Faults:

A tire literally blew up while driving the car on the interstate. And yes, the tire pressure was correct I had checked it that day before I left for vacation. I have also had to replace the battery 3 times, and I am going in tomorrow because the battery light is coming on again. The latest battery was installed 2.5 months ago.

General Comments:

I cannot wait to get out of my lease. I will never buy a Jeep again because I cannot trust it to be reliable. I have been late to work twice and I have had to get a rental both times, which I had to pay for out of my pocket. The gas mileage is terrible, yes I know it's a Jeep. Two positives: it's cute, and it handles really well off road and on snowy roads.

Faults:

Making it in the first place.

Transmission problems.

General Comments:

This car does not own up to its name. I drive on many dirt and gravel logging/ forest roads for my job, and this is one of our company vehicles. It says on the side of the jeep "trail rated" when it barely has any clearance, and drives like a noisy tin can. It barely makes it over rocks about 6 inches tall, and scrapes often while driving over anything larger than that or in deep potholes. My boss had a $300+ oil pan skid plate installed on it for this reason.

It has terrible suspension, in that any bump in the road feels 3 times larger and louder than it should for being "trail rated."

The transmission slips in and out of gears when going up steep hills, and has caused the engine light to come on.

The driver's leg room forces you to bend your legs a little to the left because of the weird angle they made the front console, and it is uncomfortable on long drives. The window switches are between the driver and passenger seats, and I have to bend my arm far more than I should have to in order to roll down the freaking window. To top it off, the seats feel like rocks after long drives.

One thing that makes up for it is the 4 wheel drive and decent handling on paved road. We often have to switch it into 4 wheel drive on muddy or steep hills, and it gets us through them pretty easily. And it seems to handle alright on rainy days while driving on pavement.

Faults:

After 13,000 miles the vehicle did not start. The dealer retrieved it and it started when it got to their shop. At 15,000 miles it happened again. Lithia Chrysler Jeep of Anchorage, the only Jeep dealer in our area, retrieved it again. They had the Jeep for 10 days, The 1st 8 days were spent changing a relay pack and it took a week to get a new starter. At this point I contacted Chrysler. They contacted the dealer and had a new power-train control module shipped overnight. Guess doing warranty work for me did not make me important enough to have a starter shipped overnight. This happened during my vacation is was a total pain. Because I did not have an extended warranty the dealer would not let us have a loaner. I do not know what the extended warranty has to do with it when it only had 16,000 miles on it. This bad experience has left me with not wanting to buy another Jeep or going to a Lithia Dealer. They are also a Chevrolet Dealer in this area.

General Comments:

The car feels funny for me to drive, but my wife loves it. It is not very fuel thrifty, but it is better than the Cherokee it replaced. For a small 4X it sits up nice. We also like the way it handles in the snow. Also, what is with the rear cup holders in the doors?