Tuesday, January 30, 2007

2007 Jeep Patriot: Car & Driver's First Impressions

“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.

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1 comment:

blogchica226 said...

DO NOT BUY A 2007 JEEP PATRIOT!!!
I have NEVER owned a car with as many problems as my 2007 Jeep Patriot had. At 3 years and 9 days...9 days after the bumper to bumper warranty ended my transmission had to be completely replaced. My car only had 32,000 miles on it and had NEVER been off road. What I was not informed of when buying the car is that the powertrain warranty does not cover the 'type' of transmission that they put into the Jeep Patriot. After much irritation, and fighting with the dealership, Jeep, and Chrysler the best that they could do for me was to cover $4000 of the $4500 charge to replace it. Okay, fine I paid the $500 and went on. 8 months later my front end starts to make lots of noise. I take it in to have it looked at at now, at 4 years old and 42,000 miles....again NEVER seen anything other than pavement...both front ball joints are bad and the left tie rod needs replaced. Conveniently Jeep does not sell just the ball joints...you have to buy the whole control arm for each side...all in all about $1000 just in parts. Personally, this is ridiculous on a car that is only 4 years old and is minimally driven compared to most cars. I traded the car in this past Sunday and I am absolutely relieved and could not be more happy to be rid of that car! I can honestly say that with all of the problems that I had, and the unwillingness of the dealership/Jeep/Chrysler to try to make right about the transmission (we were told when we bought the car the transmission was covered under the powertrain/and the car was 9 days past bumper to bumper warranty but only by 9 days and not by mileage) I will NEVER buy a Jeep vehicle again. I hope that this helps anyone that is car shopping or considering a Patriot. Not only have I had these problems, but I have heard from atleast 3 other people that they have had nothing but problems with their Patriots and have never been more dissatisfied with a car before.