Shameless Self-promotion

You can find my Best and Worst experiences of 2009 here in Wheels.

Shameless Self-promotion

Find my "Best and Worst Vehicles of 2009" here in Wheels.

Shameless Self-promotion

You can find my Preview of Lexus' 2010/2011 LFA supercar here at CanadianDriver.com.




You can find my 2009 Christmas gift list for Wheels here.

It Ought to be Criminal

What's worse than doing a motor in a 2003 Jeep Liberty once? Doing the same motor in the same Jeep two months and one day later. It didn't even make it to its next oil change.

The motor in question is a 3.7 litre SOHC V6 - basically a sawed-off version of the 4.7 litre SOHC V8 engine first used in the Jeep Grand Cherokee, and later (like the 3.7 litre V6) used in a bunch of Chrysler's trucks and SUVs.

That motor has a known issue with internal faults (whether it's a head gasket or a cracked head or block, I don''t know) that result in coolant consumption - I've personally seen it a few times, and no surprise, the V6 appears to have the same affliction. The V6 is also known for chucking the rocker arms off the passenger side valves when the lifters bleed down prior to a cold start.

We dealt with that issue first, but not too long after, the Liberty's V6 began consuming coolant and misfiring after sitting. Ka-Blam, motor number one out, motor number two in.

Just under two months later, Blamo! Motor number two does exactly the same thing. In goes motor number three. Ugh!

This customer's Liberty is not a high mileage vehicle, and it has received better than average care and maintenance, right down to always using the proper $25 per jug Mopar coolant.

Two identical engine failures in less than 90 days. Criminal. Am I ever grateful that this customer is super relaxed and very understanding.

Update: Jeep came back with a misfire - this time, no cause found, which means that so far, it's not an engine issue. Time will tell...

Shameless Self-promotion

My review of BMW's 750Li-based ActiveHybrid 7 can be found on CanadianDriver.com here. (This is not the same one found on Wheels' site.)

Huh? The Chrysler 500? Whatzat?

When I heard that Fiat was going to purchase Chrysler, I was a little confused. What did the Italian automaker hope to gain from buying the weakest of the three domestic car companies? The best that I could come up with was that it would give Fiat a dealer network and some assembly capacity on this side of the Atlantic. I'm still not completely certain.

Regardless, Chrysler/Fiat's future product plans have been announced, and the only Fiat badged models apparent are the tiny 500 (seen above), and a "large commercial van" - probably Fiat's approximate equivalent to the Dodge Sprinter (now back to being a Mercedes Sprinter, thus a competitor), the Ducato.

All other Fiat-sourced models will be Chryslers, Dodges, or Jeeps, probably completely unlike their Italian forebears in style or form.

That leaves the 500, which will be built in Mexico (instead of Poland, as European 500's are), but may be badged as a Chrysler when it goes on sale either this year or next.

Here's where they lose me. There's no Chrysler tie-in for this vehicle. It doesn't look like any current Chrysler in any way, and Chrysler doesn't have a model like this in its heritage. Chrysler isn't known for small cars, unless you count the couple of years that the Canadian-market Neon was branded as a Chrysler. They probably hope that you've forgotten about that anyway.

Frankly, the majority of the kind of buyer that would be interested in what is effectively going to be a premium subcompact along the lines of a Mini are savvy enough to realize that this is a Fiat - and probably young enough to be blissfully unaware of just how bad Fiat's products were the last time they were sold here.

Not only that, but if you're expecting customers to fork out extra for a badge, wouldn't you think that the "Fiat" brand would carry more intrigue and potential cachet than "Chrysler"?

Maybe this is why I repair and write about cars instead of selling them...

Shameless Self-promotion

My preview of BMW's very impressive ActiveHybrid 7 (the hybrid version of the 750Li) can be found here at Wheels.