My wife wants a lightly used Jeep Grand Cherokee in the worse way. Claims it is a Mercedes SUV designed back when MBz owned Chrysler.

I've seen way too many Jeeps rust out or break parts due to sub-par materials, including the 2000 Jeep Cherokee (not Grand) she had whose radiator cracked and heater core leaked at different times, both requiring major replacement jobs independent of each other. I did one myself, and got to see up-close how crappy the Cherokee was holding up. Seemed like it came pre-rusted from the factory.

So, I'm biased against Jeeps, but she's smitten with them. Is a '15 or '16 Grand Cherokee a quality vehicle? Is it really made to MBz standards for longevity and ride comfort and stability? She'll trade in the 4Runner and little MBz sedan on this, and it will become our road car in addition to her daily driver.

Seems like everything that was made in the early 2000's rusted. Do you want a V6 or V8? I know the 3.7 V6's were garbage, but the newer Pentastar V6 motors are much better, not sure when they switched over tho.

As far comparing Mercedes to Jeep on rust.... This is just my general observations, but seems most Mercedes get parked in garage vs. being left outside in the elements 24/7.

Just make sure you buy something from the south. I think FCA has really come a long way with their vehicles over the past few years. Pay attention to the Carfax/Autocheck specifically to see what region(s) they have been previously registered (driven) in; and aim for something that has come north.

Oddly, you see north vehicles coming south because they are cheaper than what is being offered due to rust and potential to future rust.
Conversely, you see south vehicles coming north, because they are more desirable and marketable than local options on the lots.

Or you could just go WITH the Mercedes Benz. My GF is currently driving a 2010 ML350 SUV with the BlueTec DIESEL in it, and it's been FANTASTIC for her. She is only looking to replace as she has 140K miles on it, and wants the exact same vehicle again, just a few years newer. She has two vintage campers she tows to events several times a year; and that thing SIPS diesel. You can get these for under $25K, sometimes under $20K. (They obviously can be had as the ML350 or ML550 gas engine options too.)

You are likely right about the garaged Mercedes, but most rust happens from under and from within body panels; that's an issue of quality coatings and design, not garaging.

Looking for the V6, good to know about the Pentastar engines.

Have to disagree with sidewayz, dont buy anything from the north !!! from Va north the damn pre-treatments they used for icy/snowy weather rust everything metal !!!! I have bought 2 vehicles recently, a 15 SRX and a 11 avalanche, both from texas, the underside was like new on both, the avalanche gets driven in the crappy weather, I wash under it everytime its driven with this crap on the roads, after about 2 years the underside starting to look bad. Also just bought a 93 chevy truck from the NC that I am redoing...but the underside looks great...so as far as rust is considered...its the states that screw everyone over on this...now on the other part I have a friend who bought a 15 grand cherokee(ex budget rental) and loves it...no issues for a year, but I know their reliability can be iffy as with anything from Chysler...not sure it would much of a positive if it were MB designed or not, as I've driven some of there SUV's and hated them...but thats my .02

My wife has a loaded 2017 Grand Cherokee Trailhawk. My mom has a 2008 and 2013 Mercedes ML350 at their vacation home. I love the jeep, it has alot of luxury features (adaptive cruise, lane keep, automatic brake, pano sun roof, etc). The 2013 Mercedes is a bit more luxury, but we went with the Trailhawk for the Quadra Drive II 4wd system which is far superior to the 4matic system on the Mercedes as well as the Quadra Lift air suspension. A Summit Grand Cherokee would be closer to the Mercedes in terms of luxury feel than the Trailhawk, but a Mercedes is still a Mercedes. If you want luxury, go with Mercedes. If you want a nice American made Jeep with lots of luxury options, go with the Grand Cherokee. If you want any sort of off road capability, go with the Jeep.

FWIW, the Grand Cherokee does share the same platform/ chassis as the MB ML (now GLE) class.

I don't believe that Mercedes ever actually built any jeeps....i do know that Fiat/Chrysler did work with Mercedes on the chassis and drive train that Mercedes also used on their ML platform SUV's
Ive head lots of good things about the diesels that the grands use.
I have a few friends with these trucks....the only one of the bunch that has any problems is the guy who has the fully decked out overland series with the hemi 5.7....and his troubles are mostly little piddly things like ride height sensors going bad or TPS monitors going bad on the tires...or parking light bulbs going out sooner then normal etc....he has never had any issues that would keep him from driving it.
If your buying a used one with the 3.7 then from all i have heard buy only the ones after 2012 as those are the "better" engines... for what that's worth..guy here at work has a 2010 with that older 3.7 and never a hick-up and he's now pushing 150k on it with only regular maint.

I was not advocating buying ANYTHING from the north. I was saying make sure he buys from the SOUTH.

Not sure anything is shared in the platforms between MBZ and FCA. They "divorced" over 10 years ago.

On the bluetec diesels, note they started using smaller motors in some of the cars/suvs. The 3.0 bluetec is the same motor they use today in the Ram 1500 ecodiesel.

My uncle just traded a ML350 for a GLE400, 5-6 yr old SUV and he did tires and a battery after 30K miles. Bought the same model, same color and says the new one is tighter/faster but seems more plastic has been used on the interior...........sounds like I was talking about newer women there for a moment!

Jeep, but more importantly...
Happy Wife, Happy Life