The new Jeep is so modern and technologically advanced that I have to relearn how to drive. Well, not exactly how to drive, but rather how to operate the vehicle’s “systems”. Even turning it on is different! No more “key in the ignition and turn,” it now starts with the push of a button and the “key” is an electronic “black box” of sorts that just needs to be inside the vehicle to work.

Of course “driving” is still the same, and once I am on the road everything is pretty “normal”, though I did have to quickly learn how to turn the heated seats off before I roasted myself! On the long drive home from the dealership I figured out how to operate the heat, or should I say “climate control” as I can now set an optimal temperature and the vehicle adjusts heat or air conditioning automatically to reach and maintain it.

The Jeeps onboard navigation system worked pretty much like my phone, though I was able to see the map a lot better on the big dashboard display screen — and hearing Siri through the stereo sound system with subwoofer was a bizarre experience. I wonder if there is a way to turn her off and just keep the map display open. I have to spend some time playing with the whole navigational system to see what it is capable of, as I expect that it should be able to do a lot more than a phone.

The one thing I couldn’t figure out while driving, was the Satellite radio. Once I had turned it on I couldn’t find a way to turn it off again without turning off my navigational screen (and I needed Siri’s help to find my way home from upstate New York through the winding labyrinth of highways that converge on the city as I get near the Bridges). It has seemingly thousands of channels and I fumbled along through the list eventually settling on some kind of Latin salsa music which was fine until the radio hosts came on chattering away for what seemed like forever. I attempted to find another channel and randomly skipped around not knowing what I was doing and ended up with Quebecois French-language country music station that was a kind of bizarre mix of almost cajun sounding modern country folk. I listened to that for the rest of the journey home.

I think the first thing I will do is figure out how to program that radio — and how to just shut it off!