So a quick review a few months in:
1. I generally love the car, aside from (1) some fiddly issues, and (2) the snow-stopping performance. It took two visits to fix the brake squealing issue, but it's (mostly) resolved now. It only squeaks now on cold days for the first couple brake presses. Now that it's warmer again, I haven't had any issues with that.
2. Averaging 23mpg mixed city/highway. I drive about 300 highway miles per week, so it's majority highway. I was hoping for better MPG (21/29 advertised), but it's about on-par with my wife's AWD Forester.
3. Two biggest issues I'll complain about are the shift lag & snow-stopping performance. They flashed the transmission last time I was in, which dropped the lag from 3 seconds to 2 seconds, but 2 seconds is still a long time when a semi-truck is merging into you & you need to goose it, and it has to drop from 8th gear to 4th gear to get moving. Feels like a Prius in that regard.
As far as the snow-stopping performance, I'm still not sure what's up with that. It's either the tires or the ABS system. I thought about buying snow tires, but I don't think we are going to get anymore snow this year, so I'll save that purchase for next year. Basically, it pretends that it's on ice-skates when you brake in the snow. Not on ice or wet pavement...just snow. So either the tires get clogged up with snow & turn into slicks, or the ABS system is crap. I don't know. The only way to find out is to invest in some snow tires & find out. It is an extremely bad issue; I slide through a red light at an intersection & nearly t-boned somebody because the car simply wouldn't stop. I adjusted my driving habits & now start stopping at quadruple the normal distance instead of just double. My wife's Forester doesn't have this issue (both are AWD); it is specific to the Renegade.
4. Lots of niggly little first-world problems, mostly related to electronic lag. These annoy me to the point where I am debating trading it in when it depreciates to KBB value. Off the top of my head:
a. Pushbutton Start sometimes takes 2 to 3 presses to turn on.
b. UConnect touchscreen system takes forever to boot. Sometimes it takes twice as long as normal, no idea why.
c. Backup camera doesn't always engage, or sometimes takes 10 seconds before it clicks over.
d. Bluetooth takes FOREVER to initialize, sometimes as long as 2 minutes. If I'm walking out to the car on a phone call, I have to put it on speaker after I start up the car until it auto-connects. In my wife's Forester, this is nearly instant.
e. BLIS sometimes makes false beeps. Like a couple times a week. Even if I'm in the middle lane on the highway by myself with no other cars around. It's haunted...
f. Ever since the transmission flash update, it has a big jerk going from 2nd to 3rd if I'm not gunning it. Big power drop on that shift that bobs your head forward. My work around is just to goose it a little bit until it gets up to speed, but if you're in slow-moving traffic or a residential area where you don't want to be zipping around, it's annoying.
g. Tiptronic is crap. Sometimes it takes 2 or 3 clicks to recognize a manual shift. Sometimes I have to hold the shifter in place (+ or -) to get it to recognize. Sometimes even after it recognizes it, it doesn't actually shift for 2 to 3 seconds, instead of instantly. Then it will peg at redline, which is annoying when I'm on a short merge onto the highway & can't give up the speed because I need to get into a small slot in fast-moving traffic. Also, the + & - are reversed from every single other car I've driven, which is annoying haha.
h. I assume UConnect updated recently, because now I can't do more than 6 skips on Spotify before it stops responding. I can do it manually on the phone itself no problem, and sometimes it restarts the skip button on the steering wheel & receiver, but not always. It's more designed for Android than iPhone (I have an iPhone, so not as many features available on the car's system). Sometimes it won't display the song playing. I've given up on streaming through Bluetooth, which is only recognized like one out of five or ten times, even though voice calls connect just fine via Bluetooth, so as soon as I get in the car, I plug it into my USB cable for streaming audio, because that works pretty much 100% of the time.
i. Intermittently, it gets stuck at 1 MPH under cruise control. Even on flat highways, it will be 64 instead of 65 MPH.
j. The remote start via smartphone is completely useless. I think it's just because Sprint is crap in my area (or crap in general). I've only had it remote start twice out of like twenty times (it sends me an email of successful or unsuccessful completion; the track record is crap).
I had a coworker who got a new Dodge Dart & it was the same...everything had a lag to it. And sometimes it's all intermittent, and sometimes it's just a few things, and sometimes it's all at once. Like the other day, I got off work, went out to my car, and:
1. The pushbutton took 3 presses before it started up.
2. The backup camera didn't turn on for 10 seconds after shifting into reverse. I was inbetween two large SUV's & couldn't see out behind me, so I waited until it turned on for added safety.
3. My phone didn't connect for a voice call until I was nearly on the highway, a couple minutes later.
4. Had to merge into heavy traffic, lag on recognizing my manual shifting, lag when it actually decided to shift.
5. BLIS beeped for no reason later down the road.
Sure, it's the definition of first-world problems, but when crap like that happens, one thing after another, it makes me really frustrated with the vehicle because it just kind of builds up your aggravation levels. I've been into the dealer service center two or three times and the techs just kind of throw their hands up in the air, and I've reached out to Jeep Care, who hasn't responded to any of my messages. Not that I'm surprised...and I knew what I was getting into, both buying a Dodge product & buying a first-generation product, but it's kind of amazing that I had a far better experience with both of my Kia Souls than I have with the Renegade.
That's not to say the car isn't without its merits. Aside from the issues of stopping in the snow, the snow driving performance is the best ever. I didn't get stuck once on the hill to my house, which typically happens at least two or three times a year & I have to hike up. Highest I drove in was 7" of fresh snow & I didn't even have to shovel out...just backed out over it & went on my merry way. Got into work every single day without a hitch. No issues on steep driveways or taking angled parking lot entrances at reasonable speeds (I'd always have to angle my Civic in slowly). It's ugly enough (hehe) to find easily in a parking lot, and surprisingly gets a lot of compliments, especially from other Jeep owners. I've talked to more off-road guys in the past few months than I have in my whole life. People generally like it, which is surprising because I personally don't think it's a very attractive car, and love the X taillights. People say something about the "cool taillights" a couple times a week still, which is funny because it's not a feature I even really noticed before that.
I was hoping to keep this car for a decade; due to the variety of small annoyances, I will probably be trading it in sooner rather than later, unless they issue fixes for all of the little things that kind of drive me bonkers. Really, it's my own fault for buying a first-gen Dodge product, which I knew going in, so shame on me for making a dumb decision If I were to replace it, I'd probably look at the upcoming Forester redesign, as well as the Kia Niro & redesigned Sportage (240hp AWD, ooh!). I don't ever want to not have AWD in the snow again, it just makes life too easy to give that feature up, plus the rain handling is excellent on all of the curvy roads here.
The biggest difference is when I swap cars with my wife. The Forester is so much more enjoyable to drive...it's zippy, easy to turn, and everything responds properly. I get back in my car, and while it feels more, ah, manly, everything just feels slow. Not that it's a terrible car, but again, the small annoying stuff adds up, so there's that to consider. Although, the Renegade does fit me better (most cars, including the Forester, jut into my knee on the left side). Also, the idle is kind of rough, which is surprising for a new car.
TL;DR: Well...it's a Jeep. Plows through everything, but has a lot of minor issues. Not a big deal if you can live with the annoyances, but coming from my last couple of hassle-free cars ('11 Soul, '13 Civic), it does push some frustration buttons. On the fence about keeping it long-term.