I just realized that 5 years ago today I bought my CRD. So Happy birthday to my CRD. It's sitting in the garage clean and shinning.
After the newness has worn off and the botched Chrysler engineering problems have been rectified I can now look at my CRD with a clear view
Yesterday I gave it a good cleaning followed by a wax job. As I detailed the body I saw all the areas where attention was paid to wind noise and thought they could have cut corners and left these seals off. Looking at the paint it still shines like new despite 5 years driving. Underneath there's rust on many suspension parts expecially the rear "A" frame (is that what it's called?) that holds the rear axel in place and where the front struts attatch to the steering components. Definetly not the quality of my many past VW's and my 1993 VW Eurovan that despite sitting outside is in better condition underneath rustwise
But the CRD was made in the US by a previous BIG three so what should I expect
In comparision my 2000 Cherokee with 154,000 miles is in much better condition underneath and overall then my 06 CRD with only 41,000 but the XJ shows it's previous owner took immaculte care of it but my CRD has had better then average care taken of it.
So 5 years later would I have bought my CRD again
With all the shortcomings, like seats that stain with clear water and the edges breaking down, window channels that make horrable noise when wet rolling them down, major oversights like the torque converter with Chrsler's fantastic F37 fix, air leaks in the fuel I'm not sure if I would or would not buy it again
Being the buyer of a new Liberty CRD was a love hate relationship
After having the original TC and front pump replaced with Euro TC, original TCM and close to original ECM it does the job I bought it for and that is towing our 3000-3500# camping trailer while getting 18-20 mpg at freeway speeds. The front windows have been totally replaced with new "improved" ones, the broken down edge of the seats are 5 years old and not new anymore and can be overlooked.
The dealer I bought it from, Crown Jeep/Chrysler/Dodge and now Ram has been fantastic and has worked around Chrysler's bean counter mentality and resolved my major issues.
Would I buy another Jeep/Fiat? Doubtfull
Would I buy from Crown again IF they had what I wanted? Most likely