2017 Jeep Renegade Sport Long-Term Arrival

Were it not for a rookie dad move, I wouldn’t be driving the 2017 Jeep Renegade Sport 4×4. The Jetset Blue Jeep was supposed to spend a year under the care of photographer Brian Vance. But Brian, a newly minted father, didn’t account for the space a baby needs. With his child seat installed, the Renegade’s front passenger seat was rendered useless for all but the smallest of adults. It seems that this compact SUV’s target market doesn’t include families with newborns, so the Jeep would need a new chaperone. I didn’t hesitate when offered the keys to my first Motor Trend long-termer.

It’s a fitting first for me, too. As it just so happened, I had really been getting tired of driving my hand-me-down turn-of-the-century Ford Explorer. As is often the case with old cars, things just didn’t quite work like they were supposed to anymore. The radio was broken. Duct tape held the center console together. The battery was dying. You get the point. Had the Renegade not fallen into my lap, I very well could have been looking at buying something new in this red-hot, millennial-targeted segment anyway.

The Renegade is available in one of six trim levels, ranging from the base Sport to the limited-edition Desert Hawk. We went with the Sport then added all-wheel drive for a $2,000 premium. We also upgraded the base 1.4-liter turbo-four and six-speed manual drivetrain combo to a 2.4-liter I-4 with a nine-speed automatic. Doing so requires the addition of the Power and Air group, bringing the total cost of the engine upgrade to $2,825. We also added the Sport Appearance package (16-inch aluminum wheels, black roof rails, and tinted glass for $625), passive entry and remote start ($205), a 5.0-inch touchscreen display with Uconnect and a rearview camera ($845), and removable roof panels ($1,095). All in, our Renegade tester goes for $26,585.

It’s been two years since we last went in depth with the Renegade. In a Big Test covering this segment, a Jeep Renegade Latitude—one step up from the Sport—finished third, just behind a Mazda CX-3 and ahead of a Honda HR-V, both of which we’ve had in our garage already. At the time, the Jeep’s balky nine-speed automatic filled us with loathing, but otherwise the Renegade was a strong performer. We’ll spend the length of this loan judging how much the transmission calibration has improved and deciding whether all the Jeep’s pluses outweigh any remaining minuses. We’ll also reconsider the Jeep’s place in this segment in view of our extended time spent with its two key competitors.

Our long-term Jeep recently went through our standard performance and efficiency tests. Its 0–60 time (9.0 seconds), quarter mile (16.8 seconds at 81.1 mph), braking from 60 mph (123 feet) and figure eight (28.5 seconds at 0.58 g) are for the most part within spitting distance of the CX-3 and HR-V we’ve had in our fleet, and they all feel plenty adequate for me so far. Its 20.9 mpg over the first 2,300 miles, however, does not. (We’ve yet to Real MPG test the crossover.) That near-death Explorer I’m so excited to replace? It also offers similar straight-line performance, returns an average mpg close enough to the Renegade’s that I don’t notice the difference, and has room for multiple babies should I need it.

Perhaps more important than all that, though, I look forward to seeing if sliding into the driver’s seat of a brand-new millennial vehicle makes me feel any cooler. I have a bunch of pristine camping gear that could stand to get dirty. Will I drive along the California coastline at night with the removable roof off and a cool ocean breeze running through my hair? Will I learn to surf?

Or will I be passing the keys to yet another staffer after I, too, find the back seat isn’t quite big enough? We have a year to find out.

2017 Jeep Renegade Sport 4×4
BASE PRICE	$20,990
PRICE AS TESTED	$26,585
VEHICLE LAYOUT	Front-engine, AWD, 5-pass, 4-door SUV
ENGINE	2.4L/180-hp/175-lb-ft SOHC 16-valve I-4
TRANSMISSION	9-speed automatic
CURB WEIGHT (F/R DIST)	3,360 lb (60/40%)
WHEELBASE	101.2 in
LENGTH x WIDTH x HEIGHT	166.6 x 74.2 x 66.5 in
0-60 MPH	9.0 sec
QUARTER MILE	16.8 sec @ 81.1 mph
BRAKING, 60-0 MPH	123 ft
LATERAL ACCELERATION	0.77 g (avg)
MT FIGURE EIGHT	28.5 sec @ 0.58 g (avg)
EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON	21/29/24 mpg
ENERGY CONS, CITY/HWY	160/116 kW-hrs/100 miles
CO2 EMISSIONS, COMB	0.81 lb/mile

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