| Having a company car, is for the most part great. You have the use of a nice vehicle at weekends, you don’t have to worry about running costs, and every now and again you get given a new one. Of course in a perfect world you’d also get to choose just which you can have, so you can combine your working life with your leisure activities. Just imagine a 4WD for adventures with your family, clambering over boulders, roaring through bogs, crossing deep raging rivers while the rest of the world can only watch in envy. Brrrrrrrrr. That’s the sound of your alarm as you wake up for another day at work, your dream shattered as you realise you’re stuck with what the accountant said you could have, a run-of-the-mill saloon that, yes, does its job, but gives you about as much pleasure as toothache on a honeymoon. Fact is, accountants don’t factor fun into the equation when they decide on the buying lists, instead looking for the most car for the least money with the lowest possible running costs. Hey, wait a minute. I know you can’t have a 4WD with low ratio – that’s verboten except for those who work on powerlines or deliver bull semen to prize herds far from the madding crowd. But what about a spacious family station wagon which is well specced – with things like aircon, electric windows and mirrors, leather trim, and even Bluetooth connectivity. Ahem, and just happens to have four-wheel drive. Yes, you can get everything the accountant wants, and you can make the family happy at the same time, in the latest Jeep Patriot. Although it is built on the same platform – and uses many of the same body parts – as the latest Jeep Cherokee, it doesn’t have a low ratio gearbox, although it does operate with an on-demand 4WD system. And late last year it was launched with a revised interior, including a new dashboard which looks a lot more modern, plus softer-touch materials used in places where it counts, such as on the door armrests and on the between-seats stowage box, which has an adjustable sliding top. The seats have been redesigned, too, with larger and more supportive side bolsters to hold better in hard cornering. There has also been some work under the skin, with changes to the engine bay, firewall and exhaust system designed to make the vehicle quieter for occupants. Our test vehicle was the Limited version, top-of-the-range, and with all the luxury features that implies. The load area is now carpeted instead of being plastic covered, but the Patriot has a great feature in that the centre portion, which covers the full size spare wheel, is reversible, so you can have a nice tough washable plastic surface if you want. The standard audio system, with its front-loader CD and radio, also has a USB port and audio socket, with a supplied iPod cable, so all types of MP3 players can be used and integrated into the Patriot’s system. Outside the boxy Jeep design is unchanged, save for new design alloy wheels. We like the chunky styling, proper in-your-face Jeep while its ground clearance of 204 mm is better than the Cherokee’s. You go figure! Under the skin the Patriot retains the 125 kW/220 Nm 2.4-litre petrol “world engine” used in the previous model, allied to a continuously variable transmission (CVT) with six “slots” for a manual mode. The Jeep’s 4WD system is known as Freedom Drive, and most of the time the vehicle will be driving through the front wheels, with torque sent to the rear when needed. Or for some semblance of off-road use you can lock the centre diff with a T-handle mounted on the between-seats console, in which case the available torque is split between front and rear wheels. On-road this all worked well, and the Patriot felt confident and very un-4WD-like, with very little understeer even when pushed hard, and not a lot of body roll. And ride quality is good by compact 4WD standards. A standing start sprint time to 100 km/h of 11.3 seconds is about par for the course, while the claimed combined fuel consumption of 9.1 litres/100 km is however worthy of serious attention. Note well My Accountant. Other features include air conditioning, cruise control, steering wheel audio controls (they’re at the back of the spokes), heated front seats, premium security alarm activated by central locking remote, power windows, electrically adjusted door mirrors, cargo cover, roof luggage rails, alloy wheels, a full size spare wheel, and fog lamps front and rear. There are also side curtain airbags (in addition to the dual front ones), and an AM/FM/CD/DVD audio system with MP3 capability and four speakers. On the safety front there’s also Electronic Roll Mitigation (ERM) and Electronic Stability Programme (ESP). The driver’s seat is height adjustable and the steering tilt-adjustable, helping one to get a good driving position, and once settled it’s very comfy there, with good all-round vision. Oh, and the interior dome light doubles as a rechargeable flashlight. Cool! |
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Living with a Patriot
Vehicle Fitout
Wednesday, 04 August 2010
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