off road capability - Patriot vs competitors

DM6156 · Feb 13, 2009

So I was curious just how off road capable the Patriot was against some of it's competitors. I did some searching on various sites looking for 2009 model years, specifically for the following data

ground clearance
approach angle
departure angle
breakover angle

I then ranked in order from 1 to 9 based on the criteria above.

See the attached screenshot from excel

If anyone has any other vehicles to add, find the data and I will add them in. Perhaps we can come up with a way to get the excel on the forums as a sticky to showcase the Patriots off road capability.

- Dan M

Stew · Feb 13, 2009

The thing is, with the exception of the Subarus maybe, those are all more expensive, bigger and in a different class from the Patriot. your true comparison should be vehicles like the the Rav4, CRV, Escape, XL7, etc, etc. As for price, the Wrangler X would be a better comprison and it has far less ground clearance than the Rubicon, May throw in a Liberty, Sport and Limited since both have different suspension, at least ground clearancewise, but that is still a V6. Neat though, just would like to see more comparisons with direct competitors, IE small crossover SUVs in the high teen/low 20k price range.

APT · Feb 13, 2009

One interesting point is that the FDI (and 2WD) can have 3 different tire sizes which directly impacts ride height/ground clearance. The 2009 Patriot brochure lists ground clearance as 8.0/9.0 with a footnote that says in regards to the 9.0" measurement: *When equipped with Freedom-Drive II Off-Road Group. Standard measurements are with P215/60R17 tires." So, anyone with the 215/65R17 tires as part of the Sport trim with wheel/tire group should have 8.4" of ground clearance. One more point to back up the claim that FDI springs/spacer is only 0.5" more than FDI/2WD.

DM6156 · Feb 13, 2009

I wasn't comparing to vehicles in the same class, but to some of the more "popular" off road vehicles and those vehicles advertised for their off road capability. When I go fishing/hiking/camping in the north GA/TN and NC mountains, I see a lot of jeep wranglers, subarus (mostly bikers and kayakers) and toyotas. I have yet to see a hummer (perhaps real hummer owners are not really the outdoor types and buy for status or show?) off pavement (except the military ones as I am told that some ranger training takes place there).

I should add land rover and the other Jeeps. I did see an off road group at a campground. It was comprised of mostly land rovers but there were some jeeps mixed in.

I wanted to showcase the Patriots off road capability.

- Dan M

rocal · Feb 13, 2009

I belong to an off-roading group which contains a hard core of extreme off-roaders. For their weekend activities they use totally customised personal spec hybrids with Detroit air-lockers, variable lifts, extendable snorkels, remote-controlled winches, the whole works. These are vehicles that double up as submarine, mole, survival pod, everything.
Now forget just about everything I've written so far. What do these fellers drive every day? To work, to the pub, to to their children' parents' evening, to church, to the mall...Almost without exception it's some Land Rover or other ('cos this is England) or some Jeep. One guy has got a 'Bishi.
In DM61 56's list I'd have definitely put the Land Rover Freelander 2 (LR2 ?). In this class it's the market beater. None of the others can come close in terms of off-road capability, not even the Pat FDII. But then, it costs literally thousands more to buy, so it isn't really a fair comparison. There are some in the market-place that you'd be crazy to consider. The BMW X3 is so bad that I'd be worried about getting it out of a rainy parking lot if there wasn't a tarmacced surface. Volvo also have a "soft-roader" that gets great reviews over here, but once again you'd need to be a banker who's hung on to his bonus to consider one.
That's because these club people (whose opinion counts for bucket-loads in this area) know that in the Get-You-Home Stakes there ain't no other serious horses. If you want something that's hard to stop and you live in either the U.S or the U.K ('cos infrastructural support counts for a lot , doesn't it?) then it's got to be either Jeep or Landy.
If Lamborghini bring out the "best four-by-four-by-far" then what's the point when you get stuck up some Scottish hillside on a fishing trip and you need a cheap air-ticket and a visa in your passport in order to pick up the thirty dollar spare that you want?

Rocal

Stew · Feb 13, 2009

DM6156 said:
I wasn't comparing to vehicles in the same class, but to some of the more "popular" off road vehicles and those vehicles advertised for their off road capability. When I go fishing/hiking/camping in the north GA/TN and NC mountains, I see a lot of jeep wranglers, subarus (mostly bikers and kayakers) and toyotas. I have yet to see a hummer (perhaps real hummer owners are not really the outdoor types and buy for status or show?) off pavement (except the military ones as I am told that some ranger training takes place there).

I should add land rover and the other Jeeps. I did see an off road group at a campground. It was comprised of mostly land rovers but there were some jeeps mixed in.

I wanted to showcase the Patriots off road capability.

- Dan M

Hmmm, when you said competitors in your post, i thought you meant direct competitors to the Patriot, oh well. In that case why not throw som Range Rovers and Land rovers in there and even do some older Wranglers, Cherorkees, K5 bnlazers, Broncos, Bronco IIs, etc.

DM6156 · Feb 14, 2009

I don't think anyone is going to buy a patriot for a rock crawler or extreme off roader. But I'm sure there are a lot of people like me and others here who bought their Patriot because of factors like cost (value), looks, fuel economy, features, jeep reputation.

I just wanted to show some of the off road (bad weather?) features of a stock patriot. I've been out fishing when some major storms blew in forcing a quick exit. I have seen bone dry dirt roads turn to wet sticky muck, down limbs, branches even down trees (that is why I carry an axe when I go fishing/camping now). Some of the places I go fishing have stream crossings and there is a potential for some higher than normal water levels.

My old dakota never had issues and I'm sure my new Patriot will not either.

I'll add some land rovers, some pickups and some other jeep models. And some older vehicles like the cherokee classic, bronco, blazers, toyota land cruiser (saw one on my commute home today)

I don't think many people really know much about the Patriot and it's a shame. I have noticed people staring at me in mine just like they did when I first bought my avenger. Perhaps it's the blue color that stands out. my avenger is marathon blue and the patriot is surf blue.

If anyone has any other ideas for vehicles, please let me know. I would greatly appreciate if you can compile the necessary data.

- Dan M

bryan901 · Feb 14, 2009

I've posted a couple of times about the '09 4-cylinder Suzuki Grand Vitara - still at the top of my list but haven't ruled out the Patriot.

off road capability - Patriot vs competitors

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