Gr.Cherokee vs. pilot

[array]

i had jeep 02 grand cherokee 4,7, sold it and bought 03 pilot on advices of my friend who drives lexus, and already drove pilot before me.
so, my jeep was pretty good, great. the engine was new i sold it 2 monts ago, the mileage was 15200. was limited with upper standard features.

now i can compare it with pilot. honda looks great, in our country there are only few cars of these dimensions, everyone turns on the street with: hey, its honda, but its too big to be a crv, so what is it?

the ride quality: no comment, in comparison to jeep extra class
fuel economy: with jeep mix : 15 - 16 l/100 km
honda: mix: 12,5 l/100 km

only missing features: adj. pedals, board computer, ...., but on the other side there is more power and versatility and utility with honda.

03 Pilot starlight silver EXL, sideboards, splashguards, hp chip, module
02 grand ch., with everything

[krygny]

I looked ate the JGC when I was shopping in 2003. Here's what I think ...

Jeep Grand Cherokee

[roy63]

My wife and I bought a Pilot EX-L 2 months ago. We LOVE it. WE looked the Jeep Grand Cherokee before we bought the pilot. I did some digging and found on consumer reports that the Jeep was at the bottom of the list for reliability. My 2 cents on the new jeep is that we got lost in a never ending sea of plastic on the dash and throughout the interior of the jeep. We looked at the Limited with the v8 "not the hemi." We also thought the $ was to high way to high. The fit and finish of the trim didnt look good there were large gaps all thru the dash. All of this is just my opnion.

[jl_ss]

It comes down to how you are going to use the vehicle. If you need "real" off road capability then then the JGC is the better choice, but you trade ride quality for that capability (the Toyo 4Runner is a better choice if quality is of prime importance). If your off-roading consists of snowy roads every winter, then the Pilot makes much more sense.

[ecsw]

what's the price difference? do u have to pay extra money to get your '03 Pilot?

[jjmhawk]

We owned a 2001 JGC Limited until a bad accident that totaled the vehicle.

We still miss some aspects of the Jeep:

1) Better looking. Our Jeep was in Patriot Blue and looked great with the 17 inch rims. The 16 inch rims really detract from the Pilot's appearance and I may replace them one day, but would have been nice if you could get them on the vehicle from the factory.
2) V8. We had the 4.7 liter V8 and this is still sorely missed off the line but the Pilot's V6 does just fine once spooled up (especially passing on the highway).
3) Day night mirror, Trip computer, compass, MPG meter, etc. I really liked the overhead console in the Jeep and wish the Pilot came with these features standard. Yes, I know the day night mirror with compass is available, but should be a factory option or standard.
4) Handling in the rain. This one might not be fair, because of the Integrity donuts on the Pilot but we had more confidence with the Jeep (we had full time 4WD) in the rain with the OEM tires and even more with the Goodyear Fortera's.
5) Real 4WD. We put the part time 4WD to good use and I especially remember one wrong turn on a muddy mountain road after a rainy day that I seriously doubt the Pilot would have navigated.

What we love about the Pilot:
1) Ride comfort. As echoed in other posts, the Pilot blows the JGC away when it comes to ride and this is especially true on a long trip. The Jeep's seats are very cushy and they are not very supportive after a while. Let's not forget the truck factor with the side to side rocking over rough pavement. The Pilot is much smoother, but this is to be expected since it's car based.
2) Cargo room. The Pilot swallows everything even with the twins side by side stroller in the back. The Jeep's cargo room is modest at best and my mother's Honda CRV seems roomy in comparison.
3) Reliability. We have had no issues with Pilot thus far. The JGC had heated seat issues, transmission thunk issues (software update corrected); cylinder 3 had some computer issues and the famous memory seat issue which my wife went back to the dealer 20 times to address. We were never left stranded by the Jeep and it did not fall apart driving off the lot as Consumer Reports would lead you to believe, but there were plenty of non-maintenance trips to the dealer.
4) Third row seat. With twins, the third row comes in real handy when the grandparents come to visit. With the JGC, we always have to take two vehicles.
5) Gas mileage. Even though folks are not too crazy about the Pilot's gas mileage, my wife was lucky to get 12 MPG with the Jeep. The Jeep had to be filled up every 5 to 6 days whereas the Pilot goes close to 2 weeks.

[array]

yes i had to pay extra money for pilot.
jgc was 02, pilot 03. price difference was about 3000 USD.
didnt know if its worth to buy it, because jeep had all features.
but now i know it is better choice than jeep.
honda offer quite no options, and when yes, they re standard on jeep.
space in 2nd row in pilot is great for talle, bigger people. in jeep when anybody cca. 190 cm tall drove it, i had no chance to sit behind.

[pinoypilot]

i leased an 04 jeep gc special edition w/ v6 but i had to replaced it with the pilot because the jeep's check engine light goes on/off constantly. i always had to reset the computer to get the light out. took it to the dealer to get it fix but they wont even give us free loaner car while they keep the jeep overnight, so we traded it in and bought a pilot instead, and we are much happier. the jeep also have a habit of not starting once in a while,,,piece of junk.