get them worked out quickly. I've been there with vehicles before, from multiple manufacturers.

 

[djmason9]

I got my JL last week and so far nothing serious. I have seen a few minor things like on the tail gate some of the paint on the inside looks a little rough. And there were a few gaps just under the passenger door seam. (no big deal my jeep is white so i put some calking in it ;-) Other than that (knock on wood) its perfect! So don't let a few stories scare you. My 2012 had the engine head replace the first month then it ran perfect for 6 yrs.

 

[Leticia29]

Were both sides of the cab set to be in sync as far as temp goes?

Yes it was.

 

[Leticia29]

I got my JL last week and so far nothing serious. I have seen a few minor things like on the tail gate some of the paint on the inside looks a little rough. And there were a few gaps just under the passenger door seam. (no big deal my jeep is white so i put some calking in it ;-) Other than that (knock on wood) its perfect! So don't let a few stories scare you. My 2012 had the engine head replace the first month then it ran perfect for 6 yrs.

Yes I'm hoping and praying this is the last hiccup!

 

[Leticia29]

I was a very early adopter of the JK. I bough the first JK that my dealer got in stock. I paid for it in many days wasted with trips to the dealer for many issues. It's another reason I'm waiting for the 3rd year of the JL before buying. Lemon laws focus on one problem multiple times, not a laundry list of problems.

Yes, I was told to wait!! B U T...... I don't listen It's ok I don't regret it, just hope this is the last of the issues.

 

[Leticia29]

Very sorry for your trouble. Both of these sound like assembly errors, not problems with design or defects with materials, so presumably at the end of this ordeal you'll have the Wrangler you wanted.

I totally agree! Thanks

 

[Smarrtazz]

Having experience definitely can help, but just so everyone isn't completely freaked out over his comment. I spent 7 years at the Kansas City Ford assembly plant. In that time I was involved in 2 model changes; from Tempo to Contour and Contour to Escape. On a model change, or new build, everyone has to learn a new job so experience only means so much at that point. When you're doing 50 an hour you become an expert at your job very quickly, regardless of how long you've worked there. (I have no idea what line speed they run. On the Contour we started out around 2-3 an hour and ramped up, after a couple months, to 55-58 an hour.) With that said, the main problem I saw were usually from new hires with zero mechanical ability as they weren't skilled enough to see a problem. (I.E. They strip out a screw or cross thread one and don't realize some bracket wasn't fully installed. Or, they're scared to get in trouble so they don't tell anyone. Out of sight, out of mind to them, but a month later a customer is cussing because his new vehicle has a weird rattle behind the dash, or whatever. But, like I said, even a new hire learns quick just due to the sheer number of vehicles they're building.)

With that said, we bought an early build '07JKUR, owned it for 120k miles and in that time the only issue we had were related to the lockers not wanting to work right. (after about 80k miles) At 100k I called GKN driveline - the company who makes the lockers - and asked about replacement parts only to be shot down. After he found out our Rubicon was still riding on stock wheels / tires he wanted ours for research so he flew down, along with a guy from Dana, and they replaced both lockers, for free. Other than that, it was just typical maintenance stuff that needed to be fixed. We had no issues in 48k on our late '11 built 2012 JKUR.


Finally, we ordered an Ocean Blue JKUR last night so I'm definitely interested to see how it turns out. We're keeping our '14 JKUR also, so we'll have that to compare it to as it ages.

Thanks for your insight. I believe you made valid points for us to consider.

 

[badtux]

Dear lord where do you live. Our Porsche dealer gives brand new loaners every time I need service on either of my cars. This was one of the reason of buying higher end cars was the service after the sale and not needing to rent a car for mine to be fixed.

Porsche is a specialty brand, not a luxury brand, so this isn't necessarily the case for Porsche as a make. But real luxury brands virtually always give loaner cars. I've never heard of any Chrysler dealer ever doing so, which may be one reason why they have to practically give the Chrysler 300 away despite the fact that functionally it's equivalent to Mercedes products costing tens of thousands of dollars more. People who buy luxury brands simply expect more, and if FCA really intends to move their brands upscale as they've been trying to do, the old 1970's attitude of customer service as what a stallion does to a mare on the part of their dealer network is going to be a real impediment.

 

[offcamber]

Someone just posted a video on Facebook from PA, of a new JL Rubicon owner sitting beside the PA turnpike. At 25 miles on the odometer, he's sitting on the shoulder and the JL is flashing all kinds of errors on the dash and won't start. Ouch!

 

[Jetg]

Porsche is a specialty brand, not a luxury brand, so this isn't necessarily the case for Porsche as a make. But real luxury brands virtually always give loaner cars. I've never heard of any Chrysler dealer ever doing so, which may be one reason why they have to practically give the Chrysler 300 away despite the fact that functionally it's equivalent to Mercedes products costing tens of thousands of dollars more. People who buy luxury brands simply expect more, and if FCA really intends to move their brands upscale as they've been trying to do, the old 1970's attitude of customer service as what a stallion does to a mare on the part of their dealer network is going to be a real impediment.

What is a real luxury brand? I have had all makes of cars. The only American brand that would give me a loner was cadillac for my CTSV. I don’t expect FCA to give me a loaner and never said I did. Was just surprised that there is a Porsche dealer who won’t give loaner. As I said service after the sale is what I want and expect from a certain price point.

 

[Karl_in_Chicago]

Chrysler doesn't give loaners?
Not sure if this is how all Jeep dealers work, but my Jeep dealer wants either $100 or $150 deposit on loaners, & the loaner is only allowed to be released to the person who's name is on the personal/customers Jeep registration card. Which is ridiculous.
Now I've worked at a few dealership service departments in my day, as well as having bought from a few other brands and got loaners. In all my experience loaners are always free and can be released to whoever is dropping the personal vehicle off for service, as long as they're 21 or older w/valid driver license.

Mine also wants to make a copy of my insurance card if the one they have on file has expired (usually has as I don't need a lot of service). Not a problem. Other than that it's easy-peasy (and the cars always have full tanks of fuel, which is nice.)

 

[Powelligator]

I never thought of Subaru as a luxury brand but the local dealer I bought my Outback from a couple years ago gave me a loaner when the car had to go back for service. What was cool was the service guy gave me my choice from about five or six vehicles parked in a corner, all of them new models with under 1,000 miles.

The Ford dealer I bought my F-350 from I doubt offers loaners, even though that truck is up there in full loaded JL Rubicon territory as far as price goes.

 

[isueyou]

Yep, it begins. Let me try to stop this before it begins. A auto manufacturer produces hundreds of thousands if not more of each vehicles yearly. Yes, everyone has issues, recalls, things to work out that may affect some people. Find one manufacturer who has never delt with a recall, issue, whatever. Am I making excuses, hell no. Am I defending the company I work for, hell no. Am I saying chill out and don’t worry, yes. Maybe you got a lemon, maybe it’s all f-ed up. Maybe they will all be just terrible. I’ve been doing this long enough to know, not everything is perfect. Has everything you have ever bought, worked perfectly for the time you owned it? Doubtful. Yes, it’s a lot of money, the great tjing is, it’s under warranty! Not hating on the OP here. I’m just saying I was waiting for the first one and here it is. I’m not commenting on any more of these and don’t ask my thread about issues down the road. I hope you issue gets resolved Leticia.

I think you're more accustomed to this sort of thing, then anyone moving from a different brand. I had one Chevy, the rest were German cars. As someone whose coming into this Chrysler/Jeep brand for the first time, this is pretty bad. I dont mean to knock you, but it seems like thats what you are doing to OP, in fact you say you've actually been waiting for this post. "I was waiting for the first one". Ill take the jeep and the risk it comes with. But I doubt any employee from BMW or Mercedes would ever comment "I was waiting for the first one (complaint)". (because they dont typically have these types of posts as common)

For you to say "has everything you bought worked perfectly" is just ridiculous. Im going to go out there and say anything Ive bought for more then $5,000 or $10,000 has worked perfectly. So I (wrongfully) assume my new JLUR at 56k msrp should work perfectly. However, I have friends who have informed me of the problems they have and leaks, at the same time if I was OP and I knew of the warnings before hand, this would still frustrate the hell out of me.

I think you should go work for another dealer. Then you can come back here and be like wow guys this isnt normal, instead of "waiting" to bash on the first person who rightfully complained.

 

[dwoodwo1]

I can definitely see both sides of this argument. A small % of newly built cars will have issues. There is no excuse for it - that is just the reality. Where some manufacturers shine above others is with how small of a % of their cars that is. It sucks to deal with. However, the bigger issue is support. If you can get the issues resolved fairly quickly with a dealer taking care of you at every step of the process, that eases the pain a little bit. If you have *any* issues in getting the problems fixed promptly, then that is completely unacceptable.

I dont care if a car costs $15k or $50k. The level of prompt support for out-of-the-gate issues should be the same.

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