1941 was the year, the second world war was well and truly in full swing and a turn of events that year marked the start of something that would become a world famous name, brand and range of vehicles, now, regardless of where that name came from, that name today is synonymous with off road driving and beating the worst conditions that anyone can throw at it.
That name is Jeep, and the car that we have today is the latest in a long line a great cars, the new Renegade, it is very closely related to the FIAT 500X, with both being built in the same factory in Italy, but where the FIAT has the corporate 500 look, the Renegade is unmistakably a JEEP, you can not mix it up with anything else on the market, because it is those seven slits on the grill, that Jeep's have had since the very first ones, and continue to have 75 years later.
2016 is the anniversary of the first cars and it is the new car that carries the future well and truly on its shoulders, so what is it, well, it is a medium sized two wheel drive car with the 1.4 litre Multiair II engine, pushing out 140bhp, and please, do NOT think that because it is a medium sized car with a small engine that the car has no go, far far from it, Ii was well surprised, pleasantly so, that there is oodles of go in the car, and it keeps on giving, upto and beyond the national speed limit.
The ride is a little hard, well, after all it is a pseudo offroader, but it's not unduly so, and the road noise is nearly non existent, the car grips well on corners, and pulls away with verve, when pushed there is a lovely engine note, thats a little raspy, but it makes it feel like a sporty unit, it also stops really well too, the car seemed to ooze presence, and in that beautiful blue colour on our test car, it gained a significant amount of looks.
Inside the car and you soon get comfortable, the seats are very firm but keep you in place, you can move the seats and steering wheel about so that you always get a decent comfortable position, with all the buttons and switchgear easily to hand, like most cars these days, a lot of the running of the car is completed via a touchscreen system, and it is no different here, with plenty of options within the screen to play with.
The inside of the car is very airy and you feel like there is a load of space, mainly because there is, the car is box shaped, so you get maximum space, with significant room in the back for three adults to sit in reasonable comfort, the boot space is good too, with the split level you can put smaller items in the bottom, and larger on top, there is loads of nooks and crannies dotted about too, to take bottles, chocolate bars or whatever it is you like to carry around, the glove box is a decent size too, and not forgetting the "secret" under seat storage on the passenger seat, and i dont mean the draw you occasionally get on cars, on the Jeep you can lift up the passenger seat squab, and there is space beneath for items of value, camera's, wallets, purses etc.
Due to the size and nature of the car, you are not going to get very high fuel consumption figures, but the brand claims that this car can achieve :-
- Urban Cycle 37.2mpg
- Extra Urban 55.4mpg
- Combined 47.1mpg
These figures are achievable, I prefer to see lower figures that you can get, than the inflated pretend ones that no matter how you drive you will still be 30-40% adrift of, the car runs with a 140g/km, not the lowest on the market, but on a par with similar cars, it can achieve with a back wind 0-62 in under 11 seconds, up to a maximum 112 mph, not that we managed to get that high, after all, 70mph is the UK top speed, not that you would know it the way some people drive.
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| I LOVE THE LITTLE MAN CLIMBING ON THE REAR WINDOW |
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| AND THE JEEP ON THE FRONT WINDSCREEN, IT LOOKS BETTER THAN THE PICTURE SHOWS IT. |
The car came with just three options
- Special Pastel Paint £600
- Rear Parking Sensors £270
- Function Pack 1* £375
* The function Pack 1 contains External rear view mirrors with electrical drive folding and defrost, keyless enter 'No Go, Reversible and height adjustable cargo load floor, under seat storage and 230V/50Hz Auxiliary Power Outlet.
The car we tested with the options added on came to just over £22,000, it equates well against some of it's rivals, but then they do not have the heritage that this brand has, and I suppose it can be classed as America's Land Rover, a quick look on Youtube and you can find some video's of Jeeps doing things that you really could never imagine were possible, where LR's these days you would be nervous about taking your car off road incase it got a little scratch, the Jeep will jump at the chance to show you exactly what it is capable of doing, but remember, this car is only the two wheel drive version, so is less capable than its four wheel drive sibling.
Whether you take the car off road or not, your £22k does get you lots of toys:-
- 17" Aluminium wheels
- Ambient lighting
- Trailer sway damping
- All Speed traction control
- Star & Stop
- 6 airbags
- Uconnect 5" DAB Radio with touchscreen Sat Nav and Bluetooth
- Typre pressure management system
- Electronic Stability control
- Cruise control
- Driver seat with electric lumber adjustment
- Leather wrapped steering wheel
- Speed limiter
- Air conditioning
- ECO Drive
- Electronic parking brake
- Electric windows all around
Just to name a few of the options that are featured on the car.
Over all, the Jeep fits nicely within the range, it is the starter model, and they go up from there until you get to the Cherokee SRT, now thats one car I would love to test, but I digress, the Jeep fills a market it has not been in, and with that it will not compete with itself, but it is hitting the competition, there are loads of these on the roads, I spotted 14 on just one journey, and I may have missed some.
I like the car, very much, I was expecting the usual stereotypes about US cars not able to go round corners, and so on, but this car has smashed those ill founded preconceived notions into millions of pieces, I came away from the car after it went back, wishing I had driven it more, and enjoying the experience a lot more.
I like the car, very much, I was expecting the usual stereotypes about US cars not able to go round corners, and so on, but this car has smashed those ill founded preconceived notions into millions of pieces, I came away from the car after it went back, wishing I had driven it more, and enjoying the experience a lot more.
VERDICT
This is a great car, is very capable, bags of room, comfortable, looks like a Jeep should, but performs like a car, and by that i mean, its quiet, frugal, grips the corners, pulls away nicely, and the auto box is brilliantly smooth, as you gently drive along, you can not feel the gear changes, you only know it has changed when you see the rev counter rise and fall, you have awesome amounts of all round vision, some of the best I have been in, to be honest, if your in the market for a capable car, and your budget includes pricing from £17.500, which is the base model price, then you would be getting a brilliant car, just because it is American, do not push it to one side, this is a car to be considered, The Motoring World Blog
Jon Mower
Jon Mower
