Jeep Renegade: <b>car review</b> | Martin Love | Technology | The Guardian |
| Jeep Renegade: <b>car review</b> | Martin Love | Technology | The Guardian Posted: 05 Dec 2015 10:00 PM PST Price: £16,995 As a two-year-old I made an early bid for freedom. I wriggled over the garden fence and set off across the road in search of adventure. The dream came to an early end. I was run over by a bicycle and broke my leg badly. I spent the next three months in a heel-to-hip cast. I don't remember much about the drama, except for one thing: my dad bought me a Jeep Tonka toy. I can picture every detail of it so clearly – the rubbery white-walled tyres, the flip-down windshield, the pop-eyed front lights peering through their small wire cages. The bones in my leg joined perfectly and soon I was back on my feet. I wasn't left with a fear of garden fences or bicycles, but to this day I do have a profound affection for Jeeps. So I am delighted to be behind the wheel of a Jeep this week. This is the latest addition to the brand's line-up. It has a good Jeepy name, too – Renegade. We already have the Cherokee, Wrangler, Compass and Patriot. I'm holding out for the Redneck.
The Renegade draws deeply on Jeep's all-American heritage – the legend "Since 1941" is stamped into the chrome mount in the centre of the dash. But this model has discovered a new strand of Italian ancestry. It's the first model from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles to be jointly developed by both Italian and American designers and engineers, and it's also the first to be built in Italy, at Fiat's newly renovated plant in Melfi. Some patriots and renegades might struggle with this. The baby Jeep is actually based on the chassis of the Fiat 500X. The popular 500X is the toughed-up version of the all-conquering superchic supermini and as the Renegade, Jeep's designers have taken that no-nonsense, get-the-job-done attitude and and run with the ball. The SUV is chunky and invigoratingly solid, like a stocky Shetland pony. Clamber in and you gaze across a flat boxy bonnet. The windows are square and vertical. You sit up straight and peer down at the world. They call this the command position, and it is a testament to the designers that such a small car still gives you such a sense of entitlement.
It has everything traditionalists will look for in a Jeep, and the iconic seven-bar grille still splits those famous round headlamps which during seven decades in the field have gazed out at everything from rodeos to battlefields. But there is plenty that ticks the "funky" box, too. The backlights are distinctively square with a large cross at their centre; there's "mudsplat" instead of a redline in the tachometer; there are mini Jeep grilles over the speakers, and little Jeep silhouettes at the base of the windshield, there are even optional removable roof panels over the front and rear seats. Jeep calls these little design flourishes "Easter eggs". The 4x4 finds itself in the "compact crossover" class – that sounds like a breed of yappy mongrel, but in fact is the fastest-growing model sector in the world. The Renegade will be going bumper-to-bumper with the likes of the Nissan Juke, Renault Captur and Audi Q3. This class is often dismissed as being a bunch of "soft roaders" or "faux x fours", but Jeep seems to have missed the group email and blessed its new model with usable off-road ability and the top of the range Trailhawk has been specially engineered to take on genuinely challenging trails. There is a choice of five models, all petrol-engined (Jeep is well ahead of the diesel backlash here), ranging from the economical 1.4-litre in the Longitude trim up to the range-topping Trailhawk's 2.4-litre unit. Two advanced 4x4 systems are offered, incorporating a rear axle that switches between two- and four-wheel-drive as and when you need it, to improve fuel efficiency, which it does pretty well. I drove the manual six-speed 2 litre. It was strong and quiet on both trail and tarmac, but at speed the car's boxy shape did create wind noise. The automatic is linked to a nine-speed gearbox which seems crazy but does give a silky ride. So, Tonka styling with Italian performance… I'd break a leg to own one of these. Email Martin at martin.love@observer.co.uk or follow him on Twitter at@MartinLove166  |
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