WASHINGTON — The Jeep Renegade Sport is cheap and fun with a small engine and manual transmission.
I looked at the new Italian-built Jeep compact crossover last summer and was mostly impressed with the new baby Jeep. Then, there was the Jeep Renegade Latitude, which is heavily equipped and comes with a larger engine and a sometimes fussy 9-speed automatic gearbox. Jeep also has a more bare bones version of the new Renegade with a smaller turbo engine, and you can choose a row-your-own-gears transmission, more like a Jeep should be, and all for around $20,000.
After a week with the more basic Sport model, I have to say it was a great deal of fun for a vehicle that cost just $23,000 with options; it didn’t feel like cheap or basic transportation. I would save the $595 and stick with the base steel wheels instead of my tester’s aluminum ones. But the money spent on AC, cruise control and power heated mirrors are worth the $1,495 to help make this a better all around, every day Jeep.
The interior is a nice quality for the price and the space inside is surprising for this compact crossover. The seats are pretty comfortable, but I wanted more lumbar support after three hours of driving. The rear seats have good space. I even managed two car seats and a booster across it. The cargo space is also decent for this little Jeep. The materials seem durable and should stand up to some abuse.
The one thing that I missed was Bluetooth. It’s available for another $695 with the Uconnect system that also adds a rearview camera — helpful as the rear visibility isn’t the greatest.
The base engine is small 1.4-liter turbo, 4-cylinder engine, good for around 160 horsepower and with the manual transmission it feels like enough power — I never wanted more. This might not be a speedy little crossover, but I didn’t miss the larger engine and the fuel economy didn’t disappoint. I managed to beat the combined 27 miles per gallon that it said on the sticker. I saw 29.2 miles per gallon over the course of my week, which included 450 miles of mixed driving and regular grade fuel.
The ride is pretty good, though there is a bit more noise than some other compact crossovers from the tires at higher speeds. It handles bumps pretty well and is very maneuverable, and the size is a benefit on tight city streets. Parking in smaller spaces isn’t a problem. The clutch is light and the gearbox has some longish throws, but all in all, it’s a pretty good gearbox.
This Jeep Renegade has some standout styling — maybe not as controversial as some other Jeeps out now — but this is going to be a popular ride in the years to come. You can’t help but know this is a Jeep at first glance with the front end styling, signature grill and circle headlights. This is the base Sport trim level, so you get black bumpers and trim and not red, like the rest of the paint color, on this pint-size Jeep. Usually, that would bother me but I almost prefer it over the body colored trim on this Renegade.
The look isn’t like other compact crossovers. It’s like an SUV, with more ground clearance than its competitors and a bit more of a go-anywhere attitude that Jeep is famous for.
The Jeep Renegade Sport is a cost effective way to get into the small crossover craze that seems all the rage these days. It’s a rare, good-looking machine, and the most fun version might be the model that costs the least.
