My wife and I have owned our 2005 Nissan Murano S AWD for over 6 years. For the near 100,000 miles is has been almost trouble free and we loved it. However recently I think the CVT may be going out, it feels as if it has lost power and feel sluggish under hard acceleration with occasional surging. The other day passing someone up a hill there was a mechanical and horrible grinding sort of noise coming from the car that I had not heard before. Plus the check engine light has gone off a couple times now for the Catalytic Converters so I think they are almost at the point to be replaced and the transfer case has showed some signs of leaking. We had the dealer check out the tranny, but they said everything seemed okay, but the way the dealer interacted with me left a bad feeling in my gut. Long story short, we feel it is time to get out before expensive stuff starts to break potentially leaving my family stranded on a trip or something.

We looked at the new Murano's and several other SUV's, but in the end decided on a Inferno Red 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee Larado 25X which came with heated leather, sunroof, bluetooth, NAV, 115v power outlet, 5.7L Hemi V8, backup camera w/ proximity sensors, etc. About the only things missing that we may have been interested in was the power lift-gate. Actual real MSRP of $40,005 (second sticker crap said $45k, which is laughable). Talked them down to $33k ($7,000 off), got $9500 in trade, which is about $1000 over BB trade value. Put $1500 extra down and used my 2.74% financing to have very reasonable payments of $437/mo @ 60/mo. So I feel I got a very fair deal.

Wife is very happy. I'll post some pics soon. However our camera was stolen the other day at the county fair so it may have to be a crappy phone pic for the time being.

 

To each their own, as long as your happy with your choice. I think personally you traded a paid off car for a less reliable vehicle, with more payments on top. I would picked a Nissan, Honda or at least Toyota.

 

Well I dunno, the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee is a totally new design based on Mercedes underpinnings and it's initial reliability ratings put it on par with the new Murano and mid pack for SUV's. And it's consumer reviews place it above all three other makes. My old Murano likely needed new catalytic converters (3 of them) soon which I was quoted at $3k ($1800 if I go aftermarket) and was borderline needing new shocks/struts ($800) and potentially the transfer case, which is a chronic problem on the older Murano that would be another $3k service. The CVT should still be under warranty however since Nissan extended it to 120k. I looked at the Pilot, but it is soooooooooooooooo ugly that we cannot get past it and although the Toyota's have higher reliability, have you seen their interior quality? The new Highlander/4 runner appear sub par inside and look dated even compared to Kia/Hyundai now. We also checked out the Ford Edge/Explorer, Dodge Durango Mazda CX-9 and the new Murano as well of course, but I left it up to her to decide since it is her rig.

 

In my experience working in multiple shops, Jeeps are the poorest engineered and cheapest built vehicles on the road. Mercedes are not far behind, overegineered and not as reliable as most asain imports. Just my .02.

 

jeep transmissions are a nightmare to service, my best friend had a sahara edition wrangler and it was a sealed transmission. He never took it mudding or off roading, he just used it as his DD since he was stationed in Norfolk. so once and a while he'd drive to FL. long story short, that transmission was junk along with the seals on the valve covers, the power steering is also made of junk-design. you may have gotten lucky with this new model, but personally i would have rather gone with a nissan or a toyota

 

Reliability is my biggest concern, thankfully the drive train has a 100k warranty. My fingers are crossed that since it is a clean slate redesign and not relying on 15-20 year old technology like the outgoing Grand Cherokee that it will serve us well. Current Dodge/Chrysler/Jeep trends look favorable.

While speaking about reliability, I myself and plenty of friends and family that have actually had just as many issues with asian imports. My brother and his 06' Toyota Camry has it's transmission go out at 77k miles. My best friends 08' Pathfinder is always in the shop with issues including needing to replace the transfer case. My 07' Honda Civic SI had a horrible gearbox that was often a chore to get into 3rd gear and was a known wide spread problem, that Honda refused to address. My wife's coworker has a 06' Pathfinder that also has been to the shop multiple times recently. They are about to dump it out of frustration. My Mazdaspeed 6 had a problem with the widespread random power loss issue where the turbo felt like it refused to spool up making my car a plain old gutless 4 cylinder. Dealer never could find cause since it was not a consistent problem.

 

congrats man hope you enjoy your new ride

 

Congrats on the Jeep. They look awesome!
I would've made the same choice if I was in your situation. The Pilot has cheap looking plastic inside, the Highlander is boring and the Pathfinder is showing its age. Domestics have come a long way. Don't believe everything you read or hear because I bought a Pathfinder (R50 - made in Japan) based on all positive reviews. Well that Pathfinder was a lemon big time.....traded it on a Trailblazer (which has terrible reviews) but the Trailblazer has been rock solid and dare I say...better than the Pathy.