The year was 2006, and Chrysler was fresh off the successful launch of the gangsta 300 and the oddly well-received Dodge Charger. The future looked bright for the Pentastar, with a plethora of new products set to arrive for the 2007 model year. The Chrysler Sebring and Aspen, the Dodge Caliber and Nitro and the Jeep Compass and Patriot were all primed to turn the car-buying world on-end. Or not. The Aspen is now history, the Sebring and Nitro have been abject failures, and the Caliber, Compass and Patriot, all of which share the same platform, haven't come close to meeting expectations.

But one vehicle almost had a shot: the Patriot. Despite mudding Jeep's crystal-clear brand DNA by adding a front-wheel drive soft-roader to the mix, the Patriot's all-four cylinder lineup and better-than-advertised fuel economy arrived just as gas prices rocketed into the stratosphere. So why did it flop? That's a novel unto itself, but the key culprits included poor interior materials and questionable build quality that conspired with a lackluster ad campaign and the overarching sense that Chrysler was teetering on the brink.

But in spite of all of that, the crew from Auburn Hills didn't leave the Patriot for dead. They upgraded the interior, made a host of hardware changes and reworked the rugged little crossover to be more competitive for 2010. We were keen to sample the fruits of their labors, so we picked up a fully-loaded 2010 Jeep Patriot Limited to see if the sum of its upgrades have made this front-drive stepchild a viable alternative in a crowded field of small crossovers.


Gallery: Review: 2010 Jeep Patriot





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