Jeep Patriot Limited 2007 Review

Not so much
>> Tyre noise
>> Seats lack support
>> Dashboard styling is 'take it or leave it'

OVERVIEW
Jeep's own statistics suggest that the traditional Wrangler appeals to both women and men.

So that makes it all the more confusing to us. If Wrangler -- of all things automotive -- can cross gender boundaries, why can't a soft-roader?

...and so we come to the Jeep Patriot. If there's anything to pick between it and the Jeep Compass (more here), that difference boils down to price -- which favours the Patriot -- and the Patriot's Wrangler-like styling.

From driving the car during the international launch ( more here), we arrived at the conclusion that the Patriot must make a fair stab at being a competent off-road vehicle, if it is to remain true to Jeep's off-road credentials earned over decades.

There's also the converse argument that the Patriot must be a credible alternative to comfortable, reliable and frugal off-roaders that are selling in ever larger numbers.

Based on our drive through the mountains around Queenstown in New Zealand's south island, Jeep appears to have achieved this difficult balance.

Far from being compromised by its close relationship with the Compass, the cheaper Patriot is likely to sell in reasonable numbers for its mix of value, off-road ability and relative refinement.

If anything, the Patriot may lead prospective buyers to question the need for the Compass.

PRICING & EQUIPMENT
Patriot and Compass are sold in the same variants, the same grades and with the same drivetrains, yet the Patriot is cheaper than the Compass by $2500, across the board.

Priced from $29,990, the Patriot undercuts all comparable models in the compact SUV segment. That's the Patriot Sport, which can also be specified with CVT for $31,990 or the turbodiesel with six-speed manual for $33,990.

The Patriot Limited starts from $33,990 for the 2.4-litre manual, rising to $35,990 for the CVT and $37,990 for the turbodiesel.

It's well equipped in even the Sport grade, with 17-inch alloy wheels, the de facto industry standard three-year/100,000km warranty, ESP, traction control, electronic roll mitigation ('ERM') and an alarm system with internal motion sensors all thrown in.

The higher grade Patriot Limited comes with leather trim, cruise control, body-colour side protection strips, fog lights, heated front seats with lumbar adjustment for the driver, a six-disc CD audio system and deep-tinted winscreen.

Options comprise metallic paint ($300), premium audio system ($2000 for Patriot Sport, $600 with six-disc CD player already standard), deep-tint windscreen ($390, Patriot Sport only, already standard for Limited), front seat-mounted side impact airbags ($600 for Patriot Limited only) and 'Luxury Group' option pack comprising electro-chromatic mirror, tyre pressure-monitoring and electric sunroof ($2000 for Patriot Limited only).

When you take into account the lower price in the first instance, the Jeep is a very good package all round.

MECHANICAL
Two engines, three transmissions; the Patriot offers something appropriate for 95 per cent of buyers. The 2.4-litre petrol engine and five-speed manual transmission constitute the cheapest option. Pairing the same engine with a CVT transmission is the second option and the only one suitable for 'automatic' drivers. The Volkswagen-sourced 2.0-litre turbodiesel four-cylinder is coupled to a six-speed manual transmission for the third and most expensive option.

The 2.4-litre petrol engine is an effective unit in the Patriot application. It generates 125kW of power at 6000rpm and 220Nm of torque at 4500rpm. Those outputs occur at relatively high engine speeds, but the engine doesn't struggle badly when asked to do a lot -- and the upside is that it returns very low fuel consumption figures of 8.9lt/100km (combined), 7.8lt/100km (extra-urban) and 10.7lt/100km (urban).

We didn't drive the CVT variant off-road, but from all accounts it acquitted itself well on steep grades and the stepless nature of the transmission would allow the engine to spin up to the sort of high speed where peak torque occurs.

Something of an orphan among SUVs, the 2.0-litre turbodiesel Patriot develops 103kW of power at 4000rpm and 310Nm of torque from as low as 1750rpm. Peak torque remains constant up to 2500rpm. Jeep makes a claim of 189km/h top speed with the turbodiesel engine and a combined cycle fuel figure of 6.7lt/100km. In urban and extra-urban cycles, the Patriot CRD is good for 8.8 and 5.5lt/100km respectively.

Drive to the rear wheels is modulated automatically by the electronically controlled coupling ('ECC'), which sits in unit with the rear differential. In optimum circumstances, the drive is directed entirely to the front wheels and the ECC only directs drive as the system anticipates wheel slippage, ie: faster rotational speeds from front to rear.

With a manually selectable locking transfer mechanism, the torque split from front to rear can be fixed at 50/50, allowing the front wheels to continue dragging the vehicle up hill or out of a boggy section if the rear wheels lose traction, or vice versa. The locked drive spreads the traction load over the two axles and reduces the possibility that forward momentum will be lost with reduced traction.

Suspension is a combination of front MacPherson struts and a multi-link independent system at the rear. Patriot and Compass are Jeep's first models with the mechanicals arranged in an 'East/West' engine layout and interior space has gained as a result.

PACKAGING
The Patriot's interior is deceptively capacious and provides flexible configurations through the fold-flat rear and front passenger seats for shifting large, bulky and long objects.

The instrument layout is mostly conventional and works well. We found the centre fascia to be a little 'monolithic' in style and that may not be to everyone's liking.

It's not a problem once adjusted, but the rear view mirror is a bit of a stretch from the driver's seat and on the subject of 'reach', there's no such adjustment for the steering column, although the wheel can be adjusted for tilt.

There are strange little oversights, such as just four cupholders (in an American car yet!), when Honda's CR-V has eight and the Subaru Forester has six. Even the refreshment-bereft Nissan X-Trail boasts four.

Seats let the side down a bit. In the Limited grade, with leather trim, the seat occupant would tend to 'submarine' under moderately heavy braking.

There's the matter of the automatic driver side electric window too. It lowers automatically with the one push, but the switch must be held in place for it to rise the full distance. In our view, the window should be 'one-touch' in both directions.

As against those niggles, the Patriot provides a host of features that are useful and likely to find long-term favour with owners. These include the removable and rechargeable LED torch that doubles as the luggage section dome light; the vinyl 'UltraFloor' which is removable, washable and can carry a 113kg payload; reclining rear seats (up to 12 degrees inclination) and the sliding armrest with an integrated 'flip pocket'.

The Patriot Sport is trimmed in a fabric marketed by Jeep under the generic name 'YES Essentials'. These fabrics (available in other Chrysler Group products too), are sourced from a supplier of fabrics to the hotel industry and are hard-wearing, stain-resistant and anti-static.

According to Jeep, the fabric is easily cleaned -- even in the 'corndog' scenario cited by Jeep execs on the launch -- and will remain attractive and pristine for years. This will aid resale value when the owner decides to offload the car.

Medium Slate Grey and Light Pebble Beige are the two colour options for the 'YES Essentials' fabric in the Patriot Sport.

For the Patriot Limited, with leather trim, the two interior colour options are two-tone Slate Grey and two-tone Pebble Beige.

Exterior colours are Black, Bright Silver Metallic, Inferno Red Crystal Pearl, Jeep Green Metallic, Light Khaki Metallic, Marine Blue Pearl, Steel blue Metallic and Stone White.

SAFETY
Jeep has covered a lot of bases with the Patriot's safety. Australian-spec vehicles are fitted with front panels that are more pedestrian-friendly. The lower valance restricts the car's approach angle somewhat also, but that's the price of keeping other road users safe.

On the active safety front, the Patriot comes equipped with ESP, Brake Assist, Traction Control and Electronic Roll Mitigation. The standard ABS is a two-mode type, which can be set to a different calibration for off-road driving.

For passive safety, the Patriot boasts 'multi-stage' dual front airbags that deploy in accordance with the severity of the impact, and side curtain airbags to protect the front and rear seat occupants from head injuries. The Patriot Limited is also offered with the option of front seat-mounted side impact airbags.

Child safety seat mounting points are the ISOFIX type and the middle rear seat position comes with a detachable three-point seatbelt.

COMPETITORS
As a compact SUV, the Patriot is going to take some beating. Vehicles that will have to lift their game to meet this new challenger in the segment include the Honda CR-V, Hyundai Santa Fe, Mitsubishi Outlander, Nissan X-TRAIL, Subaru Forester, Suzuki Grand Vitara V6 and Toyota RAV4.

With the exception of the Suzuki, all of these vehicles are at least $2000 more expensive than the base Patriot Sport 2.4 manual. The Grand Vitara is just $1000 more expensive than the Jeep -- at $30,990 -- and offers a significantly larger V6 in lieu of the Patriot's four-cylinder engine.

The Patriot's 2.4-litre petrol engine is highly comparable with its competitors' engines, but loses out to both the Santa Fe and the Grand Vitara, each fitted with a larger capacity V6.

Where dimensions and weight are concerned, the Patriot is lighter than all the competitors listed, other than the Nissan and Subaru. As against that, it's also shorter than all the others and narrower, with the exceptions of the Nissan and Subaru once more. The Suzuki is also slightly shorter than the Patriot, but wider.

Headroom is better than most, as is rear seat legroom, but the front seat legroom, whilst comparable, doesn't come up to par. Both shoulder and hip room make for a bit of a squeeze in the Patriot, compared with its competitors. At this point, it's important to note that many of the competitors don't publish their internal dimensions.

Of the competitors, the Outlander offers better ground clearance -- and that's by a narrow 6mm margin. It's an interesting factoid that the competitors are within about 20mm of the Patriot's figure, indicating that compact SUVs are increasingly rigged for off-road adventures -- just like their larger counterparts.

Fitted with that lower hanging front end, the Australian specification's 21 degree approach angle is just not as good as some of the competition's. The 20 degree breakover angle is about right and the 33 degree departure angle leads the class.

We were impressed by the Patriot's general ability. Previously, we've argued that Jeep should be offering buyers the option of the 'Freedom Drive II' package with lower ratio gearing for the CVT and a raised profile suspension (more here), but Jeep informs us that international specification vehicles (including Australia's) are not fitted with the lower ratio CVT gearing because it would affect the vehicle's top end speed. Apparently that's important in international markets.

Depending on how serious you are as an off-road enthusiast, the Patriot may very well meet your demands, even without the Freedom Drive II pack. Obviously it would be more capable with it...

The 2.4-litre petrol engine lacked torque to tackle some of the grades outside Queenstown with ease and the diesel was a much better proposition in this regard. Even so, there were occasions when the diesel struggled with steep grades on low friction surfaces.

The six-speed manual transmission coupled to the turbodiesel was a good box, but with a slight gap between second and third gears. This was hardly noticed on road, but did make itself felt occasionally when second was too low and third was too high. Bear in mind that the Patriot doesn't have a dual range transmission either.

Handling and steering struck a fairly good balance between on-road and off-road traits with reasonable feel in the steering. The ride was impressively compliant and well damped.

We noticed a few little squeaks from soft interior fittings while driving the Patriot on sealed roads. Tyres were noisy on New Zealand's coarse bitumen roads, but they weren't appreciably quieter on the smoother hotmix either. That's the downside of 'all-weather' tyres on the road.

Wind noise was properly suppressed and the large 'truck' mirrors were not only practical, but generated almost no noise whatsoever.

So that's the Patriot; an impressive package that's likely to give buyers that extra non-conformity quotient in the segment.

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