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How Capable is the Patriot Off-Road?

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#21 ·
Ignatz said:
My FWD Patriot climbed a snowy hill that a Blazer couldn't handle. How? Better tires. He was a kid and had a lot less experience in snow, too. I'll admit the hill had me worried cuz it was a tough one with no place to build momentum.
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Your story reminded me of one of my favorite Patriot vs. snow videos.
Watch at the end how vehicles pass the Pat seemingly with ease.

 
#23 · (Edited)
Tyler-98-W68 said:
Tires make ALL the difference in the world. Doesn't matter if 4 wheels are powered if they have hockey pucks for tires you aren't going anywhere, a FWD or RWD vehicle with good snow tires will be easier to drive around in deep wet snow like that
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Wet snow is the worst because it plugs the treads. That's why the Patriot in the video is going sideways. I spent a miserable afternoon in a bilzzard in our old FWD Saturn with all-season radials. I was longing for my Patriot (which is also FWD) but more than that I was longing for its tires. The situation was an interstate where traffic had slowed to a crawl. There were various 4wd vehicles going sideways (as was I) because we were on a graded curve designed for 60mph -- essentially we were all trying to creep across a hill sideways! In that situation 4wd may have been marginally worse than FWD because because with 4wd there was another axle capable of breaking loose. That's what was happening in the video above: the rear tires were breaking loose and gravity was doing the rest. Oh what a difference snow tires make!

Seems the driver in the video was doing all he could, but he just had the wrong rubber under him. 4wd might have pulled him straight up the hill, even with those tires, but on that angle he's doomed.

Also note, the cars passing in the video were going down the hill.
 
#24 ·
Tyler-98-W68 said:
Tires make ALL the difference in the world. Doesn't matter if 4 wheels are powered if they have hockey pucks for tires you aren't going anywhere, a FWD or RWD vehicle with good snow tires will be easier to drive around in deep wet snow like that
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^This, a couple years ago after a blizzard I got stuck behind an idiot in an AWD Audi RS4 with 4 nearly bald (about enough tread to pass inspection and nothing more) summer performance tires that couldn't figure why he couldn't make it up the hill (or go anywhere for that matter, just sitting there and spinning all 4 tires in either forward or reverse). I probably could have pushed him up with the Patriot, but he seemed like the kind of a**-hole who would try to sue me if I scratched his bumper so I didn't try, eventually a gang of myself and the others stuck behind him dug the snow down to clear pavement and pushed him (the car couldn't move on its own at all even with nearly clear pavement that hard summer compound might as well have been smooth plastic, only the 5 or 6 of us pushing got it to move) into the nearest driveway to clear the road.
 
#26 ·
Tyler-98-W68 said:
Tires make ALL the difference in the world. Doesn't matter if 4 wheels are powered if they have hockey pucks for tires you aren't going anywhere, a FWD or RWD vehicle with good snow tires will be easier to drive around in deep wet snow like that
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Truth. When I was crashing couches in CO to snowboard, we'd take my Focus with good snowtires over my buddies F150 FX4 with crap tires. Easily made it over Vail, Loveland, and Berthoud all when it was dumping snow. (We were the last car onto Berthoud pass the one time before they closed it.)

Image
 
#27 ·
For kicks i paused that snow video where it clearly showed the front pass. tire. thread, took a snap shot and then enhanced with photo shop.
Unfortunately i can't post the picture here because i'm currently without a picture hosting site due to Photobucket now demanding a ransom for keeping my photos embedded in old forum threads.:mad:

As we all surmised, yep those were street tires and sure looked like they needed to be retired.
In addition i'd like to know if the driver left ESC alone, partially on or full off not that any of those ESC settings would of helped with those tires.
 
#29 ·
CraveSingletrack said:
Junk tires, poor line choice, didn't air down at all.
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No for Junk tires, (Brand new geolandar a/t, got them installed earlier that week)
No for poor line choice (there were 2 options and both were tried. The option up the center would have been ground clearance and going too far off the left or right would have been entirely off the trail with a chance to hit a tree)
Yes for didn't air down (no air compressor available)

Based on the fact I was the driver.
 
#30 · (Edited)
ColoradoMan said:
No for Junk tires, (Brand new geolandar a/t, got them installed earlier that week)
No for poor line choice (there were 2 options and both were tried. The option up the center would have been ground clearance and going too far off the left or right would have been entirely off the trail with a chance to hit a tree)
Yes for didn't air down (no air compressor available)

Based on the fact I was the driver.
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Geolandar are a pretty meh AT tire, especially on that large of a wheel. So maybe not poor tires, you had meh tires. When they climbed this in the YJ he said "I think it'll make it even though it has the wrong tires." It had Geolanadar ATs on it.

You went into most of the attempts pretty dang tentatively given that a vehicle like a Patriot needs momentum with it's crap crawl ratio. I'm guessing that's because it wasn't yours, but most attempts at this hill are much more aggressive. I'm also still not convinced ESC was off. I stand by line choice (and driver inputs.)

And we've confirmed no air-ing down.
 
#31 ·
CraveSingletrack said:
Geolandar are a pretty meh AT tire, especially on that large of a wheel. So maybe not poor tires, you had meh tires. When they climbed this in the YJ he said "I think it'll make it even though it has the wrong tires." It had Geolanadar ATs on it.

You went into most of the attempts pretty dang tentatively given that a vehicle like a Patriot needs momentum with it's crap crawl ratio. I'm guessing that's because it wasn't yours, but most attempts at this hill are much more aggressive. I'm also still not convinced ESC was off. I stand by line choice (and driver inputs.)

And we've confirmed no air-ing down.
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I think you should go make some videos offroad and show your offroad skills, again tires don't mean anything when there is other limiting factors. Is this a Meh tire?






I had those on my patriot, they were way too heavy (but thats another debate) but even with these tires I could go through more stuff (deep mud & snow) but hill climbs on gravel weren't greatly improved. Point is my tires never limited me once I had "proper" ones

its not a patriot, but a cherokee trailhawk but watch these videos, same hill same terrain 2 different tires, we both made it up the gravel hill, my cherokee had an easier time to make it up based on my tires, and these were all season junk vs falken wildpeak AT tires



Again at the end of the day there was nothing that patriot was going to do to make it up, and the owner on this board knows how to offroad, there are more limiting factors than a tire choice that affects Patriot's & Compass' Offroad
 
#32 · (Edited)
Tyler-98-W68 said:
I think you should go make some videos offroad and show your offroad skills, again tires don't mean anything when there is other limiting factors. Is this a Meh tire?
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Yeah I'll get right on that...

Tyler-98-W68 said:
its not a patriot, but a cherokee trailhawk but watch these videos, same hill same terrain 2 different tires, we both made it up the gravel hill, my cherokee had an easier time to make it up based on my tires, and these were all season junk vs falken wildpeak AT tires
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You realize that this part of your post is actually backing up the point I'm making right?

Tyler-98-W68 said:
Again at the end of the day there was nothing that patriot was going to do to make it up, and the owner on this board knows how to offroad, there are more limiting factors than a tire choice that affects Patriot's & Compass' Offroad
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Again, my original premise didn't state that he'd make it all the way. I simply stated factors that limited the run in the video.
 
#33 ·
CraveSingletrack said:
Geolandar are a pretty meh AT tire, especially on that large of a wheel. So maybe not poor tires, you had meh tires. When they climbed this in the YJ he said "I think it'll make it even though it has the wrong tires." It had Geolanadar ATs on it.

You went into most of the attempts pretty dang tentatively given that a vehicle like a Patriot needs momentum with it's crap crawl ratio. I'm guessing that's because it wasn't yours, but most attempts at this hill are much more aggressive. I'm also still not convinced ESC was off. I stand by line choice (and driver inputs.)

And we've confirmed no air-ing down.
Click to expand...
I tried that hill 10 different times with a few tries at a good running start. Just the whoopdie dos took out the speed because the brake locks were too slow to activate. It is my vehicle btw. Nobody could have made it up that hill in the stock patriot. ESC is turned off when you put it in 4low.
 
#34 · (Edited)
ColoradoMan said:
I tried that hill 10 different times with a few tries at a good running start. Just the whoopdie dos took out the speed because the brake locks were too slow to activate. It is my vehicle btw. Nobody could have made it up that hill in the stock patriot. ESC is turned off when you put it in 4low.
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It's my understanding that ESC is partially off in 4low, not fully. (Based on threads on here, one you commented in thinking the same thing.)

I never stated a Patriot would get all the way up, but I do think one could get further with some adjustments. You only singled out one small part of my response.
 
Discussion starter · #35 ·
Hi all, thanks for your responses! I got back from Scotland several days ago and I have to say, it was a pleasure driving the Patriot for my holiday there! In nine days, I clocked up around 2,200 miles, driving all over the country which I thoroughly recommend visiting to any American/Non-UK citizen here. I had top of the range Michelin tyres the last owner put on the car (albeit with a tread around 3-4mm which is getting low, but still above the UK legal limit of 1.6mm.) Either way, the jeep handled roads pretty well, and turns corners great (despite my tracking being WAY out as I found out earlier, but more about this on a new thread I will post after), the MPG increased to a fantastic 52.6 MAX when doing around 50-55MPH on-road for long stretches, and I even took the patriot off-road (just a tad.) I took it down two tracks which were grass with muddy, rutted sections, and the jeep waded through this with no trouble. I used to own a VW polo and that got stuck once or twice in the tiniest bit of mud. The Jeep didn't skid or nothing, I left it in 2WD and it did great. I went down one particular road which was hammered with potholes, and that was fine too. It was comfortable to drive, and it was easy going. I got around 420 miles driving after I topped up fully with diesel.

Happy I bought a patriot, it drives well, looks solid, is not the gas guzzler people I know thought it would be and it has the ability to get me through a bit of mud here and there. Now to post a new thread on my tracking issue!!!!
 
#37 ·
Wifey & I visited Scotland a few years ago. We took 2 weeks. The first week we traveled around staying in B&Bs each night and liked Skye so much we stayed an extra day there. The second week we stayed in a cottage near Keith and day-tripped that area.

I noticed the sticker on your tailgate: "Live Free or Die." That is the state motto of my state of New Hampshire. :) Those words are on all our license plates (except hearses).
 
#38 ·
PatriotUK said:
Image
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Wifey & I visited Scotland a few years ago. We took 2 weeks. The first week we traveled around staying in B&Bs each night and liked Skye so much we stayed an extra day there. The second week we stayed in a cottage near Keith and day-tripped that area.

I noticed the sticker on your tailgate: "Live Free or Die." That is the state motto of my state of New Hampshire. :) Those words are on all our license plates (except hearses).
 
Discussion starter · #39 ·
Ignatz said:
Wifey & I visited Scotland a few years ago. We took 2 weeks. The first week we traveled around staying in B&Bs each night and liked Skye so much we stayed an extra day there. The second week we stayed in a cottage near Keith and day-tripped that area.

I noticed the sticker on your tailgate: "Live Free or Die." That is the state motto of my state of New Hampshire. :) Those words are on all our license plates (except hearses).
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I suppose like a lot of English people, I also have some Scottish and Irish ancestry. But Scotland is a truly magical place which I fell in love with as a kid when as a family, we used to holiday up there. The forests cover the hillsides which tower over tranquil lochs, it is a beautiful country and a world away from the overcrowded region of England which I live in.

I was up there for 9 days, and could certainly have done two weeks there; there are so many walks one can do, castles, other historical sites and different distilleries and restaurants to go to. B&B's is exactly what I did too. Met some fascinating people, in particular an old man with some wise words who moved to a remote part of Western Scotland on the coast, from Yorkshire, decades ago. Most of the B&Bs I stayed at were actually run by English people who'd moved up there, which I don't blame them!

As for Skye....that place is amazing. I climbed the Old Man of Storr and saw the Fairy Pools on Skye; both well worth it.

I know about "Live Free or Die" being NH's state motto. I first saw it in Breaking Bad, the TV series. And it's a motto I try to live my life by, if I'm honest! A shame that the UK is going down the drain as our freedoms are constantly being watered down. 1984 has become reality!
 
#40 ·
Well, if it comes down to it, I'm sure Michigan would welcome you, for a vacation or if need be, as an alternative home. The United States Bill of Rights is coming in handy now more than ever.
 
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