SA Roadtests
South Africa
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This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. We drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under South African conditions. It also just happens that most of the vehicles we drive are world cars as well, so what you read here probably applies to the models you can get at home.
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*Please remember too, that prices quoted were those ruling on the days I wrote the reports.
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Published in Weekend Witness Motoring on Saturday January 19, 2013
The intro: Jeep Patriot shares a build platform with the front wheel drive Compass that is made in the same factory, but it is intended as a more serious off-roader than its crossover sibling.
The engine: This GEMA engine was designed in a joint venture between Chrysler, Hyundai and Mitsubishi. Siamesed bores mean that there is no coolant flow between cylinders, while cast-iron liners of different diameters dictate the various engine sizes. Cylinder heads feature electro-hydraulic variable timing on intake and exhaust valves directly actuated by bucket tappets. Variable tumble control at low rpm creates air turbulence in the intake runners for better mixture. This version displaces 2359 cc from an 88 mm bore and 97 mm stroke.
The transmission: SA Patriots are fitted with either a five-speed manual gearbox or a constantly variable transmission (CVT) with six virtual ratios that can be selected and held by flicking the shift lever to left and right. Off-road capability is provided by Jeep’s patented Freedom Drive l on-demand awd system that drives only the front wheels when the going is easy, but redistributes torque between the axles as required, when slippage is detected. For more challenging conditions, a user-operated switch locks power 50:50 between front and rear. A variant, called Freedom Drive ll and not available with manual boxes, uses the CVT to provide 19:1 low range gearing for serious work. South African versions no longer offer this option.
The body: Although it’s compact as SUVs go (4409 mm long, 1755 mm wide and 1669 mm high), the Patriot seats five adults comfortably and boasts a reasonable cargo capacity of 320 litres that expands to 721 litres when the rear seatbacks are folded down. Loading it up to the roof expands these numbers to 536 and 1357 litres respectively. To accommodate longer loads, the backrest of the front passenger seat can be laid down as well.
The equipment: It’s comfortably set up with leather upholstery, four-way electrical adjusters for the driver, seat warmers in front, automatic single channel air conditioning, powered windows and mirrors, a four-speaker, six-CD music player with auxiliary, keyless entry, autolocking and an onboard computer. Safety kit includes four airbags, speed control, hill start assistance, disc brakes all ‘round with ABS, brake assist, roll mitigation and ESC with traction control. Interior trim is all of hard plastic, but it’s well fitted and tasteful. Controls are comfortably placed and work smoothly.
The experience: We admit to a certain amount of tester angst before taking the Patriot off-road because its CVT is typical of the breed. It works well for popping down to the shops or doing the school run, but it isn’t the most responsive when power is demanded quickly. One can hold gears manually, but that negates the whole point of CVT and on-demand awd when adventuring off-road, doesn’t it?
Frankly, we were afraid of getting bogged down with a spinning engine and zero forward motion. Taking the plunge, we visited an online forum for Patriot owners and asked for their collective opinion. Answers ranged from “don’t buy the CVT!” to an old hand named Dixiedawg who swore he would take his Patriot anywhere; within the constraints of its ground clearance, of course. Mind you, he owns a Trail Rated Freedom Drive ll version with extra clearance, which our test unit most certainly was not.
Gulping quietly, we set forth onto the trail that had posed no threat to the Patriot’s stick-shift twin just six months earlier. Admittedly, we took the obvious precaution of selecting 4WD Lock as soon as the awkward part came into view, then boldly lunged where no all-wheeler with CVT had gone before. There were definite moments of hesitation, but we kept the power on and duly made it. Conclusion: it can be done, but for more serious work, choose the manual transmission.
The numbers:
Price: R314 990
Engine: 2359 cc, DOHC, four-cylinder
Power: 125 kW at 6000 rpm
Torque: 220 Nm at 4500 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 11,0 seconds
Maximum speed: 186 km/h
Fuel Index: 11,4 l/100 km
Tank: 51 litres
Ground clearance: 205 mm
Approach/departure/breakover angles: 20/28/20 degrees
Wading depth: 279 mm
Warranty and maintenance: 3 years/100 000 km
This is a one-man show, which means that road test cars entrusted to me are driven only by me. Some reviewers hand test cars over to their partners to use as day-to-day transport and barely experience them for themselves.
What this means to you is that every car reviewed is given my own personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.
Every car goes through real world testing; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.
My articles appear every Wednesday in the motoring pages of The Witness, South Africa's oldest continuously running newspaper, and occasionally on Saturdays in Weekend Witness as well. I drive eight to ten vehicles most months of the year (press cars are withdrawn over the festive season - wonder why?) so not everything gets published in the paper. Those that are, get a tagline but the rest is virgin, unpublished and unedited by the political-correctness police. Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. As quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so they can see I do actually exist.
I am based in Pietermaritzburg, KZN, South Africa. This is the central hub of the KZN Midlands farming community; the place farmers go to buy their supplies and equipment, truck their goods to market, send their kids to school and go to kick back and relax.
So occasionally a cow, a goat or a horse may add a little local colour by finding its way into the story or one of the pictures. It's all part of the ambience!
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SA Roadtests
South Africa
ctjag8