"Snuze: Needs another Swede" (markg)
11/11/2015 at 17:47 • Filed to: None
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"Snuze: Needs another Swede" (markg)
11/11/2015 at 17:47 • Filed to: None | 2
| 10 |
This past weekend I went camping with a bunch of my friends, and one of them came with his girlfriend in her new Jeep Renegade. I’ve admired these little guys from afar but had yet to drive one. After a day of activities we came back to camp to settle in for the evening, and I took a few minutes to look her Jeep over. It was almost exactly the Renegade I would buy if I were in the market - 4 cylinder turbo engine, 6 speed manual, AWD. The only difference was color, I’m partial to the military green, her’s was in the sand color (my second choice). I asked her if I could take it for a spin and she said yes.
I didn’t want to be gone long as it was getting dark, and the roads were gravel for miles around so I didn’t want to flog it and get rock chips on it. But 3 of my friends and I piled in and we took it for a little drive around the camp grounds and here are some thoughts:
I had a Jeep Patriot as a rental car a few weeks ago, and this thing blows the doors off it in terms of quality, especially in the interior department. For a cheap, entry level, little SUV the Renegade interior is a nice place to spend time. It also has all the bells and whistles I would want and then some.
The engine reminds me a lot of my Cruze back before I tuned it. Not too surprising since they are both 1.4L turbo units but I would have thought FCA might have tried tuning differently given the Renegades target as a capable mini offroader. What I mean by this is it has almost no off-the-line torque. You have to wait for the turbo to spool at around 2500-2800 rpms to get usable power. This powerband is fine for daily road use, but definitely not ideal for an offroader.
The clutch felt wonky, reminded me a lot of the only time I drove a Fiat 500. Maybe it’s an FCA thing, I don’t know. But it’s fairly stiff for such a small, low powered car, way more effort than my Cruze, I’d guess equal to or even slightly more than my sister’s RSX-S. I also found hard to modulate as you let it out, it feels like as soon as you start to release it, it wants to spring back out with force. But I think I could learn to live with it, and the shifter was nice and smooth.
After my drive I hopped out and let another friend drive back to camp and I rode in the back seat. Ride felt composed and not too harsh. There was a lot of legroom back there, as much or more than the Cruze. With the rear seats up it had a decent amount of space in the back, and with the seats folded down was the perfect amount of room to haul camping gear and stuff.
Edit: I was also impressed by its offroading abilities, though I wasn’t in the vehicle for these exploits. They took it up to the range where we were shooting with no problems whatsoever. Admittedly I’ve seen it done in a Honda Accord but that guy was braver than me. He also later slid off a trailside trying to leave and slammed the frame into a rock, setting off the Accords airbags. My point is the journey to the range is no Moab, but its at the upper limit of what I’d expect a CUV “softroader” to be able to do, and the Renegade handled it with ease.
As much as the Cruze has been great to me, I’d like something with a little more room, but don’t want to sacrifice daily drivability and too much fuel economy. I probably won’t be upgrading for another year or two, but when I’m ready the Renegade is now definitely on my short list.
C62030
> Snuze: Needs another Swede
11/11/2015 at 20:28 |
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“A lot like my Cruze before I tuned it” is the most respect-worthy statement I have heard in recent memory.
BloodlessWeevil
> Snuze: Needs another Swede
11/11/2015 at 20:30 |
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Fun fact: The clutch feels similar to the 500 because the 1.4L turbo engine and transmission in the Renegade is the same one that is in the Abarth 500. Which is essentially the same as the base 500, just with a turbocharger.
The clutch feels weird for a lot of reasons, not least of which is that it uses brake fluid. The brakes and clutch are driven by the same hydraulic system, which means the engagement point shifts as the brake pads wear.
Nymphicus Hollandicus
> Snuze: Needs another Swede
11/11/2015 at 20:45 |
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This could be a car I’d consider, but I’m not too sure about reliability (yet)
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Snuze: Needs another Swede
> BloodlessWeevil
11/11/2015 at 22:29 |
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Finally... I knew I’m not crazy!
I gripped about the 500’s clutch back when they first came out, and everyone told me I’m crazy, or its not bad, or not at all like I’m describing. I said its either what it is or the car I drove was broken.
This makes way more sense, and I’m glad you agree with me.
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Snuze: Needs another Swede
> Nymphicus Hollandicus
11/11/2015 at 22:30 |
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I agree. Im not in a position to buy a new car anytime soon anyways, but first model year woes always concern me.
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Snuze: Needs another Swede
> C62030
11/11/2015 at 22:34 |
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Thanks. I love my little Cruze and I think the 1.4 is a great little engine, but GM left so much on the table in order to be able to run it on 87 octane.
The tune makes a night and day difference including better throttle response, better off idle performance, of course a fatter powerband, all while actually improving fuel economy.
I just hope the aftermarket can do something similar for the Renegade.
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C62030
> Snuze: Needs another Swede
11/11/2015 at 23:02 |
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I did drive a Cruze quite a bit, I liked it a lot, even though it was stock. The steering was still rather numb but I thought it was nicely weighted. I liked the brakes too. It did not have a turbo, however, as far as I know.
Party-vi
> Snuze: Needs another Swede
11/12/2015 at 13:34 |
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There are several companies that claim a 40hp increase for the 140hp Fiat 1.4L engine with their piggyback chips. It would be nice to see peak torque over 230lb-ft at a low RPM.
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Snuze: Needs another Swede
> Party-vi
11/12/2015 at 15:57 |
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The tune I have took my car from 140HP/150TQ to roughly 180HP/200TQ, so I imagine similar gains are possible from the Fiat mill. Hitting that 230lb-ft would be a challenge, though.
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Party-vi
> Snuze: Needs another Swede
11/12/2015 at 16:05 |
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I think the 1.4L already has 184lb-ft, so hopefully they can add another 30 or 40 to that number.