I go hard on the pedal just for the fun of it, but the Patriot's no sportscar. If your focus is acceleration more than utility now, I can recommend you to a few Corvettes in good condition, but the Patriot isn't supposed to be sportscar-fast, it's supposed to be reliable, and it is. Pretty quick for the way it was designed, though.

 

I would first try resetting the ECM so it can re-map the fuel/throttle/transmission. Really seems to refresh the feel of your ride. You can either disconnect the battery terminals and then touch them together for a few seconds or just leave it disconnected overnight and when you re-connect the battery it will re-learn your driving habits.

There isn't much that can be done to improve performance output on these motors so you have to get creative. A proven way to make your vehicle faster is by using lightweight wheels and tires. OEM size or similar, not up-sized tires at all. Essentially you can reduce the parasitic drag of unsprung weight and even change your Final Drive ratio if you want, by using OEM size or slightly smaller diameter tires and light weight wheels.

I like the OEM size 215/60/17 on the Jeep alloy wheels for a nice light combo. There are lighter wheels out there if you don't want to use the Alloy 17"s.

If you don't off road much there are a few tires you can try in 215/60/17 or 215/65/17

I would check the manufacturers websites so see if the tire weight is listed and go from there.

Gas mileage improvement is a nice little side effect from this too, depending on the tire size you choose.

 

Surprized the 6-speeds are slow off the start too. Thought that was only an anti-vibration thing for the CVT's. Anyway, a reset will do you wonders. Follow the "Forced Flash" instructions here (http://www.avengerforumz.com/showthread.php?t=40089). I do it every now and then to help out.

 

Do you have the 2.0 or the 2.4?

I have a 2.0 manual and a 2.4 CVT (both FWD). The 2.4 CVT is definitely faster on acceleration. The 2.0 however does get better fuel economy by 1-2 mpg. Since we were making a long trip we took the 2.0 up north into the mountains this weekend and it had trouble maintaining speed on the long highway grades. Had to downshift. That was with a pretty empty vehicle except for Wifey and me. If we'd had a real load -- say a couple kids and luggage -- it probably would have been even more of a challenge.

With the 2.4/CVT, while not a dragster, it is certainly not a slow vehicle either -- I'd say about average for a CUV. I've only driven a 6spd auto once for a few hours as a loaner while Ignatz was in the shop and I do believe the CVT is better on acceleration, but not significantly.

Buying a Patriot you didn't get a dragster . . .

Back to your original question, I can't imagine how turning off traction control is going to affect acceleration. That only function if you're losing traction. You're not squealing away from the lights, are you?

 

Response


I have the 2.4. Im just giving it gas pulling away from a light normally. I dont expect it to be like a car. But I guess the way it performs is normal.

 

I am entirely satisfied with the get-up-and-go of my 2014 with 2.4 engine.

Maybe you can test drive a similar model at a dealer for comparison.

 

I also have the 2014 2.4L 6-speed, it seems peppy enough to me. It's not slow pulling away from a traffic light at all, usually people behind me have a hard time keeping up actually. I'll have to see if turning traction control off gives it a different feel, never tried it. I have the oem 215/60/17 tires, I'm looking forward to switching them out with 225/65/17 though when the time comes.

 

I also have the 2014 2.4L 6-speed, it seems peppy enough to me.

Yep.

I outran a Corvette the other day with my 2015, 2.4, 6 speed.

I don't get these complaints either........

 

Compared to the CVT in mine I felt the loaner 6 speed I had was a rocket. 1rst is geared much lower and felt like it just took off. Maybe yours isn't shifting down to 1rst if you're doing rolling stops? Try using autostick mode and slap shifting to the gear you feel most appropriate.

 

Hahaha, I don't know about out-running Corvette's but it is far from what I consider slow when pulling away from stop lights. Different story at highway speeds though, definitely doesn't have the passing oomph that I'm used to.

My 3 previous vehicles were a Firebird, a supercharged Monte Carlo (L67), and a GLI (2.0T w/DSG). And I was surprised by the get up and go of the Pat when I test drove it, they're not half as sluggish as they look in my opinion.

 

Let the car downshift to 4k-5krpms that's where the most power is with the 2.4L.

 

5-speed manual. Still not a drag racer, but about as quick as most other CUV's....

 

Yes indeed...& that's the reason I went for the manual for my '14 Pat.
That plus I've only had stick on all my vehicles over the years. I prefer it, period. I was hooked on stick since my first vehicle...a '66 GTO so long ago.

 

Mine is fine. Not a speed racer but is ok when taking off.
Could it be the type of gas your using ??

 

It's plenty peppy for me for its size and I have the 6-speed too.

I was driving a 2004 Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart that on paper only weighs 500 or so lbs less, ran a 2.4L engine also. The lancer was a 5-speed manual though. Lancer had 162hp and 162 ft-lbs of torque, Jeep has 172 hp and 165 ft-lbs of torque. That being said and weight being taken into account, the patriot pleasantly surprised me on the pep.

I also knew I wasn't getting a sporty car

 

I test drove a 6-speed auto 2.4L 4wd 2015 Patriot prior to purchasing what I eventually ended up with (2.0L/5sp/2wd) and it felt rather sluggish. On the other hand, the 2.0L/5sp/2wd that I now have feels pretty darn peppy and I have no problems getting out in front of the pack so to speak at stop lights. So, I am not sure what the people who complain about acceleration on these vehicles here, particularly the 2.0L/5-speed combo, are used to driving. Perhaps Z06 Corvettes? LOL

Maybe the automatic transmission and 4wd saps a lot more power from the engine? I do know that the 5-speed manual seems to work a lot better since you have more control over the powerband. On the freeway, it gets up to speed surprisingly fast too once you get going. This surprised me the most.

If the 2.0L 5-speed feels like this, I can only imagine what the larger 2.4L with 20lb-ft plus more torque feels like in a 5-speed 2wd configuration . So, this makes me think the automatic combined with the 4wd is not geared/programmed properly for these engines.

 

The auto ones are definitely more sluggish. Especially the CVT's. They have an antivibration feature to save the belt's lifespan. Its impossible to "launch" off the start with a cvt. You can even rev it up to 4k, slam it in drive, and it will slowly ease into gear like a student driver learning to drive a clutch lol

 

So true...you can hit the brakes, push the pedal to the floor, auto-stick in 1, and TC fully off, anddddd still nothing exciting. It'll just mosey off the line, maybe even slower than just mashing the pedal in "D" off of the line.

The only way I've (accidentally) been able to "launch" my Patriot is to change from driving in reverse to drive and then push the pedal to the floor. It'll kick in pretty good but then seems to have a lag to compensate.

 

I still wouldn't say the Auto 6-speed is sluggish. CTV being sluggish, I can believe, never have been a fan of CTV. Let's face it, the patriot isn't meant for taking off the line, however it holds it own getting up to speed. Would I rather have had a 5spd 2.4 patriot.... Yes, because I've always driven stick. However, I got a steal on mine, it's a six speed auto and it impressed me.

 

I've almost gotten in wrecks twice jumping out into traffic because my Jeep feels the need to limit my throttle to about 25% or less until I hit 2500 rpm randomly. No Idea why, and I know I'm not the only one. Dealer can't do anything about it because there are no error codes. These are the times when I found out neutral-slamming it does nothing. I even posted a vid of it a while ago I can post it up if anybody wants to see.

 

Also this is a Jeep, Jeeps have a high "tip in"? I think it's called. Basically if you're driving down a bumpy road and your foot quickly presses and releases the throttle it is ignored to prevent you from surging ahead when all you did was hit a bump. Also the throttle may not be linear, sometimes I swear it takes 3/4 of the pedal travel to get something other than light purring. Then the last 1/4 is fairly rapid. If you want more power apply more pedal and hold it there. It seems like some people are afraid to push more than 1/2 way.

 

I find my CVT to be quite responsive. My wife's 6spd. is a different animal, but also very responsive.

 

I'm coming from my old XR4Ti that was heavily modified and pushing 30psi of boost through a radiator sized intercooler... so pretty much any car that that I can afford feels extremely slow in comparison

That said - I've gotten used to the low horsepower/torque from the 2.4L/CVT combo... It isn't fast but it certainly isn't the slowest vehicle off the line - especially if you're accelerating at part throttle to remain fuel efficient.
The part that bothers me is that it is kind of inconsistent - some times it has a lot of pep, other times it just doesn't want to go.
One strange thing I noticed is that after a really long road trip it actually seemed more responsive and "peppy" while driving around town. Not sure why that would have been the case... but there was a definite difference.

 

Or maybe the Corvette wasn't trying. When bobtailing an 18-wheeler I often had fun beating folks off the line at stoplights, but had they stepped on their pedals harder, most if not all could have easily beaten me.

 

So many of you still seem to be working under the assumption that just stomping on a CVT and holding it all the way to the floor gives the best response....it doesn't. Try letting off the brakes and gently rolling onto the throttle, not glacial-slow but not stomping. Find where you need to hold the pedal to keep that CVT at 5k RPMs all the way up to 55mph(or 65-70mph on a freeway), and it'll work much better for you.

 

I'll drag race you for a McDonald's ice cream cone!

I've noticed that if you do a 0-60 or quarter mile the 2nd and 3rd time you do them they are much faster than the first. It's like the computer recognizes you aren't going for fuel efficiency anymore and lets the throttle loosen up. With a running weight of 4200lbs:

Edit: It used to be around 10 seconds for the 0-60.

 

Back when I went on the dragstrip, I didn't know about the roll-on or the 5k RPM so much, and got 17-second quarter miles at 80-82mph. With what I know now, I could probably cut at least a half-second off that time.

 

Rosso, I used to (street) drag my turbo Daytona Shelby edition. I know how to properly launch a car. Problem is, the Jeep is programmed to ease into it no matter what. You'll never experience it going balls to wall full acceleration until you hit over 2500 rpm. Yea, I know. Its a cruiser, not a racer, but sometimes you need to jump into traffic.

 

This, my wife's old Cruze 1.4L Turbo had the same transmission programming, it was designed to protect the tranny. You could try and brake boost from a stand still and it wouldn't do anything, no matter how hard you tried. Once it was flashed (both engine and transmission programming) you could launch like a bat out of hell.

Sadly the ecu is going to make sure nothing bad happens to the tranny, and it will never launch hard

 

I'm not saying it'll throw you back in your seat, but it can do pretty well for what it is. I've never had a problem getting up to speed and into traffic in mine.

 

Peppy 6 speed auto stick

I have the 6 speed auto stick,and I find my riot to be quite peppy even with the bigger heavier tires and wheels 9lbs. a corner heavier. Like RossoRacer says,I don't ram it to the boards and wait,if I do an acceleration test I roll into it then push 'er down. When I auto stick it through the gears it goes pretty darned good.

Let me put it this way when I leave a light I don't have anyone riding my rear end peed of that I am holding them up...quite the contrary in fact, when I leave a light,and look in the rear view mirror,I've pulled away substantially from the next vehicle either behind or beside....and I'm not trying to jack rabbit off of the light....just normal acceleration from a light.

It isn't very often that I max accelerate away from a light...because...well...it's a jeep...and......"you may be faster,but I can go anywhere"...is my mindset......no my riot is peppy enough,no complaints here.

Cheers,
Bill.

 

Yea, I found around 3k it starts to pick up. Im probably due for another ECU reset now that its warmer and we have summer blend fuel. I've noticed its gotten sluggish in the heat. One of these days I will get ahold of a used Centrifugal supercharger and mount it. Figure it cant hurt much at 5psi, but it would be a nice small boost in power.