Jeep Patriot Limited
Long-term Test - 4000 - 6000km update
Price Guide (recommended price before statutory and delivery charges): $38,490
Options fitted to test car (not included in above price): N/A
Crash rating: N/A
Fuel: Diesel
Claimed fuel economy (L/100km): 6.7
CO2 emissions (g/km): 180
Also consider: Subaru Forester, Renault Koleos, Toyota RAV4, Mitsubishi Outlander
Overall rating: 2.5/5.0
Engine/Drivetrain/Chassis: 3.0/5.0
Price, Packaging and Practicality: 3.0/5.0
Safety: 2.5/5.0
Behind the wheel: 2.5/5.0
X-factor: 3.5/5.0
About our ratings
As a compact 4WD, we reckon the Patriot will do a lot to build the Jeep/Dodge profile in Australia. Delivering reliable and relatively rugged transport that is happy to cruise on the highway yet capable of taking its owner (a little way) off the beaten track and into the wilderness, the Patriot is one of those vehicles that grows on you.
First impressions were not great however. Though the exterior design with its trademark military-style Jeep grille, utilitarian headlights, and angular wheel arches provide a suitably rugged image, the interior makes a poor initial showing.
The dash plastics are hard and unyielding and this is probably no bad thing in the context of long term wear, but... It's the overall style (or lack thereof) that assails you -- like an unpleasantly pungent beanie that's been stewing in the boot for months.
There's virtually no creativity in the design of the dashboard -- it's all rectangles and right angles giving a lo-fi '90s feel. It does fit the Jeep ethos, but as a compact AWD buyer who is probably looking for more practicality than ruggedness, it doesn't necessarily work during that first flush of ownership.
Indeed, the Patriot interior/owner relationship is more of a slow burn... After a week or so you start to appreciate the cubby holes and stowage areas that come in handy, and the harsh angles seem to matter less...
In this regard we reckon it was smart of the people at Jeep Australia to allow us to put more than 6000km under the wheels of our 'long-term' Patriot. Truth be told we were somewhat dismayed when the Patriot eventually had to be returned.
The compact Jeep doesn't excel in any one area, but the overall experience was somewhat gratifying. Taking it to the snowfields, for example, highlighted its practicality.
With three bleary-eyed snowboarders and their gear stowed in the boot, boards on roof (the standard fit roof racks have a 68kg payload), the 2.0-litre turbodiesel engine easily ported a few hundred extra kilograms of mass on the three hour journey (if you know the secret route) from Coburg to Mount Buller in Victoria.
Gentle freeway cruising was nice and easy thanks to the cruise control and torque spread, while the stereo system with its slightly-better-than-average audio quality helped pass the time.
Interior room is fairly good for a car of this size -- though rear seat passengers don't get an awful lot of legroom compared to the next class up, the Patriot rates as par for the course in the compact softroader field. Boot space is pretty good at 536 litres and the roof racks and folding seats expand this cargo carrying capacity, as previously stated. The boot is also finished in hard wearing plastic and the floor is removable making it easy to clean, which will pique the interest of the mountain-biking set.
Comfort levels are decent, with fairly good seat cushioning and logical control placement, but one thing that rankled were the front head rests. They are angled forward and jab into the back of your head with their leading edge, making them more of a head 'intrusion' than a head rest.
Heated seats on our top-spec model were a godsend in the Alps where temperatures dropped to -4 degrees and the car handled the snow with aplomb. Though we didn't have to fit chains, we did test the lockable 4WD system (Lockable electromagnetic centre coupling in Jeep speak) on some snow-covered carparks and it worked fairly well at lower speeds.
Jeep claims 21 and 33 degree approach and departure angles and a breakover angle of 20 degrees, should you ever decide to traverse more uneven terrain.
Diesel-powered vehicles are generally more efficient than their petrol-powered counterparts and the Patriot is no different. At times the American softroader was sipping less than 6.0L/100km but the overall figure after several weeks of driving, including a fair bit of commuting, was 7.4L/100km. Not bad.
The VW-built diesel engine is easy, even enjoyable to potter around thanks to its low-end torque delivery, but out on the open road it doesn't mind revving past its 2000rpm sweet spot when you really want to overtake the loon hippie in the Nimbus.
The gearshift finds a middle ground. It's no sportscar and some of the Carsales HQ crew didn't like the shift quality -- like a spoon in porridge cursed one! Being politically correct, the shift mechanism does has a fairly light feel that and the 'gate' isn't the most precise. A benefit for city use is that the clutch is very light.
Finding reverse gear proved troublesome on a couple of occasions. It features the fairly common lock out mechanism where you have to use your index and middle finger to pull up a small catch before being able to shift into reverse, but finding the ratio proved difficult as it seemed to catch on first instead of going into reverse.
This top-of-the-range model has some nice touches but we'd argue that it isn't perhaps worth the extra $6000 demanded over the entry-level diesel? The kind of person looking at a Patriot will be adventurous, someone who likes mountain biking or surfing or skiing, but who doesn't want their wallet to weep every time they have to fill up. $6K buys a lot of diesel and overnight surfing/biking/trekking accommodation.
Compared to its rivals, the Jeep Patriot competes not only in terms of aesthetics, but on its looks alone it will win over a lot of buyers. Forget the homogenous design of the Japanese compact AWDs: if you want to stand out from the pack this is one way to do it.
At the time of writing the most comparable diesel softroader is Nissan's X-TRAIL (more here) -- more powerful, it has the potential to give the Jeep quite some angst.
Jeep's Patriot doesn't push the compact 4WD envelope nor does it excel in any one area, but taken as a whole it's not a bad effort. Were Jeep able to offer the turbodiesel engine with an automatic transmission we reckon it could have even greater appeal. Yet even with the six-speed manual it's a flexible mode of transport that deserves an avid owner base.
Read the first instalment of our Patriot long-term test here.
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