Blind to the Value

As equipped, our test Patriot Limited 4x4's price was $29,700, and people found that hard to stomach. Dig deeper, and you find the base price for this trim is $24,550, which is a bit lower than that of the CR-V's and Tucson's higher trim levels (see them compared). The roughly $5,000 difference amounted to our Patriot's long list of options, including the automatic transmission, a moonroof and a premium stereo with unique flip-down rear speakers in the liftgate. There's also remote start, Bluetooth phone connectivity, HomeLink, an auto-dimming rearview mirror, a cargo cover, roof-rack crossbars, a readout for the tire pressure monitoring system and more. The in-dash multimedia system included a well-executed navigation system with a free year of Sirius Traffic Service. It also featured both analog and digital jacks for playing and controlling audio sources and for loading songs and photos onto the onboard hard disk drive.

It's actually a lot of features for the money, but there's such a disconnect between the price and the perception of quality that people seemed blind to the value of the added options. If this doesn't illustrate the importance of aesthetic quality, nothing will.

    See also:

    Towing
    It may be offroadable, but the Patriot has the same shortcoming of most front-drive-based platforms: Its maximum towing capacity is a mere 2,000 pounds when equipped with the Trailer Tow package, ...

    Sky Slider™ Control
    The Sky Slider™ switch is located between the sun visors on the overhead console. Sky Slider™ Switch NOTE: The Sky Slider™ switch will operate when the ignition switch is turned to the O ...

    Notes On Playing MP3/WMA Files
    The radio can play MP3/WMAfiles; however, acceptable MP3/WMAfile recording media and formats are limited. When writing MP3/WMA files, pay attention to the following restrictions. ...