Jeep Patriot, Anyone?

[6]

My two sons, CJ and Camden, dad passed about a week, week and a half ago. C.J. my oldest, just got his license last month so he inherited the car. It's a 2014-17ish Jeep Patriot.

His grandparents sent it to their mechanic and had the check engine light resolved (EVAP) and a tie rod end and a few other small things delt with.

Their dad was NOT good at maintaining his vehicles, it's a safe bet if this thing needed any preventive work it never got it.

Anyone have one, have any experience with them, know anything about them? Dodge caliber (which I also know nothing about) with a jeepy body on it is what I read.

He inherited the car but I'm about to inherit maintaining it.

Right out the gate he wants some stereo in there. Luckily for him I have a sub box, some coax interiors and a couple amps than came out of my truck a while back. So I'll get familiar with the inside quick enough.

Any positive or negative feed back on them? Anything to look out for?

Thanks y'all.

[nt650hawk]

Its a jeep. = fail

[6]

Its a jeep. = fail

But is it actually?

To me, a jeep has true 4x4 and actual off road design. The jeep name has been attached to a lot of bullshit lately. If this was an XJ then id know what i was in for. Or a wrangler.. Cool, shitty but easy to work on and LOTS of data on them out there . Or if it where a Cherokee that needs a transmission, id grab that up for him. I can do the trans and i know those things alright....

This thing has no jeep dna that i can recognize. Im afraid its a POS in an entirely other, non-jeep way.

[ParcNHawk]

This thing has no jeep dna that i can recognize. Im afraid its a POS in an entirely other, non-jeep way.

This ^^^^

Don't bother with a stereo. Keep it clean and don't crash it and sell it at the very first sign of trouble.

[rpcraft]

Check the unibody parts that are susceptible to rust if you can get it on a lift somewhere. Poke and prod with a ball peen and decent demo screwdriver. Hopefully someone had it rust coated (or whatever you guys call it up in the NE area). If it doesn't have any chassis rot then at least it is transportation and from that point you can probably find plenty of parts from the ones that didn't in a salvage yard to keep it running cheaply and reliably as it can be.

[69Falcon]

Make him learn about stereo installs; guide him but don’t do it. Same with the maintenance.

And if a guy in Texas is telling you to look out for rust on it…

[6]

Make him learn about stereo installs; guide him but don’t do it. Same with the maintenance.

And if a guy in Texas is telling you to look out for rust on it…

Ehhhh.. Take that advice with a grain of salt (get it).. The man doesn't even know what undercoating is called.

(im fucking with you rob).

[6]

Don't bother with a stereo. Keep it clean and don't crash it and sell it at the very first sign of trouble.

Unfortunately that is not an option. It was his dads car and with the exception of a couple hats and a few pairs of Jordan's that don't fit, its all he has left of him. How i feel about his dad doesn't matter here. He is 16, he loved him, and he wants to keep the car for a long time. So ill try if i can.

Time will tell just how long we will be trying to keep it going.

[rpcraft]

LOL, I guess I'm lucky enough most of my vehicular stuff has a nice layer of grease and dirt from being 50 years old and having oil leaks or living on the farms and/or sitting in a fieldbut the stuff that rust does to the vehicles up in your area blows my mind.

ON a serious side though, I think there are some head units you might check into that are Amazon android based if it has a double din setup. Most are really affordable but they have outputs for just about anything you would want (BU camera, RCA for audio if he wants a system, etc etc). They also do a pretty good job about being able to integrate steering wheel controls if he has them, and they don't usually need an additional module. I think the only thing you might have a fight with is hooking up any usb ports and the camera but there are adapters for those by companies like metra and what not. I've been doing a little research lately for my Frontier, in order to get carplay in it as well as a better backup camera and display (for backing up to trailers).

[6]

LOL, I guess I'm lucky enough most of my vehicular stuff has a nice layer of grease and dirt from being 50 years old and having oil leaks or living on the farms and/or sitting in a fieldbut the stuff that rust does to the vehicles up in your area blows my mind.

ON a serious side though, I think there are some head units you might check into that are Amazon android based if it has a double din setup. Most are really affordable but they have outputs for just about anything you would want (BU camera, RCA for audio if he wants a system, etc etc). They also do a pretty good job about being able to integrate steering wheel controls if he has them, and they don't usually need an additional module. I think the only thing you might have a fight with is hooking up any usb ports and the camera but there are adapters for those by companies like metra and what not. I've been doing a little research lately for my Frontier, in order to get carplay in it as well as a better backup camera and display (for backing up to trailers).

Already have the head unit.

I put a joying in my truck, that's what made the pioneer that was in my truck available for the jeep. I have no idea if it's double din, single or of it's some weird faceplate design that I'm going to have to cut up. Hoping not the ladder.

[rpcraft]

Metra has a good web site where you can look up installation kits and find the right stuff to hook things up. Might make getting it in easier but going to cost some money for parts more than likely (unfortunately). I've been looking at the Atoto series. Which Joying did you go with if I might ask? The only thing I am not wanting to really lose is the XM/Sirius but to I figure if I am running android I can put the app on it and change my plan to a streaming only plan and save a few bucks

[6]

I don't remember the model. It has the volume knob physically on the unit which was an absolute deal breaker for me. I fiddel with volume too much to have a digital volume adjust.

I like it. One issue with the touch screen is that my dog's nose can press the screen.. and the big flat black screen is always covers in dog nose goo. Not somthing I considered ahead of time.

IMG_20220701_125957.jpg

Other thing that it does is once in a blue moon (maybe one out of 100-200 starts) it boots with no audio and I need to restart it. Not a big deal, it boots fast.

Also it was advertised as wireless carplay and android auto.

They mean that literally.

It has wireless carplay, and it has android auto. The android auto is not wireless.. I don't use it. If I wanted to use Android auto I would have bought an Android auto radio from a more established brand.., but if I did Ida been pissed at the wording on that.

The last issue was that att pre-paid won't activate it. They don't recognize the device on their network. I run it off a hot spot on my phone now. I may use Verizon in the future or someone else to get it its own sim. But it works well enough for now.

I'd buy it again. I do wish the resolution was lower, but there may be a setting in there to change that..

[bk94si]

No personal experience but they say it is less reliable than the other Jeep models.

[rpcraft]

I also am hung up on a volume knob, which has been why i have held off. That looks like a solid unit. I'll have to check into it. No dog here (yet, lol) and my work phone is a iphone so seems like might be a win win. Thanks Andy!

[nt650hawk]

Unfortunately that is not an option. It was his dads car and with the exception of a couple hats and a few pairs of Jordan's that don't fit, its all he has left of him. How i feel about his dad doesn't matter here. He is 16, he loved him, and he wants to keep the car for a long time. So ill try if i can.

Time will tell just how long we will be trying to keep it going.

Tell him about the T-bird