In Jan’ of 2023 I made the mistake of talking my wife into selling her much beloved GMC Acadia with a V6 to buy a 2022 DD Citadel with a 5.7 Hemi and tow package. My reasoning was that the 5.7 Hemi would tow our fishing boat up the grades to the lake much easier than her Acadia; the 3-4 times a year we camped at the lake and I towed the trailer with my truck while she followed behind in her car towing the boat. Plus the DD was Octane Red which she absolutely loved. Now I’ll be the first to admit when it comes to modern technology my wife is stuck in the 90s. However, she never had an issue using bluetooth to connect her phone’s music to the Acadia’s radio or to my Chevy truck and other home systems. However, she has had nothing but problems with connecting her phone to the U-connect system in the DD. Either it won’t connect at all or won't connect for several minutes, and or just randoming comes on minutes later or sometimes it will disconnect her phone/music on its own while she's driving. I’ll admit that while I haven’t had as many issuess connecting my phone, there have been times I’ve also had trouble getting my phone to connect. Even when I have been connected for 30 minutes or more and turn the ignition off momentarily, turn it back on within 15 seconds and my phone won’t reconnect again for several minutes, if at all, when it was just connected! Even more frustrating for me is, even though when I get in the DD the U-connect welcomes me and says it’s loading “My profile,” if my wife is with me and has her phone with her, the U-connect automatically defaults to her phone and it’s almost impossible to get it to connect to mine, if at all. Neither her Acadia nor my Chevy truck did/do this! When we took the DD in for its first “free” oil change we complained about these issues with the radio and the tech said the U-connect system had the latest updates and he couldn’t recreate the issue(s) with his personal phone. I’ve read on this forum and others sites that it’s pretty much a majority opinion that the U-connect system sucks! Fast forward to yesterday and my wife came home from shopping and I came out to help her unload. When she got out of the DD she was madder than I’ve ever seen her in recent memory. She got out, slammed the door and said, “I’ve had it with this stupid car, now the radio wont’ shut off!” Sure enough, the ignition was off, the door closed and the radio continued to play for a minute or so before shutting off. She said it did the same thing when she got to the store and she was afraid to leave the car with the radio on fearing she’d come out and have a dead battery. (I explained to her that the lights and radio would shut off automatically after approx 10 minutes) Last week she went to the drive through pharmacy and turned the car off while she waited. When finished she turned the engine back on and put the car in drive and the car wouldn’t move. (yes the parking brake was off) She turned the car on and off several times and it still wouldn’t move no matter what gear she put it in. Finally, a male pharmacist came to the window and tried to talk her through it. She did everything he said and nothing. The woman in the car behind her even came up and offered to help. Needless to say my wife was embarrassed and humiliated. After several rounds of turning the engine on and off the car finally moved when she put in gear and she drove off. I briefly considered operator error, however, how could she possibly screw up starting the engine and putting the car in gear?! She has never had this issue with any cars we’ve owned over numerous years. Naturally, it hasn’t done it since. The issue that drives me nuts are the squeaks and rattles in the car. When we took it in for the first (free) oil change we complained about a rattle on the left side of the dash by the AC vent. The tech couldn’t duplicate it and attributed it to temp changes and plastic pieces expanding and contracting (it was winter). Now not only do we still have the same rattle, the speaker in the driver’s door panel makes a horrendous vibration/screeching sound when certain songs hit a certain note. My wife took a friend to lunch last week and when the speaker did it, it startled her friend and she asked my wife, “what was that?!” Additionally, there’s another rattle either in the door pillar between the front and rear driver’s door or inside the rear driver’s door panel. (Yes, I've checked the seat belt adjuster/tensioner in the door pillar and its not that) I absolutely hate rattles in my cars and have been known to tear a car apart trying to find/fix them. But this is virtually a new/modern car and I shouldn’t have to tear it apart to find a stupid rattle(s)! Also, I know we’ll get the same old “couldn’t duplicate” from the tech when we take it in for its second oil change. Also, when the AC is on there is a strange noise coming from behind the dash. It's almost like AC parts are wheezng. It's really hard to describe but my best guess is that it sounds like some actuators are opening and closing. We also complained about this during the first oil change and naturally since it was winter the tech couldn't duplicate. However, he did top off the freon level as he said it was low; as he added was a common issue with new cars coming from the factory. Again, since it was winter we assumed the issued was fixed and didn't hear the wheezing again unitl recently when we started usiing the AC again. My wife has had it with the DD and wants to trade it in on another car, even at a large financial hit to us. I have to admit I’m also heavily leaning that way even though it isn’t my daily driver, as the rattles drive me up a wall when I do drive it. My 1970 Plymouth ‘Cuda doesn’t rattle as much as this DD and it’s 54 years old!!
So should we cut our losses and trade it in on Ford Explorer with the turbo V-6 or take our chances that the build quality and Uconnect system on a 2024 DD would be any better?
So should we cut our losses and trade it in on Ford Explorer with the turbo V-6 or take our chances that the build quality and Uconnect system on a 2024 DD would be any better?
