You already know what this post is about...yet another member sells the Jeep.
I traded the Jeep, January 2 of this year. It was a great vehicle, had some truly amazing times in it, but it was simply time for a change. I'm not going to be one to bash the Patriot, say it is a terrible vehicle, or that it "sucks," because none of that would be true.
When I first saw the Patriot I was actually shopping for a used CR-V. I don't know, maybe something about "
Jeep" seemed cooler than a Honda CR-V to a 15 year old boy. So, the Jeep caught my eye and I went home with it that day. I remember being so thrilled to own a "Jeep." Somewhere early on in my ownership I found this site and it completely changed how I viewed the Patriot. From some members, it made me hate it as I heard people call it a "fake Jeep" or not a "real Jeep", but, there were the other members, members that inspired me to make my Patriot something truly unique. The past few years of owning the Patriot have been a journey. In my Patriot I did my first ever off-roading, first ever donuts, first ever drag racing, among over "firsts" of driving. I also put a competition class stereo system in my Patriot. I know everyone can brag about their system and say their's is the best, but honestly, I know that no matter what, the system I had in my Patriot will always be my favorite that I have ever heard. Next, came the lift. Those of you that have been on the forums since I first joined know that I always wanted to lift the Jeep since I first joined the site. Having the opportunity to lift the Jeep was amazing. I loved the way my Jeep looked with the big tires, off-road wheels, and finally, being able to sit higher than a minivan driver. I'll say lifting my Patriot was the best and worst decision of my Patriot ownership. From the best side of it, lifting my Jeep created in my opinion a truly amazing looking Jeep by any standard, even when comparing it to other Jeep models. I loved the way it rode, and the performance of it off road was even more amazing. As far as it being the worst decision of my Patriot ownership, the reliability of my Jeep seemed to be called more into question after lifting it. I only ever went off road with it a hand full of times, but that seemed to be too much for my Jeep. A year into having the lift and those short trips, my Jeep needed extensive repairs. I had to do about a thousand dollars of suspension repairs such as replacing the tie rods, rear upper control arm bushings, and ball joints. I understand that off roading can cause damage, and I am not placing the blame on anything, but, simply stating my experiences. The next bump in the road with my Patriot was the air bag recall. Jeep issues a recall stating the airbag might not go off in a crash or might deploy incorrectly in the event of an accident, not good. Oh, and there was no fix for it, I value my safety so this recall really did worry me. I would say the final nail in the coffin would be my gas tank breaking down. After trying everything short of replacing the entire tank, no matter what, I could not get the tank to accept over a half gallon of gas without shutting the pump off. So, at this stage in the ownership I was left with a decision, pour more money into the Patriot to fix the car I love, or trade it and get a vehicle that I can grow to love.
It was not an easy decision, deciding to trade the Patriot. I decided to do so because of the financial sense it made to me. My Patriot was paid for and the trade in value was around 8 grand according to the dealer since because of the recall it would be sent straight to a wholesale auction rather being sold by the dealer. At first I thought that was a ridiculously low offer, especially after everything I had done to my Patriot. I got to thinking though bout long term. Yes, before I go on, I will clearly state that some members on here have had their CVT transmission last upwards of 200k+ miles. However, some members have not been as lucky. Again, some members have had no problems with their CV boots/axles, while other have not been as lucky. Some members who are stock have had problems with these, while some members who are lifted have not had problems with these, and vice versa. That being said, given that my Patriot was lifted with bigger tires, I figured that I was at higher than average risk to have issues with these components and more. That's when I started doing the math. Around 1K for a new gas tank and install, around 6k for a new transmission, and around 2k for new CV boots/drive axels. That's a total of 9k in repairs. Obviously, that is looking at things from a worst case perspective, but, it's not a risk I was willing to assume. I very well could have fixed the tank and drove the Patriot for 100K more miles and had none of those problems, or I could have been driving it to work next week and the transmission explode. So, given these risks, and the fact that any of these potential repairs would occur out of warranty and out of my pocket, it occurred to me that it made more financial sense for me to take the equity I still had in the Jeep and roll it into a new vehicle that I could be sure would be reliable, or, at least would be covered under a manufacture warranty with any repairs at no cost to me bumper to bumper for the next three years 36k miles and powertrain for the lifetime of the vehicle.
So, final opinions on the Patriot you ask? I loved it as a vehicle. It was a great, fun vehicle. For the money you cannot hardly beat it. I am also very sure that it will be a great deal when it goes to auction and it will make a very great deal of a car for someone wanting a sweet Jeep. I didn't get rid of the Patriot out of hate or anger, I got rid of it out of logical reasoning and rationality. It actually makes me sad to hear that the Patriot is no longer going to be made by FCA. Yes, it was far from a perfect car, hence why I got rid of it, but I do not regret buying the Patriot or any of the amazing mods I did to it.
If you've made it this far, wow. Now would be a good time to tell what vehicle I traded the Patriot for I guess! Drumroll please?? I traded by Patriot for a 2017 EcoBoost Premium Mustang with the Performance Package. I love it so far! It is so much quicker than the Patriot! lol. I did miss my Patriot when we got snow this past weekend, but I am so looking forward to making new memories in my Mustang. If anyone is interested in pics of it I can post some.
Now onto the question, will I stay active on the forums? Well, you can't exactly say I have been active these last few months, even while I have still owned the Patriot. So, don't expect me to be on here every day, but I will try and check back from time to time and help how I can.
Concluding this post, I'd like to thank all of the members of this forum that helped me make my Patriot the vehicle it was. Without this forum I would not have been able to make it the Jeep I did. Many, many members helped me along the way, but I would like to thank two in particular. Creation and AroundInCirlces , you guys were amazing. Bradley, when it came to the inside of my Jeep mods with the stereo, you were my go-to person and your willingness to answer all my countless (and probably annoying questions) was truly great. Karl, your Jeep was my inspiration for lifting my Patriot. I saw you lifted Jeep and everything you did with it and it truly inspired me, thanks for always being willing to answer my countless off-road modding oriented questions. Again, there are many others that I am sure I could thank as well, but I wanted to give an honorable mention to those two members. Also, Rosso and 480, you guys were great to me as well.
Thanks you guys, keep making this the best vehicle forum out there.
This concludes my post. This is the end of the Jeep.
I traded the Jeep, January 2 of this year. It was a great vehicle, had some truly amazing times in it, but it was simply time for a change. I'm not going to be one to bash the Patriot, say it is a terrible vehicle, or that it "sucks," because none of that would be true.
When I first saw the Patriot I was actually shopping for a used CR-V. I don't know, maybe something about "
Jeep" seemed cooler than a Honda CR-V to a 15 year old boy. So, the Jeep caught my eye and I went home with it that day. I remember being so thrilled to own a "Jeep." Somewhere early on in my ownership I found this site and it completely changed how I viewed the Patriot. From some members, it made me hate it as I heard people call it a "fake Jeep" or not a "real Jeep", but, there were the other members, members that inspired me to make my Patriot something truly unique. The past few years of owning the Patriot have been a journey. In my Patriot I did my first ever off-roading, first ever donuts, first ever drag racing, among over "firsts" of driving. I also put a competition class stereo system in my Patriot. I know everyone can brag about their system and say their's is the best, but honestly, I know that no matter what, the system I had in my Patriot will always be my favorite that I have ever heard. Next, came the lift. Those of you that have been on the forums since I first joined know that I always wanted to lift the Jeep since I first joined the site. Having the opportunity to lift the Jeep was amazing. I loved the way my Jeep looked with the big tires, off-road wheels, and finally, being able to sit higher than a minivan driver. I'll say lifting my Patriot was the best and worst decision of my Patriot ownership. From the best side of it, lifting my Jeep created in my opinion a truly amazing looking Jeep by any standard, even when comparing it to other Jeep models. I loved the way it rode, and the performance of it off road was even more amazing. As far as it being the worst decision of my Patriot ownership, the reliability of my Jeep seemed to be called more into question after lifting it. I only ever went off road with it a hand full of times, but that seemed to be too much for my Jeep. A year into having the lift and those short trips, my Jeep needed extensive repairs. I had to do about a thousand dollars of suspension repairs such as replacing the tie rods, rear upper control arm bushings, and ball joints. I understand that off roading can cause damage, and I am not placing the blame on anything, but, simply stating my experiences. The next bump in the road with my Patriot was the air bag recall. Jeep issues a recall stating the airbag might not go off in a crash or might deploy incorrectly in the event of an accident, not good. Oh, and there was no fix for it, I value my safety so this recall really did worry me. I would say the final nail in the coffin would be my gas tank breaking down. After trying everything short of replacing the entire tank, no matter what, I could not get the tank to accept over a half gallon of gas without shutting the pump off. So, at this stage in the ownership I was left with a decision, pour more money into the Patriot to fix the car I love, or trade it and get a vehicle that I can grow to love.
It was not an easy decision, deciding to trade the Patriot. I decided to do so because of the financial sense it made to me. My Patriot was paid for and the trade in value was around 8 grand according to the dealer since because of the recall it would be sent straight to a wholesale auction rather being sold by the dealer. At first I thought that was a ridiculously low offer, especially after everything I had done to my Patriot. I got to thinking though bout long term. Yes, before I go on, I will clearly state that some members on here have had their CVT transmission last upwards of 200k+ miles. However, some members have not been as lucky. Again, some members have had no problems with their CV boots/axles, while other have not been as lucky. Some members who are stock have had problems with these, while some members who are lifted have not had problems with these, and vice versa. That being said, given that my Patriot was lifted with bigger tires, I figured that I was at higher than average risk to have issues with these components and more. That's when I started doing the math. Around 1K for a new gas tank and install, around 6k for a new transmission, and around 2k for new CV boots/drive axels. That's a total of 9k in repairs. Obviously, that is looking at things from a worst case perspective, but, it's not a risk I was willing to assume. I very well could have fixed the tank and drove the Patriot for 100K more miles and had none of those problems, or I could have been driving it to work next week and the transmission explode. So, given these risks, and the fact that any of these potential repairs would occur out of warranty and out of my pocket, it occurred to me that it made more financial sense for me to take the equity I still had in the Jeep and roll it into a new vehicle that I could be sure would be reliable, or, at least would be covered under a manufacture warranty with any repairs at no cost to me bumper to bumper for the next three years 36k miles and powertrain for the lifetime of the vehicle.
So, final opinions on the Patriot you ask? I loved it as a vehicle. It was a great, fun vehicle. For the money you cannot hardly beat it. I am also very sure that it will be a great deal when it goes to auction and it will make a very great deal of a car for someone wanting a sweet Jeep. I didn't get rid of the Patriot out of hate or anger, I got rid of it out of logical reasoning and rationality. It actually makes me sad to hear that the Patriot is no longer going to be made by FCA. Yes, it was far from a perfect car, hence why I got rid of it, but I do not regret buying the Patriot or any of the amazing mods I did to it.
If you've made it this far, wow. Now would be a good time to tell what vehicle I traded the Patriot for I guess! Drumroll please?? I traded by Patriot for a 2017 EcoBoost Premium Mustang with the Performance Package. I love it so far! It is so much quicker than the Patriot! lol. I did miss my Patriot when we got snow this past weekend, but I am so looking forward to making new memories in my Mustang. If anyone is interested in pics of it I can post some.
Now onto the question, will I stay active on the forums? Well, you can't exactly say I have been active these last few months, even while I have still owned the Patriot. So, don't expect me to be on here every day, but I will try and check back from time to time and help how I can.
Concluding this post, I'd like to thank all of the members of this forum that helped me make my Patriot the vehicle it was. Without this forum I would not have been able to make it the Jeep I did. Many, many members helped me along the way, but I would like to thank two in particular. Creation and AroundInCirlces , you guys were amazing. Bradley, when it came to the inside of my Jeep mods with the stereo, you were my go-to person and your willingness to answer all my countless (and probably annoying questions) was truly great. Karl, your Jeep was my inspiration for lifting my Patriot. I saw you lifted Jeep and everything you did with it and it truly inspired me, thanks for always being willing to answer my countless off-road modding oriented questions. Again, there are many others that I am sure I could thank as well, but I wanted to give an honorable mention to those two members. Also, Rosso and 480, you guys were great to me as well.
Thanks you guys, keep making this the best vehicle forum out there.
This concludes my post. This is the end of the Jeep.
