Goodwood Test: 2021 Jeep Renegade Trailhawk 4xe Review

The Jeep Renegade is toward the lower end of Jeep’s current range. A bit more rugged than the rather uninspiring Compass, but less agricultural than the Wrangler. It’s a small crossover designed to fit small families that want some off road utility. Where the Compass feels like if you showed it some dirt it would pull a face, the Renegade is a bit more rough and ready. Now there is a plug-in hybrid version too, so you can combine your love for light off-roading with a desire for frugal fuelling.

It looks like a Jeep, just a little one. Which I think is a bit of a complement. After a facelift, and especially in Trailhawk guise, it also looks a lot better than it once did, with some of its angles having been sharpened off where the original had been smoothed.

The front is pure Jeep, two round headlights, a horizontal grille with upright segments, and the theme really continues from there. From the side it’s very much box meets taller box, the bonnet running into a bluff windscreen and a squared-off rear and it all works quite well in a sort of chunky Tonka toy manner.

The back though, that’s not quite so pleasing. The upright nature we can accept but it seems the designers just plonked a load of angles and crimps on where they really weren’t needed. It makes the back look even more upright than it actually is, which seems fantastical until you look at it.

Here we find a 1.3-litre petrol and a single 60PS (44kW) electric motor producing 243PS (132kW) and 350Nm (258lb ft) between them. When working together the little jacked-up Jeep can hit 62mph in a not unimpressive 7.1 seconds and send it on to 124mph. It’s all-wheel-drive but there’s no chat between front and back axles, any balancing between the axles is done digitally.

The six-speed automatic ‘box is perhaps the Renegade’s instant downside, really struggling to wake up should you demand anything from the powertrain. Which is annoying as that driveline is actually quite sprightly with the hybrid systems engaged, it just takes time for the whole car to wake up to it. If you put the car in sport mode you’ll get a response in a far more manageable time, but then you’ll also cruise around in a higher gear, slightly negating the whole plug-in hybrid raison d’etre. The engine is very rev happy, but without providing a particularly enjoyable accompanying noise and sits in a lower gear on cruise for far longer than you really want, altogether it really make the cabin less calm than it needs to be.

Speaking of plugging in, there are three different modes that the 4xe can live in, Hybrid, Electric and E-save. They are all pretty self-explanatory; hybrid uses everything on offer in balance, Electric just uses the rear motor and E-save tries to keep hold of all that electric charge, useful if you’re on a motorway and would like to be in electric mode when you get to a city.

The ride is perfectly acceptable around town and on the more bumpy roads, but can feel a little on the wobbly side when you demand a bit more from the chassis. The extra ride height – up to 210mm – can really be felt as you pitch the car into a corner and the loose steering (the centre is somewhere) isn’t really going to provide too much confidence. Those are the sacrifices you make in order to have more security off road though.

The drive is perfectly nice in and around town and especially when in full electric mode, when the EV powertrain is much more sprightly, having no need to wait for that transmission to splash its face and get into action. On longer trips the tyres have more of a hum to them than you might like, which combined with the unnecessary engine noise can grate. But once that settles down and picks a sensible gear the Renegade becomes a reasonable place to spend time.

Off road the Renegade Trailhawk is unflustered by most things you can throw at it. We wouldn’t recommend taking it for some extreme greenlaning, but with its all-wheel-drive system and impressive ground clearance it’s quite hard to throw the Trailhawk off unless you’re in real Wrangler territory. Here we lament the fact that few will ever use that ability.

It’s rugged in the Renegade. Which really shouldn’t a surprise, let’s be honest. The infotainment system is simplistic, but also simple enough to use and the high driving position makes you feel even more like you tower over other road users than any compact crossover really has a right to. The plastics feel tough enough to withstand the grinds of everyday life without being industrial and the seating – four-way adjustable for passenger, six for driver – is comfortable.

Some of the interior ergonomics are a little off though. With the high driving position the low setting for the heater and climate controls is a bit awkward, and the off road chassis controls are situated below them and so are even harder to reach at times.

What is enjoyable is the litany of callbacks to the Willys Jeep you can find everywhere. From the grille motif in the door cars to a full silhouette in the edging of the windscreen it’s a rather nice touch.

Since the Trailhawk 4xe starts at £36,500 and climbs from there you hope there to be no shortage of kit. As standard this top spec car comes with cruise control, sat-nav, DAB radio, heated front seats and steering wheel, the 8.4-inch touchscreen in the middle and a seven-inch one in the dash, rear parking sensors and dual zone climate control which is decent, but not mind blowing.

The infotainment system is pretty simple to use because it is pretty simple. There’s no widgets or extras to be found inside, just a series of hexagonal menu buttons leading you to the standard items – Sat-nav, radio, media etc. The Trailhawk’s 17-inch alloys with M+S off-road tyres are all included in the move to the top spec.

If you are looking for a small crossover plug-in hybrid that will go on some proper off road adventures, then there’s not really many other options than the Renegade Trailhawk 4xe. If you are looking for a nice modern small crossover and don’t care about going off road then the Renegade isn’t much of a match for some of the other small PHEVs on the market.

What it does have going for it is charm, the looks, the rugged ability and perhaps even the wobbly ride do give it a certain old-school happy feeling, which some drivers will enjoy over the firmer, modern day crossovers on the market. The main stumbling block then will be the price.