Jeep Patriot

A wholly American car. Unlike the Renegade and the new Compass, which are Italian, the Patriot was assembled at Belvidere, Illinois, on the old platform, right up to the end of production in December 2016. Ours are 2015, 2016 and 2017 — the last years, and also the best ones.

The engine is decided by the drivetrain. The 2.0 World Engine with 158 hp was offered only with front drive. The 2.4 World Engine with 172 hp is mandatory if the car is 4x4, and it is the one we hold most of. It is the same engine as in the Caliber, but by these years without the plastic manifold and throttle body problems of the early ones. It takes any LPG conversion perfectly.

The gearbox is the real trap and it runs against expectation. From 2014 to the end Jeep replaced the CVT with a conventional six-speed PowerTech automatic — a solid torque converter with nothing in common with the whine and overheating of the old unit. But the CVT stayed in one place: only on cars ordered with the Freedom Drive II off-road package. So the more off-road specification carries the weaker gearbox. If you are looking at a Patriot from these years, the six-speed automatic is the one you want.

The drivetrain is checked by looking inside the car, not at the listing. A large share of the American cars are front-drive only — in our stock the front-drive ones slightly outnumber the 4x4s. The tell is the T-shaped chrome lever between the seats that locks the four-wheel drive. If it is not there, the car is front-drive.

In Europe the Patriot was also sold with diesels — Volkswagen's 2.0 TDI or Mercedes' 2.2 CRD — but those stopped around 2011 to 2013. So every Patriot after 2015 in Bulgaria is petrol and almost certainly an American import. For the money, one of the last years with the 2.4 and the six-speed automatic is a simple, tough working car with cheap parts, many of them shared with Mitsubishi and Chrysler.