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Phil Jansen of Chrysler goes into detail on off roaring capabilities

9K views 15 replies 13 participants last post by  fmunk 
#1 ·
A good read!

http://indefinitelywild.gizmodo.com/will-the-2015-jeep-renegade-be-any-good-off-road-1580389048
 
#4 ·
I think Jansen also confirmed that the Renegade can't be lifted...

IW: The new Cherokee has proved virtually impossible to lift. Will customers be able to lift the Renegade?

PJ: When you get two independent suspensions together — front and rear — lifts in general become very difficult to do. A person can pull off sway bars and space up suspensions, but we can't necessarily stand behind that because the dynamics of the vehicle become very different. Let's just say that.
Which is exactly the scenario with Cherokee...
 
#8 ·
Well its a Jeep vehicle so I think people naturally want to lift it. Too bad that they won't really be able to do it. I'm not even sure it would look very good lifted. It is a pretty small vehicle that is low to the ground. I guess some people want to do it because they think it will do trails better, but its impossible I guess, so better luck next time.
 
#12 ·
The lift will help to get bigger tires on it to clear the obstacles that are in the way.

I have seen Suzuki Samari's with 2" lift and 30" tires go places where Wranglers with 4" lifts and 33" tires go.

The whole purpose of a Jeep is to have an ok on road and awesome off road experience.If you can not modify it to do this it will hurt there sales.
 
#16 ·
AS IF 1" of lift is going to make that much difference on your safety. Besides, thanks to federal regulations the Renegade (and all passenger vehicles) have pretty good rollover protection.

A roll cage is not necessary; though if you're going to do some serious off-roading (or just want to look "EXTREME BRUH!") an external cage wouldn't hurt.

For what it's worth, the 2.4L doesn't have enough torque to justify anything that serious. If you can't climb over it, you're probably not going to roll while trying.

Yes, 1". That is how much folks overseas have been able to lift the Renegade. 1" lift with 235/65-17 tires sound good to me.
 
#15 · (Edited)
There are plenty of people who want to modify their vehicles. Aftermarket off-road mods make up a multi-billion dollar industry. Do I want bigger tires on my Renegade? Yes. Am I going to take it on the rocks or trails? No, I have a nicely built XJ for that, but would I still throw money into the Renegade to get a mild lift and bigger tires on it? You bet. Do others want to spend a ton of money to do the same? Guaranteed. Does FCA need to cater to that crowd? Nope, they've got much bigger problems to deal with right now, and they believe (however incorrectly) that anyone who wants to modify their vehicles in this regard would get a Wrangler instead of a Renegade.

I should also remind everyone that the XJ also was designed to capture the compact SUV market. Heck, it created it. It proved to be a very capable off-road vehicle in due time.
 
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