I should have been off today, doing some stuff at home.
But then Jeep called to invite me to a drive in the new Renegade.
As the name suggests, the Renegade is for outlaws. Rough types.
That's how the CJ5 and CJ7 were presented in TV series as well.
Even outlaw niece Daisy Duke drove one.
And now, the name is used on a pumped-up Fiat 500.
In fact, like a proper Spaghetti Western this car is Italian.
It's from the same factory that will build the 500X.
The Compass and Patriot already took some getting used to.
But what to do with this Playmobile car?
Design-wise, this doesn't look like the recently renewed Cherokee.
It's square, much like the ancient Jeep. But like a toy, too.
There are all kinds of gimmicks to make you think it's a Jeep.
'Since 1941.' A Jeep in the windshield. Jeep fronts on the mirror sides.
The rear lights refer to the jerrycans on the old Jeeps in WWII.
It's like the seven slots in the grille aren't enough.
But maybe we're just not getting the joke.
This is the 140 PS petrol version. Just FWD, 4WD is an option.
Combined with the manuel 6-speed, it's a nice drivetrain.
The engine is nice and smooth enough to keep the car going.
Despite the compact exterior, there's plenty of room on the inside.
The headroom is good too, as well as the boot space.
There's some Dutch to this car, too: the shocks are made by Koni.
That's nice, but they work well too, contributing to a nice chassis.
It doesn't tilt too much and goes around corners nicely.
You don't always get that on cars like this.
We could go on about the many design gimmicks for hours.
But then, Daisy Duke might just really like them.
Either way, for an SUV this car drives really well on tarmac.
Off-road, it works like a proper Jeep as well.
However, there's a serious price to all that.
The 4WD version is almost twice as expensive as the 2WD car.
That's quite a consideration.
+ Stable chassis, proper off-road performance
- Expensive all-terrain version, Playmobile appearance