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Best places to get your car maintained and repaired

In this era of rampant inflation and high interest rates, the challenges of acquiring a car or SUV have been well documented. And so it has never been more important to protect that expensive investment by maintaining it. In recent months, Autoblog has shared Consumer Reports' evaluation of the least and most expensive car brands to keep running, as well as tips to prolong a car’s useful life. Especially since the pandemic, a number of factors have impacted these costs: more complex vehicles, new materials and manufacturing methods, a shortage of qualified technicians and replacement parts. Since 2022, repairs costs have jumped each year by about 10 percent. This month, Consumer Reports is offering a useful primer on keeping your ride in great shape, suggesting what might be the best options for searching out a repair shop, depending, as CR says, “on your car and your situation.” Author Ben Preston identifies three basic types of repair facilities: dealership service departments, independently owned repair shops, and chain repair shops. Building up trust with a specific shop and feeling comfortable going there is important. Preston quotes John Ibbotson, chief mechanic at Consumer ReportsÂ’ Auto Test Center: "You might be able to save a few bucks by going to whichever shop offers the cheapest prices, but if you want consistent, reliable service, itÂ’s best to find a repair shop you trust and stick with it,” Ibbotson says. The story goes on to evaluate each type of service facility. HereÂ’s a breakdown of CRÂ’s findings: Dealerships These work well for owners of newer cars, especially for covered warranty work. But the disadvantage is the high labor rates common to dealer service. Satisfaction ratings for dealer service departments range from very good (Acura, Lexus, Mazda, and Volvo) to not-so-good (Jeep and Kia). Dealers are best for: Fixing infotainment system glitches: "If the screen in the center of your dash has a habit of freezing up, or the touchscreen-activated climate controls arenÂ’t working, the dealership is the most likely place to find someone with the know-how to fix problems that maybe only a factory-authorized technician can access," Ibbotson says. Safety system recalibration: "Anything from a crack in your windshield to a minor fender dent can upset the calibration of the sensors that make features like automatic emergency braking and adaptive cruise control work," says Ibbotson.

The Jeep Yuntu is a plug-in hybrid SUV just for China

The Shanghai Auto Show has been host to a heaping helping of hybrids this year, and we have yet one more to share with you. Jeep created this Yuntu SUV Concept, and it features a plug-in hybrid powertrain. Interestingly, Jeep has very little to say about it, and didn't even provide hypothetical performance figure, apparently because it's just a concept. About the only thing Jeep did tell us was that the Yuntu was designed with a focus on Chinese consumers' tastes, also citing that the SUV segment is the fastest growing in the country. While the design may have been targeted at Chinese buyers, we think the Yuntu would find fans in the US, too. It mixes cues from both the Compass and the Renegade. The roof treatment, with a thick, upright, body-colored D-pillar and black roof come right from the Renegade, as does the generally boxy aesthetic. From the Compass comes the slim seven-slot grille and horizontal headlights. The inside has no parallels to the current Jeep line. It's a light, airy place with plenty of pale woods. The dashboard is effectively all screens, and the few buttons and switches present have a unique copper finish. It's far more futuristic and modern than any Jeep on sale right now. As for what this Yuntu means for the Jeep brand, there are a few possibilities. It could simply be a styling exercise that indicates where Jeep is headed in the future. These future design cues could be applied either to China-specific versions of current vehicles, or they could also appear on vehicles in other markets such as the US. It's also entirely possible that this concept is a preview of a new SUV designed just for the Chinese market. Jeep could do this fairly easily and affordably by putting a toned-down version of the Yuntu's design on the Cherokee platform, which is already built by FCA's Chinese partner, GAC. This wouldn't be the first time a car company created an SUV just for the Chinese market, either. Mazda did it with the CX-4, so Jeep certainly could, too. Related Video:

2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk First Drive | Crazy. Good.

TAMWORTH, New Hampshire – We're tempted to tell you that the 2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk is ridiculous. It's borderline frightening to think that we now live in a world where anybody with the money and the gumption can stroll into the nearest Jeep dealership and place an order for a 707-horsepower Hemi-powered Grand Cherokee. Let's put this slice of history into perspective. The original Jeep, the one used by the military, boasted 60 horsepower from the Go Devil four-cylinder engine under the hood. The most powerful version of the muscle car-era 426-cubic-inch Hemi was factory-rated at 425 hp. And even if that legendary powerplant was underrated from the factory, the Grand Cherokee Trackhawk still obliterates it by a couple hundred horses. In an SUV. Seven-hundred-horsepower sport utility vehicle doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, does it? And conventional wisdom says it shouldn't. But we're here to tell you otherwise. After driving the Trackhawk in and around the streets of Portland, Maine, and taking it to Club Motorsports in New Hampshire, we're convinced that Jeep and SRT engineers have managed to defy physics and reason. The Trackhawk isn't just fast, it's also manageable. Subdued, even – at least when you want it to be. Put the hammer down, summon the nearly demonic power of supercharged combustion, and all hell breaks loose. But the tires don't. With launch control engaged and with the programmable engine speed properly chosen, the all-wheel-drive Trackhawk rockets to 60 miles per hour in just 3.5 seconds, over and over and over again. No drama, no wheelspin, just g-force, pressing you and four close friends into the backs of your seats. It's addictive, and the only penalty is single-digit fuel mileage. But we'll wager a guess that anyone shopping for a Trackhawk isn't much concerned about its drinking problem. The only proper way to experience the Trackhawk's acceleration is from inside. But, to give you an idea of its speed and power, check out the videos below. Stick around for a walkaround both inside and out, and for a look under the hood. Jeep had to make a few small changes to the well-known 6.2-liter supercharged Hellcat V8 engine to shoehorn it under the hood of a Grand Cherokee. The oil pan is reshaped and baffled, the intercooler is modified, and the exhaust manifolds are new. The result is a reduction in torque from 650 pound-feet in Dodge Hellcat models to 645 in the Jeep, but we wouldn't worry about that.