[dennisroach]

So I had been holding out for the Diesel JGC to come out. When they did, I went to the dealer to get mine. Background = I put 15K+ miles a year on a vehicle and keep them for every bit of 10+ years. A good portion of the miles are pulling a 5K lbs boat about 200 miles (round trip) to the water the rest of the time it’s a commuter in the city. At the dealership I was not able to test drive the diesel at the time I walked in so they put me in a V8 Summit demo to test drive. I’ll admit I liked it a lot and my wife fell in love with it. The dealer offered me a great deal on the 2014 demo with 2000 miles on it. $46,500 pulse taxes & fees I was out the door for $50K. Now it’s been 4 weeks and the jeep has 4500 miles on it and I am having second thoughts about the Diesel. I got suckered by the cheap price of the demo. I’m now wishing I had stayed true and got what I went to the dealer to get. Now I ask; what should I do, and how should I do it? Any help would be great.

 

[Hemi limited]

I have to believe you can undo this lapse in judgement we are a want it now society lol, call a few dealers see what they will give you for your summit and just go get yourself a jeep grand cherokee limited or overland get either one with off road II package and the diesel motor and that would be a vehicle you would probably want to keep longer then 10 years. I plan and keeping my jeep long enough for it be the first car my kid drives, we all know diesel motors are built to last 400k to 500k miles engine and trans will probably feel just as strong as the first day. You are definitely right to have second thoughts, towing, long road trips, and every day driver. That combination of a vehicle will pay dividends for years to come

 

[MDBones]

Dennis, you can talk to the general manager at your dealership but I'm afraid that you're not going to like the financial hit you'll have to take in order to trade your V8 in for a diesel.

Three things not in your favor here...

1) The resale or trade-in value of a V8 compared to a gas or diesel V6.
2) They gave you at least a $6000 discount off dealer invoice due to it being a V8 demo.
3) Your Jeep depreciated at least $8000 the moment you bought it drove it off the lot.

The only real question to ask yourself is... does your financial situation allow you to absorb that kind of hit?

 

[Pwrdbym]

I'll share my story with this forum on trading to a diesel. I understand this thread is old, but maybe it will help others with a real world example.
In February 2013 we purchased a 13 V8 Overland and since the 2014's were already on the lot they discounted it a lot, plus there were incentives from Jeep. In all the 2013 had a sticker of $47k and we paid $38k. I remember thinking that I would really like the diesel, however at the time they were not available. My wife mentioned earlier this year that she would really like the advance safety tech package, that has adaptive cruise, blind spot warning, and forward collision. I also liked the advancements the 2014 had, mainly the 8.4 headunit so we contacted our dealer to inquire about 2014s. They had a Summit V8 on the lot with a discount of $6.8k, bringing it down from $55k to $48k. We went in to have a look. The dealer offered us $34,500 for our 2013 with only 7k miles on it. In all not a bad offer, only $4k under what we paid. Of note, the price I paid back in 2013 was offset by the Jeep incentives (4.5k), so the dealer sold me the 2013 at 42.5k the rest of the discount was from Jeep. So the trade offer was correctly noted above, (about $8k under the original dealer cost). My Jeep was in outstanding condition as well, not dings, stains, etc.
After looking at the V8 they made me an offer on a diesel Summit which I mentioned I liked. It was invoice price, $54k. My dealer claims they hadn't sold a diesel at that much of a discount before, but since I was a prior customer, yada yada. I'm sure I could have easily worked the internet and phones to get a better price on a 14 diesel, but invoice sounded fair, plus the trade offer was also fair.
So, in total the diesel upgrade was $20k! Yup, there you have it. Granted I stepped up from an Overland to a Summit, which was certainly some of the cost. Things like this will make a financial planner cringe, but autos are my addiction and I've never made what anyone would call a smart financial decision with cars. They are my passion.
After owning the 14 Summit diesel for a few months I would say the upgrade is worth every penny. The average mpg is 11 better than the V8 and the added features and luxury items are very nice.
Buyers of GC's need to keep in mind that the cost difference between the V8 and diesel is not just in the MSRP, dealers in my area claim that they can't move the V8 models and are therefore discounting them much more, whereas the diesel doesn't get discounted much, nor is it likely to have any Jeep incentives towards the end of the year. In all buyers may find the real world cost between the two to be much more than the MSRP difference.