Chrysler uses this 2.4-liter World engine in a lot of vehicles. Depending on things like electronic programming and the transmission that's used, it feels different each time. In the Jeep Patriot, it feels great. Jeep has found the power, 172 horsepower and 165 pound-feet of torque. This is not your father's four-cylinder. You can be going uphill at 75 miles per hour, and it will still accelerate for you.
We don't have a knee-jerk love of manual transmissions, but in the case of the Patriot, the optional Continuously Variable Transaxle, or CVT, is just too odd. It's all in the programming, says Jeep. The same CVT is used in the Jeep Compass, and it's terrific. The difference is that in the Compass (and Dodge Caliber) it has autostick, so you can manually shift the CVT.
Left to its own programming, the CVT makes the Patriot feel like it's powered by a big rubber band. It will go from 0 to 90 mph without shifting. Put your foot on the floor on a freeway onramp, and it will rev to 6000 rpm and stay there, intensely if not loudly, as the speedometer needle climbs. That's backwards. It's supposed to be the tachometer needle that climbs. Your ear wants to hear something different. It's unsettling, because you remain in a state of anticipation. Maybe you get used to it.
But this is only under full throttle. When you lift your foot off the gas, the tach drops as the revs are cut by half. The Patriot can also lope along at 80 mph and a mellow 2600 rpm. The Patriot forums, when they get rolling, should be interesting. At speeds below about 50 mph, when the CVT kicks down for better acceleration, it does so slowly and with a small thump. And often, in the mountains.
The five-speed manual gearbox was a relief, a joy to use, even with its long throw. The lever comes out of the center stack as it should, above the driver's right knee, an improvement over being on the floor near the right thigh. The five-speed made the Patriot feel like a Jeep. It brought out the potential of the World engine. It didn't try to mess with the power. The acceleration felt much stronger.
The suspension is as good as the engine. We gave it a good test over a 20-mile stretch of dirt road: hard-packed, potholed, a layer of loose dust, lots of uphill and downhill curves. The Patriot was stable and confident. We drove fast, and used the brakes hard; the ABS frequently activated on the slippery dust, with the all-season (not all-terrain) tires. We aimed for some of the potholes, including a 50-foot-long row of little ones. The independent suspension eagerly ate them up. Along came a washboard surface, and the Patriot stayed true. We hit an elevated cattle crossing at 30 miles per hour and tensed for an impact that never came. The Dodge Nitro, a Patriot cousin and competitor, would have been hammered. The Patriot did a great job in these conditions.
On paved country roads the Patriot feels light and nimble. The turn-in is sharp. The ride is steady over rough asphalt patches. The body is well isolated from the wheels. You can hit a bump with one wheel without your head being tossed. You can hear the tires hitting the expansion strips on the freeway, but you can't feel it.
We finally found the limit of the suspension, when we hit a big dip in the middle of a curve at a high rate of speed for the corner. The Patriot struggled to remain stable, but succeeded. Anything less than a sports car would struggle in that situation, let alone an SUV.
We ended the day with the Patriot on an off-road trail in the Arizona desert, led by a member of the local Jeep club. This time we were in a Patriot with the trail-rated Freedom Drive II off-road package. It adds one inch to the ground clearance for a total of 9 inches, allowing a 29-degree approach angle, a 33-degree departure angle, a 23-degree breakover angle, and enabling the Patriot to ford 19 inches of water, that last part thanks to more body sealing and higher drivetrain vents.
This package also gives the CVT a low range with a ratio of 19:1, good for crawling over obstacles. We crossed some ridges and ditches that raised one front or one rear wheel two feet in the air. It felt effortless, as the Patriot just slowly and securely picked its way over. We made a sharp U-turn that showed off the tight turning radius. In a sand pit, the off-road brake traction control dabbed the brakes of the slipping wheel or wheels, and pulled the Jeep through.
In low range, Hill Descent Control is automatically engaged. This keeps the Jeep under 5 mph and under control, going down steep hills, even icy ones. You can take both feet off the pedals and it will do its thing.
We hit a sandy gulley and floored it, racing up to 45 mph, engine screaming at nearly redline with our foot on the floor, and the CVT kept in low range because it's usable up to about 45. The main thing is, driving flat-out in a straight line over the washboard surface, with the wheels bouncing every which direction, the Patriot remained controllable, responsive and tracked true. We hit a couple washboard curves, trusting in the stability control to keep the Jeep from bashing into the rocks, and it did. Below 35 mph, the ESP only uses the brakes to keep the Jeep on the line; about 35 it also cuts the throttle, if necessary.
