2007 GC CRD (New Owner)
Bought one yesterday after a few test drives over the past week. Mileage was 350 when I first saw it. This was a reworked 2007 CRD due to Fuel Contamination and the dealer provided the proper disclosure forms. Price Paid: $23,500 for 4WD Limited with a few extras (uconnect, QuadraDrive II, Class IV trailer)
The dealer told me that there were 1500 of these with the fuel contamination issue, so expect to see more of them for sale. Since some of the dealers (including mine) are selling these via the internet, they are'n't too eager to deal since they can get close to their price in other parts of the country. I was told an Overland sold yesterday from my Detroit dealer to a customer in Oregon. The deals are supposedly so good that they're even shipping these to Canada without warranty.
So speaking of warranty, that was almost a deal breaker. These reworked GC's have an In-Service date going back to 2Q07. This means the 3yr/36K warranty is really more like a 1Yr, 36K.
Since these are early builds with limited remaining warranties, check up on the TSB's and make sure you get everything fixed quickly. I had to return to the dealership only 30 minutes after inking the deal to have both front window regulators replaced as the one touch up had an issue (I hadn't tested windows on the test drives since it was too cold out). I also have an annoying rattle at 1000 RPM which might be fixed by another TSB regarding the deletion of a bracket. There is also a TSB out on the Crank/Cam position sensor (a known Mercedes defect) but it only seems to authorize warranty claims on failure.
Other things to consider is after the warranty expires (14 months) what will Chrysler charge to replace/rebuild various Mercedes components (engine, trans, turbo) when they wear out? If Chrysler goes under and Jeep is sold off, will Jeep still have a good relationship in the parts distribution channel?
The GC 3.0 CRD seems to be destined to be a rare vehicle with only about 1.5 years of low volume production. If Jeep introduces another CRD in 2010, it will probably not have this powerplant which is ashame since overall, the vehicle sems to run pretty good. Nice power and if you keep your foot light, good MPG. 22.5mpg on country rouds (45MPH) with stop lights every mile and some hills. Shifts are smooth and often hard to notice. I'll try my normal drives (freeway/city) in another week or so when I return to my office to see if I can attain more than 24MPG on the freeway. A couple of quick tests yesterday showed up to 28MPG, but the wind may have been at my back.
