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:
Rear Window Defroster
The rear window defroster button is located on the
climate control (Mode) knob. Press this button to
turn on the rear window defroster and the heated outside
mirrors. An indicator in the butto ...
To Disarm The System
Either press the UNLOCK button on the RKE transmitter
or insert a valid Sentry Key into the ignition lock
cylinder and turn the key to the ON/RUN position.
NOTE:
• Unlocking the doors with th ...
Seat Belt Pretensioners
The seat belts for both front seating positions are
equipped with pretensioning devices that are designed to
remove slack from the seat belt in the event of an
accident. These devices may improv ...


