When my wife split with our trailblazer (and my dog, but that's another story), I needed a decent - fairly inexpensive - ride that could accommodate myself, one puppy and a large bulky string bass. The ability to fold down the rear seats and - especially - the front passenger seat allows me to stow my bass perfectly. As you may imagine the dealer was a little confused as to why I showed up with an instrument taller than I am so that I could make sure that everything fit.
Drove the car off the lot that night (wasn't exactly thrilled with Red, but it had the 26E package) and - thanks to my sister as i'm a lousy negotiator - we managed a great price. It was like a scene out of a movie. We very politely thanked the sales rep and the manager for their time when they were not willing to lower the monthly payments. My sister said that they would call me the next day with a better offer. As we turned to drive off the lot, the manager, sales guy and the finance guy stood in front of our car and wouldn't let us pass. Lo and behold, they thought it over and decided that they could meet out price after all.
For the the first week, I couldn't stand the performance of the car. Every time I let my foot off the gas, it slowed to a crawl. I finally realized that I was activating the "autostick" feature and never took the Jeep out of first. I still don't quite understand the utility of "autostick" and haven't been able to locate much information on how/why to use "autostick." It's barely mentioned in the manual.
Other than that, I've been very happy with my new Patriot. My first aftermarket mod was the installation of the XpressRC XM radio. It took a bit of time pulling back weatherstripping and plastic panels, but I finally got the thing installed with barely any visible wires. Great thing about the XpressRC is that there is a home cradle available so I can take my activated XM radio out of the car and into the house - great radio.
My next addition will be the Nuvi 650 GPS. I was born and bred in NYC and never drove a car until a decade ago at 31 when I left NYC for several years. To this day I really don't LIKE to drive, especially when I'm not exactly sure how to get where I'm going - I'm hoping that between the GPS and the fun-to-drive Patriot, I'll quickly get over my dislike of driving.
Finally, my gas mileage has been great - no real highway miles - i putt around town mostly, but I'm still on the same tank filled by the dealer a month ago.
Glad I found this site and these forums!
-milo
Drove the car off the lot that night (wasn't exactly thrilled with Red, but it had the 26E package) and - thanks to my sister as i'm a lousy negotiator - we managed a great price. It was like a scene out of a movie. We very politely thanked the sales rep and the manager for their time when they were not willing to lower the monthly payments. My sister said that they would call me the next day with a better offer. As we turned to drive off the lot, the manager, sales guy and the finance guy stood in front of our car and wouldn't let us pass. Lo and behold, they thought it over and decided that they could meet out price after all.
For the the first week, I couldn't stand the performance of the car. Every time I let my foot off the gas, it slowed to a crawl. I finally realized that I was activating the "autostick" feature and never took the Jeep out of first. I still don't quite understand the utility of "autostick" and haven't been able to locate much information on how/why to use "autostick." It's barely mentioned in the manual.
Other than that, I've been very happy with my new Patriot. My first aftermarket mod was the installation of the XpressRC XM radio. It took a bit of time pulling back weatherstripping and plastic panels, but I finally got the thing installed with barely any visible wires. Great thing about the XpressRC is that there is a home cradle available so I can take my activated XM radio out of the car and into the house - great radio.
My next addition will be the Nuvi 650 GPS. I was born and bred in NYC and never drove a car until a decade ago at 31 when I left NYC for several years. To this day I really don't LIKE to drive, especially when I'm not exactly sure how to get where I'm going - I'm hoping that between the GPS and the fun-to-drive Patriot, I'll quickly get over my dislike of driving.
Finally, my gas mileage has been great - no real highway miles - i putt around town mostly, but I'm still on the same tank filled by the dealer a month ago.
Glad I found this site and these forums!
-milo
