Seat Time is a chance for us to share our impressions of vehicles being tested in the Autoline Garage and at media previews from around the globe.

Reviewer: Katie Gritzinger
Vehicle: 2016 Dodge Journey Crossroad plus AWD
Price: $34,660 as tested

Final Impression:

Driving north to CAR’s Management Briefing Seminars in Traverse City, I had a lot of time to learn what the 2016 Dodge Journey Crossroad can (and can’t) do. I initially was not much of a Dodge brand fan, in my opinion, their vehicles have boring interior and exterior, and the shapes of the Charger, Challenger, Avenger are too muscular. However, I’ve been at least partially sold on my journey in this Journey.

For starters, this car is comfortable! I had no issue sitting in the drivers seat for four hours straight. Coffee really saved me on my early morning drive, because the seat basically felt like a recliner. I had plenty of room in the front and back seats for my suitcase and equipment. Even with the third row seats up, this car has a trunk that was suitable for me, though it would be way too small for a family of six on vacation. I felt really safe driving the Journey. Sitting at a bit of a higher elevation helped me feel like I had power on the road, and I couldn’t help but think, “maybe this is why people want those giant trucks…”

A bit of a peeve for me, and something that I noticed immediately in this vehicle was the audio system. Having just driven a VW Passat with easy to use Apple CarPlay, it saddens me a little to say that the Journey just wasn’t on par. Not only did it take about five minutes to connect Bluetooth audio, but the USB audio wasn’t on it’s game either. As a Spotify user, I like when I can connect via USB to charge my phone and listen simultaneously, especially on those long road trips.

The Journey was doing this weird thing where it would allow me to play my iTunes music via USB, but refused to allow Spotify to run smoothly. The car’s system somehow caused my app to skip from song to song to song after only a few seconds. Weird. Once connected to Bluetooth audio, my issues with music were gone, but because the Journey wouldn’t let me connect to USB while using Bluetooth, I sacrificed my charging capability to listen to music and stay awake (by singing Bruce Springsteen at the top of my lungs).

As far as a midsize crossover goes, the Journey places somewhere in the middle for me. MPG for the vehicle is supposed to be up to 16 city and 24 highway, better than some, but being a green loving millennial, I feel pretty awful driving anything that doesn’t hit at least 30 highway. The base MSRP for the Journey SE is $20,995, but the Crossroad I tested was a bit pricier, starting around $29,795. With some extra features, mine was bumped up to $34,660. My suggestion: if you don’t have children and don’t need a big vehicle like the Journey, go with something that has a more updated audio system and some cooler bells and whistles (and hopefully better mpg). When my car finally quits on me, I’m considering a move to a 2017 Cruze or a Civic Coupe. Less cost, cooler gadgets. But that’s just me.