17000 km with my Jeep Meridian 4x4: Why I am happy with my purchase

The family has been in love with the Meridian. My brother has a Kodiaq & we often get to drive each others' workhorses.

BHPian Machine_Mania recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

My Meridian 4x4 has now done ~17,000 km over 1.5 yrs.

For anyone reading without a bias (anyone out there?), FYI:

• No rattles (no, it's not a fairy tale)
• FE ~10 (city) - ~14kmpl (highway) (moderately careful driving)
• No manufacturing faults (it's built like a tank)
• Great after-sale services (courteous, prompt)

Overall: A very pleasurable experience so far

• Pros: Comfort, Space, Safety, Infotainment, Driving Pleasure
• Cons: Diesel lag

TWO INCIDENTS TO REPORT:

AdBlue Incident : Similar to Axe77's Experience:

Within 20-25 km of getting a different AdBlue, an error message popped up. Same day, I checked with SA & drove to Jeep Service. They diagnosed the issue in the first 5 minutes itself, but kept the car another day to run detailed tests. After flushing & refilling AdBlue, issue was resolved. It confirms that some AdBlue are inferior (Hindustan Petroleum in my case). This was not a Jeep issue - on the contrary, the car did its job by throwing up an error message & SA was fantastic. AdBlue has been filled every ~5,000 kms, it's not an inconvenience for me to get it during regular service or pick-up the prescribed brand (about INR 500/ 5L).

We had a Tyre Burst Accident! Meridian was fantastic in keeping us safe

We hit a huge crater & burst at nearly 100 kmph. The crater, sadly, was unavoidable because of adjacent vehicles. We hit it very hard. The Meridian continued straight - extremely steadily. I felt a change in the way the car drove. But it was only because of the live TPMS warning that I immediately figured what had happened.

As I gently pulled the Meridian to the side, we saw a car behind us hit the same crater & come to a swerving stop. Whole family was very impressed with the Meridian. The occupants included a newborn child with their mother, you can imagine the fright. Big validation of the safety features of this well-built tank of a car.

The family has been in love with the Meridian. My brother has a Kodiaq & we often get to drive each others' workhorses. Both Kodiaq & Meridian were consciously picked over the likes of Fortuner for a long list of reasons. Family's opinion is unanimous - the Meridian & the Kodiaq are both amazing beasts, & while we enjoy the Kodiaq's elegance, the Meridian is more rugged with an edge in the feature list & the more 'adventurous' long distance traveler. In some aspects, family feels Kodiaq feels a bit boring - the new gen launch later this year is long overdue. By the way - not much difference in resale price (relative to purchase price) we've been offered on either Kodiaq/ Meridian which are similarly aged, fwiw.

Dealing with hate / "Bhai.. Faartuner kyu nahi li?"

Hearing/ reading some comments makes me smile - I certainly don't mind owning a less-than-ordinary beast of a car which delights me in every aspect of its ownership! At times my "automobile expert" friends have voiced some thoughts followed by a ride in the car completely changing their opinion! Turns out, no dearth of "experts" amongst my friends with run-off-the-mill or prejudiced comments formed without experiencing a car. Anyone with an open mind has certainly walked away with respect for what the Meridian offers - irrespective of whether they prefer the Kodiaq or Fortuner or any or any other car for their own garage.

No offence, but reading some of the strongly worded negative comments on this thread (from those who don't own a Meridian) made me smile as well! I'm accustomed to owning the 'dark horse' cars which the "market" writes off as "less successful".[/b] I loved my Chevrolet Cruze every km I drove it & my journey with the Meridian is turning out similarly. A close friend who also owns a Meridian has had an almost exact same experience.

... Until, of course, hopefully an upgrade to a higher segment German SUV after some years just like Axe77. Meridian has surely set the bar high in what I'll expect from that future luxury SUV

Cheers to all,

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.