Jeep Renegade North Star

Ageing SUV gets a special edition to mark European sales landmark. Does it offer more than just extra value for money?

- Dean Gibson

FEW cars are as long-lived as the Jeep Renegade. It was the company’s smallest SUV when production first started in 2014 — now superseded by the Avenger — and more than a decade later, it’s still going. We'd like to say it’s still going strong, but the Renegade has never really excelled in one area; competitors have long had the measure of it in most respects.

Yet that hasn't stopped sales, and to celebrate one million units of the Renegade and the equally ageing, soon-to-be-replaced Compass being sold across Europe, Jeep has introduced a special edition called the North Star. There was a bit of confusion when we booked the car in, because it came a week after we'd driven the Jeep Avenger The North Face, a car that has zero connection with the larger Renegade model.

While The North Face adds outdoorsy appeal to the Avenger, the North Star offers a level of kit that’s designed, first and foremost, to deliver decent value for money on the Renegade. This starts with the exterior, where Technogreen metallic paint sits alongside gloss black 17-inch alloys (which look a little small these days) and a glare-reducing matt-black bonnet decal. Subtle badges pick out Polaris and its constellations, while roof rails and LED foglights complete the look.