[Dave Z]

and skid plates.

 

[Dave Z]

I think the main reason Renegade failed was the $30,000 asknig price followed by the price/performance of the powertrain (premium gasoline but bleh performance and bleh economy) as well as the Italian quality.

That said - anyone who buys a car and then whines about it being the wrong size, it's not the company at fault but the person. They didn't try it at the dealership?
The PT was a surprise-and-delight car for effective interior space but if someone buys one thinking it seats eight, i can't blame Chrysler.

 

[Dave Z]

This car is small inside for its size but that's a norm for the latest PSA sourced platforms.
For some reason packaging is not good.

The US Renegade, at least, was always a Fiat, no? Running a Fiat/Chrysler engine?

 

[Dave Z]

... and they did a LOT of work in the 1990s to fix this problem, and it was all undone. Mostly, I think, by Fiat, though the Compass/Caliber certainly didn't help. I'll forgive the Patriot powertrain to a degree because the body design was Jeep-like in its utility... but I don't think there was a trail rated version...

I still hear of new Wranglers with Death Wobble.

 

[Dave Z]

Sad thing is, I'd be pretty sure the Mopar version of the nine-speed was higher quality than the ZF.
But yes, Stella’s “cost savings” are very expensive.
Did we learn nothing from the late Iacocca era? Being cheep up front costs more down the road.

... and this is why I will pay extra for some things... I will buy Eneloops for rechargeable batteries because they are just about infallible over the years, and I will buy them from B&H, not Amazon, because I want real Eneloops. I spent extra for a Mac decades back, and it saved me enough over the twin-floppy PC I was looking at to pay for itself. I was one of the first normal people to buy a laser printer - the toner-vs-ink savings back then paid for the printer ($800!), keeping in mind I was doing much more printing back then.

It makes no sense for me to save a few pennies now to pay dollars (or hours of time) later... keeping in mind yes, I've bought from Alibaba and in the olden times, from Micro Center (e.g. bulk floppies). I'll go for a bargain. I've never bought an Apple mouse or keyboard. But I also wasn't one of those people who bought stuff that was cheap but had to be replaced every few weeks... and certainly not an adapter which “might” work but might also burn my house down.