Latitude loaded with attitude
Jeep’s Renegade ‘light’ still packs 4x4 punch,
BOULDER, COLO. Just the name, Jeep Renegade, conjures images of a spunky little crossover SUV fording streams, bucking along rutted dirt trails and conquering mountains.
And in Renegade’s rugged Trailhawk version, you pretty much can. But there’s a whole ’nother side to Renegade, which we recently discovered in the foothills of the Rockies.
It’s Renegade’s city-friendly, dress-up version, the Latitude.
Latitude is still a Jeep, still has available 4-wheel-drive and still comes with offroad-friendly touches like the ability to let you choose a setting based on the terrain, whether it’s snow, sand or mud. But don’t expect some of the more hardcore features found in the Trailhawk, like rock-crawling mode or the ability to plow through up to 19 inches of water.
Instead, Latitude beckons you to focus on the sweeter aspects of owning the smallest Jeep without getting too cute. The interior feels sophisticated, and there’s lots of little spaces to tuck away small items. The headroom and cargo space are best-of-class largely because of that traditional, upright, boxy Jeep look. It’s a brand that doesn’t have to try to look sleek.
The 2.4-liter engine provided plenty of kick, whether it was powering along rural highways or heading up mountain roads. But the 9-speed automatic transmission, an innovation meant to save gasoline, still isn’t quite as smooth as it should be. Fiat Chrysler knows it and has been trying to improve it in the models in which it is being used, such as the larger Cherokee. Still, it would seem like a mistake to have rolled it out before it was ready for prime time.
Driving the Jeep was a pleasure — as long as you remember it’s a Jeep. That higher profile means it will feel a little less sure in hard cornering than others in the growing field of small crossover SUVs. Expect to lean more in the curves. At the same time, the ride is stiffer, a reflection of its off-road roots.
While the Jeep brand’s heritage makes it among the most American of vehicles, Renegade is made in Melfi, Italy, like its corporate cousin, the Fiat 500X. Fiat Chrysler has gone to great lengths to distinguish the two, mostly through ride tuning and design accents. Perhaps afraid that consumers might not think too much of its Italian manufacture, Jeep dotted the interior with subtle little Jeep reminders — images of the distinctive grille and headlights or trail maps or the “Since 1941” logo. It struck us as trying too hard.
All in all, Jeep Renegade is a fun choice for a small SUV. Consumers already have made it a hit. Jeep sold 51,971 Renegades in all grades through November of this year, Autodata reports. Only 7,467 Fiats 500X crossovers were sold over the same period.