Renegade Carries Jeep to Wordly Crossover

Jeep’s new compact SUV is the Renegade, which proves conclusively it is no toy.

By John Gilbert

Jeep, by itself, is the most-recognized name in automotives — all over the world. It is, of course, best-known in the U.S., but it also carved out a name and reputation in Europe and in Asia when it was created in 1941 to help the good guys win World War II.

Currently, the Jeep brand spans a wide range from rugged off-roading to luxury country clubbing, with the Wrangler climbing rocks and the Grand Cherokee carrying you and your guests to the fancy party. The latest addition to the Jeep line is the Renegade, and it adds a new dimension because it is so hopelessly cute that it is attractive, even though cute fairly shouts that it can’t be rugged. Then it proves it is more rugged than anyone could have guessed, as it hauls its cute little compact and boxy shape up rocky cliffs and over terrain that you’d never think of attempting in an ordinary lifespan.

As if to emphasize how popular Jeep is worldwide, the Renegade came into being with full encouragement from Fiat, which is handy, because Fiat owns Chrysler, which owns Jeep. How much Fiat backs the Renegade might best be explained by the fact that Fiat used an Italian plant to build the Renegade, with plans to sell it in Europe as well as in the U.S. and all around the world.

Fiat has returned to the U.S. with the cute subcompact 500, and it offers a hot-rod version of it with a high-tech “MultiAir” 4-cylinder engine bolstered by a turbocharger that turns it into a fun and dashing little pocket-rocket. At the same time, Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep have been using a modified version of a joint-venture 2.4-liter 4-cylinder originally designed by Hyundai when that South Korean company barged into the high-tech end of automotives five or six years ago.

When the Fiat MultiAir system was explained to me, it is a system that uses a series of oil-filled tubes connecting the intake and exhaust valvetrain. It would be a dual-overhead-camshaft system, except that there is only one cam; the other is replaced by the valves on one cam operating the valves on the other side directly, via the compressing of the oil tubes.

Instead of being complex, it is innovative enough to allow almost infinite overlap for expansive valve timing. Chrysler and Fiat engineers told me that the MultiAir system would work to improve any engine, so I continued to pester them to prove it by installing it on an engine other than the 1.4-liter Fiat. So they did.

Stylishly square, the Renegade offers two capable engine choices.

All of which brings us back to the Renegade. You can choose from two engines in the lightest of Jeep off-roaders. First is the 1.4-liter MultiAir turbo engine — right out of the Fiat Abarth. It delivers 160 horsepower and 184 foot-pounds of torque, and comes with a 6-speed stick shift. The other engine is the 2.4-liter “Tigershark” 4-cylinder equipped with MultiAir2 technology on the valvetrain, and it is coordinated with a smooth-shifting 9-speed automatic, offering 160 horsepower and 184 foot-pounds of torque. Read more

• About the Author

  John Gilbert is a lifetime Minnesotan and career journalist, specializing in cars and sports during and since spending 30 years at the Minneapolis Tribune, now the Star Tribune. More recently, he has continued translating the high-tech world of autos and sharing his passionate insights as a freelance writer/photographer/broadcaster. A member of the prestigious North American Car and Truck of the Year jury since 1993. John can be heard Monday-Friday from 9-11am on 610 KDAL(www.kdal610.com) on the "John Gilbert Show," and writes a column in the Duluth Reader.
  
  For those who want to keep up with John Gilbert's view of sports, mainly hockey with a Minnesota slant, click on the following:
  
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• Exhaust Notes:

  PADDLING
  More and more cars are offering steering-wheel paddles to allow drivers manual control over automatic or CVT transmissions. A good idea might be to standardize them. Most allow upshifting by pulling on the right-side paddle and downshifting with the left. But a recent road-test of the new Porsche Panamera, the paddles for the slick PDK direct-sequential gearbox were counter-intuitive -- both the right or left thumb paddles could upshift or downshift, but pushing on either one would upshift, and pulling back on either paddle downshifted. I enjoy using paddles, but I spent the full week trying not to downshift when I wanted to upshift. A little simple standardization would alleviate the problem.
  
  

  SPEAKING OF PADDLES
  The Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution has the best paddle system, and Infiniti has made the best mainstream copy of that system for the new Q50, and other sporty models. And why not? It's simply the best. In both, the paddles are long, slender magnesium strips, affixed to the steering column rather than the steering wheel. Pull on the right paddle and upshift, pull on the left and downshift. The beauty is that while needing to upshift in a tight curve might cause a driver to lose the steering wheel paddle for an instant, but having the paddles long, and fixed, means no matter how hard the steering wheel is cranked, reaching anywhere on the right puts the upshift paddle on your fingertips.
  
  

  TIRES MAKE CONTACT
  Even in snow-country, a few stubborn old-school drivers want to stick with rear-wheel drive, but the vast majority realize the clear superiority of front-wheel drive. Going to all-wheel drive, naturally, is the all-out best. But the majority of drivers facing icy roadways complain about traction for going, stopping and steering with all configurations. They overlook the simple but total influence of having the right tires can make. There are several companies that make good all-season or snow tires, but there are precious few that are exceptional. The Bridgestone Blizzak continues to be the best=known and most popular, but in places like Duluth, MN., where scaling 10-12 blocks of 20-30 degree hills is a daily challenge, my favorite is the Nokian WR. Made without compromising tread compound, the Nokians maintain their flexibility no matter how cold it gets, so they stick, even on icy streets, and can turn a skittish car into a winter-beater.