2021 Jeep Renegade

Despite its tiny size, and it measures just 166.6 inches long, the Jeep Renegade manages to look and feel like a proper Jeep. It’s design is a deft blend of cute and rugged, and when painted yellow it bears some resemblance to a life-size Tonka truck.

Unlike most other subcompact crossovers, the Renegade can also offer buyers real off-road ability in its top-spec Trailhawk model, though it requires spending over $30,000 for the privilege.

The Renegade was introduced for the 2015 model year along with its more urban chic sister, the Fiat 500X. Both are made in Melfi, Italy, and share a platform with the now-departed Fiat 500L people mover. The Jeep has always been by far the most popular of this trio in the U.S. and outsells the Fiat by more than 10:1. It’s still a good seller for Jeep even six years into its first generation, although newer entries like the Hyundai Kona ad Mazda CX-30 are nicer to drive and come with more features. The Renegade also competes with the even smaller Hyundai Venue, Ford’s odd-looking EcoSport and, in Trailhawk form, the Subaru Crosstrek.

The Jeep offers a much wider array of choices to the buyer than the Fiat, and more room too despite being a couple of inches smaller overall. Behind the rear seats there are 18.5 cubic-feet of cargo space, expanding to 50.8 with them folded. Overall, that’s also more than the Kona or CX-30 but shy of the Crosstrek. For its size, the Renegade is fairly roomy, with more rear legroom than the Kona but a bit less than the Subaru.

Base model Renegades come with a 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine shared with some of Jeep’s other crossovers. It produces 180 horsepower and 175 pound-feet of torque. A turbocharged 1.3-liter four-cylinder making 177 horsepower and 210 pound-feet of torque is optional and standard on some of the higher trims. Both are powered with a nine-speed automatic transmission.

Despite the Renegade’s petite dimensions, neither of these engines has enough power to make this a quick vehicle, and zero-to-sixty times are over eight seconds for both. The Renegade can be fun off-road, but on the pavement it’s well short of Hyundai and Mazda in terms of driving experience.

These engines are also not very fuel efficient. The most frugal Renegade returns 24 mpg city, 32 mpg highway and 27 mpg combined, but the majority of the lineup gets about 2-3 mpg less. Front-wheel drive and all-wheel drive (AWD) are available on all models except the Trailhawk, which is AWD-only and returns 22 mpg city, 27 highway and 24 mpg combined.

The Trialhawk stands apart from most other teeny-tiny crossovers in that it can be used for real off-road adventure and it’s quite capable on the trail and in mud and rocks. It’s 8.7 inches of ground clearance give it better approach and departure angles than the Crosstrek, and real tow hooks are fitted up front. It’s tiny footprint also makes it a natural for tight wooded areas. The Renegade’s lower trims, however, aren’t nearly as capable as the Trailhawk. Standard towing capacity on 4×4 versions is 2,000 pounds, but Jeep doesn’t recommend towing on the front-drive versions.

For 2021, Jeep has given the Renegade a major upgrade in standard safety equipment, and all models now get blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alerts, forward collision warnings, lane departure warning and lane keep assist. Everything except the Trailhawk gets forward automatic emergency braking as well. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) rates the Renegade at a so-so four stars overall, while the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) gives it mostly Good ratings, but Acceptable for its small-front-overlap crash test.