My CRD is a Cult Car

VACRD · **Posted:** Thu Mar 15, 2007 9:13 pm

I have a 2006 CRD with 10,500 miles on it. I bought the 5 year and 85,000 mile warranty. Average around 23-24 in the city and 26-28 on the highway. So far no problems, but after tracking this site for a couple of months I am starting to wonder if I made a good decision. I went to Car Max to see what I could sell it for. I have an offer for $17,500. I paid $24,500 last August for it.

For the last couple of days I have been looking for a similar SUV. I would like to get good mileage and be able to tow my 3,000 lb boat. Most small SUV's only have 200 lbs of torque and they just will not work for towing. Large SUV's all get mileage below 20 mpg. Don't really like trucks. Nothing out there for its size seems to have the performance and mileage of the CRD.

Looks like the CRD will stay and I will have to get smarter on how to maintain it. I am pretty sure I have the detuned version of the engine. Probably doesn't make much sense to put a chip in now or fix the transmission until it is off warranty at 85,000 miles.

On the negative side with only 11,000 units built there is bound to be a lack of service options in the future and some problems with parts.

On the positive side the engine seems rock solid, could reach several hundred thousand miles, and is fun to drive.

The CRD will become a cult car for those who like the performance, and figure out how to maintain/fix it. I think I will take some diesel engine courses.

Cult - a great devotion to a person place or thing or CRD

VACRD

scoobybri · **Posted:** Thu Mar 15, 2007 9:19 pm

Don't sweat Carmax prices...They always go low. I had a six month old Infiniti G35 Coupe that I wanted to sell. Keep in mind that g35 coupes barely depreciate and it had 3k on it. Blue Book was what I paid for it. They offered $7k less than Blue Book for it. I told them to take a hike and sold it on eBay for $1k of what than I paid for it.

sbohner · **Posted:** Thu Mar 15, 2007 9:40 pm

Cult cars I can remember were the VW Bug, VW Thing, Chevy Van, and more recently the PT Cruiser. It would be cool if the CRD becomes something like these. This would be better than the poster-child for Customer Alienation that DCX is promoting. :oops:

Most of us bought the CRD for its progressive diesel torque, mileage, and unique qualities, but have suffered some disillusionment with becoming too familiar with our respective Dealer Service Managers. :shock:

Maybe that is where the cult thing starts – bonding with the Service Manager, learning all the workarounds for keeping the CRD running, getting the lingo down with phrases like “detuning the ECM to save the TC,” “EGR CEL P401,” and “Customer Satisfaction Recall.” I need to know what the secret handshake is next!

Pablo · **Joined:** Thu Feb 02, 2006 10:06 pm **Posts:** 1201

"On the negative side with only 11,000 units built there is bound to be a lack of service options in the future and some problems with parts. "

The 11,000 figure came from the end of the 2005 model year. I would not be suprised if much more were stateside.

KenJennings · **Posted:** Thu Mar 15, 2007 10:13 pm

VACRD wrote:

... Most small SUV's only have 200 lbs of torque and they just will not work for towing. Large SUV's all get mileage below 20 mpg. Don't really like trucks. Nothing out there for its size seems to have the performance and mileage of the CRD. ...

Yup. There's nothing (yet) that matches the CRD in the US market.

DarbyWalters · **Posted:** Thu Mar 15, 2007 10:14 pm

The good part is the VM 2.8L CRD is basically the same as the ones sold overseas...parts will not be impossible to get...just might have to wait for the boat to arrive. Nobody else has stepped up and made anything like the Jeep Liberty CRD as of yet...Still glad I got mine!

Marlon_JBT · **Posted:** Thu Mar 15, 2007 10:51 pm

There have to be more than 11,000 of them over here.... I've seen way too many on the roads and for sale for a small amount like that. Even a few random people have asked me about it and claimed how they almost bought one. I have a pretty special vehicle, not really interested in giving it up.

Ranger1 · **Joined:** Mon Oct 17, 2005 7:40 pm **Posts:** 1137

According to the F37, there were ~ 11,500 USA spec models built/shipped to dealers, from inception until November 2, 2006.

DarbyWalters · **Posted:** Thu Mar 15, 2007 11:48 pm

Well the 2002-2007 Jeep Liberty is like the original version of Coca-Cola (with the good stuff in it) and the CRD is the Cherry Cola Flavor...

alljeep · **Posted:** Fri Mar 16, 2007 7:36 am

Ranger1 wrote:

According to the F37, there were ~ 11,500 USA spec models built/shipped to dealers, from inception until November 2, 2006.

That's correct, and the last one rolled off the line May 20, 2006 so your looking at almost 7 months of additional production after the 11,500 number.

VACRD · **Posted:** Fri Mar 16, 2007 7:46 am

sbohner

From what I can see on this board the cult thing is already starting. A small group of people are working better to make the CRD perform up to its true potential. There certaily will not be any more built.

DCX will be selling Jeep in the near future and it will probably be some leveraged buy out firm which will cut costs and certainly not support small 11,500 product runs like the CRD. DCX will not be investing much money in a company they plan on selling in the near future.

No other car makers are building any vechicle close to the performance of the CRD. The new jeep with deisel will be close to $40,000 and probably have the same prolems as the CRD.

The knowledge of owners of the CRD on boards like this will be invaluable to maintaing the CRD.

I mostly do highway driving and hope to get over 30 mpg some day. Right now highest I can get is 28. I think I have the F37 and that is the problem. Once the warranty is gone I plan to make all the modifications necessary to get there. I am learning a lot on the board on hope to do that in the future.

offroadsubaru · **Posted:** Fri Mar 16, 2007 9:35 am

Actually, Daimler-Benz may very well keep Jeep even if Chrysler/Dodge is spun off.

http://www.autoblog.com/2007/03/01/daim ... roup-sold/

"The German business daily Handelsblatt reported today that DaimlerChrysler may keep the Jeep brand if it eventually sells the Chrysler Group. The reason is that Jeeps fit well the Mercedes-Benz brand and offers unique product that Daimler couldn't offer on its own. If true, that would mean interested parties would be bidding on the Chrysler and Dodge brands alone. Of course, a few Jeep vehicles like the Compass share their platforms with other Chrysler Group models like the Dodge Caliber, so those links would likely still remain for some time after a potential sale. Considering that the only two companies who appear to have expressed any interest in purchasing the Chrysler Group are General Motors and Magna, taking Jeep off the table would likely make the deal even less attractive than many analysts claim it to be. Jeep sold about 595,000 units in 2006 and sales were up 14% in January and down 5% in February."

This is only good. As someone who has experience with having an older Mercedes S-Class in the family (the CRD replaced it), Mercedes-Benz has great parts support for older models. It's still possible to buy parts for a Benz from the 1960s or the 1970s at a dealer. Hopefully if this happens, they extend their parts support model out to cover Jeep as well.

Darby's point about the overseas CRDs is a good one. The 2.8 VM engine is found in the Liberty, the Wrangler AND in the Chrysler minivan overseas. CRD owners should have no problems getting parts -- they just may take some time to get to the States.

BVCRD · **Posted:** Fri Mar 16, 2007 9:36 am

DarbyWalters wrote:

The good part is the VM 2.8L CRD is basically the same as the ones sold overseas...parts will not be impossible to get...just might have to wait for the boat to arrive. Nobody else has stepped up and made anything like the Jeep Liberty CRD as of yet...Still glad I got mine!

Aren't they still making the 2.8 for abroad?

oldnavy · **Posted:** Fri Mar 16, 2007 10:03 am

BVCRD wrote:

DarbyWalters wrote:

The good part is the VM 2.8L CRD is basically the same as the ones sold overseas...parts will not be impossible to get...just might have to wait for the boat to arrive. Nobody else has stepped up and made anything like the Jeep Liberty CRD as of yet...Still glad I got mine!

Aren't they still making the 2.8 for abroad?

I seem to remember reading that the 2007 Liberty CRD was/is being sold in Europe.

Marlon_JBT · **Posted:** Fri Mar 16, 2007 10:39 am

Chrysler Group MAY be sold. There is NO guarantee that this WILL happen.

I seriously doubt Chrysler Group will be sold without Jeep. If MB wants to keep Jeep that bad, then they'll have to keep the whole group. Dieter has said that the entire group is very integrated and breaking 2/3 of it will NOT be easy.

truckbouy2 · **Posted:** Fri Mar 16, 2007 11:30 am

I just got a reply from John In my "Canadian CRD....Eh" post....
No Canadian CRD Libs for '07

Jeger · **Posted:** Fri Mar 16, 2007 11:53 am

www.jeep.co.uk

still lists the 2.8

And other than a few engines and the Nitro, what is tying jeep to chysler? Honest question

Maybe one of the other models is built on a shared assembly line with another chrysler product?

DarbyWalters · **Posted:** Fri Mar 16, 2007 12:06 pm

Liberty ... Nitro
Caliber ... Compass ... Patriot

some shared engine...Hemi, MiniVan,ect

BVCRD · **Posted:** Fri Mar 16, 2007 12:40 pm

Jeger wrote:

www.jeep.co.uk

still lists the 2.8

And other than a few engines and the Nitro, what is tying jeep to chysler? Honest question

Maybe one of the other models is built on a shared assembly line with another chrysler product?

Yea, I believ you can still get them overseas (abroad) like down under

MrMopar64 · **Posted:** Fri Mar 16, 2007 12:42 pm

Canada falls under the NAFTA program which was canceled for '07 and up due to emissions, leaving only the BUX program to finish out the KJ production run.

My CRD is a Cult Car

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