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two red SUVs

2000StreetRod

Moderator Emeritus
Joined
May 26, 2009
Messages
10,597
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331
City, State
Greenville, SC
Year, Model & Trim Level
00 Sport FI, 03 Ltd V8
My plan was to sell my Volvo 850 Turbo Wagon, purchase a 4 door Explorer and fix it up enough for my wife to drive, sell the 2006 Highlander and then purchase a 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee after the bugs were worked out their new 8 speed automatic transmission. However, last week while the Highlander was parked in a lot someone carelessly opened their car door next to us and left a small ding in our passenger side front door - the first mark ever on the Highlander. Also last week I detected an intermittent engine miss on one of the cylinders. There are 43K miles on the odometer and I tried to change all 6 spark plugs at 40K miles. I had no problems with the front 3 plugs but learned that much of the intake system had to be removed to gain access to the back 3 plugs so I didn't change them at the time. So I decided not to wait until 2015 and traded the Highlander in on a new 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo 2WD for my wife.
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My wife was getting very selective about what color of 4 door Explorer we should buy. Now that she has her red Grand Cherokee she doesn't care what 4 door Explorer I buy as long as I sell the Volvo first.

The 8 speed transmission is pretty interesting. There are two auto shift modes: fuel economy or sport. I haven't tried the sport mode yet but in my opinion in the economy mode the upshift from 1st to 2nd is too soon for the throttle setting. There is also a manual shift mode with the gear selection controlled by - and + paddle shifters located behind the steering wheel on the left and right side. The gear selected is displayed next to the speedometer display. I tried the manual mode and it is easy to use. When slowing in too high of a selected gear the transmission will downshift to prevent the engine from stalling. It will be useful for engine braking on hill descents, hill climbing and towing.

The replacement of an ignition key start/stop with a button was easy to get used to. My wife leaves her key in her purse which is sensed by the ignition system. When her purse is in the vehicle she just depresses the brake pedal and pushes the start/stop button. There's a button on the outside door handle to press to lock the vehicle which only works if the key location is sensed to be outside of the vehicle. If the vehicle is locked when she walks up to it and the key is sensed the system automatically unlocks.
 






Just wax and buff that Ex and it will look just like the jeep , Well sort of .
 






Jeep

Congrats on the new jeep! It looks good too.
Maybe later an SRT8 swap. lol.
Cant wait to hear about the next explorer you get.
 






Congrats on the new addition to the family:chug:
 






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