Jeep Patriot: Perfect for an outdoors lifestyle

So after watching a 6-foot-six-inch tall buddy crawl into the cockpit of the Jeep Patriot, pummeling most of the paneling and the inside windshield as if to make a point, I figured its cabin was just too small for a tall driver or passenger.

Not so.

At a shade over 6 foot myself, I listened to my buddy wax on about how his brother had one of these, how he just couldn't get into it at all. I figured something was up when he then kept on about Jeep's safety record, about fuel mileage, its boxiness yada yada yada.

Which was startling to me as I'd spent much of that day, and indeed most of the subsequent week, not only deciding I was going to buy one of these massively upgraded Patriots but when I could start making payments and just what those would be.

Maybe it was the fact I found the crossover or compact-SUV Patriot an excellent product from cabin size and feel to its outward dimensions, family-friendly pricing and, last of all but perhaps most important, its feel on city streets.

Its handling on twisting, switchback roads is another thing entirely, but what it lacks in nimbleness Jeep makes up for by giving you the feeling that the Patriot will take you places – and get you out of – some tundra other compact crossovers might not. 

For when you're packaging something for as low as $14,425 (2WD, front wheels) with the 4WD coming in at about  $1600 more,  and it rates as highly as I did the Patriot, you gotta be doing something right. Obviously the basic model isn't going to be the most luxurious, but I get the feeling that's not really the point.

Bold design strokes

Famous front grille

Point is, it's a very good crossover perched on a decent chassis – Chrysler's C-segment platform it shares with sisters Compass and Dodge Caliber – is wrapped in a stylish shell and marketed at a cheap price. It's also remarkable quiet. And tack on the off-roading class of a Jeep badge. For street-slickers, after-market customization of these babies is really taking off.

Other nuts and bolts:  The entry-level gives you a 172-horsepower 2.4-liter VVT four-cylinder common to many other vehicles and known for its robustness.    An upgrade through various models to the post-$25,0000 Limited Edition will bag you an upgraded engine, leather insides, 17-inch rims, trip computer, split-fold rear seats. Interestingly, the base Sport model comes with an mp3 hookup as standard alongside the CD player.

Interior space is good, with headroom at 41 inches, front legroom at 41 inches and 39.4 inches at the rear, and cargo space is average for its class at just over 52 cubic inches. Gas is much better than before at 18mpg to 22mpg town and freeway, respectively.

Trick is, Jeep appears to have aimed the Patriot squarely at the burgeoning compact crossover crowd, the Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4. Other competitors are the Hyundai Santa Fe and Kia Sportage. Trouble is, these models come with far more equipment than the entry-level Patriot.  And we all know how much young moms love cup-holders. And leather to wipe away all those kid spills.

A lack of interior features doesn't bother me – I loved the sparseness and old-school-nature of Toyota's FJ Cruiser, which harps back to those splendid old Jeeps and Land Rovers – but it just might that affect sales that the Patriot is pitching so hard for.

Some will make their decisions based on that. Others, including tall people, may make their decisions based on pre-conceived notions of Jeeps. But I suspect the wiser buyer may just end up in a Patriot.

Lines go all way to back

Interior leather on the Limited Edition

Good cabin ergonomics