The 2015 Jeep Patriot remains a strong seller in spite of its age, outselling the new Jeep Renegade by a significant margin, so we test drive it to see why that is.
As I said at the outset, the Jeep Patriot has been with us for some time, 2007 to be exact. It’s had a few visual changes here and there since then, but for the most part looks virtually identical to the one that came almost 10 years ago.
The one we’re testing this week is a fully loaded Latitude 4×4 with the High Altitude package. This brings visual niceties like the larger 17-inch mineral gray alloy wheels here, fog lights and privacy glass all framed out with black roof rails up top.
It’s style is just as familiar as it was in 2007, with the square and traditional look that the first-generation Jeep Cherokee made popular and even reaching back into the iconic shape of the Jeep Wagoneer. Though I might be reaching a bit there.
Inside, the Patriot is basic in design and build. It received an all-new interior a few years back which was a major improvement in materials and design from the cabin of the first years. It’s functional, and offers reasonable space for its size.
Ours was optioned up with an MSRP of nearly $30,000. It had heated leather seats, power adjustable for the driver. Though some adjustments are still manual like recline and lumbar. The steering wheel tilts and telescopes and the center console sports a 115-volt outlet among other handy things.
Part of that price included the top-line audio system for $1435 with an additional $495 for the Uconnect suite of connectivity features. The optioned unit brings all available forms of media capability, a 40 gig hard drive, and navigation system.
Rear seat passengers here also get a good high seating position with plenty of head, knee and leg room, though there aren’t any rear seat HVAC vents here. On the plus side the rear seat-back rake does allow for adjustment.
The seats do fold down in a 60/40 split for a near flat cargo floor and they are folded rather easily in most cases without having to remove the headrests. Under the cargo floor is a spare tire too instead of an inflator like some competitors give you now.
Scoring for the interior comes in at four out of five stars overall even though it’s basic and simple, it works for the most part. Storage areas including the small center console, door pockets and glove box are the major areas in need of improvement.
Technology here comes in at only three of five stars. The top-end audio and navigation sustem just simply isn’t at worth its price in sound quality or usability. And, there’s no back up camera, no driving assistance features, or crash avoidance systems available here either.
Moving on to powertrains, the Jeep Patriot comes with either a 2.0 liter four-cylinder with 158 horsepower or the larger 2.4 liter four that ours has here which offers up 172 horsepower. In ours with the Freedom Drive I all-wheel drive, it comes with the six-speed automatic transmission.
And indeed fuel efficiency wasn’t its strong suit. The EPA rates this powertrain combination at 21 mpg city, 27 mpg highway, and 23 mpg combined. In our week with it, we struggled to see 20 mpg combined.
Thus scoring our powertrain here, the lack of power and performance from this engine, its harsh noise at times and thirst brings it a total score of three out of five stars.
When it comes to chassis, the Jeep Patriot has in our past test drives received praise for its all-around good road manners. It comes with a rather basic MacPherson strut front suspension and a multi-link independent rear.
Steering is still of the hydraulic power assist variety which often gives more feel and feeback than the newer electric power steering units. And with our Freedom Drive I all-wheel drive system here, it offers 8.1-inches of ground clearance.
The Freedom Drive I system can be locked to send 50% of power to each the front and rear axle. Those wanting more can option the Freedom Drive II system which comes with an ultra low crawl ratio in addition to locking capability. You can only get that with the constantly variable transmission though.
With all this, we give the Patriot four out of five stars for its chassis score with its solid and well isolated ride on pavement and agility in the rough being standouts.
For overall quality feel the Jeep Patriot generally fares pretty well with four out of five stars. It might be plain and lacking a lot of features competitors have but it’s built well and we could find few faults in its fit and finish.
When it comes to safety, the 2015 Jeep Patriot does show its age here. The IIHS rated it with a poor grade in their newest small-offset crash test which puts it at the back of the class competitively. It does score good however in their other battery of testing.
In all with a value of three of five starts our total TDTV test drive rating score comes in at 3 and a half of five stars.
