Autoblog's Adam Morath shares his thoughts on Jeep's new entry-level Renegade. He tests the Sport trim level with a 1.4L I-4 turbo mated to a 6-speed manual transmission. This Renegade is optioned with A/C, all-wheel drive, roof rails and My Sky removable roof panels. The roof panels are a cool concept, but owners should be aware of a plastic part that could be easy to break.
TranscriptADAM MORATH: Hey, this is Adam Morath with another "Daily Driver." And today, we're in the 2015 Jeep Renegade. And I'm excited to be driving this in the sport trim level. That's the lowest trim that they offer it in. And I say I'm excited because often, we get the cars totally specced up to the max, the automaker trying to kind of show off what they can do with the car, but it doesn't always give you a realistic view of how most customers are going to spec the car.
And I think with the Renegade being the entry-level model for Jeep now, replacing the outgoing Patriot and Compass, it makes sense to drive this in the sport trim. We do have it in 4 x 4. Comes in at just around $23,000. It's powered by a turbo-charged 1.4-liter in-line four, and we've got it made into the six-speed manual transmission, which is pretty cool. Again, you can see FCA's fingerprints on this car. If they want it to do well in Europe, of course, you got to offer it with a manual, and that's nice for consumers here to have that choice of having a stick shift in a Jeep again. That's kind of fun.
Produces 160 horsepower, 184 pound feet of torque. You know, it's got a little pep to it. I wouldn't call it sporty, but it's enough for a vehicle of this size. So this is a pretty basic version of the Renegade. The only options we have on it are the AC, the roof rails, four-wheel drive, which is a must here in Michigan, and then these My Sky roof panels, which I'll get to in a minute. But that takes us from a base price of $18,000, the cheapest you'll be able to get into a Renegade for, up to about $23,700, which is where we're at.
So yes, these My Sky roof panels. It's a totally new feature on the Renegade that Jeep is trying out, and I think it's pretty cool. It's kind of like a T-top system, except the panels aren't side by side. You have one in the front, one in the back. The configuration we have is that they're removable panels. So they're fixed in place when you've got them locked in, and then you can remove them and stow him in the back. There's a handy bag that you can kind of keep them in.
However, something to be aware of if you are going to opt for the My Sky removable roof panels. We had a little bit of a technical issue with one of them. There are these little plastic tabs-- a yellow one up front, a blue one in the back-- but they really should be built more robust. If you try to lock it down and it wasn't in place, you could snap it off. And in fact, that is what happened to our Associate Editor Brandon Turkus when he was testing this vehicle.
However, the vehicle we're driving is a preproduction model, and Jeep confirmed that the roof panels have been updated for the final production version of the Renegade. So I think it's a really cool feature and it's something that, you know, if I was looking at this car, I would definitely try to fit into my budget. But that was a little alarming, and you know, just something to be aware of.
So as far as styling goes, you know, it is that blockier, boxier Jeep style, which is kind of cool. It's sort of an alternative to the Cherokee, which is this vehicle's sort of big brother, I guess. It has a lot more of a streamlined look to it. This is more old-school with the circular head lamps and the seven-slot grille.
So as far as the interior goes on this car, the designers have had some fun there, as well. Now, as to be expected on an entry model, there is some cheap plastic throughout. There are some kind of fit-finish issues. But overall, a big step up from where Jeep was at with Patriot and Compass. For instance, this dash is in kind of like a soft molded rubber, rather than a hard plastic. That's nice. And soft touch points. You know, plastic here, but kind of a padded mesh here. I think consumers are going to appreciate that, that your elbows are on soft touch points in an entry-level vehicle.
So overall, I think the Renegade marks a big step forward over the vehicles it's replacing, like the Patriot. You can feel the positive influence of FCA on this car. It's more refined. The fit and finish is better, although not perfect. And with some of the cheap plastic and issues we had with the My Sky roof panels, I still give them credit for trying something new with these roof panels. And you're not going to get, you know, a leather-trimmed car for $20,000. So if you're looking for an affordable 4 x 4, I would put the Renegade on your list. For Autoblog, I'm Adam Morath.
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