[White_THawk]

New cars, new technologies, and new features. What works for you and what annoys you? Let's get down to our Renegades.

Good:
1) USB charging ports everywhere.
2) Cigarette ports everywhere. These are charging ports now.
3) DC to AC power converters.
4) Auto rear wiper activation when reverse with the front wipers on.
5) Headlights brightens in the direction you are turning.
6) Water bottle holders in every door.
7) Flash light in trunk.
8) Car will not drive with the ebrake on.
9) Auto headlights. It's not new but I always liked it.


Bad:
1) Cannot drive with the door open. I like to maneuver with the door open to check edges and make little adjustments when positioning the car to be worked on. The Renegade will engage the electronic ebrake and that will disable your gas pedal from giving commands to the drivetrain. The engine will rev, but the car won't move. Does this mean no burnouts?

2) Cannot engage 4Low in park. I don't know the reason, but why can't it? More options helps in this case. It's simple, but it bugged me when I found this out. I know now to engage 4Low in drive and don't have to think about it.

3) Slow response auto/manual shifter. Sure I can choose what gear I want to be in, but it takes forever for the transmission to shift. I know it's not a sports car, but why don't all auto/manual shifter cars have a better response shifts.

4) Seat belt chime. Very annoying. I can't move the car or drive down 2 blocks to check the mail without my seat belt off. Other cars will chime check you a couple of times and then stop. Not the Renegade. I also take off my seat belt so I can sit up higher and forward to check over my hood when crawling. Or to stick my head out the window to check my wheel placement. It's nerve wrenching enough when I have to use these techniques, but with the seat belt chime as background music. It's doesn't help.

 

[DM-15Lat]

your points on the good are spot on. Granted I would like the water bottle space on the doors to have been a little bigger, but that's nitpicking. Your 'bad' items are really 'good' features (minus the shift response). I wouldn't want you driving with the door open or without your seat belt.

I haven't played with 'manual' shifting as much, but the transmission in general doesn't feel right. It feels like the car is always in the wrong gear (too high of a gear?). You know that rumble when you up shift too soon. It feels like that from 30-80. It's also been a learning process keeping the car at a steady speed.

 

[White_THawk]

your points on the good are spot on. Granted I would like the water bottle space on the doors to have been a little bigger, but that's nitpicking. Your 'bad' items are really 'good' features (minus the shift response). I wouldn't want you driving with the door open or without your seat belt.

I understand the safety feature of not being able to drive with your door open. But I feel like these kind of features are for retarded people. Kind of like parking and lane changing sensors. If you learn how to drive properly and stay off your phones, you don't need these retard prevention features. Closing your door properly should be second nature.
I'm a DIY home mechanic it helps if I can crack my door open to check the edge of the car or tire placement when maneuvering around the garage or driveway to get the car exactly where I need it. My current home has a small driveway, that's suppose to fit 2 cars, so I like to park the cars as close to the edge as possible to allow the doors to open. Off the edge of the driveway, at it tall point, is a 5" drop. All the door opened driving I do is under 5 mph. Same with backing up into a parking space, with no other cars around. You can usually use the cars on the side as a gauge, but with no cars there, you need to reference the lines on the ground you cannot see. Crack the door open to check the line and back up into the space.
Sure, if you don't work on your own car or forget to close your door or have issues properly closing your door before you do some highway driving, this safety feature is great for you. But I work on dozens of cars for my family and friends, and this is a simple technique to use without the aid of a spotter or getting out/in of the car to keep checking the position of the car.

As for the seat belt, chime I'm all for it. I don't have an issue with naturally putting on my seat belt. It's usually my passenger. So when I here the chime I tell them to put their seat belt on. My grudge is that it keeps chiming forever as long as your seat belt is off. Other cars will chime a couple of times when you start the car and then stop, but will keep the seat belt warning light lit on the dash.
There are times when being able to drive with the seat belt off is convenient without the annoyance of the constant chiming. The same points I made above. I play tetris with the cars in the garage, driveway, and curb to get the car I need to work on in my work space. Try putting a trailer hitch on, by yourself without a back up camera. How many tries do you think it will take and how many times will you need to get in and out of your car to check the ball joint alignment? How many times will you need to put your seat belt on and take it off? How much fun will you have with the chime reminding you how annoying this whole process is?

These aren't bad features for everyone, but for the ones that do anything other than commute, they become a simple annoyance that we can do without.

Bad:
5) Seatbelt brake clicking. For me it clicks all the time on the highway. Every few seconds, why? When the seat belt clicks, it engages the brake/lock so that you cannot pull out anymore belt. It's suppose to click/brake/lock under hard braking, in an event of a crash, etc. To hold you back in the seat and not lunge forward. Mine clicks under normal driving conditions and it annoys me.

 

[Jeepriot]

Try connecting the seat belt and then set on it while maneuvering in the driveway, hooking up to a trailer or out on the trail crawling. The door thing would be annoying for sure.

 

[raz-0]

Try connecting the seat belt and then set on it while maneuvering in the driveway, hooking up to a trailer or out on the trail crawling. The door thing would be annoying for sure.

Also, explore menus and ask technicians (probably at a later date after some have received actual training). On my current car you can disable the eternal warning chimes, but it's something stupid like a 30 step process.

 

[WashingtonukPaul]

You can drive forward with the E electronic brake on if you have a manual gearbox, as I have , but not in reverse.

 

[Dartser]

Mines still being built but my annoyance when looking it over was that the rear seats don't fold fully down. There is a slope.

 

[teddyfirehouse]

I've been a bit annoyed by the slow response times in shifting or just giving it gas around low speeds, I live in the city so I'm just generally hopping between lights and 10-25 mph, and it sometimes takes a second or 2 after i press the pedal to feel response. Also apparently I've only been getting like 16 mpg city... and I don't get on the gas pedal.

 

[Iceyes]

I bought some of these to stop the seatbelt alarm. They work perfectly! Just make sure you buy the ones that fit Jeep

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2PC-METAL-S...SP-ALARM-STOPPER-NULL-INSERT-P3-/191545091326

 

[RSK]

Very limited accessories because so new. Would like to customized like a normal Jeep, just not much out there yet.

Don't like the missing gas cap, spare tire and carpet mats when you purchase. These should be basics in any new vehicle.

Minor stuff, all else is good so far!

 

[clee]

There are not cup holders in the backseat. Also, a cup holder in the front for the passenger would be nice instead of just the door water bottle holder. We use cups and not waterbottles most of the time, so the door holder is worthless for that.

 

[Hdreserve]

There are not cup holders in the backseat. Also, a cup holder in the front for the passenger would be nice instead of just the door water bottle holder. We use cups and not waterbottles most of the time, so the door holder is worthless for that.

I agree...... Wish there were better options for larger/more bottle holders. Out west in the heat we use our Turvis tumblers all the time & not sure where all that will go. DO love the set up of all the dials/dashboard.

 

[arild]

So far there are a few things that annoy me:
- Electronic hand brake always engages when the transmission is put into park (can however be avoided by holding the hand brake button down at the same time).
- If opening the rear hatch with the button at the bottom of the hatch when the doors are locked, the alarm goes off. Why doesn't the car notice that I have the e-key in my pocket?
- When cruising with the cruise control engaged and the engine speed around 1500 rpm, the car has a hard time keeping the engine speed constant and the car feels like it's pulling one second and then free wheeling the next.
- When listing to music or radio and using the navigation at the same time, the music does not mute when navigation instructions are given. And to make matters worse, the volume on the navigation instructions and the music are far apart. Low volume on navigation, normal on music.


So a few annoyances, but overall I love the car!

 

[Hdreserve]

So far there are a few things that annoy me:
- Electronic hand brake always engages when the transmission is put into park (can however be avoided by holding the hand brake button down at the same time).
- If opening the rear hatch with the button at the bottom of the hatch when the doors are locked, the alarm goes off. Why doesn't the car notice that I have the e-key in my pocket?
- When cruising with the cruise control engaged and the engine speed around 1500 rpm, the car has a hard time keeping the engine speed constant and the car feels like it's pulling one second and then free wheeling the next.
- When listing to music or radio and using the navigation at the same time, the music does not mute when navigation instructions are given. And to make matters worse, the volume on the navigation instructions and the music are far apart. Low volume on navigation, normal on music.
So a few annoyances, but overall I love the car!

Most of that does sound annoying! I wonder how much of it can be corrected with a software update.......

 

[Strike Z]

I think you can - or at least I think I did - turn off the emergency brake with door open in the settings (under safety)..

My biggest annoyance is lack of off-road trails close to my home.
Wife and daughter taking the TH every chance they get.

 

[arild]

Most of that does sound annoying! I wonder how much of it can be corrected with a software update.......

Yeah, I bet most of it is fixable with an update, but since the e-brake function and the alarm may be programmed this way by choice due to safety, they will probably not do anything about it. As for the navigation annoyance, I just found out that the navigation actually mutes the left speaker and uses that speaker for the guidance. And I even found a volume adjustment burried deep down in the navigation settings. So I guess that annoyance is more or less solved.

 

[JayhawkOne]

Very limited accessories because so new. Would like to customized like a normal Jeep, just not much out there yet.

Don't like the missing gas cap, spare tire and carpet mats when you purchase. These should be basics in any new vehicle.

Minor stuff, all else is good so far!

The "missing gas cap" is pretty much considered a luxury feature haha. It costs more to develop that system than a regular old gas cap. Makes it impossible to get a check engine light for forgetting to screw on the cap!

 

[Traceee]

I think the carpets are kind of cheap and and the pile is poor and tough to vacuum and won't hold up well long term. I guess I expected more from "Little Italy" and I am glad to cover most of it with the rubber slush/ cargo mats. I also think there could be a little more room in the front/middle storage (where the rubber desert map is) but I am glad I at least have a good spot to throw my phone. No sunglasses holder near the rear view mirror where the interior lights are, is a true bummer for me.

I also don't care for the flat windows when they roll down. I would prefer the angle. I wish so bad those little triangle windows in the front propped open, that'd be cool. I do like how large the windows are and the mirrors as well. I think the outside mirrors are awesome.

Oh, and I like how you can unlock the doors manually by turning the silver dial near the inside door handle and the doors stay unlocked when driving. I was always click click clicking the locks on my last car, a pain when running errands.

I absolutely love driving this car and sitting up high. The more I drive it the more it seems like it is adjusting and the ride is changing, getting better and better. I know it may sound weird, but either the car is starting to " grow up" or maybe i am just beginning to relax!!

 

[Rammer]

On other Chrysler nav units we've had, If you turn the volume up when the nav is talking, it turns the nav volume only up.

 

[raz-0]

It's taken some fiddling, but I'm really happy with everything but the mileage so far, the idiotic legal disclaimer nag screen on the 5" u connect every time you start it, and the fact my phone seems to have stopped auto pairing for audio.