So we went to the 2008 Portland international autoshow last night... This was the 3rd time I have been to the show. This time we went during a week night. This is the best time to go. The lines are not big and most people head out around 8pm so you are left alone a lot! Most of the staff leaves too so there isn't a lot of opportunities to ask questions and those who are stuck closing the show for the night really can't answer deeper questions than where is the red one sitting.

There is was the Jeep Varsity. I wasn't really sure what to think of it. In real life it looks like the love child of a Compass and a vw bug (the new style). The sign said that it had some 300 ponies under the hood - more than this one needs but put a little 4cyl turbo diesel in there and the hybrid owners would cry! It wouldn't take much to make this the ultimate commuter with real off road ability. The more time I spend walking around it the more I liked it. I really wish I would have taken some photos of it. I was took intent on looking it over and plumb forgot that I had even brought the little pocket digital.

You know what... the thing wasn't even locked! :D interesting... they would have locked it if they really didn't want people looking more closely, right?!?!

Well....











they didn't leave the keys though... With a little high-MPG diesel motor this would be a hybrid slayer and that just what I did in my dreams last night. While I couldn't actually get to test drive it in the real world at least I got a good enough look to dream I did.

Here's some pics.... yuck!

http://images.google.com/images?q=jeep+varsity&hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

Not my type, but it just might steal away some of the Prious and Yaris types.

Could be my daily driver for my nearly 100 mile round trip daily commute.

Looks like a Jeeped Dodge Caliber. I would assume that if they actually build the thing it would be on the same platform as the Caliber, Patriot and Compass?

It looks really small... I like the look on the outside

I like the front but not the rear...not my cup of tea.

I wonder... how many clowns would fit?

brndnlee2074:

To answer your question... Not to chop. IMO, yuk!

brndnlee2074:

To answer your question... Not to chop. IMO, yuk!

Different strokes for different folks. Chop tops look more in place on rat rods, rat trucks, and street rods. But IMHO, it makes the Pat body look wider.

Different strokes for different folks. Chop tops look more in place on rat rods, rat trucks, and street rods. But IMHO, it makes the Pat body look wider.

absolutely......CHOP


:smiley_thumbs_up:

absolutely......CHOP


:smiley_thumbs_up:

yep, just gotta wait until there are too many Patriots on the road before I make mine stand out. Oh yeah and for me to get my wife distracted enough not to notice the ruckus in the garage. :doh:

Could be my daily driver for my nearly 100 mile round trip daily commute.


...WOW, and i thought i had it bad at 64 miles. lucky ME! :D

Different strokes for different folks. Chop tops look more in place on rat rods, rat trucks, and street rods. But IMHO, it makes the Pat body look wider.

The chop makes it look more like that new Scion XB of which I am not a fan.

http://www.scion.com/#xB360
It is hard to tell, but in real life this thing is incredibly short in stature (about the same height as a regular car).

chop depends on how tall you are, and how often you actually look up out the windshield.. lol [like stop lights etc]

Jeep invariably passes on the better of their concept vehicles...

http://conceptjeeps.blogspot.com/

Jeep invariably passes on the better of their concept vehicles...

http://conceptjeeps.blogspot.com/

The Patriot concept shown on the blog looked very much like our Pats.

Jeep invariably passes on the better of their concept vehicles...

http://conceptjeeps.blogspot.com/

I totally agree as you can see

As if the Compass wasn't a big enough disgrace to the Jeep name, they want to put another little monster on the road? It's a shame the Pat has the misfortune of being associated with the Compass. They should really just stick with what they're good at.

I can't believe Jeep is still carting this thing to Auto shows.