Jeep Renegade 2015 Review

The new Jeep Renegade is cool car. It doesn't reinvent the wheel and some will scoff at its small stature, but it's a brave design that takes Jeep to a place few would have imagined a decade ago. After a day spent inside the car, poking, prodding and investigating, I've come away suitably impressed.

If you want the short version, try this on: The Jeep Renegade is effortless to drive around town, satisfying to fling through corners on a twisting ribbon of road, yet has off-road gumption not seen in the segment before. Perhaps most importantly, there's a sense of cheeky fun the interior and exterior design brings to the Jeep family that's never been seen before either.

Factor in ease of use and a dollop of practicality via shrewd packaging and the Renegade makes a convincing case. Come October 2015 when it arrives in Australia, I'm super keen to compare it to the rest of the compact SUV mob on home soil.

But let's start with the most obvious talking point – the design.

One look at the Jeep Renegade is all it takes to see that it represents a twist on the traditional Jeep theme. The utilitarian, slab-sided, conservative aesthetic is gone. In its place is a quirky, dare I say cute appearance that could do for the introverted, serious brand what Dame Edna did for Barry Humphries.

A quick walk around the new baby SUV model reveals several Jeep signature features – 'pure' circular headlights, hoop-frame windscreen, a bold seven-slot grille and exaggerated trapezoidal wheel arches. However, the smaller touches, such as the brake lights and car's overall profile ensure the Renegade has a far more youthful aesthetic than its siblings. Or as Jeep designer Vince Galante calls it "cute and approachable, but tough and confident".

The exterior design won't be to everyone's taste, but it should get people talking, and that's good for Jeep. The city-savvy SUV is also rather small, just over 4.2 metres long – roughly the same size as a small hatchback.

To be precise, the Renegade measures 4232mm long, making the compact SUV shorter than some of its rivals, the Holden Trax (4278mm) and Ford EcoSport (4245mm) for instance. That means it's simple to position on the road, can get into relatively tight places and is easy to park too, particularly with the reversing camera available.

But step inside the tiny SUV and there's a sense of space that belies its exterior dimensions. There's headroom, loads of it, in all five seats. The front seats are unusually comfy, with excellent contours that suit bums large and small and have just the right amount of bolstering to offer ample support. They held bodies nicely on both smooth winding mountain roads and when canted sideways on a challenging off-road access trail.

Rear seat space is likewise very good, surprisingly so for such a small vehicle. The cushions don't have the curves of the front pews but there's ample head and legroom for two fully-grown human adults in the back – three at a squeeze – and the 351 litre boot is the biggest in its class says Jeep. It's also got an adjustable load floor and the rear 60:40 splitting seats can be folded, along with the front passenger seat, to allow for a snowboard. Or perhaps a jousting lance.

Once settled in the supportive driver's seat, you're met with the one best interior designs – ergonomics, aesthetics, quality – in the compact SUV segment. The creatively sculpted soft touch dash material adds a sense of quality while the metallic accents around the air vents, gear shifter and stereo speakers contribute contemporary yet technical look and feel. Ian Hedge, an interior designer on the car, said the goal was to deliver "restrained colour palettes with striking accents".

Hedge revealed that the many interior design cues were inspired by snowboarding, mountain biking and paintballing. Laugh all you want, but influences are clear and they result in a fresh, coherent and appealing cabin, and that all controls are thoughtfully arranged is the icing on the cake. Tell a lie; if an object occupies the front cup holder and you snap the (manual) gear stick into fourth gear there's conflict – but it's minor and forgivable considering how spacious they've made the relatively small cabin feel.

Well placed steering wheel buttons, a push-button park brake, and smoothly integrated centre stack – with a neat touchscreen infotainment system on upper models – work well.

Even the large twin cup holders look good, making a visual statement as opposed to being squished in to whatever space is available as an afterthought. Indeed, almost everything functional inside and outside the car has a little design flair and it's great to see. I especially like the "oh sh*t" handle for the front passenger too.

And then there's the My Sky roof system, another segment first insists Jeep. Unlike the Jeep Wrangler's removable roof, which is about as clear-cut as quantum cosmology, the Renegade's My Sky comprises two large plastic roof panels that take all of 10 seconds to remove. There's even a powered tilt/slide version and both can be removed and stored in a neat zip-up textile envelope in the boot.

But the junior Jeep is more than just an exercise in marketing to hip young urbanites and those with exciting lifestyles. There's a trail-rated version that, as we discovered, has more party tricks than a double-jointed septuagenarian exotic dancer.

All Jeep Renegade models have 200mm of ground clearance, which is more than enough to explore the road less travelled – and more than some medium SUVs – but the Trailhawk has 220mm of ground clearance. Together with different front and rear bumpers to improve approach and departure angles (30.5 and 34.3 respectively) and underbody skid plates – which work well as it turns out – they enable the Trailhawk to venture deeper into the unknown.

On a short but technical loop at the Hollister Hills State Vehicular Recreational Area in California, the Jeep Renegade Trailhawk proves remarkably capable. Wheel articulation is impressive, up to 205mm, across sharp staggered berms and with a 20:1 crawl ratio and a 4WD lock mode (it uses a coupling system that switches between front and AWD when needed) it wasn't troubled by steep climbs and smooth rock faces.

The course was demanding enough to see the car bottom out on a couple of jutting rocks in one area, but the underbody skid plates did their job. The Trailhawk can also It can ford up to 480mm of water (we did about 300mm) and generally speaking didn't put a foot wrong.

Regular models aren't built to go to such extremes but felt very confident on gravel roads.

In the US all Renegade models can also be optioned with AWD (Active Drive in Jeep speak) for $2000, as all models are standard with 2WD, except the hero model, Trailhawk, of course. It gets the more potent Active Drive Low AWD system with aforementioned 20:1 crawl ratio.

At this stage Jeep is still a long way from finalising what models, features, technology and drivetrains are coming to Australia, but expect both 2WD and AWD to be offered. Pricing is also another question…

The Trailhawk model has been confirmed for Australia, as have three engine types. There's an entry-level 1.6-litre non-turbo four-cylinder engine generating 81kW/152Nm which wasn't available during this preview drive, but mid-range 1.4-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder unit (103kW/230Nm) and a range-topping 2.4-litre four-cylinder (130kW/230Nm) were.

Jeep hasn't released fuel efficiency figures yet but reckons all engines will cover more than 30 miles per gallon, so even the thirstiest models will burn fuel at a rate of less than 7.8L/100km.

In the city and out on the freeway the 2.4-litre unit feels lethargic. It works well off-road in the Trailhawk with good mid-range torque, but in the other variants in everyday scenarios neither the engine nor the much-touted nine-speed automatic transmission feels particularly responsive or engaging.

Part of the reason is the vehicle's weight, with 2.4-litre 4WD Renegades tipping the scales at portly 1519kg. The Trailhawk is positively obese at 1621kg.

At the other end of the scale is the 1.4-litre turbo-petrol 2WD model, which weighs just 1381kg with the six-speed manual transmission and feels like a completely different car. Fitted with smaller, narrower tyres it nevertheless has better roadholding through corners and fires out of them with more resolve thanks to far crisper power delivery. It proves that the Renegade's chassis, which it shares with the Fiat 500X, is very capable.

The Jeep Renegade is without doubt the best-handling Jeep in recent memory.

There's also a 2.0-litre turbo-diesel engine that could be offered at a later date but the pick of the litter is undoubtedly the front wheel-drive 1.4 turbo – unless you really want the Trailhawk's ruggedness; it's likely to be paired exclusively with the apathetic 2.4-litre engine.

All models have a good blend of ride quality and dynamic ability, so while the Renegade soaks up bumps and lumps in the road with ease, it also sits fairly flat through the corners so you can have a bit of fun on twisty roads.

It's disappointing, then, that there's such a dynamic discrepancy – in handling and power delivery – between the top and bottom models, but it should only serve to make the mid and lower end Renegades a more interesting purchase, hopefully at less than $25,000.

Jeep's challenge wasn't easy. The Renegade, it's smallest model in decades, has to appeal to new, younger buyers without tarnishing Jeep's rough-and-ready reputation. But the American brand has risen to the task and the Jeep Renegade does just that – and more.

Stability control, seven airbags, autonomous emergency braking, a five-star NCAP safety rating and more technical doodads than you'll find at a Silicon Valley entrepreneurs garage sale extend the Renegade's appeal. A more diverse range of customers such as those who own the Subaru XV or MINI Countryman could be swayed to take a closer look.

From a company that regular spruiks its rugged all-American awesomeness at every opportunity, there's a distinct possibility Jeep die-hards will mock the Renegade. But it matters not because this car makes a good first impression and, with a cheeky new attitude, has the potential to attract a whole new audience to the brand.