Simple, But Not Cheap

[A Horse With No Name]

Sounds to me like you need to pull the trigger son...and quit all of this test driving. You've got ME test driving now...test drove a nice used 50,000 mile Boxster the other day...almost, almost, almost pulled the trigger.

[ocnblu]

Boxters are nice, so are Caymans (Caymen?)

Sawr a new Compass today with tan leather interior. Looks nice. Can't get past the exterior design of the Compass, however. The Patriot is very Jeepy, and that's a good thing, imo.

After tomorrow evening, I'll know if the trigger is to be pulled. I went to visit it today again. They have it parked way out back.

[Blake Noble]

It's good to know that I haven't been the only person around here poking around at the Patriot's front door ...

[ocnblu]

Oh, I've been poking around its back door, too. It has decent room back there for camping gear and such. The Fiesta was good because it was a wide open hatchback. The Cruze is a sedan with a good-size trunk that's hard to access.

The Jeep Patriot has 70% US parts content, plus 18% Mexican (transmission), that's 88% NA content. Cruze has 60% US content, with the transmission being made in Austria. I am for keeping Americans at work, and Mexicans at work in their homeland.

It's got heated seats and mirrors, remote start, sunroof, 368 watt Boston Acoustics stereo and a whole bunch of other stuff, for a 25,405 MSRP. An Equinox, Terrain or Escape with those features would be $5k more, at least. And it is an IIHS Top Safety Pick, so it is not giving up anything to the others in safety.

I love GM. Maybe a little less than before they shut down Pontiac, but I still love 'em. They just do not make a vehicle like this, a small crossover with top all-weather and all-terrain capability in its class, with excellent value and projected good resale value for the class. Jeep has made so many improvements to this vehicle since its introduction, I've been impressed.

Edited November 30, 2011 by ocnblu

[ocnblu]

Gun went off.

[Blake Noble]

Oh, I've been poking around its back door, too. It has decent room back there for camping gear and such. The Fiesta was good because it was a wide open hatchback. The Cruze is a sedan with a good-size trunk that's hard to access.

That's one reason why I haven't owned or considered many compact sedans myself: size and design tends to dampen practicality a bit. For smaller vehicles, a hatch or wagon body style makes more sense.

The Jeep Patriot has 70% US parts content, plus 18% Mexican (transmission), that's 88% NA content. Cruze has 60% US content, with the transmission being made in Austria. I am for keeping Americans at work, and Mexicans at work in their homeland.

Hmmm ... I can't remember the North American parts content of the Challenger, but I do know most ChryCo models do have it in high percentages.

It's got heated seats and mirrors, remote start, sunroof, 468 watt Boston Acoustics stereo and a whole bunch of other stuff, for a 25,405 MSRP. An Equinox, Terrain or Escape with those features would be $5k more, at least. And it is an IIHS Top Safety Pick, so it is not giving up anything to the others in safety.

The few Patriots I've checked out were all five-speed, four-wheel drive with either a set of steel rims or 17" alloys. Sticker price was about $19k and none of them lasted very long.

Out of the other three vehicles you mentioned, the Terrain would be the only one that I could see myself giving a passing glance to. The Equinox is too much of a soft-roader for my liking and the Escape is just plain boring.

I love GM. Maybe a little less than before they shut down Pontiac, but I still love 'em. They just do not make a vehicle like this, a small crossover with top all-weather and all-terrain capability in its class, with excellent value and projected good resale value for the class. Jeep has made so many improvements to this vehicle since its introduction, I've been impressed.

I hope GMC does something a little more with the next-generation Terrain. The exterior styling is mostly there, but the rest of the parts and bits are just standard Equinox fare.

These days, I find more reasons to support Chrysler than I do GM. With GM it's been too many broken promises, too many missed chances, too few interesting products.

Gun went off.

Well, you know what you gotta do now.

Edited November 29, 2011 by black-knight

[ocnblu]

"Cleanup on aisle 7 please..."

[A Horse With No Name]

Congrats!

[ocnblu]

Thanks, Chris.