While Land Rover caused consternation and concern with their announcement that the Defender was to end, even to the point that upset owners made the evening news in the UK.
Jeep chugs steadily onwards, even becoming Fiat-Chrysler’s best selling US brand in the first part of 2017.The Renegade was a compact crossover SUV that Jeep introduced in 2014 – making it a relative baby in the realms of established 4×4 manufacturer vehicles. The worldwide sales total for the Renegade is steadily creeping towards 500,000 with almost half of those sales occurring in the United States. The announcement of a refreshed Jeep Renegade will always be welcome news to its many fans, and some might say this is particularly well timed, thrusting Jeep into the automotive magazines once more.
The Renegade will arrive in the UK later in 2018 with 3 brand new petrol engines designed to keep the Renegade rolling until its planned end year of 2022 when a smaller generation two takes over with a plan to steal away some of the sales currently going to the likes of the Nissan Juke and the Dacia Duster. These new engines are of course the biggest change and consist of a 6-speed manual 1-litre turbo 3-cylinder with 118bhp and a new automatic 1.3-litre 4-cylinder engine with either 148bhp or 178bhp. The 1.6-litre and the 2-litre are carried over.
The Renegade is by no means a timeless old-school Wrangler, but it certainly takes inspiration from that classic box shape and so far it’s proving to be a winner – for the third year on the trot, 4×4 Magazine has voted the Renegade ‘Best Small SUV of the Year’. The Renegade is also a capable off-roader too. Aside from the new engines, the Renegade has undergone some minor detailing, certainly not radical enough to disappoint the many fans. The lights will probably be the most noticeable, with new headlamps featuring daytime-run LEDS and a new x-shaped rear light styling. The bumper gets a redesign and you can now spec a total of 7 wheel options from 16 inch all the way up to 19 inch.
Inside, things remain pretty much the same, but with the near ubiquitous upgrades that hint at the pending autonomous driving takeover (well, maybe not just yet). Stay in lane warnings are now standard and an improved and updated park assist is included, with the main feature being that not only can you now squeeze into small spaces – you can use park assist to help you get out of them again too.
Your trim options are four-fold, with the 2018 Jeep Renegade arriving with a choice or 11 colours in the early autumn as the Sport, Longitude, Limited and the Trailhawk. The latter is top-of-the-range and will set you back around £30,000 while the entry-level Sport will cost just over £18,000.
Image credits: autoexpress.co.uk
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