Exterior & Styling

The Patriot's styling breaks no ground. Its triumph is that it looks like a Jeep. That might seem minor, but even today this vehicle class carries a cute-ute stigma, and one of the Compass' problems is that it doesn't look like a Jeep — at least not in any of the ways one might want it to. As the photos show, there's a passing resemblance between the two because they and the Dodge Caliber share the same platform, and all are assembled at the same Illinois plant.

One could argue that the squared-off Patriot most resembles Jeep's flagship, the Commander, but it more strongly honors old-school Cherokees and Grand Cherokees.

The two trim levels are Sport and Limited, with few visible differences. The Limited adds a metal-look cover to the front and rear bumpers, and upgrades the Sport's respectable 16-inch steel wheels to 17-inch alloys. The Patriot Sport has standard black roof rails, but the cross-members are optional. The Limited has aluminum rails and cross-bars as standard equipment.

    See also:

    Supplemental Side Air Bag Inflatable Curtains (SABIC) Inflator Units
    The Supplemental Side Air Bag Inflatable Curtains (SABIC) may deploy during rollovers and collisions where the impact is confined to a particular area of the side of the vehicle, depending on th ...

    Transfer Call To And From Mobile Phone
    The Uconnect™ Phone allows ongoing calls to be transferred from your mobile phone to the Uconnect™ Phone without terminating the call. To transfer an ongoing call from your Uconnect™ Phone ...

    Daytime Running Lights — If Equipped
    The headlights come on at a low intensity level when shifted into any position other than PARK (auto transmission) or when the vehicle begins to move (manual transmission). NOTE: The Daytime Runnin ...