April showers car sputtering thread.

[Robert Hall]

56 minutes ago, David said:

This is an excellent question as I am not a fan of the current seats in the new Escalade which seem to be flat and hard as a rock for such an expensive SUV and yet I am seeing flat blah seats on all auto's as of late. 🤔 I wonder if there is a seat comfort index out there, gonna have to look into this myself as I love my Escalade for road trips, but would not be thrilled in a new 2022 Escalade as I think the seats suck.

I can say that my sister in her 2019 Buick Envision as an in home nurse in Rural Upper Western Washington is in her CUV about 200 to 300 miles a day and loves it for comfort.

My sister hates riding in my Jeep, swears her Trax is more comfortable and easier for ingress/egress. 

[David]

1 hour ago, Robert Hall said:

My sister hates riding in my Jeep, swears her Trax is more comfortable and easier for ingress/egress. 

As you know my son has a 2017 Jeep Grand Cherokee and I have to say that getting into and out of his jeep is harder than either my SS or Escalade. Seat comfort is fine for short trips, have not had a chance to do any long trips in it, course my son is only 5'8" tall and 165lbs so the seats are huge for him and comfort is fine as he does many road trips and camping trips around Washington. 

Did find the following two reports on this topic.

12 Most Comfortable SUVs | U.S. News (usnews.com)

This Year's Most Comfortable SUV Front Seats According To Consumer Reports (motorbiscuit.com)

Which is interesting as Consumer Reports wants to charge for seeing this info. lol

[trinacriabob]

Jeeps are interesting.  Some of them are more attractive than others.  They have had a wide variety of engines.

I have only ridden in one Jeep and it was a Grand Cherokee (Limited or up-level version) that a boss had.  It had the V8, probably 5.8 L if in the 2000s, and probably 360 if measured in c.i. (I'm guessing).  On one occasion, I had to drive it somewhere and I actually enjoyed driving it.  It rode very well.  The funny thing is that they tend to make the "avoid" list some auto journalists put together and I don't know why.

When was the last year that a Jeep was fitted with an all cast iron inline 6 or 4?  From what I've heard, Jeeps with inline 6s were the vehicles to have ... for the long haul.

[Robert Hall]

18 hours ago, trinacriabob said:

 

When was the last year that a Jeep was fitted with an all cast iron inline 6 or 4?  From what I've heard, Jeeps with inline 6s were the vehicles to have ... for the long haul.

Last year with the inline 6 in the Grand Cherokee was 2004.   It was last available in the Wrangler in 2006 I think.  I put 170k on my '00 GC w/ the 4.0 6, it was a good engine..really never had any engine issues beyond a persistent small oil leak..it was the electronics that were headaches as it aged...put 170k on it in almost 17 years of driving. 

Edited June 3, 2022 by Robert Hall

[surreal1272]

Those era GCs were notoriously unreliable, from crap transmissions to electronics issues. Not a good generation of GCs at all.

[trinacriabob]

8 hours ago, Robert Hall said:

Last year with the inline 6 in the Grand Cherokee was 2004.   It was last available in the Wrangler in 2006 I think.  I put 170k on my '00 GC w/ the 4.0 6, it was a good engine..really never had any engine issues beyond a persistent small oil leak..it was the electronics that were headaches as it aged...but 170k on it in almost 17 years of driving. 

That was it ... the 4.0 inline 6.  I'm sure it would have easily busted past 200K, but you kept it for a good 17 years.

Thanks for the info on when these engines were last slotted into these cars.  I'm better with these sorts of facts when they apply to GM vehicles that I've been a big fan of!

[Robert Hall]

9 hours ago, trinacriabob said:

That was it ... the 4.0 inline 6.  I'm sure it would have easily busted past 200K, but you kept it for a good 17 years.

Thanks for the info on when these engines were last slotted into these cars.  I'm better with these sorts of facts when they apply to GM vehicles that I've been a big fan of!

At 170k, the engine was running fine, but the transmission was slipping, the steering wheel clock spring was broken (the airbag light would come on and buzz on left turns), the power windows worked intermittently, etc...it was tired when I traded it on the '14.   Didn't want to risk driving it cross country when I moved from AZ to OH. 

Which coincidentally, that 2100 mile road trip started 5 years ago today...

Edited June 3, 2022 by Robert Hall