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2015 Dodge Journey rental report Posted by JerseySaab [Email]  (#666) [Profile/Gallery]
(more from JerseySaab) on Sun, 17 May 2015 19:00:54
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The short: Basic impression in a few words -- it's a piece of crap. I can't believe anyone would go into debt for years to buy one of these. It is inferior to a 20-year-old Saab 9000 in almost every regard.
The long: We rented what was supposed to be a "full-sized" car for a vacation trip in order to avoid having to deal with possible breakdowns on our old Saabs or other old vehicles. The rental office had no Impalas, Altimas, etc., in stock at pickup time so "upgraded" us to a brand-new 2015 Dodge Journey at no additional charge. It's a V6 front-drive model with six-speed automatic transmission.
Sitting down in this vehicle one of the first things you notice is that the steering wheel obscures half of the speedometer. Also the foot-operated parking brake is positioned such that it is very easy to catch your shoe on the hood release and accidentally pop the hood, which has happened a few times on this trip. Space utilization overall seems about on a par with a 1970 AMC Hornet, except the Hornet has better space in the front footwell.
The transmission stumbles and jerks in its operation, and aside from having more ratios on tap feels like a 1960s Rambler Flash-O-Matic. Ride and handling are mediocre. Despite the V6 this car strains to maintain speed in hilly terrain. I have not measured gas mileage but it seems OK for this type of vehicle.
The front seats are passable. The rear seats are like being in a torture chamber. I don't care for touch screens so it is nice that basic controls for the climate control and radio have dedicated buttons and switches. There are no audio controls on the steering wheel, which seems odd for a new vehicle. (The wife's '88 T-Bird had those.) The wheel does have cruise control buttons plus controls to operate a small non-touch LCD screen on the dash. The cruise control has difficulty maintaining speed on hills.
There are no real keys or lock cylinders, just electronic fobs and power locks along with a pushbutton starter. The "Panic Button" on the fobs is overly sensitive and can easily set off the alarm accidentally if they move around in your pocket when sitting down etc. It looks to me like if this system fails there is no way to get into the car short of smashing a window. (This seems to be the way a lot of new cars have been going, unfortunately.)
About the best I can say about this thing is that it has not broken down. (At least not yet, one more day of travel to go.)
I can hardly wait to turn this POS in and get back in my Saab!!
->Posting last edited on Sun, 17 May 2015 19:03:03.
, Sun, 17 May 2015 19:00:54 <-- Viewing This Message
, Tue, 2 Jun 2015 14:48:20, Tue, 2 Jun 2015 19:52:13, Wed, 3 Jun 2015 08:43:55
, Thu, 21 May 2015 07:27:45, Tue, 19 May 2015 11:53:01
, Wed, 20 May 2015 10:21:19, Tue, 26 May 2015 11:34:53, Wed, 27 May 2015 18:15:24, Mon, 1 Jun 2015 06:41:34, Tue, 2 Jun 2015 19:48:45, Mon, 1 Jun 2015 06:33:24, Wed, 27 May 2015 13:43:19, Mon, 18 May 2015 10:13:54, Mon, 18 May 2015 16:15:45, Tue, 19 May 2015 12:26:29, Tue, 19 May 2015 13:01:54
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