DETROIT MUSCLE
Is the new Jeep Renegade worth its hefty price tag?
As one of the test vehicles drove away from t he hotel in central Edinburgh where Jeep recently launched the new Renegade, I overheard a woman ask, ‘What is that unusual car?’
‘I’m not sure,’ replied the man with her. ‘Could it be the new Citroen Cactus?’
‘It also looks a bit like the Mini Countryman,’ she said. ‘And the Kia Soul,’ he added. They were right on all counts. The new Renegade belongs with all those models in the new class of cars known as ‘sub-compact crossover sports utility vehicles’, which could be translated as ‘all things to all men and women’. Not a country car (despite tough, muscular looks) nor small enough to merge with the crowd in the city, these cars are essentially about making your presence felt at the school gate or the golf club.
The Renegade may be Jeep’s smallest ever road car – the Second World War Willys Jeep was barely bigger than a kitchen table – but it’s about as shy and retiring as a circus clown on stilts. Standing beside a Renegade, I found its roofline was at the same height as my eyebrows – which would be about 5ft 10in. Sitting in the driver’s seat and placing my thumb on my scalp, my little finger could only touch the ceiling with a full breadth of hand-span. ‘Uncompromising’ might also be the word for the Renegade’s shape. Its face is as square as a Soviet T55 battle tank. Its bulging rear taillights are modelled in the style of a military jerrycan.
A comparable absence of self-conscious reserve is on display inside the car. The upholstery on the two-litre version I sampled was a two-tone offering in a combination of startling orange and taupe. Presumably this gets easier to live with after the initial shock wears off.
For generations, Jeep’s name has matched Land Rover’s as a synonym for off-road ability. A company executive at the launch claimed that the Renegade is ‘the only genuine SUV in this segment of the market’, which overlooks the stupendously capable Skoda Yeti; but it is certainly true that, in four-wheel-drive versions, the Renegade will deal with almost all possible weather conditions in Scotland. What’s more open to question is whether – in two- or four-wheel-drive set-ups – it drives as well as its rivals on the road.
The nine-speed automatic or six-speed manual gearboxes are excellent, but the ride is unsophisticated and the steering feels anaesthetised. The engines, which range from 1.4 to 2.0 litres, all fail to live up to the panache of the Renegade’s looks.
‘Individuality doesn’t roll off a production line,’ proclaimed the Jeep executive but, in fact, the factories that are producing the Renegade are among its most unusual features.
For the first time in the history of Jeep – that quintessentially American brand – this entirely new car will be manufactured in Italy, which is also the country of origin of some of its engines. That European influence isn’t simply a reflection of the fact that Jeep is now owned by Fiat. It also tells us that, with this car, the brand is aiming squarely at the European and British market.
The company obviously needs to do something to appeal to us. Last year, while it sold close to a million cars in the rest of the world, just 4,000 Jeeps were sold in the UK, making them rarer than Porsches. Large, lumpy gas-guzzlers with primitive technology and interiors that look about a quarter of a century out of date do not tend to cut it on a continent spoilt for choice – as Europe is – with spectacular design, dazzling technology and regal comforts.
The Renegade aims to correct those shortcomings, but, with a price-tag of between £16,995 and £27,995, it distinguishes itself, alas, chiefly for being a lot more expensive than its competitors.
‘Last year, just 4,000 Jeeps were sold in the UK, making them rarer than Porsches’