Pronk

Dear All,

This afternoon I went to a dealer to make a test drive in a brand new (60km) 2016 GC Overland model. I don't have any experience with 4WD cars or differentials or any of those things. But it seemed neither did the guy from the showroom who was with me in the car.

I did not notice the yellow light 4WD LOW on the display, it did not ring a bell for me, and as the showroom guy next to me was even more clueless we started the test drive. I saw him looking around at all the car's features and buttons when we got in.

It took me about 6km in slow city traffic and a few traffic lights until I noticed some weird things, I heard this weird winding noise when I was accelerating and decelerating back again, I also noticed the car was shifting very frequently on low speeds. It was my first time in that car, but still it seemed strange. Then when we hit part where I could drive 80km/h and everything seemed fine until the part where I was allowed to accelerate to 100km/h.

At 90km the car was holding back immediately, it didn't matter if I pushed the accelerator or not. At that time thought I might have messed up the setting with the speed warning. I stopped on the side and had reset all speed warnings, tried again and same effect at 90km/h. I left the highway and made a wide U-turn and went back the other way on the highway. During the turn which wasn't that fast or anything I felt the car holding back very strangely. After that I realized there was a light on the display saying 4WD LOW...

I know what everyone must think by now, what a dumbo how did you not know that... At that time we drove about 10km in total I believe. But by that time including my 10km drive, there was a grand total of 70km on the car.

I felt silly that I didn't see that before and changed the setting back to normal by pushing the button 4WD LOW in the center panel. After that the car drove like a beauty and everything was perfect.

I made a downpayment on the car and can get the loan ready early next week. But the thing is... I went online when I got back home and reseached some things about 4WD LOW, and now I'm worried the car might have suffered because of driving on normal (non muddy or slippery roads) with 4WD LOW enabled...

I ofcourse don't know how the previous 60km were driven. I also don't know if when enabled, the 4WD low setting resets after car is shutdown. I do hope that's the case, because that means the guy sitting next to me just randomly pushed some buttons when we got in the car at the start (I did see him looking at the different traction modes like snow, sand etc).

I am getting a little bit worried, could these short drives have damaged the car? (especially if somewhere during the first 60km on the car the 4WD LOW was enabled and stayed that way until I noticed)


So basically two questions:

- Does this 4WD LOW opion reset after the car is shut down automatically (that would mean it was possibly only enabled during my 10km test drive, perhaps that guy enabled it by accident).

- Would this possibly have damaged the car that quickly? I know the car will have 3 years warranty, but still. Or is the car protected in some ways? It did hold back the speed automatically when I tried to accelerate, so that must be some sort of protection.


Thank you all for reading my post and I hope you can ease my mind on this one. Or not... And then I should think about getting my deposit back and find a different car (I don't want a car which might be damaged by weird test drives with possibly 4WD LOW enabled)

With kind regards,

Robbert!

EatonXJ

I can't say if it did any long term damage but I wouldn't buy it just for the simple fact that I wouldn't want that idiot to get the commission. He should know the vehicle he is trying sell. Sorry I'm no real help just my 2 cents.

dave1123

The reason the car was holding back is because you were up against the rev limiter. Low range is like driving in 1st gear all the time and is meant for low speed power. A brand new engine shouldn't be over-reved like that! Pass on it and go look for one that hasn't been abused. JMHO.

Pronk

Thanks for your reply, I understand your feeling on that guy. Although he wasn't the seller, he was a random guy who was sent along with my test drive.

dave1123

I rented a 2016 Limited and I had too much to handle in the way of features, like the touch screen controlled so many functions it was distracting my driving. Every time I started it, the heated seats and steering wheel came on on high setting. If I took the time, I probably could have figured out how to cancel that! After a day, I took it back for a simple Dodge Caravan.

AND the jeep's radio had 5 stations of rap music!