JEEP Patriot ???

rangerxp

Eight Pointer
Off topic for the hunting forum but thought there would be several here with input .

Looking at auto's for my soon to be 16yo son . He thinks he wants a Jeep Patriot and I question
their quality and safety ?
Any input from you guys that have owned or spent any time driving one please tell me what you know/think .

Thanks
 

Eric Revo

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
I rented one and drove it several thousand miles. Other than it's inability to get out of it's own way I had no problems with it. My best friends parents had one of the nicer trim levels that they absolutely loved. It gave them no problems either.
I did find that in hilly areas, with significant elevation changes, that the Jeep that I rented struggled to climb hills without downshifting and engine strain.
 

ABolt

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
I rented one as well, and found that it got way worse gas mileage (18) than my full size crew cab 4x4 truck. No hills on my drive from Minneapolis to northern Wisconsin and back, seemed to have plenty of power, but not something that I ever said I wanted to own...
 
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rangerxp

Eight Pointer
Keep em coming
I'm also concerned about power although he would only be driving to school and short driving for the first year or two.

Thanks for the input
 

BarSinister

Old Mossy Horns
I inherited my Pops Cherokee sport after he passed away last year. I drove it home from PA on 81 and had no trouble on any of the hills. I used it to commute 45 miles each way to work from June through february of this year and averaged 27 MPG. The couple of highway trips I took it on I averaged better than that. I haven't had a problem with it yet. It is a 2014. I believe the same motor and trans as the patriot.
 

double

Twelve Pointer
The Cherokee is a whole different beast than the patriot. The patriot looks neat and has some good features but is very seriously underpowered causing sluggishness and low fuel mileage.
 

woodmoose

Administrator
Staff member
Contributor
We had a patriot - 2008 I believe (maybe 07). Daughter has it now (though I think she is or has sold it). Did fine to 160k of so then it seemed like I was replacing steering parts or wheel bearings way to often.

Engine and tranny did fine. Around 180k did have to replace ignition coils

No it wasn't a power horse but didn't buy it for that
 

aya28ga

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
The company I work for had Patriots in the vehicle fleet for a few years but got rid of them, mainly because of poor gas milage. And I'll second the opinions about being under-powered. If you're pulling out or merging into traffic, you'd better allow for a really long space to give it time to "wind-up."
 

nchawkeye

Old Mossy Horns
One of my girls had one, it was ok but as mentioned, not much power and poor ground clearance...She took it out at Corolla once, had a difficult time getting back in, got rid of it after a few years and bought a real Jeep...Funny, I have 3 daughters and all have a Jeep, guess they did learn something from the old Man... :)
 

rangerxp

Eight Pointer
Thank you all for the input !
I was looking at it mainly for the price and son likes the look of them but was concerned with power and safety .
I'm gonna look something different
 

hog&deerhunter

Ten Pointer
3rd generation 4-runner. I have three of them in the family ranging from 298,000 miles to 230,000 miles. All original. None use oil. The 2001 with 230,00 mile is just broken in. Thank me later! :cool:
 

took

Ten Pointer
Contributor
Rented a Patriot in Florida; was glad to turn it back in - no power whatsoever in the model we had. Though, I have no idea what engine it had in it.

I did own a 4 runner back in the late 80s; put way over 200K on it and never had any trouble. Then went to buying Toyota trucks. I've been thinking about going back to a 4 runner myself.
 

double

Twelve Pointer
In that class of car. I really hate to type this but the Kia Soul is not bad for the class.
 
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