Bye 370Z...Hello Jeep!

ImportConvert

Well, I finally got rid of my 370Z. A dealer offered me $25.5K (on BALD tires, 2012 Sport/NAV/Touring/M6) for it while taking $1200 or so off of their asking price for a 2010 Jeep Grand Cherokee. I personally like the WK platform over the WK2 for looks, performance, and the fact that they are cheaper doesn't hurt!

Anyway, it will be my first SUV. I've driven it for about a week, now, and love it so far.

Going from the 370Z to this, my first impression was that it was very high off the ground, and "felt floaty". Part of this is being an SUV, and part of it is the 70K mile old shocks/struts. Bilstein HD's are on the way to fix that, though.

The 357hp/389#tq HEMI + AWD makes this thing FUN! It's certainly no speed demon, but 0-60 in 6.8-7 seconds isn't bad for something that is all-terrain capable and can haul your friends around. The AWD makes the acceleration much more useful than my 370Z was on the street, too. For example, the road joining the main street from my apartment complex always seems to cause my 370Z TC light to come on and KILLS power because it's at a slope + has some gravel on it typically from the gravel drives near my complex. The Jeep has no issues. I can leave much more confidently regarding acceleration. Same for wet weather, etc.

The quality of the vehicle as a whole seems as good/better, regarding the interior, excluding the NAV, which is a bit less useful, but not bad.

I average about 3.5mpg less than my 370Z got on my daily commute...but she takes 87 and 89! On the freeway, I get 18-20mpg. About 4.5 mpg less than my Z got cruising at 80.

All-in-all, I am very happy with my trade, and think this vehicle will do me a solid up in the mountains when it snows. I don't miss the Z in the least.

Trips

Congrats on the Nice Jeep

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ImportConvert

Thanks!

A shout out to Richards Honda in Baton Rouge, as well. I did this deal 100% via phone and email photo. When I got there there was zero "last minute negation" and the jeep was 100% as described. B's - free deal.

These 5.7 4x4 WK's are hard to find I discovered during my search.

MacCool

Nice vehicle! I have a truck too and they can be very useful.

*yawn*

ImportConvert

Well, I don't find it too boring. Honestly the hemi makes it reasonably fun, and it's so nice to pile all my gear into this with friends than it was my 370z. Just my sbr, gear belt, and sapi plates and a case of ammo and change of clothes filled my 370. That is actually the first time I seriously realized I needed an suv, when I picked someone and their gear up at the airport in new Orleans in my z. They made love to their pelican case for over an hour because it wouldn't fit anywhere but their lap with seat reclined. Also, I'll be honest. I hated my 370z. Every time it was in the shop I was butthurt to give up the rental once it was repaired. No love lost. But at least I can say I've sampled Japan ' stuff now. I have a list of gripes a mile long about the things shortcomings, but it's best summed up "altima with backseat delete and performance tune".

MacCool

Heh. I had a Jeep once. It was useful when it wasn't in the shop. In the meantime, guess we won't be seeing you around here anymore, huh? Pity. Best of luck to you.

cautupwitdm

Wait, are you describing a Z here? At least call it a G37 with backseat delete and tune. Altima's aren't even in the same league/class.

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ImportConvert

Same way I felt about my 370Z.

ImportConvert

I digress. I'll just say I don't miss my Nissan in the slightest, and it reminded me of an Altima on a diet regarding driving characteristics. I will say, it did look good, though!

cautupwitdm

Hope you have better luck with your jeep.

Sent from my SM-N900T using Tapatalk

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ImportConvert

I mean, let's put it this way...I hated my 370Z so much that I can't talk about cars without flaming it and Nissan North America. I don't flame it just because I'm bored or whatever. It pisses me off that I wasted money on it and I'm butthurt over having owned it and it gets me riled to think about it, lol!

ImportConvert

Thanks, me, too!

I might well have enjoyed the Z if it didn't have so much down-time and so many issues with quality/durability.

cautupwitdm

Sorry you didn't get to enjoy your time with the Z. Only down time I get is because of snow. No issues other than thin paint that I can complain here.

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ImportConvert

It happens, but Nissan NA was a PITA to deal with and soured everything.

-Brakes at 10K, 17K, 20K, 23K, and 27K miles. 3 sets of rotors and pads. $500 out of pocket at Dealer urging to upgrade to slotted rotors. Dealer then denied this when they warped and I wanted Nissan NA to cover them as Dealer told me to buy them. During this, I went through 1 set of tires, and never had hot-spots on the rotors or abnormal pad-wear. Rotor issues
NNA had them datalog my driving, blaming ME for the problem. When they saw that I rarely used the brakes, they then shifted tactics and tried stupid stuff like "we think there is a hole in the brake line" and other BS. I sat there and listened to NNA Tech Hotline on speaker phone in the managers office. They are a bunch of Jiffylube Techs that try to blame the consumer any way they can, from what I heard them saying.

-Power steering moaned and whined. Started at around 7K miles and got worse and worse until it attracted attention every time I pulled into a parking-spot. Dealer said it was abnormal but could find nothing wrong with the system. NNA claimed "Normal for the 370Z".

-Alignment. It was always wearing tires un-evenly. Bad. As in, not even on the wear-bar on one side, but down to the cords on the inside. I had no clue how bad they really were until I traded it in and saw them while driving away. Wow! Aligned twice in 20K miles. Couldn't hold alignment I guess. NEVER had a car do that before, but maybe it's normal?

-NAV: It was glitchy, but not bad. It only "went black" twice while I owned the car, and restarting the car fixed it each time. Meh. No big.

^Those were the issues I had with it until I dumped it at 35.5K miles. Oh, and the Berk CBE I bought for it fit for ****. BERK's CS was non-existent, as well. Call and talk to them and they BS you and never follow through. The CBE was like it wasn't even made for my 370Z, and always fell off the grommets as the hangers had no swell on the end and were sharply angled up. A few bumps and they slipped out of course.

All-in-all, I can deal with "Oh, crap, that broke? Let's fix it!" but the incessant "Mr. *******, we don't know what's wrong with your car, but we can keep it another few days..." and "Well, I know we said it sounds bad and we will fix it, but NNA say's that groaning sound is normal when you turn at low speeds in a 370Z, bring it back if it gets worse". just got OLD!!!

I respect that things can break, but just like with my G20 that was a pile (and people told me not to judge the 370 by my G20...it was a PERFECT! mirror of what owning the 370 was like!), even the dealership didn't know how to fix the vehicle. So, I digress. It had issues that money and the manufacturer couldn't or wouldn't fix.

Mr&Mrs

Congrats on the new ride! Jeeps are great vehicles.

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