2015 Jeep Renegade Trailhawk 4 × 4 Review - A Gimmick Nostalgia Wrapped in - 2015 Jeep Renegade Trailhawk 4 × 4 2.4 liter SOHC Tige...
2.4 liter SOHC Tigershark I-4, 2 MultiAir variable valve lift and timing (180 horsepower @ 6400 rpm, 175 lb-ft of torque at 300 rpm)
Nine ZF 948TE automatic transmission w / Low drive 4 × 4
combined (EPA Rating, MPG)
20.5 mpg on the 50/50 city / highway, Jeep active cycle 21 city / 29 highway / 24 to 100 percent frustrated driver (observed MPG)
tested options: trailer hitch, a premium leather group, group premium navigation, safety groups and security My Open Sky Roof System Air - power / removable panels, Keyless Enter 'n Go w / start Button, black hood Decal, 9 amplified speakers w / subwoofer, ParkView rear backup camera, remote start system
base Price (Trailhawk) :.
$ 26,90 * (US) / $ 32.795 * (Canada)
As Price Tested:
$ 33,255 * (US) / $ 39.525 * (Canada)
* All prices include $ 995 destination fee (US) or $ 1,795 destination charge and / C tax (Canada).
There is a reason why the legions of buyers exhaust their sustainable income to accommodate thousands of Wranglers in their paved walkways in subdivisions planned every single year. Even if you never use all the capabilities of the pillar of Jeep, you have the appearance can attack anything that comes your way, whether a snowstorm in southern Texas or a spontaneous eruption in Manhattan. It also helps that you can take over, take the character of one of these dropouts unachievably cool slightly bearded College in commercials for Jeep, and see you live on perfect life that is somewhere between Bear Grylls and Socality Barbie. (Although, pee-drinking endorser Grylls also approves Land Rover on the Wrangler very romanticized.)
So if you could have all that freedom in a more economical, a little less brutal, equally colorful package? And if it was "designed" in Italy just like that Dolce and Gabbana bag is totally not a Chinese knockoff?
Enter the Renegade. What was a special version edition of CJs and Wranglers now repaired more Italian lifestyle tips and kitsch that can fit in an artisanal food Instagram.
Exterior
Easter eggs are fun. I like fun. Like pleasure. We all have fun like.
What I do not like, they are Easter eggs that show how much fun I could be having a real Jeep.
First, there are about eighty zillion seven -slot Jeep grilles on the Renegade. They are in the headlights, taillights, mirrors, speaker of the grid frames (grids on the gates!), The center console and interior plastic panel of the rear hatch. There is also a virtual army of Willys MAs sentinel standing on rooflatches, floormats and windshield. There is the map of Moab - where less than one percent of Renegade owners will actually go, then why do we need a permanent location map - and World War II gas can X stamp on the World War II gas can X stamp.
But the thing that bothers me most about the Renegade is color. Not this particular shade of Sierra Blue, but its pairing with red burn-your-retinas that adorns the interior trim parts, exterior badges and tow hooks front
Jeep :. Just because you can does not mean you should .
Our tester was equipped with the motorized version of "My Sky" outdoor rooftop of the Renegade system, giving you the option of opening the front panel like a sunroof that you can not see through when closed, or removal of front and rear panels and store them in the trunk. These panels require a special tool to remove it is so small that you will probably lose. In addition, the ease of removal is not a walk in the park. I saw nothing to 5 feet, 22, wife of exercising less effort by taking the roof of a Del Sol it took to remove the roof panels of the Renegade. It is not that the panels are heavy; they are simply awkward. Fortunately, the signs are not so clumsy they take a huge amount of cargo space.
Renegade As for being a "small SUV," Well, see by yourself. The elongated version of the iconic Jeep Wrangler is nearly 15 feet-4-inches long. The Renegade? Nearly 13-feet-11-inches long.
The Renegade is more a Wrangler but just a little over a foot shorter than the unlimited. Wrangler, regardless of length, is only 2 inches wider.
As for offroading, short overhangs and the Renegade ground clearance (6.7 to 8.7 inches depending on transmission and trim) will probably handle any future owner Renegade will throw at it. For those who opt for the Trailhawk, you can even attack 19 inches of water for flash flooding in Houston when you're really jonesing for some Marlboros and must go to the store.
Whatever its ability offroad, it's cute. And I do not think a Jeep should never look cute.
Interior
Whoever was Cracking interior designs handsomely penned Chrysler recently obviously went on a long sabbatical leave when the Renegade project came around.
Chrysler steering wheel is standard fare, so I'll give that a pass. Even with UConnect, which works perfectly, except when it does not do so.
Meanwhile, everything seems else and definitely feels cheap. The seats are not much to look at, even though our tester was cut with the option to upgrade. The red light surrounding them with metallic shimmer are on a stage being 99 percent clip on earrings for your almost-tween daughter. In addition, gimmicks continue in the dashboard with a paintball splatter to designate all the redline, bro.
The return of button blanks continues the cheap. Even on the top trim Trailhawk, loaded with extras, center console featured five button blanks in a row of eight possible locations. I thought we were done with this. Ditto for the 4 × 4 switch and USB port that are awkwardly placed well out of reach of the driver which causes he / she / xe take their eyes off the road.
There was also never a time when I felt comfortable in the Renegade. The driving position is slightly off no matter how I adjusted.
Without the stowed roof panels, and assuming that you left panel of the bag at home, take the cargo area of 18.5 cubic with seats up 50.8 cubes with the seats folded down. The Patriot, which costs less, will swallow more. The Wrangler can not take as many things as the Renegade when the seats are up (12.8 cubic feet), but the maximum cargo provides an additional 4.2 cubic feet of volume.
Infotainment
I really like Uconnect when he is not trying to kill us. I loved it in the charger and I will continue to love, even if security is designed by Xu Jin Hi Sieve Manufacturing Co. It may not be as enjoyable to watch as some of the upcoming next-generation systems line over the next year or two, but do whatever i want.
that said, making audio level 9 speakers, the only sounds Renegade OK . The car feels a bit thin, and audio that more apparent. It is as if the sound waves have an infinite number of empty spaces behind the door panels in which to pass. In addition, the UConnect system features the 6.5-inch touch screen, but looking at the molding around the screen the renegade told me could have easily fitted with the 8.4-inch screen and Jeep just decided not to offer.
Powertrain
In the engine department and transmission, Renegade offers two choices. Unfortunately, none of these choices are, well, well.
First, a 1.4-liter turbo four-cylinder engine is standard. He makes do with 0 horsepower and 184 lb-ft of torque. Our Trailhawk tester comes standard with the 2.4-liter "World Engine" four-cylinder with 180 horsepower and 175 lb-ft of torque. The turbo can be done with a six-speed manual transmission. The larger, naturally aspirated 2.4 gets the ZF nine-speed automatic as the only transmission.
Before I looked at the data sheet, I took the Renegade to a reader. The 2.4-liter Tigershark is not what you would call smooth or refined, and neither is the new speed autobox. It felt like I was driving a small turbo mill with a bad DCT. It is a terrible duo, like inviting Kanye West show at all costs. Whatever you are trying to accomplish will be interrupted at least once, perhaps several times.
There was a time during my training helped me decide 2.4L and automatic die painful, horrible death. As I merge onto the highway, I saw a vehicle approaching from behind which was hidden at first sight behind a barricade. To try to get out of the way, I floored him.
a second. The towers are up, but I'm not going faster.
Two seconds. Revs are essentially redline, but still no change in the rate of acceleration.
Three seconds. Transmission finally decides what connection it wants to select, and grabbed my acceleration rate is only marginally better.
Around town or just cruise is a nice story, but this time on the road much faster traffic was. pouncing on me was not only in terms, but also genuinely scary
icing on the cake: fuel economy clocked at 3.5 mpg less than the combined rating - and Note 24 mpg is not quite bright to begin with. If you are looking for a suitable powerplant with decent fuel economy, you're better off with a Patriot with the six-speed automatic.
player
Despite what I said on the Wrangler, I like it. I love it so much, in fact, that if the charger goes wrong and Ford does not build a Bronco, a Wrangler could be the vehicle next to grace my driveway paved in our subdivision 1980s hastily scheduled .
Renegade, on the other hand, tries to take advantage of the freshness of the Wrangler, but is nothing more than a gimmick wrapped in nostalgia. Worse, gimmicks try to hide a bad powertrain and many other defects. Although the system valve MultiAir 2 and ZF nine-speed may be engineering marvels, they do not make for a pleasant drive.
And it does not stop there. The Trailhawk offers up ride quality that would blush Lada Niva. For a false-roader with no one, local artisan butcher only selling chickens that have been lapped a maternal way at least 10 times weekly destination, the Renegade Trailhawk will not be taken on the Rubicon Trail soon.
For all this, our tester rang in at $ 33,255. In Canada, it still costs more than $ 39,525. Before taxes.
* jaw dropping *
For that money, you can get the Wrangler and enjoy a real drop top. You can even spend a little more and get into a Land Rover LR2 if you feel like you adventurist drinking urine . Hell, if you did not need the off-road capability, the choices are as vast as the open prairie.
I really wanted the Renegade because I hate the idea. I really wanted to prove me wrong and show me a Jeep SUV can build with this level of off-road capability without losing all the jokes making the competition so damn good. I like to be surprised, even if it means being proven wrong. Still, I think this is an answer to a question that was asked but should not have been. Or maybe just a bad answer. We make every now and then, I forgive you, Jeep
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