2016 Jeep Patriot - Oh Joy. Oh Bliss.

Just like last year, my family and I made a pilgrimage to Jupiter, Florida to spend Christmas with my wife's mother and her sister's family. Instead of renting "a car" like we did last year, I let my wife persuade me into getting a Toyota Rav4 instead. While I begrudgingly accept that cross overs are taking over the world, I have heard nice things about many of them and in particular, the Rav4. And it never hurts to try something new so, let's have at it.

When we got to the Alamo rental counter at the Fort Lauderdale airport we found they were out of Rav4's; all they had left were a bevy of Jeep Patriots and Compass'. You know, vehicles that were "just like" a Toyota Rav4. I wasn't going to argue with a rental car counter person but, c'mon. man, no Jeep is Toyota. Never has been and never will be. A Jeep Patriot for a week? Oh Joy. Oh Bliss.

I knew I had made a mistake of not insisting that we get something else the moment I sat in this thing for the first time. Now, far be it for me to be critical of modern vehicles, me, the owner of four vehicles with an average age of twenty four and a collective half million miles plus, but my first issue with this "cute-ute" was a beef I have with many "modern cars" - visibility. It's not the worst I've experienced on a vehicle made after 2005 but it certainly ain't great. Problem is the doors on the Patriot are too tall and the sitting position too low making me feel as though I'm sitting in a bathtub. Even our 1996 Camaro, a car that is very low to the ground, feels downright airy in comparison. There was no power seat in our stripper rental Patriot so where we sat, we sat. Save for fore and aft adjustments. What's worse, the B pillar and the head rests are positioned such that they appear as a pair of heads out of the corner of the driver's eye. They also further inhibit visibility out the passenger side of the vehicle. Add a real human head and you have three heads blocking the driver's view out the passenger side. How this got engineered into a "modern" vehicle is mind boggling. Hopefully they'll fix this with the new Patriot slated to be in showrooms for model year 2018.

Our rental Patriot didn't even have a compass but it did have power windows and door locks. Thank goodness. Lest we think we had gone back to the stone ages. The seats were comfortable on our short traipses up and down the Florida coast, the AC blew abundant chilly air and the Patriot, I found, was actually quite a nimble handler; it was almost fun to throw around. The brakes were excellent too. While I hit my head a time or two on the sill above the tail gate door, noteworthy since I'm no giant at maybe five foot ten, I found the cargo area to be very accessible and more than commodious. It's not the rolling cavern that is our 2006 Tahoe but for hauling soft luggage, beach chairs, blankets and umbrellas it was more ample.

I've even took to the styling. For the most part. I like the 7 slot grill paying homage to Jeeps of yore; Jeep styling is hard not to like even if you're not a fan of off roading or the Jeep "lifestyle". I'm sure Jeep cognoscenti appreciate the design as well. There's a certainly "butch" to the Patriot that I'm sure is part of the appeal to buyers; Jeep's done quite well with the Patriot since its debut back in 2007. Done well despite some glaring issues.

The most glaring being  the "CVT" automatic transmission on our rental. I've heard horror stories about these things and cutting to the chase, the CVT in our 15,000 mile young Patriot didn't disappoint in being disappointing.

A CVT transmission, or "constant velocity transmission" is different from a conventional automatic transmission in that instead of multiple gears it has has "one" gear. One gear that fluctuates constantly while driving, particularly when accelerating hard, attempting to find the "perfect ratio" to maximize gas mileage. The potential upside of good gas mileage compared to a traditional automatic all but negated by a most annoying lack of responsiveness. If you're wondering, we averaged a ho hum 22 miles per gallon. What would it have gotten if it had a conventional five or six speed automatic? Good question.

In a 3300 pound vehicle powered by a mid size four cylinder engine making a respectable 158 horsepower, even with a conventional automatic, acceleration would be far from sporty but it would be adequate. With a CVT and its constant ratio hunting, which, incidentally, is accompanied by incessant droning and buzzing, acceleration was akin to an '80's diesel powered GM full size car. In other words, this thing is very slow. Honestly, I can't remember the last time time I drove anything as slow and unresponsive as this Patriot. It's a shame too since that mid size four (2.0 liter) is a pretty smooth, rev happy little runner. Its CVT sidekick ruins the show, though. Seriously, if you're in the market for a car and you're looking at something with a CVT, do a very through test drive and do your research. These things are touted as the future and they may very well be, however, the future is not here. Yet? I'd stay far away from anything with a CVT.

Good news is if you're smitten with the styling of the Patriot, at least when the Patriot first came out in 2007, a conventional six speed automatic is or was available. I'd forgo the CVT for that transmission. A larger in line four is also available as is all wheel drive on an up level Patriot "Limited". The Patriot is so light that that larger engine (2.4 liter) and conventional automatic no doubt make for a pretty snappy ride. No word on whether or not the 2018 Patriot will have a CVT or not. If it does, hopefully it will have most if not all of the issues that plague our Patriot's CVT ironed out.

Time to throw the umbrellas, beach chairs and Gatorade in a cooler and head back to the beach. Happy New Year!