The Jeep Renegade is the American brand’s B-segment crossover and we attended the local launch of it in Johannesburg this week.

“Designed by Jeep, made in Italy” is the slogan that first catches my eye during the presentation of the 2015 Jeep Renegade. It sounds like a strange combination, but it’s the result of the Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep tie in with Italian automotive giants Fiat, who own Alfa Romeo and Ferrari. The result of such a collaboration is product that offers the hard and rugged appeal, with a fewItaliantouches here and there.

Design of the new Renegade

This is very much the case forthe new Jeep Renegade. There’s no mistaking this vehicle for any other brand. With its trademark headlights, slotted grille and distinct boxy shape, the design is Jeep through and through. What I enjoyed most about the design is how it pays tribute to the World War II Willys Jeep and the Jeep brand through the use of subtle touches across the product.

The X motif on the rear lights is not too dissimilar to the jerry can logo, while there’s a Jeep logo on the edge of the windscreen. Further inspection of the vehicle resulted in spotting an abominable snowman on a window, a topopgraphical map at the bottom of the centrally-mounted storage binnacle and mud splashes which form the redline on the rev counter.

As far as design goes, it’s a visually striking vehicle especially when paired with some of the impact colours such as red, burnt orange and yellow. Throw in some big and chunky black alloys and you’ve got a recipe for a vehicle dripping in street cred.

Only one engine for now

Being a Jeep, you’d expect a hearty V6 forged in the fires of Detroit but this is where the Italians come in. Gone are the days when there was no replacement for displacement. Times are achanging and the best bang for buck comes in the form of small capacity turbo mills. In this case, power comes from a 1.4-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine with 103 kW and 230 Nm. Fuel economy is claimed at 6.3L/100km.

The model, which goes on sale immediately is a front-wheel drive manual, with automatic and all-wheel drive derivatives to follow later in the year. There’s also talk of an entry-level naturally-aspirated 1.6 model.

Ride and handling

How does it drive? Well, the ride’s good and the car is able to keep itself together when you’re pressing on. What’s perhaps most useful is the 175mm of ground clearance, which makes pavement crawling super easy and also gives you the option to tackle mild offroad scenarios.

Jeep was keen for us to sample its new urban baby SUV in a unique environment and we found ourselves at a makeshift offroad track next to the old Johannesburg Park Station. Despite the lack of any offroad systems, the front-wheel drive Jeep Renegade acquitted itself well on the gravel inclines and undulations. For the amount of offroading an average family would do, this is more than fine and the forthcoming all-wheel drive model will have to offer some serious bundu bashing ability to justify itself.

A couple of highway drives highlighted how refined the Jeep Renegade is. NVH is low and there were times I had to turn down the radio to hear if the engine was still running. It’s that quiet!

Specification and features

Being a Jeep, specification errs on the side of generous. There’s a leather-wrapped steering wheel with audio controls, with fabric seats (leather is an option), dual zone air conditioning, rear parking sensors, UConnect infotainment with 5-inch screen (6.5-inch option with two USB ports), six speakers and two 12V power sockets dotted around the cabin. Option packs give you access to an array of extra safety features and improved audio systems.

Speaking of safety, there’s lots of tech thrown in. There’s a tyre pressure monitoring system, ISOFIX child seat mounts, six airbags, panic brake assist, lane departure warning, cruise control as well as an electronic parking brake.

Naturally, there’s a whole host of accessories to customise and make your Renegade unique. Mopar is the group’s customisation arm and there’s a huge range of stickers, different alloy wheels as well as numerous styles of load-carrying boxes to choose from. At the launch there was a Renegade that had been kitted out with a mountain bike rack as well as a canoe rack.

Quick summary

What’s not to like? Well there’s that price tag. Jeep claims its playing in the B-segment space, which puts it squarely against the likes of the similarly specced 1.2-litreRenault Captur which retails for R280000.The Jeep Renegade’s B-segment competition are all substantially cheaper, but feel less premium, so there is a business case for it. Also, I hope ‘my’ launch unit was an exception to the rule, but the plastic surrounding the A-pillar was coming loose as was the plastic surrounding the steering wheel.

Overall though, the Jeep Renegade is a damn good-looking baby SUV which is jammed with specification and is a good drive. It’s surprisingly good for light offroad applications too. Comparisons between this and forthcoming Fiat 500X are inevitable and in reality, there will be very little to separate them mechanically.

Jeep Renegade Price in South Africa

This specific Jeep is the Renegade 1.4L Limited and that goes for R375990. You do get a lot of spec for your money, as well as a three-year/100 000km warrantyandclass/leading6year/100000kmmaintenanceplan.