When I think of Jeep, I think of a childhood watching Mash, and the classic military spec Willys MB. If it’s not that, then it’s a classic CJ-5 shape from the late 70’s and early 80’s, driving down a Californian beach with a surfboard out the back.
What I don’t think about is a modern vehicle, soft and made for the city, with the latest technology such as an electric hybrid drive train.
We got a chance recently to try the Jeep Renegade 4xe PHEV, and it was time to tell if my romantic memories were how a Jeep should be, or if they still have it in the 21st century.
What We Like and Dislike About The 2023 Jeep Renegade 4xe PHEV
| What we like | What we don’t like |
| Good visibility All controls easy to reach Clear Infotainment Functional interior | Price point Limited electric range Inconsistent design |
What’s In The 2023 Jeep Renegade Range?
If you are buying a Jeep Renegade in New Zealand in 2023, you have one choice: the Jeep Renegade Limited 4XE PHEV. As the name suggests, it’s a plug-in hybrid model and the smaller of the classic-looking Jeep models.
The plug-in hybrid is the only drive line offered. This combines a 1.3-litre 4-cylinder turbo petrol engine, producing 132kW / 270Nm with a 44kW / 270Nm electric motor mounted on the rear axle.
Power is transmitted via a six-speed automatic transmission to Jeep’s all-wheel drive system.
You have 5 different colour options, above the standard Alpine White. These are Solid Black, Colorado Red, Slate Blue, Sting Grey and Graphite Grey, all at a $,1000 excess.
As well as the colour you can add a Premium Pack for $5,000, which consists mainly of seat, wheel and heating upgrades.
Our Review Vehicle’s Optional Equipment
Our test vehicle included the Premium Pack which adds the following for $5000.
- 19-inch alloy low gloss satin granite wheels
- Premium leather seats
- 40/20/40 rear seat W/Pass-Thru and armrest
- 8-way power driver seat and 2-way power lumber
- Heated front seats
- Heated steering wheel
- Steering wheel leather-wrapped
- Slate Blue paint
Including the optional equipment our review car’s retail price is $75,990.
For a full list of specs and options available for the Jeep Renegade 4xe PHEV head on over to the Jeep New Zealand’s website.
How Does The 2023 Jeep Renegade 4xe PHEV Compare To Its Competition?
As other reviews have noted, there is not a lot out there in the small SUV hybrid market, making it hard to find some direct comparables. The below should give an idea of where the Renegade sits relative to some vehicles.
| Make/ Model | Engine | Power/ Torque kW/Nm | Seats | Fuel L/100km | Towing Capacity | Boot Space, litres | Price (excl CCP) |
| Mitsubishi Outlander VRX PHEV | 1.6-litre, turbocharged 4-cylinder petrol plug-in hybrid | 185/450 | 7 | 1.6 | 750/1,600 | 472 | $79,990 |
| Jeep/ Renegade 4xe PHEV | 1.3L T4 Turbo GSE Plug-in Hybrid 4xe | 176/270 | 5 | 5.7 | 600 / 1,150 | 330 / 1277 | $69,990 |
| Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross PHEV VRX | 2.4-litre 4-cylinder hybrid | 94/199 | 5 | 3.7 | – | 359 | $57,990 |
| Suziki S-Cross JLX Hybrid AWD | 1.4-litre, 4-cylinder turbo-petrol with hybrid assist | 95/221 | 5 | 5.9 | 600/1,500 | 430 | $45,990 |
First Impressions Of The 2023 Jeep Renegade 4xe PHEV
Seeing it for the first time at the dealership, the design didn’t jump out and grab me. From the front, the iconic grille made it instantly recognisable as a Jeep, and the Slate Blue of our test vehicle looked nice, suiting the lines well. What didn’t work for me though were the proportions and continuity of the design front to rear.
My initial thought was it is too long, too narrow and had a strange low in the front but high in the rear side profile. It almost looked like a different vehicle from front to rear, and this wasn’t helped by the rear tail lights which looked out of place.
A Jeep is supposed to be rugged and tough, but this looked tame and soft. Whilst the black plastic around the lower third went a little way to restore this narrative, the 19-inch low-profile tyres pulled it back to the suburban mall adventurer demographic.
This did however make me even more keen to get in and start driving, as maybe then I’d get a clearer idea of what this Jeep offers.
What’s The Interior Like In The 2023 Jeep Renegade 4xe PHEV?
When you open the door and get inside the 2023 Jeep Renegade 4xe, the mystery deepens. This is a vehicle with an identity crisis. I thought the exterior was perhaps too clean, simple and soft, but the interior is the opposite. It’s rugged, busy and very industrial with a design aesthetic that is functionality over form and beauty.
Whilst inside you are left in no doubt that the interior at least wants to be in the same family as its bigger off-road siblings, and is more in line with what I was expecting from the Renegade.
Immediately upon opening the door, you are greeted with rather plush but simple-looking leather seats. These are the upgraded premium option and feature electric 8-way positional and 2-way lumbar adjustment, although only the driver gets this with the front passenger relying on manual controls. I thought it strange that the premium package only seems to apply to the driver. The seats are comfortable to sit in although they don’t offer a lot of lateral support. The range of adjustment is good and I was easily able to make myself comfortable.
The steering wheel is the same nice leather as the seats, and whilst small in diameter it has a large cross-section. It looks quite big and chunky, and the centre features a big circular Jeep logo as your horn. The size was fine for me, both in the diameter of the wheel itself and the cross-sectional area. The spoke layout is a traditional ‘T’ arrangement, featuring numerous buttons for controlling the vehicular functions.
On the left spoke you have controls for infotainment system as well as an answer, mute and hang up button for phone calls. The right side features cruise control and other driver assistance functions. These are all operated by a firm press, and I had no problems using them. One thing that was a bit different was that I am used to having the driver assistance on the left-hand side. In reality, it makes no difference, as these were easily reached and intuitive to use, but it was something that made me take a second look the first time I jumped in.
Behind the steering wheel are the control stalks for indicators, wipers and headlights. Like most things in the Renegade, these were easy to reach and use.
The instrument cluster is an interesting mix of digital and anologue. It’s set deep in an enclosure and features two large analogue dials on either side, the left showing engine rpm and the right power consumption. Between these is a dark LCD display that shows a range of information but is rather cluttered. As a result, I found myself not spending a lot of time looking at it. It does however show your speed digitally top and centre, and this is clear and easy to read.
The dashboard itself is a mix of big chunky plastic and what appears to be the same leather as the seats and steering wheel. Air vents are pretty traditional slotted louvres, located at each extremity of the dash and an additional two in the centre above the infotainment. I’m sensitive to airflow in a car and hate it when it’s directed straight at me and unable to be directed away. The Renegade didn’t suffer from this and the system worked well with no complaints.
The 8.4-inch LCD U-Connect infotainment screen takes up a prominent position in the centre of the dashboard. It’s pretty monochromatic in black and white but has the occasional splash of orange. The screen has the usual menus covering the various settings of the car, air conditioning, radio, and navigation. It also features full Apple Car Play or Android Auto integration. Compared to the majority of systems I’ve used, it is simple. There are no fancy graphics, 3d animations or flashing bells and whistles. It is very simple to pick up and navigate your way around with a consistent lower icon set quickly taking you to all the relevant screens you might need. I feel this is perfectly adequate for what the Jeep is supposed to be. It’s utilitarian, not luxurious, and the U-Connect system certainly fits that bill.
Below the screen, you have manual controls for the climate control and radio, both in old-school rotary dial format. I have not seen this for a while but it does fit with the interior design. These are duplicates of controls available in the infotainment system, but it’s quicker and easier to access here. As well as this there are buttons to control the parking functions, dampers, hybrid drive states and various AWD features such as the differential lock and low-gear engagement.
Temperature controls are individual on each side. I’ve said my views on them before; It’s nice to give people the impression they have control of the temperature on their side of the vehicle but I don’t see how they can work, and I have never had one prove to work well.
Below the temperature controls you have three buttons that control your drive systems, whether you’re in hybrid, full electric mode, or electric-savings mode. And then on the right-hand side of this, you have controls for your four-wheel drive. These allow you to put it in low gear, a mode for going down hills, and a control to lock the four-wheel drive.
Down at the very bottom, you have a USB-A auxiliary input, and a 12-volt DC supply in the old cigarette-lighter style.
The gear stick in the centre of the front seats is pretty much old-school automatic. Park, Reverse,Neutral and Drive. Like most these days you can also flip it across to give you a manual, tiptronic-type arrangement. One of the things I like about this is that to go up a gear, you actually pull the lever back and push it forward to go down a gear. This is a much more natural movement, and it seems to be more in line with the European car makers, whereas the Japanese and others have it reversed, which I can’t get my brain around, it doesn’t make sense. Behind this, you have buttons for your traction control and the automatic parking brake.
The passenger does have a reasonable-sized glovebox. It’s the full size of the opening, which is nice to see, but it’s not that huge. Above that are grip handles; these are a feature that is throughout the interior and fit in with the purpose of the vehicle. The rest of the dashboard is pretty simplistic. There’s nothing really flashy or fancy, it’s very industrial and I didn’t really have any problem with that.
Rear seats are the same material and similar design to the fronts but with practically no lateral support. They are also a bit higher than the front, resulting in less headroom. I’m average sized but anyone taller would start to feel cramped, and a little claustrophobic. This is not an issue in the front where room is in abundance.
The view out the rear from driving is rather limited, mainly due to the height of the rear seats. When reversing, however, the rear camera is very good and gives a clear picture.
The rear seats feature a traditional 60/40 split as well as a foldable section in the centre that serves as an armrest/cup holder for the rear passengers as well as allowing for long objects to pass through.
As is increasingly common the boot features a false floor to give a little more storage space and also hide accessories. You also have a 12-volt power outlet socket located in the boot.
Overall I didn’t notice any issues with the finish of the interior. As previously mentioned it is more utilitarian and functional than high-end. As such there are no fancy finishes, or luxury things that would just add cost and be out of place. What you get is perfect for what it is supposed to do. The material quality is correct for a vehicle that is designed for the outdoors (whether it achieves this is another issue) and during my time with the vehicle, I noticed no squeaks, creaks or issues with the interior.
Overall it is a functional interior that fits the vehicle’s intended purpose well. Oh, and it does show a bit of a cheeky side, look for the artwork around the window heating elements, it will make you smile.
What’s The 2023 Jeep Renegade 4xe PHEV Like To Drive?
More time in the Renegade would have allowed for a more comprehensive review, but we did spend enough to make a few observations.
All other controls on the steering wheel are easy to reach and functional, in particular, the buttons behind the wheel which control your multimedia system. The main controls all required no stretching to reach from my driving position, and this includes everything on the centre console.
Once driving, the first thing that I noticed was the noise. When driving in normal petrol mode, the Renegade is quieter than I was expecting. Normally, a boxy off-road inspired vehicle I would expect a lot of road, wind and general noise. Tyre noise was good, lower than expected. I managed to go on my normal roads, which strategically involve a varied range of road surfaces and even on coarse chip seal the road noise was well below what I expected, probably helped by the tyres being more a street design tread pattern than off-road.
Despite a near vertical windscreen and large Dumbo-ear side mirrors, wind noise was lower than expected and internally I didn’t notice many creaks and groans coming from the body fit. Engine noise when not running with any electric assist was ok but did have a bit of clunkiness and rattle to it when worked hard. It’s certainly not as quiet or smooth as some of the other small ICE-engined vehicles we have driven lately.
Suspension and general ride are good for what the vehicle is. It’s never going to be sharp and crisp sports car handling. In vertical movements, the Renegade absorbs the bumps and undulations from the road well without transferring to the occupants. In pitch and roll, however, there is a bit more body movement and the control is not as precise. Steering-wise it is not the sharpest and most direct, but again for the class of vehicle it’s adequate and I had no problems in the running I did.
When driving you have the choice of all-electric, all-petrol, or hybrid, which is essentially just the ICE constantly charging the battery. In all-electric mode you have capacity for approximately 50km, and I spent most of my town driving in this mode. Mode selection is easily done via buttons on the centre column. Performance wise the electric motor is fine for this. It operates on the rear axle only and provides adequate torque to accelerate around town within the 50km zones. As soon as you start in higher speed zones, it does run out of puff, and you do see the battery’s 11.4kWh capacity start to reduce quickly.
On more open roads, when switching to hybrid modes you notice more and more the ICE providing assistance when accelerating, and above 80 km/h you find yourself almost always using it. Performance is not outstanding, but it’s not really the kind of vehicle you will be buying for that. One thing I did notice however is when on the open road at approx 100km/h e-save mode, where the motor is both providing motivepower and recharging your battery, you get very little regen so it is more of a charge-at-home type use case. This differs considerably to the Nissan Qashqai I drove earlier which was pretty proficient at getting the battery back up. What did work well however was the regenerative braking. This was one of the more aggressive systems I have driven.
The Renegade does not have a lot of fancy driver automation systems, but those that it does have worked well. The anti-collision system worked well when someone decided to stop right in front of me due to a pedestrian, giving off a loud audible warning and braking the vehicle efficiently and quickly. Likewise, the cruise control was really easy to operate, and held the desired speed accurately.
In the interior section, I mentioned that the dash in particular is busy. Despite this, I had no problems finding the controls needed when driving. The infotainment and exterior instrument cluster were clear and easy to read, and this is a case where the choice of a simple screen with a contrasting two-tone worked well. It might not be fancy but is effective.
I didn’t get to try the Renegade on any type of off-road surface. From the driving that I did do however, and observations I would say it is very much off-road in looks only (which is debatable) and also not in the mould of your traditional SUV. It’s low for an off-roader, has a few hundred kg of battery and electric motor and has traditional tyres for the road. All of these factors are going to compromise off-road performance. If you did have it permanently raised, put tyres that could cope with mud, sand and debris, and stiffened up the body control to manage the extra weight on steep terrain you would end up with something not much fun on-road.
Overall I’d say the driving experience was good and above what I had pre-conceived it would be like, but it’s very much a town run around.
We achieved 5.7l/100km, significantly more than the advertised 2.0.
2023 Jeep Renegade 4xe PHEV – Specifications
| Vehicle Type | 1.3 Hybrid AWD SUV |
| Starting Price | $69,990 |
| Price as Tested | $75,990 |
| Engine | 1.3L T4 Turbo GSE Plug-in Hybrid 4xe |
| Power, Torque kW/Nm | 132kW Petrol + 44kW electric / 270Nm |
| Transmission | 6-Speed Automatic |
| Spare Wheel | Space Saver |
| Kerb Weight, Kg | 1,770 |
| Length x Width x Height mm | 4,249 x 1,805 x 1,692 |
| Boot Space / Cargo Capacity, Litres (seats up/seats down) | 330 / 1,277 |
| Fuel tank capacity, litres | 37 |
| Fuel Economy, L/100km | Advertised Spec – Combined – 2.0 Real-World Test – Combined – 5.7 Low Usage: 0-6 / Medium Usage 6-12 / High Usage 12+ |
| Towing Capacity Kg, unbraked/braked | 600 / 1,150 |
| Turning circle metres | 11.1 Small: 6-10m / Medium 10-12m / Large 12m+ |
| Warranty | 3 years / 100,000km8 years / 160,000km battery |
| Safety information | ANCAP Rating – 5 stars Rightcar.govt.nz – 5 Stars – PWS417 |
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