Richmond Review ·· Page Page 15 15
Friday, February 6, 2015
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Visit the Jeep Renegade gallery at DrivewayCanada.ca
Jeep: designed in Motor City, made in Italy San Jose, California – Jeep is pushing Renegade as a vehicle A new little Jeep with an Italian accent, with genuine off-road warrior capabilicalled Renegade, will soon be available in ties. A Trailhawk 4x4 edition comes with Canadian dealerships. additional ride height, skid plates plus It’s designed in Detroit and built in Italy, front and rear tow hooks. Unique front/ but the iconic Jeep Wrangler influences are rear fascias improve both approach easy to spot. The Renegade is a contemand departure angle capability and it porary and more playful interpretation of comes with 17-inch wheels with more The Renegade Jeep, offering passenger-friendly utility, aggressive tires. Trailhawk is designed to is a contemporary good on-road performance and fuel econprovide up to 482 mm of water fording omy combined with surprisingly impressive and more playful capability and it comes with a Jeep off-road prowess. interpretation of Jeep, Selec-Terrain system that includes a rock The new model presents a fresh and mode, Active Drive Low (with 20:1 crawl offering passengercheerful overall design attitude that’s ratio) and Hill-descent Control. sure to appeal to younger buyers. An “X” friendly utility, good To prove prowess, Jeep included a motif that appears in numerous places, on-road performance three-hour stop at Hollister Hills SVRA, including the taillights, was taken from an off-road and dirt-biking Mecca about and fuel economy the rear-mounted jerry can on the original a hour from San Jose, in the drive route. combined with Willys army vehicle. A cleverly designed The serious Jeep side of Renegade surprisingly impressive quickly became apparent as it tackled lightweight removable (MySpace) double-sunroof, which stores neatly under the off-road prowess. an arduous obstacle course and a steep rear cargo area, also adds to the mischiehill climbing trail with ease. A short Bob McHugh vous character of Renegade. wheelbase makes it highly manoeuvrable Jeep points to the Nissan Juke, Mini in tricky situations and it’s aided by a Countryman and Buick Encore as the expected prime fully independent suspension with up to 205 mm (8.1 competitors of Renegade. There are, however, a couple inches) of wheel articulation. Jeep’s fully automated of aging compact utilities, Patriot and Compass, already off-road drive system is also second-to-none. in the Jeep line. So you have to wonder how much Almost all of the driving tour was in a Renegade longer they’ll be around. equipped with the 2.4-litre (180-horsepower) engine/ Renegade will have a start price of just $19,995 (Sport automatic combination, which will probably be the edition) and comes in two 4x2 trim levels and four 4x4 most popular pairing. The steering is on the light side trim levels, with prices topping out at $31,995. The base and is quicker acting than I’m used to in a Jeep. This 4x2 Sport edition comes with a turbocharged 1.4-litre high-revving engine is also a more refined and quieter (Multiair) engine mated to a 6-speed manual transpower provider than in Wrangler. Impressively slick in mission. The optional ($1,500) powertrain is a 2.4-litre operation, the nine-speed speed automatic is certainly (Multiair Tigershark) engine, paired (no swapping) with setup for best fuel economy, with four overdrive gears. a 9-speed automatic. North, with 4x2 or 4x4 drivetrains, The turbocharged 1.4-litre (160-horsepower) base is expected to be most popular trim level with all-in engine offers surprising oomph and seemed to make pricing in the mid twenties. Renegade a bit quicker off the line. The 6-speed manual
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is a little vague and has a notchy engagement feel, but I did like the cue ball style shift leaver. While official fuel economy numbers were not available, Jeep is expecting a combined fuel rating of about 8.1 L/100km, which would be excellent. The 4x4 versions of Renegade also feature a unique disconnecting rear axle feature that should provide fuel economy numbers that are close to the 4x2 versions. Tek-Tonic is what Jeep designers dubbed the Renegade’s funky yet functional interior. The Wrangler theme is also evident inside and includes the requisite passenger grab handle. It’s a softer, more comfortable Jeep people place with practical features such as the fold-forward front-passenger seat and a removable, reversible and height-adjustable cargo floor panel. Renegade is also tall folk friendly with oodles of headroom, so they could even wear a hat. A minor tall-roof drawback was noted, however, when I tried to reach for a distant sun visor above the upright windshield. Jeep claims Renegade has up to 70 standard and available safety and security features. There are seven standard air bags, including a driver’s knee air bag. On top of that you can layer an impressive list of optional active safety features that includes Forward Collision Warning with Active Braking, Lane Departure Warning, Blind-spot Monitoring, Rear Cross Path detection, ParkView and a Rear Backup Camera. The all-new 2015 Jeep Renegade is in a word…how you say…Stupendo!
Question of the Week Our lead test driver Zack Spencer today writes about the fantasy car of millions—the Chevrolet Corvette. If you were offered a chance to take a sports car on a track what would you choose and why? Go to DrivewayCanada.ca for question of the week
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QUESTION OF THE WEEK!
Safety Tip: If you’re taking a road trip over the long weekend, be sure to visit drivebc.ca to check road and weather conditions beforehand as they can be unpredictable in the winter. Make sure your vehicle is properly equipped and adjust your speed to the conditions you encounter.
bob.mchugh@drivewaybc.ca
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