Posted: 8/4/2009 5:37:34 PM EDT
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Okay, I'm a dumb ass. Bought a Jeep from CarMax this weekend and almost got screwed. Long story short I wanted a Jeep Liberty CRD (Diesel) 4x4. I live in California, and the CRD's were never sold new here, and were only sold nation wide in 2005 to 2006. The Liberty CRD is on the rare side. The plan was to lift it and put some 31's on it for moderate trail running. I like the fuel mileage the diesels get, and also the fact that California doesn't require emissions (yet) on them.
I spent some time looking for a CRD, and only found a few within a 100 mile radius. Found out either they were beat on, or if any good, sold before I could see it. Heard about CarMax, their 125 point inspection process and no hassle return. CarMax prices tend to be higher, but from what I saw locally, the inventory looked top notch. After looking around for many weeks, I decide to have CarMax delivery a Liberty CRD to my local store. Spent last Saturday looking it over and given the Jeep a test drive. I even had them put it on a rack to inspect the undercarriage. Things looked okay. The Liberty was an '05 and had 56k on it. The buzzword used by the sales lady was "age appropriate". Any scratches or stains were deemed age appropriate even though I was told the exterior was flawless prior to paying the shipping fee. Yeah, dumbass here paid CarMax to ship a Jeep. It looked great from the pics, and looked decent in person. Drove okay (limited test drive of 5 miles at 40-50 MPH). The CarFax was clean, one owner with all dealer service complete. So after all was said and done, I brought this home on Saturday: 
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Took it out Saturday evening and found a mean front end shimmy at freeway speeds. I wasn't too worried and figured to fix it under CarMax's 30 day warranty. Sunday morning came and I took the Jeep out for a country drive. Put it thru a few off-road areas. Nothing extreme, just wanted to test out 4Hi and 4Lo. Everything seemed okay, but the shimmy was starting to bother me. It should have been caught during the "125 point 12 hour inspection" CarMax prides itself on. Sunday afternoon I decided to give the Jeep a good look over. Could be I was having buyers remorse, but I paid top dollar for a used Jeep, and something didn't feel right. I checked the fluids and found the engine oil to be midnight black (sorry no pics). According to the sticker, the oil was changed by CarMax 140 miles prior. The oil filter looked new, and I had no doubt the oil had been changed. This isn't my first diesel, and I'm familiar with the fact diesel engines turn oil dark quickly, but this seemed something worse.
I then noticed the air filter box was cracked: 
I opened the air box and found the dreaded K&N filter. These have no purpose on a turbo diesel off road engine. It obviously hadn't been cleaned for many thousands of miles: 
After looking the K&N I noticed the cotton gauze had many holes thru it (not a good sight): 
Time to look into the air box: Holy SHIT!, no just rat shit: 
Not what I'd call Max-Worthy and not what I expected after paying top dollar. I returned the Jeep to CarMax on Monday. At first they offered to replace the air filter and call it good. After looking at the amount of shit and debris in the air box, plus the perforated filter I no longer wanted the Jeep. I will give CarMax credit on a very no hassle return process, No pressure and the paperwork took ten minutes. I'm out the $200 bucks I paid to have the Jeep shipped to my local store. The salesman tried to give me a refund, but was overruled by the store manager, who felt a new air filter would have solved all issues with the Jeep. They did give me credit to ship in another vehicle though. I feel sorry for the next poor bastard who buys this Jeep Heep. |
| I agree, Carmax most definitely sucks. To make a long story as short as possible, I wanted to sell my pristine 04 Cobra to them. After their "inspection" they came back and offered me auction value due to extensive frame damage, as they said. This extensive frame damage was actually the pinch points where you jack the car from. Morons they are. |
| Oh well. you will be more prepaired on your next purchase. Sometimes we get excited and make purchases without researching it more. Im guilty of some dumb purchases. But I can say I have always looked over used cars very well. Many I have been interested in the past end up having faint signs of having been wrecked etc. Good to go over any used purchase. |
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Quoted:
Holy Shit! You bought a car without looking under the hood? Yeah I looked under the hood, and had the Jeep lifted up on a rack to inspect the under carriage. I just didn't check the fluids.  Hell, I hadn't bought a used car in 20 years, and screwed this one up. Very happy with the 5 day no hassle return.
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Quoted:
K&N needs to fucking burn down. Their oiled filters are the biggest engine-fucking gimmick in the aftermarket. Same thing with other snake-oil products. They buy-off a couple big names and sponsor a few cars or races for "credibility". Well, if Joe Racer uses them, they MUST be good, right? It's ALL marketing, and K&N is excellent at marketing. The saddest one of all is seeing Carroll Shelby hawking that Z-Max shit on TV. A fucking REAL American racing legend selling his reputation for a bottle of worthless shit. |