The 2015 Jeep Renegade represents many firsts for the brand. For starters it’s the first Jeep to be sold in North America which is manufactured on another continent. Built in Italy, the Jeep Renegade shares the assembly line with the new Fiat 500x compact crossover.
In fact both the 500x and the Renegade share their chassis underneath and their powertrains. Styling however is all Jeep, with nothing visual shared with anything else. Right up front is a familiar family resemblance with slotted grille and round headlamps.
Away from its face, the Renegade moves forward with entirely new styling DNA for the brand with angular forms in its roof line. The rear view has plenty of visual drama too with bold tailight lenses emblazoned with an X.
Out Sport base model had black plastic cladding along its lower extremities to protect for off-road expedition in expected class form. As ours was optioned with the Power and Air Group, it also had 16” alloy wheels over the standard steelies.
Like the exterior, the Renegade’s cabin has a lot going on with design and style. Bold and well accentuated forms are found in the design of the dash, center console, door panels and even the seats themselves.
Reminders you are in a Jeep are found everywhere you look with lots of logos and thematic detail that play into the sense of adventure you have ahead. Even the instrument cluster seems to be splashed with mud in fun fashion.
As ours is an entry level Sport, the interior materials and technical content are on the simpler side, though the black and sandstone two-tone color combination gives it an upscale feel. Controls and switchgear are logically laid out and feel of a decent quality.
The rear seats fold down in a 60/40 split with relative ease for a near-flat load floor which is what you buy this for right? Once they’re down you’ll have 50.8 cubic feet of cargo area and a pretty tall space at that.
If there is anything initially off-putting about the Renegade’s interior it’s getting your seating position dialed in to a happy place. Not sure why that is, it just takes while to find it. The other thing worth noting is the abnormally large A pillars that do cut into your outward visibility to some degree.
Suspension is fully independent with MacPherson Struts up front and at the rear are coil springs with a strut link layout. Noted in light of our chassis comments is the fact that four-wheel drive models do come with heavier duty suspension bits which may contribute to a more solid experience.
The front-wheel drive Renegade has 6.7” of ground clearance which is a little less than the four-wheel drive model, but more than most compact cars. It has standard hill start assist which is handy out here especially with the manual transmission.
Under the hood of our Renegade is the 1.4 liter turbocharged MultiAir engine sourced from Fiat, which has 160 horsepower and 184 pound-feet of torque. It comes exclusively with a six-speed manual transmission. It will run on regular unleaded, but premium is recommended for full performance.
The EPA rates the 2015 Jeep Renegade front-wheel drive with the 1.4 liter engine at 24 mpg city, 31 mpg highway with a 27 mpg combined rating. In our week with the Renegade we observed a 30 mpg combined average, well above what was promised.
