Yes, the early Pentastar engines did have cylinder head issues but that was just a handful and I think it was more of wrangler owners that got hit the hardest. The issue has been resolved and shouldn't be a concern with the 2014's....heck it hasn't been a concern with my 2011.

You can read about it here: http://www.allpar.com/news/index.php...issue-in-depth

 

I have heard about this issue with the new v6 3.6. Actually, my father in law bought a used (it was months old and had less than 20K on it) 2012 Dodge Grand Caravan. Actually it was manufactured in September of 2011, so it was still a very new engine. The check engine light came on and the dealer had it for at least a week i believe. I think they said it was a dead cylinder. Now I'm sure he has well over 60K on it and no further problems. So i'd say its safe. that was a problem In 2011-2012. Its now 2014 i think they worked the bugs out. Ive had my 14 journey for almost a month and i love the v6 engine, its very peppy. I'm very happy with it.

 

Thank you all for the updates on your Journey's. We still have not bought anything yet. We keep going back and forth between the Journey, Nissan Pathfinder and the GMC Acadia. This has been the hardest time for us trying to decide. In the past we always knew what we wanted and this time we are having a hard time deciding. We can get the Journey for the lowest price but a friend highly recommended the Pathfinder and the Acadia we have always liked but it's the most expensive of these. We just want to make sure we make the right choice and we definitely do not want to have problems with a new car.

 

If you worry about reliability, Chrysler offers great extended warranty. The Max Care policy come very close to original warranty (excluding belt, interior trim pieces). Add the price of the Journey to a Life-Time Max Care, see if it is still cheaper than Nissan. If it is, than it is a no-brainer.

 

Had mine since June 2011. Only problem was the cruise control. Fixed with a new sccm unit in the steering wheel. Just thought I'd throw in my vote for the DJ. My wife and I found the pathfinder to be mildly noisy. While the Acadia was simply too big for our taste. Our DJ has been a great vehicle. Good luck.

Peace.

 

Thanks, we are going to look at one today. We had decided to go with the Pathfinder but read some really bad reviews on the transmissions so we decided against it. We do like the Acadia but decided we do not want to spend that much on a new vehicle which eliminated that one. So we have decided to go with the Journey.

 

I have a 2009 journey SXT AWD with the 3.5 liter V6. It is a nice confortable car to drive does well in the snow. The gas mileage is better than my Chrysler town and country with the 3.8 liter in it. We bought it used with 60k. I've owned it for about 30,000 miles now.

The problems that I have is that I have replaced several front brake components.
-New pads (ceramic and semi metallic types), new rotors 2x (warped and when the caliper stuck), new calipers on both sides,
- 19 inch 225/55r19 are hard to find and kind of expensive, new tire pressure sensors,
-have had several leaks in the transmission and power transfer unit for the AWD, -had both rocker shafts in the motor replaces because of excessive valve noise at 88k,
-new air conditioning condenser and evaporator,
-sway bar end links.
- most parts are special order and not carried in local part stores

It sounds like dodge has made some improvements by the looks of the forum. I would highly recommend the extended warranty but beware that some things may not be covered. if you do the work yourself make sure they have a lifetime warranty.

 

Sorry to hear you have had so many issues with your Journey. We had read that there were some issues with the earlier models especially the brakes. We had also heard there were some issues with the heads but I spoke with my nephew whose uncle works at a Dodge dealer in the parts department and he said he had not heard of any issues with the 2014 models.

We decided to go with the Journey and bought one a couple of weeks ago.
We bought a new 2014 Dodge Journey SXT Plus with the V6 engine. It has the larger 8.4 inch touch screen and the one we got has an overhead DVD player in it. We love it, it drives great and it looks very nice.