It isn't because the gear in back is heavy. Its because you have CVT transmission 165hp trying to move 3500lbs. Sadly these vehicle are slow, there isn't much that can be done. K&N intake helps a bit but ultimately its just not a rocket.

 

First off, welcome to the site! Stop by the Newbie check-in and greet the others.

You didn't say which engine you have. If you have the 2.0 its a pretty modest powerplant for a fair-sized vehicle with a substantial drive train. Jeeps aren't meant for racing. That bog-down feeling you get is the tranny heading for a higher ratio in interest of fuel economy, designed to be one of the Patriot's many strong points.

We have 2 Patriots, a 2.0 with the 5-spd and it spends a lot of time in lower gears on hilly terrain.
The other is a 2.4 CVT that's a bit spunkier, but both our Patriots are FWD so we're not hauling around the same drive train you are.

Presuming you have the CVT, if you re-flash your ECM it will learn your driving style in a few hundred miles, so if you drive it aggressively it may be more responsive, however, your fuel economy may suffer. Still, Tyler above has a point: 170hp going through a slush-box will never be snappy, and a 2.0 going through anything will be working pretty hard most of the time . . . especially if you're aggressive.

Again, if acceleration is important to you, re-flash the ECM. There are threads about that -- use the search box at the right end of the green stripe above.

 

First off, welcome to the site! Stop by the Newbie check-in and greet the others.



You didn't say which engine you have. If you have the 2.0 its a pretty modest powerplant for a fair-sized vehicle with a substantial drive train. Jeeps aren't meant for racing. That bog-down feeling you get is the tranny heading for a higher ratio in interest of fuel economy, designed to be one of the Patriot's many strong points.



We have 2 Patriots, a 2.0 with the 5-spd and it spends a lot of time in lower gears on hilly terrain.

The other is a 2.4 CVT that's a bit spunkier, but both our Patriots are FWD so we're not hauling around the same drive train you are.



Presuming you have the CVT, if you re-flash your ECM it will learn your driving style in a few hundred miles, so if you drive it aggressively it may be more responsive, however, your fuel economy may suffer. Still, Tyler above has a point: 170hp going through a slush-box will never be snappy, and a 2.0 going through anything will be working pretty hard most of the time . . . especially if you're aggressive.



Again, if acceleration is important to you, re-flash the ECM. There are threads about that -- use the search box at the right end of the green stripe above.

Awesome! That helps me understand it a little bit better so thank you! I'm not exactly looking to race around, I guess I just assumed it would have a little more power behind it. I think my first step will be to re-flash the ECM to see if that helps. I'll have to check again to see if I have the 2.0 or 2.4. But I'm pretty sure I have the 2.4.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

The easiest way to tell, but not perfect, is if you have an engine cover its probably a 2.4. If you're looking right at your coil-packs, then its the 2.0.

Or you can tell by your VIN, the 8th digit denotes the engine.
W = 2.4
Y = 2.0CRD
O = 2.0

A further note on that sluggishness, after the initial zip in the low ratios there is a significant drop in RPMs once you're up to about 25-30MPH. That is normal for a Patriot w/ the CVT. That's the ECM moving the tranny to a higher ratio for better fuel economy. That dip in the RPMs feels almost like a plugged cat-con -- you think you're going to blast off, but it seems to die. Again, that is normal for the CVT. As I said you may be able to get around that with a re-flash, but I haven't tried it myself.

You might get around that drop if you really press the pedal to the metal, but that's not something I ever do. I'm not quite a hyper-miler, but I treasure my fuel economy so my Patriot has only done maybe a dozen full-throttle accelerations in its life. About the only ones I pass are farm equipment, cement mixers, or seniors.