well, one positive note to buying a dodge still doesn’t do anything when they still have many negatives; like quality plastics, loud running noise, and the overall, cheap feeling you get while driving it.

I’ve defended the Journey many times on this site. It seems some people can’t get past the gauge pod and dismiss the whole car because of that. I looked very closely at one in a showroom (albeit a loaded one) not that long ago and I was very impressed at what you got for the money not to mention it’s just a clean looking design and a nice size. I see a lot of them on the road so I guess I can’t be the only one.

^^^ My aunt bought a Journey at my recommendation Johnny, I feel your pain. I’ve had very in-depth experience with the Journey (drove one for an extended period as it was loaned to my company from Chrysler) and even as a 4 cyl it was a very nice car. My aunt ended up buying a well equipped new V-6 Journey for less than $20k by buying it at a soon to be defunct dealership. It’s a nice car that’s interior isn’t bad at all as it recieved a Jim Press treatment before they were produced.

Anyone that comments that the Journey is noisy and cheap must have NEVER driven a Journey or a Consumer Reports devotee. (brainwashee). Although I prefer the utility, space and acess of the Dodge Grand Caravan, the Journey is a fully competitive crossover.

Perhaps the only good thing to come out of Chrysler’s partnership with Daimler is that the vehicles engineered during their “reign of terror” have kick-a$$ safety scores. All that cheap interior plastic must be quite energy absorbing! Chrysler/Fiat really need to tout these safety results in their advertising. The Journey would really benefit from a competitive 4 cyl / transmission combo. The current 2.4 /4 speed is anemic at best and not particularly fuel efficeint. How about a Turbo 2.4 with the 6 speed auto? Chrysler used to do a fair number of turbo engines, maybe Fiat will help them out here.

Hey idiot, read my post CAREFULLY, I’m talking about dodge cars in GENERAL!!! You’ve got issues, if you end up buying this car amongst all the other possible cars, because of how “nice” it is!

Hmm, a Journey caught fire spontaneously in front of a Tim Hortons in my hometown earlier in the summer. It was only a month or so old and the driver pulled in because he smelled smoke. By the time the Fire Dept got there, it was just a shell.

Pardon me for not wanting one of those…

So, they’re sacrificing build quality and reliability for passenger safety? I’m wondering how many times these 3 cars go into the shop for repairs/breakdowns compared to their competitors as well……

I want numbers on your build quality and reliabilty point Bosley. Where’s the proof?

i’m assuming mazda 3 reliability will be pretty good…last gen was good, this gen isn’t all that much different underneath the smile…and now i’m reassured that if i do buy that mazdaspeed 3, if i crash it i’ll have a good chance of keeping all my parts attached…

My family experience with Chrysler products has been good, they did not have any real problems until well over 100k. my family bought most of them used and beat up but they did not really have to many problems in terms of reliability. I think that newer Chrysler products will have much better interiors then old ass the newer versions are lunched. read good things about the new jeep grand Cherokee and what the new 300. some not official but seeing how the ram came out i think it likely.

hey jakek55 whats the jim press treatment? would that be lying about it ?

Hello Nice person, I have read your post CAREFULLY, but see only the negativity of the un-informed. The Journey, Grand Caravan, Dodge Ram 1500 have all been positively reviewed by objective sources. The upcoming models developed with Fiat should also be competive. If don’t agee, the buy something else, but please refrain from name calling.

I feel your pain jake and johnny also. I had one for a rental car and was very impressed. 3rd row is horribly small (smaller than enclave) but still a nice car.

Sorry, but the base Dodge Journey IS a piece of junk. It is about as basic and cheap as they get, and it literally shows. The mid-level Journey is great, but there are other small CUV’s that I would rather have, that have good four cylinders and good manual, and auto, transmissions. Reserving the old four speed to the weak GEMA four cylinder was a horrible decision. Also, leaving us out on the four cylinder/awd combo was a bad decision too.

worst3- It anguishes me that you have what seems to be a good post, but because of grammar I can’t even make sense out of it.

If only they were all good looking, especially that damñ MKT.

yea my bad I should proof read more carefully and type slower, i hit wrong keys to often sorry.

edit
I think that newer Chrysler products will have much better interiors then the old ones. as the newer versions are lunched again. I have read good things about the new jeep grand Cherokee and the new 300s and chargers. some of the interiors were not official but seeing how the ram came out i think it is likely they will be good, but only time will tell i am hopeful for all the big 3. almost all there new lunches have been vast improvements over old.

Johnny/Jake, there are TOO MANY people on here that think they know everything, despite the fact that they have probably never even been in any of the vehicles that they so readily bash. I have owned several Dodge vehicles over the years, as well as a Toyota and a Chevy. The cars all got up to 150,000KM, and none had ANY MAJOR PROBLEMS. The Toyota and Chevy were fine vehicles, but got boring and long in the tooth very quickly (the Toyota especially, almost fell asleep driving it so many times) There is, and hasn’t been anything wrong with any of my DODGE vehicles either. Maybe they disintigrated after I sold them, or blew up completely the second someone else tried to start them, but I highly doubt it.

All vehicles are different because PEOPLE LIKE DIFFERENT THINGS. Why doesn’t everyone just think about that and respect the fact other people have the RIGHT to their own opinion. If they don’t have any issues buying one brand over another, why does everyone on here feel they have to try to force them to see things their way?????

Whoa!
Why are we talking about minivans when the main attraction involve sedans?

And why does the Mazda3 deserve such a prestigious award when it only offers “acceptable” protection? I think the government has been handing out too many rewards to cars that don’t deserve them!

The IIHS is NOT gov agency. The gov does their own tests.

Maybe the 3 is at the top of the category:

http://www.iihs.org/ratings/summary.aspx?class=40

Btw, the VW used to be at the top of the list. Times are different.

well this gives the mazda 3 more reasons to “smile” about