Discussion
I had one for two weeks (hire car) while in the states.
Hateful thing! Horrible plastic everywhere, VERY poor vision out of the windows and mirrors, no matter what I did I couldn't get the drivers seat comfortable.
Very cramped inside despite the car being relatively large.
In fact, I can't think of a single good point to make about it
Hateful thing! Horrible plastic everywhere, VERY poor vision out of the windows and mirrors, no matter what I did I couldn't get the drivers seat comfortable.
Very cramped inside despite the car being relatively large.
In fact, I can't think of a single good point to make about it
I had one in Canada for two weeks while on holiday. The example I drove only had five miles on it when I collected it from the rental desk. It was smaller inside than my B5 RS4 and struggled with our luggage (we're a family of four, with two young children), whereas the RS4 didn't. The interior quality isn't great, but then I can't imagine it is a particularly expensive car and so perhaps it is acceptable. It took to the sand around Wasaga fairly well and wasn't awful to drive on the roads, though wasn't great either. Overall, I didn't mind it and just viewed it as something completely different to anything I would ever otherwise drive.
We've sold quite a few used ones. They are what they are, reasonably well equipped, awful plastics but seem quite durable, diesel is VW 2.0 TDi 140 unit so they go quite well. They go through front suspension balljoints quite quickly but otherwise not bad if you need a compact 4x4 - look at them as a Subaru Forester alternative.
If you go for the mk2 Patriot with the 2.2 CRD the interior is much prettier as it benefitted from the FIAT takeover. We have a 2.0 CRD and are very happy with it, the interior is a bit basic but it's hard wearing and suits our needs.
There was an issue with the lower control arms when we bought ours but they were changed as part of the pre-sale inspection (at ~20k miles), if we have any issues we'll simply replace them for MOOG aftermarket items. We also had an issue with a worn wire to the alternator and trouble with air in the clutch system that was resolved by a fluid change (thanks to MDG in Portsmouth!!) Besides those we've had no issues in 40k miles of ownership and are very happy with the fuel economy (averaging 45mpg) and it performed fantastically during the bad winter a couple of years ago, however we did have snow tyres on which probably helped!
When we bought ours, we also looked at the CRV, X-trail and Forester which might be worth checking out. Main reason for choosing the Patriot was the boxy styling, price, rugged interior and the decent 4wd system which is explained here https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hwTvNzmywFk
There was an issue with the lower control arms when we bought ours but they were changed as part of the pre-sale inspection (at ~20k miles), if we have any issues we'll simply replace them for MOOG aftermarket items. We also had an issue with a worn wire to the alternator and trouble with air in the clutch system that was resolved by a fluid change (thanks to MDG in Portsmouth!!) Besides those we've had no issues in 40k miles of ownership and are very happy with the fuel economy (averaging 45mpg) and it performed fantastically during the bad winter a couple of years ago, however we did have snow tyres on which probably helped!
When we bought ours, we also looked at the CRV, X-trail and Forester which might be worth checking out. Main reason for choosing the Patriot was the boxy styling, price, rugged interior and the decent 4wd system which is explained here https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hwTvNzmywFk
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