On the fence about buying a "15" Latitude. Read Consumer Reports and they don't like small SUVs unless it says RAV4 or Forester on it. They also thought Renegade was 3K too expensive. With options, I agree. I can buy a well equipped Ford Escape or Chevy Equinox, not a Focus or Trax for same money. There is enough talk about the fickle 9 speed, some wind noise, open shipping holes in the subframe, and a few other commonalities. Will Fiat/Chrysler work out these issues or is the car what it is? Is it worth waiting for a "16" or will that just be a rebadged "15". Anybody out there with a lot of miles on their "15" to put me over the hump one way or the other.
Don't judge by just 1 review. Read many; and read between the lines as they will all have their own bias no matter how much they try not to be biased. Look at the models they compare too as many may not compare models you may actually not be interested in. There are also some very informative and practical tests shown in reviews on YouTube that compare Renegades and other models.
As others alluded to, you hear about more problems on forums than you do about the good stuff. People are quick to report an issue, but rarely post "all is good."
Yes, there have been some consistent issues with the 2015 Renegades - as is to be expected within the first couple years of a new model. But many have been resolved.
Why I chose a Renegade:
- It is one of the very few SUVs you can get in a manual transmission. I can't stand automatics. So a manual was a "must have" for me.
- I was considering a Patriot over the past year, but never got one because it sort of looked like a generic SUV. I felt the same about the Rav4, CRV, Escape, and other brands... you see them everywhere (which something can be said for that - they are reliable and/or affordable) - but if I'm going to spend all that money on a vehicle, it needs to be something a little different; something a little more unique.
I had a Forrester in the past. They're good and you can't go wrong with one. But again, it looks like all other small SUVs and for me, I couldn't get one in manual transmission.
So you just have to decide what is most important to you and what you want out of the vehicle.
- Also, I wanted an SUV that was on a real SUV platform and not just a car that had been "lifted" like so many other of these "crossovers." It's Jeep - they know SUV.