The next leg of the prestigious Jeep® King of the Mountain Skiing and Snowboarding World Professional Championships will take place February 10th in Taos, New Mexico. The event features the most elite skiers and snowboarders in the world trying to capture the King of the Mountain title. At stake is a piece of the US$450,000 prize purse, a US$20,000 bonus courtesy of Paul Mitchell and a two year lease to a brand new Jeep Patriot.
“At least it looks like a Jeep” and “not that bad” are two of Car and Driver’s first impressions of the Jeep Patriot. With the bar set so low by the Dodge Caliber and Jeep Compass, it’s not surprising that the Patriot, with it square, more Jeep-esque lines, is found to be a cut above…
Car and Driver gives the Patriot high marks in off-road handling, praising its Freedom Drive II system and its “respectable” ground clearance. C&D also gives the Patriot’s exterior high marks for following the correct Jeep styling. The Patriot’s interior, though, gets labeled as “cheap”.
Overall, C&D doesn’t give the Patriot a standing ovation, but gives it a passing grade, and, in the process, gives Jeep some badly needed credit for taking a car platform and turning it into a vehicle that looks good while doing all the things a Jeep is expected to do, for a remarkably low price.
Tech Tags: jeep jeep+patriot jeeppatriot daimlerchrysler caranddriver
There is still not a lot of information out there about the Patriot. In the meantime I've digged out this full 2007 Jeep Patriot Specification Sheet directly from DaimlerChrysler's media site, with the most complete available technical information on the Patriot. (Note: there seems to be no Autostick(r) option with that CVT2...bummer).
Just found this site with some nice shots of the Jeep Patriot that you can set up as desktop wallpaper in different resolutions... There are also a couple of shots of the cool Jeep Patriot Sema Concept.
The Car Connection has issued an extensive review of the recently launched Jeep Patriot. The interior space and seats, the off-road handling and the Hill Descent Control all get positive marks. The main complains are the low grade materials of some of the dashboard components and the high-revving nature of the CVT transmission under heavy loads. Overall, the Patriot scores well and according to the reviewer raises the bar for other vehicles in that segment.
The Jeep Patriot is ready to be launched in Canada by mid-February. Its recent designation as Canada's most affordable 4x4 would seem to ensure a strong sell-in.
DaimlerChrysler announced pricing for the new Jeep Patriot December 13, 2006. The base, front wheel drive model (called Sport) starts at $14,985, including destination (A/C is optional, though). The same model, available with Freedom Drive I off-road system will cost $16,735, and with the Freedom Drive II (which makes the Patriot Trail Rated) pushes the bill to $19,175. The more refined Limited will be priced at $19,985 for the 4x2 version; the Freedom Drive I equipped Limited will cost $21,735 while opting for the Freedom Drive II system will top the scale at $23, 530.
Read all the details on the Jeep Patriot's specs, features and pricing at Jeep's official press release.
The Jeep Patriot finally went into production in December 2006 in Chrysler's Belvidere (Ill.) assembly plant, just in time to have a few vehicles in dealerships before the end of the year.
