2018 High Country disappointed

[EDL]

6 hours ago, Jchoi said:

Not to highjack the thread, and perhaps I still have rose colored glasses, but I think the headlights on my 18 are pretty decent. What do people not like about them? 

Just got a 2018 three days ago.  Coming from a 2014 Grand Cherokee with halogen projectors that by anyone's standards should be illegal (because they have about as much light output as a bic lighter) , I'd say the LEDs on my new truck are stellar.  But, we also have a 2012 Outlander Sport with factory HIDs and the new truck's LEDs don't compare.

 

The light from the truck appears to be too high of a color temp (5-6K lights, to me, give a very washed out look, like an over exposed photo), I prefer something in the 4K range, but supposedly these factory LEDs are only 3450K.  Hmmm.  I'm into photography and I've driven a lot of vehicles with factory and converted HIDs of various color temps.  These LEDs look like 5-6K to me.  I don't have the proper light meter though to measure them.

 

Secondly, there is no control to vary the cutoff shield for driving conditions.  I don't like where the cutoff is, not set high enough for my liking.  I can fix that by adjusting them, but that might introduce another issue.  Since there is not a second set of lights for the brights, the brights on the 2018 simply open the cutoff shield and use the same bulbs and projectors for the brights.  When I turn on the brights, it appears they are aimed a bit too high.  If I adjust the lights up some to get better low beam range, that's going to compound the brights issue.

 

However, with that said, I've only had the truck a few days.  I'm going to leave things as is until I get some more miles on it and re-evaluate.  The lighting issue isn't so bad I feel anxious or like I need to try to remedy it right away, it's just different because it's a new vehicle.

 

So, to answer you directly, I think they are better than any factory lights I've ever had on a truck.  They just might need some tweaking is all.

[EDL]

Lol, I'm digging the arguments over the "gay blue" vs the red lighting.  I think someone said that in this day and age, we should be able to change the color, and I agree.   It's not rocket science, it's not expensive and as mentioned, stereos have had the option for years.

 

I hate red interiors and I hate red interior lighting, but, with that said, red is actually the best color for night as it doesn't kill your night vision.  You know, for when you want to bust out some special ops or something....

[Nasty]

3 hours ago, EDL said:

Lol, I'm digging the arguments over the "gay blue" vs the red lighting.  I think someone said that in this day and age, we should be able to change the color, and I agree.   It's not rocket science, it's not expensive and as mentioned, stereos have had the option for years.

 

I hate red interiors and I hate red interior lighting, but, with that said, red is actually the best color for night as it doesn't kill your night vision.  You know, for when you want to bust out some special ops or something....

Only thing with k2s is changing the headunit isnt a great idea as everything runs through it. Unless you get thr apline restyle unit. Which is not worth the 1200 price tag

[TXGREEK]

I think blue lighting is cool, if you think it’s gay then that’s you. My son in law has a bad ass looking black convertible cobra with beautiful blue led lighting and even has a cobra silhouette on the driveway when you open either door. Blue, Ted, Purple, who cares as long as you’re the one happy with it. Besides, individuality is what rocks


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[Cccmachine]

Here's the arm rests from my wife's and mine. It's is worse that what this picture shows. Wait till you see the back up camera comparison. I bought a 5 dollars camera on eBay that looks better than the one on my truck.

[Cccmachine]

I like blue back lighting. Not too crazy over the blue they used. With rgb led tech now reliable and inexpensive. There should be no reason why GM doesn't make an option to be able to change to any color you want.

  I like the truck and plan on keeping it for a long time. Just a shame that GM cut so many corners from the previous years. To me she looks good all cleaned up.

[TXGREEK]

I like blue back lighting. Not too crazy over the blue they used. With rgb led tech now reliable and inexpensive. There should be no reason why GM doesn't make an option to be able to change to any color you want.
  I like the truck and plan on keeping it for a long time. Just a shame that GM cut so many corners from the previous years. To me she looks good all cleaned up.

Truck looks great! IMO, I don’t think GM cut corners with that. If you think about it, the vehicles that you can order color lighting and stuff like that would be more of the ricers or just low end cars that cater to the high school kids, I think it would cheapen it if you were able to make it look like a [emoji304] if you want it lol. It’s very easy to customize it yourself anyway you want to, GM knows that and wouldn’t waste their time with it.


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[EDL]

2 hours ago, Cccmachine said:

Here's the arm rests from my wife's and mine. It's is worse that what this picture shows. Wait till you see the back up camera comparison. I bought a 5 dollars camera on eBay that looks better than the one on my truck.

I agree the backup camera on my 2018 isn't as nice a picture as what my 2014 Grand Cherokee had, but it's a backup camera and it works perfectly fine.  I don't need 4K Sony quality on it.

 

Besides, if you think it's only GM cutting corners, you're going to be terribly disappointed if you check out other brands.  Every corporation in the world does what they can to save money and make more profit.  It is not unique to the auto manufacturers and certainly not unique to GM. 

 

In fact, if I wanted to gripe about vehicles in general, one thing I would complain about is why do vehicles still begin to wear out at 100,000 miles?  Why is that mileage still the magic number for dealers to low ball your trade-in?  I mean, we keep hearing all about how great all these new fangled manufacturing processes have gotten over the years, how stiff the frames are, how much better the engines are, how new metallurgical processes have made super steels and higher wear resistance, and all this new engineering has made things so much better, but here we are, still with vehicles that, on average, begin to fall apart at around 100,000 miles.

 

Another area is in repairability.  I recall the days when a wheel bearing went out, you actually change out the bearings themselves for under $100.  Not anymore, now you have to swap out the entire hub assembly at $350+ each.   That comes out of my pocket.  So much for "better new technology."  Sure, it's better, better for the companies and cheaper for them to make=higher profit margins.  I'd still say that overall, the quality of many of the parts have gotten better, like interior plastics and such.  They don't degrade and crack nearly as easily as they once did.  It's mainly the drive trains and suspension where we continue to see stagnant longevity gains, but those are also the most expensive parts. 

[Cccmachine]

1 hour ago, EDL said:

I agree the backup camera on my 2018 isn't as nice a picture as what my 2014 Grand Cherokee had, but it's a backup camera and it works perfectly fine.  I don't need 4K Sony quality on it.

 

Besides, if you think it's only GM cutting corners, you're going to be terribly disappointed if you check out other brands.  Every corporation in the world does what they can to save money and make more profit.  It is not unique to the auto manufacturers and certainly not unique to GM. 

 

In fact, if I wanted to gripe about vehicles in general, one thing I would complain about is why do vehicles still begin to wear out at 100,000 miles?  Why is that mileage still the magic number for dealers to low ball your trade-in?  I mean, we keep hearing all about how great all these new fangled manufacturing processes have gotten over the years, how stiff the frames are, how much better the engines are, how new metallurgical processes have made super steels and higher wear resistance, and all this new engineering has made things so much better, but here we are, still with vehicles that, on average, begin to fall apart at around 100,000 miles.

 

Another area is in repairability.  I recall the days when a wheel bearing went out, you actually change out the bearings themselves for under $100.  Not anymore, now you have to swap out the entire hub assembly at $350+ each.   That comes out of my pocket.  So much for "better new technology."  Sure, it's better, better for the companies and cheaper for them to make=higher profit margins.  I'd still say that overall, the quality of many of the parts have gotten better, like interior plastics and such.  They don't degrade and crack nearly as easily as they once did.  It's mainly the drive trains and suspension where we continue to see stagnant longevity gains, but those are also the most expensive parts. 

I've always had better luck with the first year models. Some say that on the later models the manufacturer works all the bugs out. With is true but the cost cutting starts to come into effect also. My 90 extended cab Silverado was a lot better build than my dad's 94. Same with my 95 Z71, 99 7.3 and my 04 f150. All new builds and all great trucks. Just this one was the most obvious to my blind ass how bad the accountants got ahold of a great truck. When my wife first got her 15 Denali, no telling how many times guys told her she had the best looking truck they've ever seen.