Thanks for the great photos. The Patriot looks to be a more substantial vehicle. At a lower price point too. You've probably already written about comparisons between the two, but perhaps you could do a brief summary to go with the photos?

 

...perhaps you could do a brief summary to go with the photos?

Never mind. I just found the comparison you did here.

 

Nice shots. Really partial toward the Patriot. Interesting to see it compared to the Subura. Thanks again. And, enjoy your Pat.

 

Patriot - true cross-over vehicle
Forester - stationwagon

 

The Patriot seems to almost dwarf the Forester in those pics!

I drove a Forester before I bought my Patriot. I didn't end up coming away as impressed with it as I was with the Patriot. Its still a nice vehicle and was near the top of my list, though.

 

When we looked at the Forester a while back my wife hated it because she said the back seat reminded her of a buckboard.That and a few other things stopped us from buying one.The two cheapest people I know both have them so I figured they must be good.

 

Subaru's are great cars! I was really impressed with a subaru legacy AWD I drove. There was a big difference in terms of refinement, ride, andhandling when comparing the two. The subaru had tighter handling, smoother engine, quieter interior, more refined interior, overall, just smooth. In fact, after driving the legacy, I almost decided not to buy a Patriot. After a couple of weeks, I had to take another Patriot drive. I am glad I bought the Patriot. The offroad ability alone definitely surpassed the capabilities of the legacy, and was worth the price. After owning the Patriot, I have no complaints. it is a fun car to drive! Plus, the Patriot looks so much nicer than an outback/forester. No offense True North, but your Patriot is much nicer looking than the Forester. The forester looks like something from the 80's.

 

No offence taken jucharlie. None at all.
In fact I agree with you.
I prefer the appearance of the Patriot.
I also feel that revisions since 1998 have done nothing to improve the looks of the Forester. I think the older versions with the fender blisters look a lot better than the subseqent versions with the crease extending rearward from the top of the wheel arches. Of course I am biased as an owner of the older version. We always liked our forester, and when it needed to be replaced my wife initially wanted to buy a 2007 Forester, and I hesitated primarily on appearance. I got her to test drive a Patriot and she was sold.

 

How does the Patriot drive after four months??

Hi Halifax ... or anyone else
I still haven't bought a new vehicle but it is coming soon.
I am interested in hearing how you think your Patriot is doing after getting broken in? Are you still satisfied with your purchase? Anyone suffering big mechanical problems? I heard the CVT trans sucks a lot of power away from the engine, whatever they mean by that. There was a red North here in Sussex for quite awhile on the dealer's lot. Now that is gone and he has a black Limited in but the price is about five grand more, $29,000 plus taxes, etc.
So how does you Pat drive after it is broken in? Any wishes you had not bought it.

 

Jay - The CVT has plenty of power. The reviewers that say the CVT saps power from the engine are the same ones that just got done driving the Manual 5 speed version.

I have been driving manuals and automatics of many different engine sizes for the last 18 years, and EVERY manual car I have ever driven seems to have more power than the Automatic version.

Part of it is true, but part of it is perception. On a manual, you have the ability to keep it in any gear you want, so you have more control over how long you are in a gear if you want acceleration.

The CVT has as much power as any standard automatic, it just feels different because the shifting is not noticeable and hard acceleration operates in a different manner.

Standard start/stop and driving feels smooth and nice. When you need to do a FAST merge or pass someone and you press the gas really hard, in my case, the engine revs to 4500RPM and does a great job of passing. You hear the engine during this because the RPM's quickly go from 2100 or so to 4500 but in an average week I may need to do this only Once!

In most cases, I do the standard pedal increase that jumps the RPM's from 2100 to 3000 or so and it does a good job of accelerating.

My recommendation is to go test drive a Patriot, and other SUV's in the same class that have a 4 cyclinder. I'm pretty sure you'll agree that the Patriot CVT is not bad at all.

More Info:
"Patriot’s CVT2 also improves vehicle performance compared with a traditional automatic transaxle because of optimized gear ratios, especially in the 30–60 mph range during passing maneuvers."

http://www.autoweek.com/files/specials/2006_newyork/jeep/patriot/info.doc

 

Thanks



Thanks for this info. I had been reading some reviews of the Patriot, especially from Consumer Reports and it seemed to be critical of the Pat's performance.
jay

 

"I got her to test drive a Patriot and she was sold."

:smiley_thumbs_up:

 

Nice pictures!

 

Very interesting thread to me - last year, I had been looking at a 5 year old used Forester for about the same price (as a new Patriot), but when Jeep came out with the Pat, I knew that was the way to go (I kept my B2200 for 16 years ) Great decision, if I do say so myself!

 

Why are we comparing these two? They're not even in the same class are they?

 

I guess that depends on how you define class. Lots of people shop both when looking for a smaller, more practical SUV. The fact that the Forester is a wagon is not clear to all buyers, some folks think it looks more like an SUV than a wagon. I'm guessing lots of Patriot buyers are also looking for wagon utility and SUV style. My wife, for example.

I'm comparing the two because I happen to own both, and patriotrox asked me to. The reason I posted the photos is because it seems every second car review I watch or read says the Patriot is similar in size and appearance to the Forester. http://www.jeeppatriot.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2007
I don't get this, the photos clearly show that aside from a generally boxy shape with an upright windshield, the two vehicles have a completely different apppearance and the Patriot is much larger.

 

Phil,

The Forester is in a completely different class in PRICE.. starting is $21k up to $30k, however, the features, size (in and out) and look of the vehicle is very similar to the Patriot. They have the exact same Horsepower (172 vs. 173).

I'm not sure why the Forester is so expensive, it even has the same warranty 36 mo/36k.

-hunter

 

what would you compare the patriot to?

 

Never been a fan of Consumer Reports. Their reviews never seem to line up with what I am interested in. Besides, the Patriot isn't meant to be a performance vehicle. When will people get it through their heads .... horsepower leads to lower gas mileage in a SUV/Wagon cross over.

 

I expect to order my Patriot by the end of August, but my wife asked me why I wasn't considering the Liberty. I told her that it was because the Patriot would get better gas mileage than the Liberty. Since she asked, I will have to consider the Liberty just to be fair. I just saw the pictures of the 08 Liberty and it is a better looking car than the 07 Liberty to my eyes, more Jeep looking. Looking at the dimensions I feel that the Patriot and Liberty are not too far apart in size, but the Liberty is 1,000 pounds heavier than the Patriot, has a V6 and 4 speed automatic, and perhaps a stronger transfer case system. I am assuming the CVT 4x4 Patriot should average about 4 MPG more than the Liberty with the 4 speed automatic and 4x4. Am I in the ballpark here? Any feelings about these cars as they compare? I guess you could also look at the 2007 Liberty for a current comparison. My personal opinion is that the Patriot is no slouch and my wife would like driving it, but since she cannot drive a stick, the CVT has to be the transmission.

What's your opinion?

 

I have an 02 Liberty and my wife and I love. Problem is that it averages 16.5 mpg with mixed city/highway driving. It gets 20-21 at the absolute maximum on the highway and that is with good winds and not pulling a trailer. That's fine at 2.50 gas but at 3 to 3.50 its getting to be too much for me. The newer Liberty's have improved a bit but not a lot. You can look up the gas mileage threads but in my readings the CVT is averaging 24 with mixed driving and with a 5-speed much better. Too bad your wife can't drive the 5-speed. I working on convincing my wife that she can re-learn :smiley_thumbs_up: ... I have one year before we can consider buying (owe too much on the Liberty yet to make the numbers work in my favor) to work my magic. She drove 5 speeds back on her parent's farm so the knowledge is there.

I can say that the heavier Liberty is nice. Plenty of power and with the selec-trac transfer case my wife can put it in full-time 4WD at the first sign of snow on the roads and not worry about damaging it. Yet when the snow is deep (here deep is defined as 12"+) I have the part-time to pull the jeep through. The Compass/Patriot are handling the snow/mud well, according to those on forums, as I would expect but I doubt they will ever be as strong in the off-road department as the Liberty. One has to remember, though, that the designers were not attempting to make them equals. The Patriot is meant for a different person.

Lastly, the Liberty has a 5000 lb maximum towing capacity whereas the Patriot maxes out at 2000 lbs, when properly equipped. Man, I sound like a TV commercial.

 

Thanks very much! I can see that the Liberty is quite a nice unit. The 2007 Liberty is on sale at my dealer's because the 2008's are coming out, so the price is comparable to the Patriot, but that gas mileage difference is a killer. Although the car is for me, I do want my wife to be comfortable with the car, since she will be driving it from time to time.

My wife normally drives the Toyota Camry I got her for her birthday in 2004, and this is for my 70th birthday, coming up in December. I'm going to bring her to the lot so she can see the one Patriot they have on display. I think once she sees it next to the Liberty, she'll be happy with it. I'll be giving my 11 year old Subaru Outback to my son-in-law. That car is still in excellent condition and has been well maintained.

Thanks again for your feedback!:notworthy:

Update:

I got my wife to come with me today to our Jeep dealer and she took a good look at the Patriot, including sitting in it. She likes it too, so we will be ordering it in August. Yeee Haaaaa!

 

nice comparision, thanks!

 

I drove my Forester for 10 years and it was a great car. I had always planned on replacing it with another one. I only had problems with it for the last 2 years and then the problems seemed to be non stop. Of course it did have 181,000 miles on it and had been driven hard. Dirt roads, Colorado Mountain winters, two teens learning to drive a manual, and lots of hauling things around. I decided to go with the Patriot because it cost less! At this I'm happy with my choice and as long as it does as well on snowy mountain roads as the Forester did I'll stay happy with it.

 

I have an 08 with CVT and autostick. I LOVE the transmission and the car has plenty of punch. It sure was a different feeling that the car had from a normal 4 speed automatic. Under high acceleration the engine goes up to a high rpm and then then stays there as the car gains speed, you do not feel the shift points, and it is like a turbine. Using the autostick the feel is the same as a manual 6 speed transmission with you choosing the shift points. I cannot say anything bad about it, I just hope the transmission holds up well over time as I tend to keep my cars for long periods of time 11-15 years.

with the 2.4 4x4 and cvt I have been averaging from 22 mpg to 26 mpg depending on the driving conditions I meet. Frankly, I can't drive that baby enough!:smiley_thumbs_up:

 

Thanks for this thread True North. I’m in a bit of a quandary trying to choose between these two vehicles myself, and keep flipping back and forth between them.

To my eyes the forester seems like a better quality vehicle over all, but I can buy a 4x4 patriot/compass with a stick for about $5k less than a forester locally, and that $5k is a lot to put into a car that is basically going to be a bad weather beater or used to haul junk, especially since I’ve already got a project in mind for my daily driver that comes to approximately that amount.

Side by side the Patriot and Forrester look very similar to me, just with the Forrester having a nicer boxster style motor and better feeling suspension, but the patriot/compass comes with more gadgets (traction control, esp, a locking 4x4 mode) and nicer brakes.

I’m curious True North, on your list of Patriot advantages you list a better manual tyranny, shifter, and clutch. Have you had trouble with the tranny in your forester? Or do you just like the feel or integrity of the one on the Patriot better?

 

Patriot - made in the USA
Subaru - made by foreigh auto workers

 

Patriot - made in the USA
Subaru - made by foreign auto workers

Well that's one for the Subaru.

 

and the Subaru come in an XT (used to be GT) which gives you TURBO power!

and Subaru will kick butt for after market performance goodies.

but yes same category , different vehicle,
Foreser has more of a perfomance/sport car side
Patriot has more of an offroad side

 

You also have to use premium gas with the turbo - and also the 2009 Forester will be somewhat larger (can see it on http://www.caranddriver.com/autoshows/14457/2009-subaru-forester.html )