Compact, boxy and pugnaciously cute as it might be, the Renegade nearly counts as a correct four-seat, five-door household automotive. To squeeze three on its again seat can be a trial, however two youthful adults match simply high-quality.
The relocation of the 12V battery to the aspect of the boot compartment, together with the packaging of the electrical drive motor and energy inverter below the ground, has affected boot capability.
The space for storing is just a little slender and shallow by class requirements and there’s solely 330 litres below the load-bay cowl, which is an effective deal lower than even a Volkswagen Golf hatchback provides till you begin folding seats and loading to the roof.
However, there may be area for a full-sized spare wheel below the ground in order for you one. If you don’t, the split-level boot flooring makes the perfect of what storage quantity there may be.
The driving atmosphere is sort of distinctive, characterful and vibrant in locations, though some notable low factors on perceived high quality relatively betray this Renegade’s standing as ostensibly a fairly low cost crossover with an costly powertrain.
Luckily for Jeep, its vehicles have at all times had practical cabins completed fairly sparsely and with plain, robust supplies.
The Renegade’s actually really feel fairly plain; not at all times so robust or hard-wearing, although.
The shiny, wobbly mouldings used across the steering column are like those who different producers solely match to prototypes. Elsewhere, flimsy, rough-feeling seat adjustment levers, dull-looking ‘leathers’, wobbly exterior mirrors and hollow-sounding doorways would possibly go away a barely bitter style in your mouth.
The driving place is medium-high, granting good visibility in most instructions, on a broadly snug driver’s seat that lacks some adjustability.
The secondary controls are chunkily proportioned. Having a good-sized scroll knob for the touchscreen infotainment system, for instance, can be helpful when driving in gloves or with soiled fingers.
Jeep’s alterations to the instrument pack for the PHEV model of the Renegade didn’t appear to make fairly a lot sense to our testers. By eradicating the usual automotive’s analogue speedometer and changing it with a hard and fast ‘power/ charging gauge’, it has taken away one thing helpful and changed it with one thing a minimum of a bit superfluous.
Being informed how exhausting the automotive’s powertrain is working or regenerating energy at anyone time appears just a little useless when the place and motion of your proper foot can inform you simply as properly.
That’s true, notably contemplating that the digital speedometer that has been added is mostly given too little prominence on the broader instrument structure, though that does rely on the show mode you’ve chosen for the marginally antiquated-looking digital journey pc.
Jeep Renegade 4xe infotainment and sat-nav
All Renegade fashions had been beforehand supplied with a 7.4in central driver show and an 8.4in ‘UConnect’ touchscreen with a manufacturing facility navigation system, an in-car wi-fi hotspot and smartphone mirroring for each Apple and Android handsets.
In 2024, the model upgraded this technique to a brand new, bigger 10.1in touchscreen which ahs appeared within the bigger, extra premium Jeep Compass, paired with a ten.25 digital driver’s show behind the steering wheel. Both screens are 40% bigger than earlier than.
There’s additionally a brand new USB port to suit each Type-A and Type-C connections, although the model has additionally launched wi-fi telephone connectivity too, which is an enormous plus.
The two new screens are an enormous improve in comparison with the earlier system. Both are crisp and clear with minimal enter lag and are very straightforward to make use of and customise to your liking, however they’re additionally a noticeable step up from the usual touchscreen system utilized in different Stellantis fashions.
Thankfully, the model has opted in opposition to eradicating rotary local weather dials and buttons, which, when utilized in mixture with the upgraded infotainment programs, make for a logical and easy-going person expertise.