Sport vs Renegade

[PrepVet]

I realize this isn't directly competion but it is atleast related. I took my worthless sister out car shopping this weekend. I had sent her a spreadsheet of dozens of new cars and pricing. Not that I though she would look at it but I wanted her to have some information and, more importantly, my mother to have it. Since she is the one who is paying.

My sister had further ideas, some which include much more expensive cars.

Anyway after a Saturday of checking out several crossovers and SUVs and myself and my 5 year old son replacing the battery on my BIL's older Escape (holy PITA). She has it down to two different cheaper cars. A Bronco Sport and a Fiat Renegade. I really don't care for the later, however... it can be had for cheap. Comparatively.


Despite the Ford quality concerns, I still much preferred the Sport. However, the pricing was stupid.

We looked at a number of Big Bend Sports and some had an MSRP of just shy of $33k. I still think that is too much, but they also had a $5k markup on them. They had 18 new Sports on their lot. It drove well and felt quite comfortable. The power delivery felt a little weird but I'm sure it was just me not being at all used to it. In general it was nice little SUV. I just thought it was too pricey, even before the mark up.

A similarish Renegade Latitude had a sticker of right around $30k but it already had a dealer mark down of $3k, plus or maybe better than... an incentive on for $1k UNDER plus as well as my veteran and first responder discounts since I was with her when she was looking at the car. They had over 20 Renegades on their lot. In the end the new Renegade was around $20k. As much as I don't care for it, I mean it's fine for what it is at that price, but more than that is stupid. The ride was fine, but not nearly as good as the Sport, which surprised since despite being body on frame I thought it was a car frame. However the interior was interesting and comfortable. Not as much room for both people and stuff, but not bad. It was better than I expected but still felt typical MOPAR cheap.

I haven't followed up today on what they are doing but I told them they are stone stupid if they pay a markup on a car. Especially that, but I know how lazy they can be.

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[j_marinelli]

Renegade will be cheaper as it's classified as a subcompact SUV vs the Sport which is classified as a compact SUV. Doing a quick search, I found on the USNews rankings that the Renegade was ranked 15th in the subcompact and the Sport ranked 3rd in the compact category. IMO if they are budget conscious, I would go for the Renegade. If both payments are a non issue, the extra room in the Sport would be nice (especially coming from an old school Escape as I believe they are similar in size)

 

[AZ_Liberty]

The Sport is basically an Escape with nicer sheet metal and squared off looks.
The Renegade is a Fiat 500 with... squared off looks.

The Jeep Compass is more comparable to the Sport than the Renegade.
Edit to add, seeing about 7k off the Compass locally.

Base engine in the Sport is a 1.5L 3-cylinder. I'd feel better about the 2.0 since it's a 4-banger.

 

[PrepVet]

Renegade will be cheaper as it's classified as a subcompact SUV vs the Sport which is classified as a compact SUV. Doing a quick search, I found on the USNews rankings that the Renegade was ranked 15th in the subcompact and the Sport ranked 3rd in the compact category. IMO if they are budget conscious, I would go for the Renegade. If both payments are a non issue, the extra room in the Sport would be nice (especially coming from an old school Escape as I believe they are similar in size)

I'd buy that. But when buying anything Fiat you are getting a known issue of sometype. However for how terribly she treats her cars I don't think it would matter what she drives. lol The Sport was genuinely nicer than I was expecting.

 

[JerryC]

The Sport is good vehicle, esp the Badlands trim. We had one for about 8 months until we traded it in for my Bronco. It was good deal before Ford raised the MSRP over the last couple of years. The ergonomics in it are really good. I loved the cargo table, it has a lot of utility. Makes sure she checks that out.

There's a reason that there is a years supply of Renegades on dealers lots (according to a couple of YouTube vids I've seen recently). I don't have first hand experience with the Renegade but something is scaring buyers away.

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