2015 Jeep Renegade: First Review

Jeep has a long and glorious history. Introduced during the Second World War as a purpose built off-road and multi utility vehicle, the original Jeep was small, rugged and has the abilities of a mountain goat. Not only did it serve the Allied Powers exceptionally well, spawning a completely new category of personal mobility, it also became surprisingly likable to most. The Jeep brand of course has capitalised greatly on its heritage, by making no-nonsense off-road utility vehicles that not only do their job exceedingly well. Now though, Jeep has decided to do something it has never done before. With the all-new 2015 Jeep Renegade, the Fiat owned Jeep has decided to foray into one of the largest growing automobile segments in the world: the small SUV. The Renegade is not only important for Jeeps worldwide market but especially important for a market like India considering the Renegade has been designed and built with emerging markets like ours in mind.

The new Jeep Renegade has been designed with a younger, urban audience in mind. The designers, Ian Hedge and Jeremy Glover, fresh graduates out of the Detroit College of Creative Studies were asked by senior designers to “Design a Jeep for yourself”. They claim the inspiration for most of the design of the Renegade has come from urban sports such as base-jumping, parkour and paintball.

The Wrangler’s influence on the designers for the Renegade too is quite obvious. With the signature grille, headlights and upright stance, the Renegade harks back to the past while playing into the future. The wide fenders, the placement of the small and abrupt taillights and other cues that offer a subtle glance into the marque’s history is quite evident. What particularly stood out though were the smaller inspirations taken from the Army jerry cans that were often carried by the old Willys Jeep during war or peace patrols. The ‘X’ stamped into the jerry cans can be seen prominently in the tail lamps, the roof and also in the headlamps. The hidden clues to the Jeep brand’s past heritage continues with symbolic silhouettes of the Willys Jeep printed on the wheels and the old ‘grille-and-headlamps’ emblem stamped on the inside of the tailgate and in the taillights.

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On the interior front the Renegade features a typically Jeep blend of excellent yet chunky design combined with a splash and dash of well-appointed colour. The new interior design, that Jeep calls ‘Tek-Tonic’ is a mixture of ruggedness and functionality seen in the likes of the Wrangler and soft, tactile touches seen in the more luxurious Grand Cherokee. The ‘X’ theme continues here too with coloured fasteners and accents inspired by extreme sports. For example, a smear of colour, inspired by paintball is seen in the redline area of the Renegade’s tachometer. The Renegade is also fitted with a flexible interior package that includes a removable, reversible and height-adjustable cargo floor panel and fold-forward front-passenger seat to hold all the needs of its future passengers.

The Jeep Renegade comes with two engine options. A 2.0-litre, 4-cylinder, turbocharged diesel Multijet II and the 2.4-litre, 4-cylinder, turbocharged petrol MultiAir II engine will power this small SUV when it comes into production later this year. The biggest innovation though is the new 9-speed gearbox, the first of its kind for an SUV this size. Jeep claims that the new 9-speed gearbox will provide a more complete package to the customer, including aggressive launches, smooth power delivery at highway speeds and improved fuel efficiency versus a six-speed automatic transmission. The new 9-speed gearbox will also be helpful in off-roading conditions.

On the whole, Jeep seems to have learnt the mistakes they made with the likes of the Compass a few years ago. This Jeep is not only important to the market it will cater to but also because it is truly an international product. For example, this is the first ever Jeep that has been introduced to the world outside the United States of America when it made its debut at the 2014 Geneva Auto Show. It is also slated to be built at the Fiat factory in Turin and not in America. Expect the Jeep Renegade to be a hot seller globally with European sales outnumbering those in America. In India, if Jeep does finally decide to make its official debut, this would be a perfect car to combat the likes of the BMW X1, the Audi Q3 and the soon to be launched Mercedes GLA. In fact, the Jeep Renegade, if priced lower could also be a serious challenger to the likes of the Toyota Fortuner and the Mahindra XUV500. Fiat India should genuinely consider bringing the Jeep Renegade to India as soon as possible to capitalize on the growth the small-SUV segment is currently witnessing.