[auscop]

I promised the members of the 2014 Grand Cherokee Information - Australia thread that I would write a blog of our trip from Sydney to Alice Springs with our new MY14 CRD Overland.

We have now had the Black Jeep (thus it's name and soon to be license plate, Baa Baaa) for just over 24 hours. The whole family are completely in love with it. My wife's only concern is that we might be hard up for space in the back on our camping trips.

So far the car has been flawless, every now and then we have to head in to the manual, (yes I know GUYS.. I am reading the manual) to find out what something means. For instance when "Aero" shows up in the top right side of the instrument panel. We now know that means if you do between 99 and 106 kph for greater than 20 secs or you exceed 106 kph then the car goes in to Aero mode and lowers 13mm.

The CRD is amazingly quite and smooth, Our previous car was a 2006 Hyundai Terracan and that is loud and clunky compared to the Overland.

Tomorrow we head of to Canberra via Bateman's Bay and Mogo's Zoo (thanks SNUKE). Will be heading out of here about 6am, and I hope from now on to add the odd photo along the way.

Here is a quick synopsis of the likes and don't likes so far.

Do NOT like:

The space in the center console near the CD play... WTF Jeep were you thinking? It is so small it barely fits the case for my glasses.

The space in the glove box is too small as well. After you have the car manual in the binder that comes with the car there is little room for much else. Definitely no room for the mandatory 6 rolls of toilet paper needed for a 3000km trip with two females.

The car changes out of first a little to late, however I have heard that the car will eventually adjust the more you drive.

Do Like:

Everything except for above.. But seriously..

The GPS is awesome, prior to this we had a 5 yr old Garmin. This one is great as it show all the lanes on the highway when you need to get off.. or stay on.

The outside entry lights are great

The 7" center display in the instrument panel... All I can say is WOW and I have not even worked out half of what it does yet.

Quadra Lift is cool. Can't wait to test it out in real 4WDing

Wife and Kis love the heated seats.. I have not tried it yet.

LOVE LOVE LOVE the Blind Spot detection.. Sadly not to much use for it in Alice.

Sunroof is cool.

Love the Vesuvio Indigo Interior.

Love the key-less entry. First car I have owned that has had this.

Well that is about it for now, have to head out for dinner with some folk.

Will TRY and update every day or two.

Auscop

 

[Gforce]

Great, look forward to following your trip home, have a safe journey...

 

[SJandL]

Also looking forward to reading about the trip home Auscop (and family).

Yes, re: the Aero indicator. We also had to turn to the manual to find out what that was all about.

Have a safe trip.

 

[nariracruisin']

Hi Auscop
, looking forward to following your trip home. I pick up our poverty pack white Laredo on Tuesday, 11.30am my dealer informed me. Got news for him, I'll be on the doorstep come 9! I didn't appreciate the warning that if my missed my appointment time I'd have to wait for a vacancy before handover.

it's been a looong wait from November but I'm sure it'll be worth it! haven't given it a name yet... She will have to earn that .

I envy your trip home, we will only be 450k from our dealer, but I think a detour home via Sydney or Brisbane might be in order, then to knock up a couple of thousand k before hitching the van and chasing the Capricorn or perhaps The Alice.

Brian

 

[Roachy]

The MY13's have a 'tray' in the top of the glove box for the manual. Gets it out of the way and frees up some space. Would think they would have left in for the MY14s

 

[auscop]

The MY13's have a 'tray' in the top of the glove box for the manual. Gets it out of the way and frees up some space. Would think they would have left in for the MY14s

Hey Roachy, You may be right. I was just leaving it where the dealer put it. I do remember today while driving the wifer was trying to put the manual and a tidy first aid kit in there at she was hitting something that may have been a tray. Will look at it tomorrow. Thanks.:thumbsup:

 

[iwantanotherjeep]

Thanks for the blog auscorp, thoroughly entertaining. I'm sure you will get to try out the heated seats in Canberra with temperatures getting down to -3C overnight, brrrrrr!!!

Love the use of the manual to work out features. I was in a hire car once that had radio/stereo controls in the back. I had a ball with the two in the front until they pulled out the manual and realised I was farking with their heads and locked off the back controller

I'm starting to get excited about this truck again, hopefully I'll be in mine by the end of the month, but in the meantime, blog on

 

[auscop]

Hi Auscop
, looking forward to following your trip home. I pick up our poverty pack white Laredo on Tuesday, 11.30am my dealer informed me. Got news for him, I'll be on the doorstep come 9! I didn't appreciate the warning that if my missed my appointment time I'd have to wait for a vacancy before handover.

it's been a looong wait from November but I'm sure it'll be worth it! haven't given it a name yet... She will have to earn that .

I envy your trip home, we will only be 450k from our dealer, but I think a detour home via Sydney or Brisbane might be in order, then to knock up a couple of thousand k before hitching the van and chasing the Capricorn or perhaps The Alice.

Brian

Hi Brian, The Laredo is still a great car. What a joke about the dealer.... Wow.. Get there and keep asking questions especially when you know he is trying to finish up. Looking forward to the trip as well, the 12 yr old is just happy it is not as long as the 10000km Kimberley trip we did last year.

 

[auscop]

Love the use of the manual to work out features. I was in a hire car once that had radio/stereo controls in the back. I had a ball with the two in the front until they pulled out the manual and realised I was farking with their heads and locked off the back controller

OMG That is priceless.. Love it.

 

[Gforce]

Re Owners Manual, is it a large book, could it be stored anywhere else?

 

[auscop]

Re CD Player

Just a general question, anyone found out if the CD player can be replaced, my Dealer doesn't know if its possible, would sure like to flick that dinosaur in my new GC when I get it. Has anyone heard if the problem also exists in the US as well ?

Gforce, I have heard it next to impossible to get the CD player removed. And if you do remove it the you are stuck with a big hole. Not sure on the US side. My guess is it would be easier over there to get a car how you want it. Other forum members may know more.

 

[Gforce]

Gforce, I have heard it next to impossible to get the CD player removed. And if you do remove it the you are stuck with a big hole. Not sure on the US side. My guess is it would be easier over there to get a car how you want it. Other forum members may know more.

Thanks re CD player, have commented on this on our other thread, didn't mean to post it here, hit send and went oops...
Sorry about that.

 

[auscop]

Thanks re CD player, have commented on this on our other thread, didn't mean to post it here, hit send and went oops...
Sorry about that.

Gforce, not a problem.. You are bound to get more reads on the other page though.

 

[RobbieD]

Looking forward to following your adventure

 

[auscop]

Day 2: Left Parramatta early at around 6 am as we had a booking for the Meerkat encounter at Mogo Zoo. Made fairly good time as we beat most of the traffic. As recommended by allypally we detoured off for a beautiful drive through to Stanwell Tops had some amazing views.

Then headed over the sea bridge and made our way down to Mogo Zoo getting there with 3/4 of an hour to spare before the Wifer and kid did the Meekat encounter. (I was the official photographer ) We all thought the Meerkats were awesome, they got to feed them. They even put a few grubs in their hair so the Meerkats could pick them out. I am not sure how the little critters knew the difference between grubs and lice. :lol:

From there we caught a quick bite from Maccas in Batemen's Bay and headed in to Canberra via King''s Highway. That road certainly gave Baa Baaa a good working with lots of breaking and accelerating. Had to stop for about 10 mins as they are still doing road works from the landslide that happened a couple of weeks ago.
Made it in to Canberra by about 3:30 as a friend recommended getting in early to avoid traffic and dusk. Now about to head out for dinner with a friend we have not seen in 13 yrs.

Notes: Thought the Jeep seemed to rev pretty high sometimes when going down very steep hills. Especially if I didn't use the brakes and let the car do the work.

On rare occasions we can hear a noise that I can only describe as a soft tone. I think I have heard it when I release my foot of the accelerator to softly slow down. Noise lasts about 5 secs and then disappears. ???

Seems my dual climate control works fine.

Amazed at the fuel economy. Have down over 600kms and just under 1/2 a tank.

Windscreen is dirty... Time to find a car wash. :detailer:

Still in love with my awesome ride.

Well time to head out for the night. Tomorrow the typical touristy things like War Memorial, track down Julia and point and laugh.

Auscop

 

[DCRSRT]

Thanks for the blog. Drive safe.

 

[allypally]

Glad you enjoyed the drive, and seems you are getting familiar with the running of that awesome vehicle.
I take it you don't have number plates on the Jeep? If not, we can run a sweepstakes on how many times you get pulled over when they think you don't have a registered car.
Don't go looking for Julia, I think she has long scarpered out of town with her tail between her legs. Similar to a Meerkat.

 

[nariracruisin']

Hi Auscop,
Great to hear you have not returned Baa Baaa just yet and glad you enjoyed our south coast. The Clyde is a great drive until the novelty wears off then it can become a bore fighting the ACT traffic either way. Fuel economy looks promising, especially considering the nature of the terrain. Will be watching with great interest as you hit the wide open plains country.

Sorry you will miss Julia however, she's crying all the way to the bank as we speak and with our money ofcourse.

 

[auscop]

Glad you enjoyed the drive, and seems you are getting familiar with the running of that awesome vehicle.
I take it you don't have number plates on the Jeep? If not, we can run a sweepstakes on how many times you get pulled over when they think you don't have a registered car.
Don't go looking for Julia, I think she has long scarpered out of town with her tail between her legs. Similar to a Meerkat.

allypally no number plates yet until we get home. We have an unregistered vehicle permit sticker in the window. It would be interesting to see what happens as we went on 3 or 4 toll roads in Sydney. I had no idea where I was going so I would be on it before I realized. Can't exactly log on line and pay.. What do I put for a number plate?

Very disappointed I have not been pulled over yet.

 

[bill_de]

Re Owners Manual, is it a large book, could it be stored anywhere else?

The NA version can be down loaded from Jeep in pdf format. I'm not sure if you use a different one or if you can down load it.

I bought a cheap Kindle reader that I keep in the console. I can then keep the most up to date manual handy, as we are already up to version three. Having it on the tablet, instead of the 600+ paper format, makes it easy to search for specific items.


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