The Jeep Renegade is, unfortunately the black sheep of the family when it comes to Jeep. It’s not quiet an off road SUV and its too big to be a compact SUV. When new they didn’t sell overly well, not because of features or reliability but because it was priced to highly for the market. The base pack of the vehicle costs similar to the top of the line options from its competitors.
The 2wd option was not popular with fans of the brand at all, which makes sense. The 4WD option sold better but if your shelling out the coin for a 4WD you want he extra features that came with it and by the time you upgraded to the best on offer for the Renegade you could almost buy a WK2.
Mechanically the Renegade is not much chop. The driveline is from Fiat and samples an experimental technology called multi air. This is basically a strange deign where the inlet valves are controlled via a valve box that operated off oil pressure and the exhaust cam shaft. The pros allow for better fuel economy and on demand power. However it didn’t do away with mechanical valve operation which is susceptible to failure, turbo charge failure or the need for timing belts to operate which can fail and need routine maintenance.
The Multi air technology won awards the year it was released, but as with all new tech the early adopters are the ones that foot the bill. The teething problems of this tech cost renegade owners a fortune. Whilst this is becoming more fined tuned and is featuring in many Alpha Romeos the Jeep Renegade was the guniea pig to the innovative technology.
The fuel injectors are known to give trouble too and the the turbo charges are common for giving up earlier than expected.
The automatic transmission in these copped a bit of criticism too as they run a nine speed option which causes the vehicle to be forever switching between gears. This make for a very unusual driving experience.
If purchasing a Renegade for the use of 4WD work the trail hawk is the only option, which as stated before will be costly. Outside of that this car is for the city slicker, wanting a car with rugged looks that says “I’m a successful high school dropout working in realestate”
Ground clearance hinders the 4WD Capabilities. The pros are basically a super unique looking vehicle, filled with Jeeps easter eggs (mini logos, grill and X tail lights) that is not much more practical than a Toyota Corolla for close to double the price.
Now several years after the release and the numbers don’t stack up. The Renegade is only really a value vehicle if you purchase the Trail hawk with all options but as stated before Jeep and Fiat have priced themselves out of the market on this one. They are just too expensive.
