Re: First automatic
 

Hmm. Being on starband satelite, this did not seem to post. try again...
"Billzz" <billzzstring@starband.net> wrote in message news:...
> "Mr Muddy" <muddy@mrmuddy.freeyellow.com> wrote in message
> news:1130977539.602437.315770@g14g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...
>>I have driven the 05 Grand off road and know exacly what you are
>> talking about.
>> The transmisssion is a Mercedes triptronic unit and isn't usually used
>> with such a low ratio. This means it shifts fast and harder than you
>> might expect when in low As you no doubt have found by now the jump
>> between 1st and 2 nd is quite big.
>> The best thing I found was to run in 2nd and 3rd most of the time and
>> when 1st was needed come to a complete stop before or as I down shifted
>> into 1st.
>>
>> Hope this helps
>> John
>
> I did not think that I had anything to contribute, but seeing Mr. Muddy's
> info i guess i do...
>
> Wife and I own twin 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokees. What we have done on trips
> is rent the same car that we would think of buying and so last month, in
> Dallas, we rented a 2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee. We were very underwhelmed.
> Especially with the Tiptronic transmission. Leaving it alone, in D, it
> revved, then lugged, then when I put more push on the accelerator, it
> downshifted and revved like hell, then upshifted, and hit a small wall,
> then slowly deaccelerated, until It down shifted again. We had this
> turkey for a week and I figured out that the engine and the transmission
> are strangers to each other. So I figured out how to start it up, and
> it's in D, and I flip it left, left, left, to downshift, until i get what
> i want, then flip it right, then it gets up there then i flip it right,
> etc. I might as well be driving a manual shift. It just takes too much
> attention. It is very poorly designed.
>
> And to top that off, all the nice amenities, like the rear of the steering
> wheel switches, the monitor in the ceiling - all gone. Maybe we rented
> the cheap model, but I sure didn't think so.
>
> I got my Consumer Reports (they don't know anything about cars,
> remembering that in 1964 they thought that the Nash Rambler was the best
> car) but they voted the 2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee the worst SUV (whatever
> that is) that they tested.
>
> So the Germans are now putting transmissions in US Jeeps? History has
> shown that the Germans have never understood Jeeps, and I spent 26 years
> in the US Army in Jeeps, and seven years in Germany talking to our German
> "sister" battalion people with Mercedes and VW wagons, and they said that
> they never understood how the US Army could do what they did with "The
> Jeep." and most off-road magazines don't show the Mercedes or VW doing
> all that well.
>
> Bottom line. I have 115,000 miles on my 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee, and
> will keep it for as long as I can, and then I'm looking at Hondas,
> whatever.
>