The ruggedly styled all-new 2015 Jeep Renegade compact SUV is a great example of ‘globalisation’.
Fiat owns Chrysler and so the Renegade (a desperately-needed compact SUV for the American brand) uses Fiat’s ‘small-wide’ platform which is shared with the Alfa Romeo Giuelietta and Fiat 500X (in this application it’s called ‘small-wide 4x4’).
Jeep tragics may think this is all too soft for their tastes but they’d be wrong – the Renegade Trailhawk model is claimed to deliver best-in-class 4x4 Trail Rated capability thanks to ‘Jeep Active Drive Low’ (a 20:1 crawl ratio), Jeep Selec-Terrain, 220mm ground clearance and 34.3 departure angle.
Under the bonnet the choice comprises a new naturally-aspirated 81kW/152Nm 1.6-ltre engine, the familiar 130kW/230Nm naturally-aspirated 2.4-litre or the turbocharged 103kW/230Nm 1.4-litre MultiAir.
That’s right there’s no diesel for Australia – even though it’s available elsewhere.
The 2.4-litrepowerplant employs Jeep’s nine-speed automatic transmission while the others use a six-speed manual.
Of course the nine-speeder has attracted its share of critics who’ve noted a speed of 130km/h before top gear is selected and its tendency to hunt between gears – Jeep says this has been fixed for the Renegade.
Jeep will launch the Renegade in Australia later this year in both two-wheel-drive and AWD versions priced from $23,000 and it will go head-to-head with the likes of the just-launched Renault Captur and Honda HR-V and the all-new Mazda CX3 (and established models like Ford EcoSport and Nissan Juke).
No doubt about the Renegade’s off-road credentials but is that what buyers of compact SUVs are looking for?
We’ll ponder that shortly when Jeep hands us the keys to a Renegade.
