I got to say, when I hear people talk about how safe a vehicle is, I laugh. The only safe vehicle is the one piloted by someone whom knows how to operate their vehicle. A lot of safe vehicles end up killing the occupants, cause they are clueless. Just my two cents.
As for GC, I met a cabbie in Toronto and they had a 2012, probably bought in 2011 CVP, he told me they had 400,000 km plus and this was August 2013.
Taxi is severe duty 24 hrs a day, they performed regular maintenance, with no engine or transmission issues. Well, when I heard that I bought myself a 2013 CVP for $21,800 with just some minor issues to this present day.
One issue that has annoyed me, living Newfoundland (this place has the most rapid temp. change I have ever experienced 20 c in a day) the car has had some internal rust issues, I believe caused by condensation. The car has no rust on the outside but the rockers both have little bubbling in the same spot both sides (it appears to be above the jacking points of the car). The dealer tried to tell me it was a stone chip I argued and Chrysler covered a 900$ repair (waste of money as the rust came back). It first started on the drivers side, for your information (moral of the story is get the car oiled well). I have also now noticed a little tiny bubbling on the drivers side lower tail gate area, most likely oil will stop this too.
The clunking is caused by the lock up converter when the car is in ECON mode, but it does save you fuel, but at a power/acceleration loss (ECON works for city stop and go driving, not highway). On the highway I have gone down to 8.8l per 100km. It gets excellent mileage on the highway when using cruise at 100-105km. I drove back from Deer Lake, NL and still had 1/4 tank, I believe thats about 700km back to St. John's.
If I could have figured out how to attach a photo, without having to read a book, I would have.
Take care,