Ive begun looking for another vehicle as my truck is inching up to the 20yr mark.
I'd always like cars and since leaving the muscle cars / hotrod thing behind a long time ago I'm not swayed by big horsepower numbers anymore.
I've liked quick responsive hatchbacks but when we began building additions onto our home & my woodworking hobby got into full swing I needed a truck.
I'm at a point where at best I need something that can tow a 600lbs trailer with an 800lbs Harley on it and only for going to pick up a friend that's broke down or to take mine to the shop for tires.

A few vehicles have piqued my interest.
One in particular, is the little Renegade as I found it can be had with a manual transmission.
4wd & a manual would get me everywhere I'd ever need to go & it's 4cyl turbo has a tow rating of 2500lbs.
But I've never even sat in one much less driven one.
As I said I've just begun the search.
But my wife & I share a little Honda Fit Sport as a daily work car which leaves my truck & her car sitting the majority of the time.
I don't find the Fit to be uncomfortable at all.
My truck has been registered now for 19yrs & has 146,000 on it.
It's not dead by any means but the time to sell of course is when it's running fine .
I want to start looking & eliminating vehicles from the list so I know what direction I'm going when it's time.


Anyone have one of these Renegades , driven them ?
Especially a manual 4wd version ?
I'm also thinking this would make for a nice vehicle to tow behind the motorhome.
I may wind up just buying a used truck to replace mine but there are so many interesting vehicles out there these days I don't want to overlook any option.

Go here and start reading/asking:

http://www.jeeprenegadeforum.com

I was interested in a Renegade for awhile, but lost interest as more details came out (nothing serious, just me). I doubt that you can flat-tow a 4X4 Renegade.

Our Fit has to be Dolly Towed & I have to add wooden ramps to get it on as the front is so low it hits the dolly.
No plans for 4 wheel down towing and the clearance of the jeep was actually thought of as a plus.

Wrangler guy here but I like the Renegades. Teraflex is maker of lift kits, they now have a 1 1/2" for the Renegade, gotta be pretty cool.

we had one as a loaner while one of our cars was in the shop. I HATED how low you sit in it. Couldn't give it back fast enough.

quote:

Originally posted by cmr076:
we had one as a loaner while one of our cars was in the shop. I HATED how low you sit in it. Couldn't give it back fast enough.

This. I had one a few weeks back and returned it early to Budget for another car. I found it to be annoying on the inside and didn't car for the visibility.

Buddy just bought a brand new one, but he has shitty credit and it's what the dealer put him in. Drove it, total shitbox.

If looking for smaller/4 cylinder and 4x4/AWD with a manual, the answer is simple.

Subaru Forester. Mine has a two rating of 2,400 I think and I've had that weight on it before with no issues. Currently at 149k on my 2013 Forester with a manual.

Yeah just not looking for a 4wd compact station wagon
What I wanted was a Jeep Liberty but too little too late.

I had one as a loaner two weeks ago. I really didn't like the interior that much. Two much going on. I have a Grand Cherokee and I really prefer the more refined interior. I guess the acceleration was pretty good, didn't even know it was turbo charged.

Aren't those built by Fiat?

quote:

Originally posted by arfmel:
Aren't those built by Fiat?

It's a Fiat with Jeep tags slapped on:

http://www.businessinsider.com...made-in-italy-2017-2

You'd be best served reading reviews for both.....engines are short-lived!

That vehicle is a disgrace to the Renegade name.

So I know a girl that was an early adopter. It got lemon law’d for electrical issues. Like an idiot she then got a Jeep Compass and is well on her way to being lemon law’d as well. Forbes consistently has all Jeep vehicles except for the grand Cherokee on their do not buy list. This includes the wrangler which I don’t agree with because of the stellar resale value. Aside from that all Jeep’s suffer in reliability. I would stay far away.

As a former Jeep owner I saw one of these and almost died laughing. This does not deserve the Jeep name. Watch some video reviews. The damn thing just gets stuck a lot.

I've often wondered how many idiots buy 4wd vehicles and instantly think it's a true off road 4x4.

A well maintained gravel road is all any vehicle I've ever owned has seen.

There just isn't anything shy of a truck that even slightly looks manly in their base line trim level, to me.

My wife loves the Ford Edge, looks like a turtle to my eyes.

Ugh ! This is why I've started my search early.
But nothing is really jumping out at me.

Research Consumer Reports before you purchase.

Slightly larger, but the Jeep Compass just got a redesign & looks 1000% better than the prior model.
No info on it aside from thinking it's aesthetically nice looking.

Mrs. john1 has a 2015 that she uses to run her rural mail route. She loves it, It has enough room for her 167 mail customers on the route and the 300 in her contract post office as she has to haul all that from one PO to hers. The other part is the mileage and she get 30 mpg.

I think it's fun to drive and is pretty responsive and darn easy to park, being so small. She did have a front differential issue but that was covered under warranty.

We don't go 4-wheeling in it, but do drive a lot of mountain dirt roads and the winters can be significant up here. It just keeps rolling along, regardless.

quote:

Originally posted by GrumpyBiker:
There just isn't anything shy of a truck that even slightly looks manly in their base line trim level, to me.

This is why I have yet to buy a new vehicle. Tacoma is leading the pack, but economy and initial cost are my main stumbling blocks. So I drive a 17 year old truck daily til I find the "right one."

I test drove a fully loaded, top of the line, model when they first came out and barely made it out of the parking lot. No power/slow response, cheap interior, super uncomfortable, and it sounded like it was constantly in a state of ‘working too hard/shaking itself to death’. All for ~$35k... Handed back the keys laughing and went to a ‘premium feeling’ CX5. Couldn’t be happier.

Had one as a rental 2 weeks ago after our Equinox rental (equally powerless) picked up a nail in the sidewall. Problems noted during test drive were exponentially worse at 25k miles. Again, this was a rental so treat with a grain of salt.