Why does the R51 get so much hate from reviewers?
Posted: Sat Jan 18, 2020 9:26 pm
I have put about 2.5k miles on the R51 thus far. Outside of the PO being morons who I’m pretty sure have never ever washed the car the entire time they had it (rust is turning out to be a real PITA on this thing!!!!! I got the rust on the rear quarter panels, cut new metal welded
And fixed the right way, now I’m finding there’s some bubbling on the bottom of the door sills in a couple of spots ), I really like the R51
But why do the automotive magazines hate it so much? I was reading reviews on the vehicle and the “experts†complain about the horrible gas mileage, the interior layout, the seat padding or the one who didn’t realize the step in height of the vehicle and kept hitting their head on the inner door line (seriously?).
It’s a truck based platform, so yeah guess what it rides like a truck. But quite a sophisticated one at that. Or that it’s got inferior grade interior plastic (have these folks ever sat in a Chevy or a FCA product?) or how about the lack of sufficient padding (I still don’t get this one). My personal favorite was one reviewer griping how the rear door handles are placed on the door side making it difficult for kids to open it (didn’t every pathfinder since they were launched in the US have it up there?)
And for gas mileage, the R51s are also chided for being horrendous. I didn’t see much of an improvement for the “much lauded†Jeep GC/Durango twins for 2011 not to mention that no one talks about their terrible reliability for 2011/12.
For price, capability, features on vehicles of the era, I’m don’t think there’s a better alternative than the ‘11/‘12 R51s
And fixed the right way, now I’m finding there’s some bubbling on the bottom of the door sills in a couple of spots ), I really like the R51
But why do the automotive magazines hate it so much? I was reading reviews on the vehicle and the “experts†complain about the horrible gas mileage, the interior layout, the seat padding or the one who didn’t realize the step in height of the vehicle and kept hitting their head on the inner door line (seriously?).
It’s a truck based platform, so yeah guess what it rides like a truck. But quite a sophisticated one at that. Or that it’s got inferior grade interior plastic (have these folks ever sat in a Chevy or a FCA product?) or how about the lack of sufficient padding (I still don’t get this one). My personal favorite was one reviewer griping how the rear door handles are placed on the door side making it difficult for kids to open it (didn’t every pathfinder since they were launched in the US have it up there?)
And for gas mileage, the R51s are also chided for being horrendous. I didn’t see much of an improvement for the “much lauded†Jeep GC/Durango twins for 2011 not to mention that no one talks about their terrible reliability for 2011/12.
For price, capability, features on vehicles of the era, I’m don’t think there’s a better alternative than the ‘11/‘12 R51s