[evanmacie94]

Potential Buyer In Need of Help

Hi Everyone!

Choosing between Jeep Rengade and Nissan Xterra. Currently have a 2004 Jeep Liberty and have LOVED it, but its time for a new one. A little worried about the size difference between the renegade and liberty as I am used to a bigger higher up car which is why I am more towards the Nissan right now. I Love the interior features of the renegade. Was wondering if anyone could give me their opinions or reviews to help sway me in one direction or the other? I suck at decisions haha. Was leaning towards the black but now i Think i like the silver. Also, is there much difference between the sport and latitude, couldn't really see much? Thanks!!

Also, when i test drove the renegade, i noticed much less visibility compared to my liberty when turning around to switch lanes and such. Anyone else have issues with the blindspot?

 

[Leroy]

I have been driving the 99 Cherokee XJ for 13 years now and just switched over to the Renegade Sport. I find I am sitting about as high as before, which is a big thing for me. The visibility out the back, if you tend to look behind you and use the rearview, is not as good at all, but since getting the Renegade I have relied more on the side mirrors and backup camera.

As for whether there are big differences between the Sport and Latitude, if you get a truly base model Sport there might be, but the ones I have seen on lots have a lot of options that make them more similar to the Latitude. My Sport has 4 wheel drive, uConnect, Sirius, the backup camera, the upgraded wheels, air conditioning and power locks and windows, and the 2.4 engine. The base Sport will have none of these, I think, and the base Latitude will.

 

[raz-0]

Hi Everyone!

Choosing between Jeep Rengade and Nissan Xterra. Currently have a 2004 Jeep Liberty and have LOVED it, but its time for a new one. A little worried about the size difference between the renegade and liberty as I am used to a bigger higher up car which is why I am more towards the Nissan right now. I Love the interior features of the renegade. Was wondering if anyone could give me their opinions or reviews to help sway me in one direction or the other? I suck at decisions haha. Was leaning towards the black but now i Think i like the silver. Also, is there much difference between the sport and latitude, couldn't really see much? Thanks!!

Also, when i test drove the renegade, i noticed much less visibility compared to my liberty when turning around to switch lanes and such. Anyone else have issues with the blindspot?

The renegade has good mirrors. It really doesn't have much of a blind spot to the rear as far as navigating traffic goes. in fact it's probably the least work of any of the cars I have owned for checking before passing. You sit in it and want to think the whole c and d pillar area is causing a blind spot for that, but as far as I can tell if you can't see them in the mirror, the rear passenger window, or the rear window, they aren't near you. For backing into and out of spaces it is a bit worse because the c and d pillar area is where you want to be backing out of a space, but the back up camera makes that a snap.

BMW used to make a great guide for setting up your mirrors, but it seems to have gone poof. This wikihow is pretty close though, and is more or less how I set up my mirrors:

http://www.wikihow.com/Set-Rear‐View-Mirrors-to-Eliminate-Blind-Spots

Biggest blind spot is making sure you move your head a bit at intersections to make sure your passenger side a-pillar isn't hiding a pedestrian.

As for x-terra vs. renegade, one thing to note is the difference in MPG isn't as huge as it seems. At least for me the renny's gas milage is awful. Not that big a difference between it and my friend's x-terra unless you get to cruise on highways at a steady speed. Standard NJ stop and go and speed and slow don't play well with the rengade's setup. If I drive it mildly aggressive in my awfgul commute I get 15.3mpg. If i pay attention and am more laid back 18.8 is easy. If I'm really careful I can get over 19mpg. These aren't much different than my 250hp turbo 4 I ditched to get it. The x-terra is about 16.5mpg in standard NJ suburban driving.

For that you get better acceleration, a bunch more cargo space, and a mature platform. Renegade gets you better handling, a nicer ride, and in my opinion a significantly nicer interior. Also the voice quality for bluetooth in the renny is actually pretty good. Unless they changed it in the last few years the x-terra is pretty close to worst of breed. People sound like they are shouting into a garbage disposal from across a room when they use it.

If you need to haul lots of junk or tow stuff, the x-terra wins.

 

[Indiana Jones]

My wife loved the mirrors on the Renegade and it is very comfortable. I have yet to test drive one because I hate being harrased by my local dealer. However, I'm taking my Abarth in soon for service at a different dealer and will test drive then. Buy the extended warranty though.

 

[clee]

The renegade has good mirrors. It really doesn't have much of a blind spot to the rear as far as navigating traffic goes. in fact it's probably the least work of any of the cars I have owned for checking before passing. You sit in it and want to think the whole c and d pillar area is causing a blind spot for that, but as far as I can tell if you can't see them in the mirror, the rear passenger window, or the rear window, they aren't near you. For backing into and out of spaces it is a bit worse because the c and d pillar area is where you want to be backing out of a space, but the back up camera makes that a snap.

BMW used to make a great guide for setting up your mirrors, but it seems to have gone poof. This wikihow is pretty close though, and is more or less how I set up my mirrors:

http://www.wikihow.com/Set-Rear‐View-Mirrors-to-Eliminate-Blind-Spots

Biggest blind spot is making sure you move your head a bit at intersections to make sure your passenger side a-pillar isn't hiding a pedestrian.

As for x-terra vs. renegade, one thing to note is the difference in MPG isn't as huge as it seems. At least for me the renny's gas milage is awful. Not that big a difference between it and my friend's x-terra unless you get to cruise on highways at a steady speed. Standard NJ stop and go and speed and slow don't play well with the rengade's setup. If I drive it mildly aggressive in my awfgul commute I get 15.3mpg. If i pay attention and am more laid back 18.8 is easy. If I'm really careful I can get over 19mpg. These aren't much different than my 250hp turbo 4 I ditched to get it. The x-terra is about 16.5mpg in standard NJ suburban driving.

For that you get better acceleration, a bunch more cargo space, and a mature platform. Renegade gets you better handling, a nicer ride, and in my opinion a significantly nicer interior. Also the voice quality for bluetooth in the renny is actually pretty good. Unless they changed it in the last few years the x-terra is pretty close to worst of breed. People sound like they are shouting into a garbage disposal from across a room when they use it.

If you need to haul lots of junk or tow stuff, the x-terra wins.

I thought my Renegade was underperforming in the mpg category and I am getting much better than that. That is almost 10 mpg under the sticker combined. I might have that looked at!

 

[Hypocrite]

Hi Everyone!

Choosing between Jeep Rengade and Nissan Xterra. Currently have a 2004 Jeep Liberty and have LOVED it, but its time for a new one. A little worried about the size difference between the renegade and liberty as I am used to a bigger higher up car which is why I am more towards the Nissan right now. I Love the interior features of the renegade. Was wondering if anyone could give me their opinions or reviews to help sway me in one direction or the other? I suck at decisions haha. Was leaning towards the black but now i Think i like the silver. Also, is there much difference between the sport and latitude, couldn't really see much? Thanks!!

Also, when i test drove the renegade, i noticed much less visibility compared to my liberty when turning around to switch lanes and such. Anyone else have issues with the blindspot?

Hi, evanmacie!

I can tell you I'm enjoying the heck out of my Renegade. I didn't test drive anything else, so I can't compare it to anything. Well, that's not true. I drove a Cherokee, too. I liked the interior of the Renegade MUCH better. Plus the Renegade has a unique look that I fell in love with.

Seems to me as though I'm sitting pretty high up with good visibility. As others have said, the mirrors are nice, plus I have the back-up camera (which may be cstandard on all models?), which is nice.

Mine is Mojave Sand, but I was set on Omaha Orange right up until I found the one I bought. It was a combination of the color being pretty nice and the car having all sorts of wonderful features the other models I was looking at didn't have.

So again I'm loving my Renegade, for what that's worth.

 

[clee]

I thought my Renegade was underperforming in the mpg category and I am getting much better than that. That is almost 10 mpg under the sticker combined. I might have that looked at!

Don't take that in the wrong way, I love my Renegade! In being a teacher, my driving in the summer is much different in that I don't have a long commute every day. My summer driving is much more city than highway. I'm sure that my mileage will get much better when school starts and my highway driving increases. In my limited highway mileage, it does seem to make a difference if I drive the 55 mph highway rather than the 70 mph highway, at least 2-3 mpg on the computer.

 

[bwbike]

raz-0 is spot on with the mirror adjustments. There are no blind spots as far as I'm concerned.

I'm getting around 28 mpg with about 80% highway driving (mix of 65 & 55 mph). At 55 mph steady cruise on mostly flat roads, I can get over 30 mpg.

 

[clee]

raz-0 is spot on with the mirror adjustments. There are no blind spots as far as I'm concerned.

I'm getting around 28 mpg with about 80% highway driving (mix of 65 & 55 mph). At 55 mph steady cruise on mostly flat roads, I can get over 30 mpg.

I have found the same, at 55 mph I can get over 30. at 70-75 mph, it decreases to 26-27.

 

[Willy]

welcome to the boards, as you've seen this place is filled with knowledgeable and passionate people. Isn't there a significant size gap between the Renny and the Xterra?

 

[raz-0]

I thought my Renegade was underperforming in the mpg category and I am getting much better than that. That is almost 10 mpg under the sticker combined. I might have that looked at!

Yeah well, about 1/3 of my miles (about 50-60% of the operating hours) are my commute, which is largely 30-60 minutes of traffic jam each way. Getting on the gas to creep and crawl 14 miles doesn't yield good mileage in anything, so figuring out if something is wrong may take a bit. I need to do a long haul fill it up and hit cruise control trip to see what I get.

 

[Retiredguns]

The Nissan is a nice vehicle for sure. It is however a 1/2 ton+ heavier than the Renny, a foot longer and consumes more fuel. If you absolutely need the space & don't mind a little more $$ at the pump then I am sure you'd be happy with it. I drive an old Cherokee that is heavy, gets crappy mileage, but love the feel & space. The new Renegade was for the Wife and she has grown to really like it a lot and after a recent 900+ mile trip, I like it myself. We got really close to a 400 mile range on a 12.7 gallon gas tank. I'd love to see Jeep up that tank to at least 14 gallons.

 

[BurningGirl]

When I decided to do a custom order for my Renne I picked up a used liberty to get me through and trade in - there is a Limited that parks in my garage and I pulled up next to it - they are VERY close. Go test drive one if you haven't yet. We looked at an xterra too - nice but a little too big for my needs - and no sunroof ��