Now that Japan has said kankei nai ne (who cares, not worth the trouble) and opened their cash for clunkers program to American imports, even if they did not go through mandatory homologation, and even if they weren’t rated by the Japanese government to get 35.5 mpg or better, which car is the first to qualify? You are looking at it – very closely. It’s a, it’s a, it’s a …
It’s a SUV! To be exact, it’s a Jeep Patriot. Chrysler Japan announced that it will roll out on Feb. 1 the first American vehicle eligible for the Japanese government subsidy for new-car purchases. The new Jeep Patriot sport utility vehicle (some might debate that moniker) will get 10.6km on a liter of gasoline. Says the Nikkei: “Although the government relaxed the eligibility requirements for imported vehicles, the new Patriot would qualify even under the previous standards.” See? Where there is a will, there is no need to make a big fuss.
According to the Nikkei, the Jeep will do its patriotic duty with a 2.3-liter, 4-cylinder, 16-valve engine. The suggested retail price starts at 2.91 million yen. That’s 2.66 million yen for you, if you scrap your 13 year or older vehicle. Now let’s see, how many will change hands to help the trade imbalance?
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Easy answer…not enough!
“10.6km on a liter of gasoline”
Us fans of the metric system but with no math skills are still confused! Is that about 7 l/100 km?
That vehicle is a piece of crap. I hope the Japanese avoid it like one would the plague. The Toyota RA-4 and Nissan X-Trail are starting to look good.
Giving Cash for Japanese Clunkers money toward the purchase of these things still won’t help. The Japanese consumers have had superior domestic product for years, why would they buy a Jeep Patriot? I do like the idea that some American cars will be included in this program though, because now when those cars are avoided, U.S. automakers can’t use the excuse that they weren’t allowed to participate. It will be even more proof that what our domestics are putting out there isn’t good enough.
No, it’s about 7 liters per 74.2 km.
A little more than 25 miles per gallon. 25.3328076922 miles to be exact.
About 3 miles per gallon more than my ’94 Crown Vic gets on the turnpike running 75mph or thereabouts.
It’s about 25 US MPG, 30 Imperial MPG, or 9,4l/100km. So not particularly good.
I wouldn’t be surprised if someone from the Japanese govt or a Japanese mfr quietly arranged for a handful of US vehicles, including a Patriot or two, to be purchased in order to demonstrate that there’s no institutional effort to prevent US imports under the program.
I know of no Patriots with a 2.3L engine. They either have a 2.4L or 2.0L World engine, or a 2.0L VW TDI.
The Jeep Patriot has seen some significant issues with body seal leaks recently because of poorly-fitting body panels and Chrysler’s trademark lack of care in assembly. Not just in sunroofs either, there are reports of tubing disconnects at door panels, overhead dome lights that squirt water if tall objects hit the roof accidentally, and poorly-closing rear hatches that allow water in unless shut perfectly dead-center.
It’s got so bad that I got spooked from even considering one. Almost literally every other comment on the Jeep Patriot enthusiasts’ forum is about some kind of interior water leak.
Methinks this is not the kind of vehicle you’d want in tsunami-plagued Japan.
I certainly hope we can bring over better products than this to sell in the Japanese market. The Patriot looks cool and has a lot of good points but it’s just no match for the JDM makers.
I thought C4C was supposed to get the clunkers off the streets, not add to them!
WHOOOHOOOO
Another WINNER for CHRAPSLER…
Always thrills me to know.. that Japanese are going to think of Jeeps.. (especially this one) as gutless POS.
Meantime…
AMERICANS DO TOO!!
HAHAH!
Us fans of the metric system but with no math skills are still confused! Is that about 7 l/100 km?
Use google
http://www.google.com/search?q=L%2Fkm+to+mpg&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:el:official&client=firefox-a
One reason to justify the Patriot’s existence is the availability of a single extra-low gear. That makes it one of two cuv’s in North America with that feature. But Japan has all sorts of very compact suv’s and similarly capable 4wd vans, with full low ranges, turbo diesels etc. So the Patriot has nothing positive to distinguish itself from Japanese products in Japan.
Why a Jeep Patriot? It’s not even that fuel-efficient.
Metric fuel economy is expressed in l/100 km. That makes it easier to compare apples with apples, unlike mpg or km/l. A car that does 3.0 l/100 km is three times more efficient than a car that does 9 l/100 km.
10.6 km per litre is 9.4 l/100 km, or about 24.9 US mpg. Which is not very good for a car that has a 2.3 litre engine.
My wife’s auto Honda Jazz (Fit) currently averages 5.6 l/100 km over the 14,000 km we’ve done in the year we’ve owned it. It’s easy to tell that our car is nearly twice as efficient as this heap of junk.