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About to pull trigger on '15 GC Summit. Anything I should know?

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3K views 22 replies 11 participants last post by  Jim_in_PA 
#1 ·
After looking at several SUVs and changing our max price several times, it came down to the Durango and GC, with the GC inching ahead at the finish line. We didn't do a great job with making sure options would be available on certain trims, so we are now looking to get a '15 JC Summit, Deep Cherry, V6, 4WD, with the Rear Entertainment and California option. MSRP is around $55k. This is way more than our original $40k limit. We usually buy used, but we hope to keep the next new vehicle we buy for a long time. I was a little shocked to see many Summits advertised on dealer sites for around $5500 off. After looking through this forum, it could be because a refresh around the corner is causing buyers to pause. Unless we get a great deal, we will probably also wait and see what the 2016 model year brings. All of that being said, is there anything that would give anyone here pause about buying a new Summit? My wife will be trading in her '07 Odyssey and the replacement will be primarily a work/soccer mom vehicle, with little off-roading and no hardcore trail use. I tried to talk her into the V8, but no luck. She's stuck on wanting the fuel economy of the V6. I talked her into 4WD after all of the snow hit over the past few weeks. She can't call out due to weather and the 4WD, although not a necessity, would be needed over RWD. The FWD Odyssey handled the snow like a champ, so a 4WD should be even better.... I've gone back and skimmed over many posts. Looks like no major issues, other than the typical posts you see when any owner has a problem with a certain vehicle. I just wanted to post here to make sure I haven't overlooked anything that we should know about before I throw out a low figure and the dealer accepts. I doubt that'll happen, though. The dealer has located an exact match, which is 400 miles away. Through the magic of the Internet, it took me less than 5 minutes to locate 5 exact matches, with the closest being 400 miles away. So I'm 99.9% sure it's the same one they found. As much as we've bugged the local dealer, I want to buy local, if possible, but I'll gladly take a trip if the trip costs less than the price difference. Any feedback will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
 
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#2 · (Edited)
After looking at several SUVs and changing our max price several times, it came down to the Durango and GC, with the GC inching ahead at the finish line. We didn't do a great job with making sure options would be available on certain trims, so we are now looking to get a '15 JC Summit, Deep Cherry, V6, 4WD, with the Rear Entertainment and California option. MSRP is around $55k. This is way more than our original $40k limit. We usually buy used, but we hope to keep the next new vehicle we buy for a long time. I was a little shocked to see many Summits advertised on dealer sites for around $5500 off. After looking through this forum, it could be because a refresh around the corner is causing buyers to pause. Unless we get a great deal, we will probably also wait and see what the 2016 model year brings. All of that being said, is there anything that would give anyone here pause about buying a new Summit? My wife will be trading in her '07 Odyssey and the replacement will be primarily a work/soccer mom vehicle, with little off-roading and no hardcore trail use. I tried to talk her into the V8, but no luck. She's stuck on wanting the fuel economy of the V6. I talked her into 4WD after all of the snow hit over the past few weeks. She can't call out due to weather and the 4WD, although not a necessity, would be needed over RWD. The FWD Odyssey handled the snow like a champ, so a 4WD should be even better.... I've gone back and skimmed over many posts. Looks like no major issues, other than the typical posts you see when any owner has a problem with a certain vehicle. I just wanted to post here to make sure I haven't overlooked anything that we should know about before I throw out a low figure and the dealer accepts. I doubt that'll happen, though. The dealer has located an exact match, which is 400 miles away. Through the magic of the Internet, it took me less than 5 minutes to locate 5 exact matches, with the closest being 400 miles away. So I'm 99.9% sure it's the same one they found. As much as we've bugged the local dealer, I want to buy local, if possible, but I'll gladly take a trip if the trip costs less than the price difference. Any feedback will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
I am not sure what your location is but there are Group buys going on for the Grand Cherokee that will give you a good no haggle price. The DC group buy is 7% under invoice, you can read about the particulars and ask for the info at the link below. They have probably sold hundreds by this point, I was one of the first to buy under it back in March of 2013 and it is a good deal. Also any existing incentives can also be taken off of the 7%. good luck



http://www.jeepgarage.org/f73/dc-metro-area-group-buy-54432.html
 
#4 · (Edited)
Just make sure to copare the out the door total numbers when comparing, dealers play lots of games. The salesman we work with on the DC group buy will pick you up at the airport or metro if needed he has people come in from out of area. Also you can order one for the group buy price so you get exactly what you want. I think it is about 6-8 weeks from when you order to recieving it.

Also i noticed that you plan to keep it a long time as i do also. The maxcare lifetime chysler factory service contract is an excellent deal when keeping for a long time and with higher trim levels with lots of gadgets to break. It is lifetime miles and lifetime years on nearly all mechanical. I paid $2100 for it, it really is a bargain if you plan to keep the jeep a long time. You could easily pay more than that price on a single repair with all the technology now. A guy was on here the other day and the dealer wanted $2350 for the air suspension compresor. I usually dont buy service contracts on cars but this one was too good a deal to pass up.
 
#5 ·
Did you buy the service contract from the DC dealer, or is there a dealer known for selling discounted contracts? I'm sure the local dealer will try to mark the service contract up, so I'll end up buying it elsewhere. That's if they will even want to give me a fair deal since they will have to do a swap for the one we want. Lots of "max profit" dealers in this area, unfortunately. We bought a 6yr/100k extended warranty for the Odyssey from a dealer I found online that was selling the plan for $1k LESS than the local Honda dealer was trying to get me to pay. As luck would have it, we didn't use the extended warranty one single time. I think we had 2 recalls and a sliding door microswitch replaced within the first 3 years. No issues after that. I still like the peace of mind that IF something goes wrong, it's covered.
 
#7 ·
I have a 2011 Overland Hemi and the leather dash was replaced at 25K miles and the air-suspension started acting up at 40K miles. I just ordered a Limited 4 x 4 Eco-Diesel just so I don't get the air-suspension which will definitely become an issue at some point.
 
#9 ·
The V6 will have very little, if any, better fuel economy. Remember, the V8 can run as a four. Instead, why get the Summit instead of the Overland? Is there something specific you want which is only on the Summit?


Of course, paying cash is the most important thing. Being in debt (finance or lease) is good for the lender and bad for the borrower. Buying what you can afford will make you far happier than being a debt slave.
 
#10 ·
First check under the seats and seat tracks for water damage and rust then check the doors for proper alignment, They were having water leaks with the sun roof drains, Check the fit and finish of the paint , the orange peel on my GC had de-valued my Jeep(working on Settlement) . I have a ground in the sun visor area there still chasing, Battery will go dead, oh I still have less than 5000 miles on it. If I were you I would go with the DURANGO, Better ride and more room.
 
#11 ·
Durango is the same vehicle with 5" of additional wheel base to accommodate the third row seating. Comes off the same line as the JGC intermingled with JGC...so same exact potential for the same exact issues... ;)
 
#12 ·
My wife is adamant about the v6. We will put down around $20k with the trade and cash combined, then finance the rest for 36mo. The original $40k limit was just a number we decided on. We can afford more, but don't want to end up with something too expensive just because we can. We are both in healthcare and there's a lot of changes still underway. If one of our jobs gets eliminated, we want to be in a place where one paycheck can cover everything. As far as why we picked the Summit, it was just the one we liked the most. She wants the dual glass roof and all of the other options. The chrome was going to be a deal breaker until we saw there was a California package. I had emailed the local salesman to go ahead give me their best price on the exact matching models they found. I also told him there are several on the web that are advertised for $5500 off, so if they come back with a good price, I'd come down and leave a deposit. Never heard back from him and the bi-weekly phone calls also stopped after that. He is either no longer there or they can't come nowhere near that kind of discount. No biggie. Gives us time to see if any of the rumored changes for the 2016 models are true.
 
#14 ·
A need or a want? I think the answer is obvious. It's a new car over $15k, which I'd say 99.99% are wants. We can handle the payment if one of us were to become unemployed. Not likely, but I like being prepared for the worse. The wife is in a better spot in her field. She could easily get a job at another hospital, so no chance of both of us being out of a job for long. Just saying that before someone brings it up. :)
 
#15 ·
It always comes down to personal choice so buy what you want and not what others tell you to buy. To me, the Summit is by far the best looking trim in the whole line, from fascia to rims, platinum pkg, etc.

I'm looking primarily V6 myself, because I will be doing mostly in town driving at least for the forseeable future. Some have said there is little to no difference in fuel economy between the V6 and the Hemi. I think on the highway what's probably not an incorrect statement, but I think if you polled most of the posters on the forum who have V6 models, and asked about city economy, the V6 would return better numbers than the Hemi by a decent margin. It's all about what is right for your wants/needs.
 
#16 ·
Get the Summit.

I finally convinced my wife that we needed to trade in my WJ and get a WK2. We could have gone with a Limited, but I figured we might as well get the look/features I wanted or just wait and keep the car I had. I found a great deal on a local Overland, so I was able to get her to go check it out, but it ended up being a demo and had some damage. The same dealership also had a demo white/black Summit in the showroom and she negotiated the crap out of it until we got a price she could accept. Trading in my WJ covered all the TTL fees and we put $11k down to finance only $30k. And I LOVE driving the thing (the V6 isn't bad, and I wanted the SRT, so don't fret on her decision there).

It was a bit more than she wanted to spend, but it's worth it getting the car that's absolutely loaded with every feature you'll ever need. A friend of mine bought a Limited without even Lux II and he's already doing a bunch of stuff to upgrade it because he wants a better stereo, HID's, painted fender trim, etc.
 
#17 ·
Get the Summit! I have a 2014 Summit V8 and am so happy I went with it. The updated sound system alone keeps me happy with my choice. I love the interior, the front parking sensors, the wheels, the sexiness... LOL

The only downside to owning a Summit is you don't really want to be as daring with what you drive over because it is a Summit. I sometimes wish I got a cheaper model that way I could have fun driving in different off-roadish type of atmospheres without worrying as much about small little dings and scratches.

Oh, and hi folks! It's been a while since I have posted here :)
 
#19 ·
My wife will be trading in her '07 Odyssey and the replacement will be primarily a work/soccer mom vehicle, with little off-roading and no hardcore trail use. I tried to talk her into the V8, but no luck. She's stuck on wanting the fuel economy of the V6.
As others have posted, the real world fuel usage does not appear to be vastly different between the V6 and the 5.7L Hemi. With the vehicle primarily being a work / kid shuttle bus, having the reserve power of the Hemi for accelerating when needed, like entering a highway, is something to think about. It becomes a safety issue, not that the V6 cannot accelerate, but there is a distinct difference. And cruising with the Eco mode on and she would be driving a 4 cylinder... :D Also, not to be indelicate, the price differential between a Limited or Overland vs the Summit would certainly pay for a whole lot of gas, so there seems to be a break in the logic of wanting better fuel economy [3 mpg ?] yet paying many 1,ooo's for the bells and whistles. Yeah, I know, it is not always a rational thing...:rolleyes:

Lastly, there is also a buying group in TX which may be closer to you than the one in DC/VA. Might be worth exploring both and compare with local dealerships. Good luck!
 
#21 ·
I've already gone over why she needs the V8. Merging on freeways, safely passing other vehicles, getting away from assassins, etc. She may come around eventually. :)
I was worried about this as well, buying the V6. When I need better response to merge or move through congested traffic more quickly, popping it into sport mode makes it all easy. Worse case and you need some extra power, grab the left paddle a couple times and the Jeep just takes off. Doesn't have the torque down low of my WJ with the 4.7L HO, but it's no slouch. :thumbsup:
 
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