I bought the jeep renegade because my job requires me to work regardless of weather conditions. Of course there wasn't much of any snow all winter in the Northeast since I got my renegade. The first snow for my renegade of course is a 2 feet plus snowstorm. Here's my experience and impression of my Renegade Latitude. First of all, I think I made the right choice going with the Latitude trim with cold weather package instead of a trailhawk without. (Of course, I should have waited for a TH with the package.) Who would have thought heated steering wheel actually useful. The visibility was great in the heart of the storm at night with snowfalls 2-3 inches per hour. Wiper de-icer worked great, lighting was adequate with the foglights. I tried the Auto mode at first, not a good idea. It may work good enough in light snow but not so good with 5-10 inchs on the road. 4WD lock was definitely needed. Stock tires are not the greatest. I think the stock tires that came with my girlfriend's Kia Soul have better traction in snow. I may look into buying a set of steel rims for snow tires or just better all weather. When I left for work, there was more than a foot of snow on the parking lot outside of my house. It would be impossible if I still had my 2 door. My renegade got stuck for a bit at the beginning but it plowed through the snow for the most part. The biggest problem with my Renegade in the snow is mostly transmission problems. The well-known rough shifting is really exaggerated in the snow. It's actually rough enough to break traction a bit which is not a problem on straight roads, but a bit scary on turns and on/off ramps. All in all, my renegade performed better than I expected in this weather. Did anyone else drove in this weather and have any problem?
Nice review! I've had great experiences driving my Trailhawk in the snow and on ice and wasn't sure how different or if it was different at all with the other models out there.
I live in the north east too. I have the latitude as well and we got about 12 inches of snow and it drove like a tank. I didnt have to use any of the 4x4 lock options. Ive also taken it out on some trails that have iced over and still havent had any problems. Ive been so impressed with my renegade, I really didnt expect it to handle so well.
