I'm in the market for a used suv and I have been looking at the jeep grand cherokees, more specifically the summit model. I'm just wondering if they're as as unreliable as people say, and does it matter if it's the Pentastar v6 or the 5.7 hemi?

 

So I own two WJ's, both 2000 model years and both with over 220k miles, also both with the oh so hated 4.7L V8. One is my daily and the other is my wife's sometimes Daily. Now granted I have only owned them for a few months. But both were ridden hard and put away wet by previous owners. I paid $850 for them combined. That being said, they get me from A to B with no issues, handle quite well in the snow and I am confident in both bombing around the mountains.

Any vehicle can be a piece of crap if it's not properly maintained. Personally I am big on regular maintenance. I own a 07' F-150 with the dreaded Triton 5.4 V8, I have never had any of the cam-phaser issues so common to them. Why? Because maintenance.

That's just my two cents.

 

The main thing I've heard is the older GCs tended to have more electrical gremlins than say XJs.
And for the newer ones the V8s had a tendency to crack heads.

 

Electrical and transmission issues are the biggest problems with them. I love them and would love to have one, but they were better when new with a warranty.

 

Late to the game but my 04 WJ was the worst vehicle I ever bought. Maybe my bad luck, but lack of maintaince wasn't the issue. I spent a fricking furtune on that truck. First the good, it was a very comfortable ride and the 4.7 was wonderfull. The not so good, it was very poor in snow/ice. If my Subaru was 10 in snow/ice the WJ was a 5, even with Winter traction tires. The ugly, blend door issues, multible electronic issues including a total loss of instrumentation, another time all exterior lights quit, the cruise went south twice, the brake booster stopped boosting and I almost ran into a semi trying to stop it. I've never heard of a booster going bad until that day. Almost forgot that the ps pump went out twice as well. Buying it was the 2nd best day of my life, selling it was the best day of my life. My XJ is no gem, but it's reliable and easy to keep reliable so far.

 

[QUOTE=JudahMyles;3602044]I'm in the market for a used suv and I have been looking at the jeep grand cherokees, more specifically the summit model. I'm just wondering if they're as as unreliable as people say, and does it matter if it's the Pentastar v6 or the 5.7 hemi?

The seat of your pants will tell you there is Hugh difference between the v6 and a 5.7 hemi.