All-New Jeep Renegade Conquers Black Bear Pass!
On this episode of Dirt Every Day presented by 4-Wheel Parts
Transcript
00:00 This week on Dirt Every Day, we're at 12,000 feet in the snow on an iconic Jeep trail in a Jeep you might not expect.
00:07 [Music]
00:36 Sometimes really awesome stuff costs something. You know, like crazy cars like this cost something.
00:41 Pie costs something. If you check out our new website, MotorTrendOnDemand, you'll see lots of really cool automotive stuff.
00:48 Check it out. MotorTrendOnDemand.com
00:54 Here's the situation. My buddy Joe is a motorcycle guy, but he just got a Jeep Wrangler, one of the old YJs.
01:01 And it's his first Jeep he's ever had, and I wanted to take Joe on a Jeepin' trip.
01:06 You know, to kind of break him in and give him some kind of background on how to be a good Jeeper.
01:11 There's lots of things that Jeepers need to know. So I told Joe to meet me in Flagstaff, Arizona, and we're going to go Jeepin' on a four-wheel drive trip.
01:19 What he doesn't know is he doesn't know that we're not taking a Wrangler. We're taking this brand new Renegade Trailhawk.
01:24 Kind of like candid camera, I'm going to throw Joe in this Jeep, and we're going to go see what this little car will do and have a good time in the next four days.
01:31 Oh, and I also brought Batman and Baxter. I'm pretty sure he's expecting me to show up in an old flat fender.
01:37 Hey! Dude!
01:40 Wow!
01:44 Get in here! Good!
01:48 So, here's the deal. Alright. We're filming this thing. Alright. I'm with you.
01:53 There's all these GoPros, and there's like a cameraman hidden over there in the woods.
01:57 So we're just going to kind of cruise around. We're going to go to Telluride. You ever been to Telluride?
02:02 I might have. I've been through a lot of Colorado on dirt bikes.
02:06 You've been all over the place on dirt bikes. My goal is to teach you how to be a Jeeper.
02:11 So, because you have a four-cylinder Wrangler, I got this because it's also a four-cylinder.
02:17 But this is their most capable renegade. It's called the Trailhawk, so it's got lots of whiz-bang stuff that we're going to figure out how it all works.
02:26 What kind of transmission is this? Is it like one of those CRV things, or does it actually shift gears?
02:34 You know, a lot of people will look at this car and be like, "That'd be a great car if I lived in the city."
02:40 And a lot of cities have urban off-roading that nobody even kind of thinks about.
02:46 We're right here by this road track. There's this old, deserted concrete slab, and we're going to see if we can try up on top of it.
02:51 It's kind of like rock crawling, but it's kind of what you would do in the city.
02:56 It's cement crawling.
02:59 I'm almost sure you're not supposed to be... Yeah, I'm pretty sure now.
03:04 See that?
03:10 So, are we going for no visible body damage?
03:14 Joe, this is a Jeep. It is designed to go off-road and do these types of things.
03:19 Jeeps have been getting body damage pretty much since the turn of the century.
03:24 Yeah, that's cool.
03:37 Let's go play in the sand.
03:41 [Laughing]
03:46 That man's like, "This is a terrible idea!"
03:58 We did the urban off-roading. That went fairly painlessly to the vehicle.
04:06 Well, to us. Yeah, to us. It didn't hurt us one bit.
04:09 Now we're going to do some sand. This is kind of black volcanic sand.
04:14 And this is Mark. Mark.
04:17 This is Mark. Joe. Joe. Mark. Nice to meet you.
04:19 Now, the reason I called Mark to come out here is because Mark runs this company called Daystar.
04:23 They make all types of polyurethane gadgets and widgets.
04:26 And he has a lift kit all ready for the Jeep Renegade.
04:30 Why did you make this lift kit for the Renegade, Mark?
04:32 Well, I mean, as much as it's going to pain me to say this is because of Fred.
04:36 I think so.
04:37 Everybody knows that when you get a Wrangler, you lift it, you put big tires, you do all this fun stuff.
04:43 Nobody thinks that that's what's going to happen with this car.
04:46 But the thing is, this Jeep is the entryway to the Wrangler.
04:50 Will the Renegade tackle the Rubicon every weekend? Probably not.
04:54 But you know what? This thing's going to do fine up in Moab.
04:56 It's going to do fine on a lot of trails that you go to.
04:59 I think it's a capable vehicle. I think it's going to be a cool ride.
05:01 And I think that it takes some aftermarket support for people to say, "Maybe I do want to buy that for my kid or my wife or even as a commuter."
05:12 Learning the Jeep lifestyle, you will realize very quickly we don't like to leave anything alone.
05:17 That's part of your Jeep lifestyle lesson for today.
05:19 Spend money, keep changing the Jeep to get it in worse and worse places and damaging it more and more.
05:26 No, not damaging it, but finding really cool places to go with your vehicle.
05:31 And then you can probably sleep there and camp out.
05:33 Cool.
05:34 And bring your dogs.
05:35 So, let's turn the little dial to sand and go peel out and see what we can find.
05:41 [Music]
06:05 Matt, there's a donut street.
06:08 I have no idea why more people don't grow donut trees in their front yard.
06:12 Alright, let's head to Telluride.
06:15 [Music]
06:27 So, we're headed up here to Kennebec Pass.
06:30 This place is awesome out here.
06:33 Someday, I'll move out here and I'll just make the camera crew fly out here to shoot videos.
06:39 Now, I'm sure that 90% of renegade owners, like, this is the type of wheeling they would want to do.
06:45 Yeah.
06:46 Your buddy Joe, grab your dogs, grab your cooler, head on out to the woods, camp out, make a fire, shoot some guns, drink some beers.
06:54 That's nice.
06:57 It's like having a jacuzzi with no electricity.
07:01 A free Zuzzi.
07:04 Hey, check it out. What's this right here?
07:06 That is a Jeep something or other.
07:08 Give him the wave. Give him the wave.
07:09 Oh, God, I forgot the wave.
07:10 So, Joe, you've got to learn your Jeep wave.
07:12 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
07:13 So, whenever you see another Jeeper, you wave.
07:16 I was a Cherokee.
07:18 Is that considered a Jeep still?
07:20 Yeah.
07:21 You wave to all other Jeeps.
07:23 Like, there are Jeep snobs that feel like you should only wave to your own model of Jeep.
07:28 I don't buy that.
07:29 It's like they're all Jeepers, and even if it's like a two-wheel drive, like the postman, and he's driving a two-wheel drive postal Jeep, wave to him.
07:36 You wave at all the Jeepers.
07:37 That way, like, you're all on the same team.
07:44 This is where the rock crawling mode comes in.
07:47 It's doing it, isn't it?
07:48 I mean, it'll climb it.
07:51 So, that road close, does that mean anything to you?
07:54 This is probably about where we want to stop.
07:58 Yeah, I'm cool with stopping here.
08:00 Yeah, this is a good spot.
08:01 This is good.
08:02 You want to have lunch here?
08:03 Yeah, we could do lunch or anything.
08:05 We don't need to go any further.
08:06 In fact, we can go right on back down.
08:10 I think there's a really nice deli back in Durango we can go back to and get you a nice sandwich.
08:15 Yeah.
08:17 I tell you what, you go over there.
08:18 They're not even going to find the pieces.
08:24 It's a long way down.
08:25 So, it came up the hill pretty good.
08:27 What exactly do you think it does different because we switched it to rock mode, and what does it do that makes it go up the rocks?
08:35 It probably has a more aggressive traction control so that if a tire is spinning, it'll hit that brake and send power to the other tires that have traction,
08:43 so it gets as much torque to the wheels to kind of crawl up the thing.
08:47 It's going down into mud mode.
08:53 Joe?
08:54 Yeah, man?
08:55 Do you like mud?
08:56 I don't like having to clean the car after the mud.
08:58 But you know what?
08:59 It's fun.
09:12 This Jeep has so many what they call Easter eggs.
09:15 The designers all over this thing, they have hidden little Jeep emblems.
09:19 So, like there's a little Jeep flat fender driving up a rocky trail.
09:23 On the side of the mirror, there's the seven-slot grill.
09:27 In here above the speaker, there's a seven-slot grill.
09:31 In here, there's like a spider that says "Ciao, baby," which I think has something to do with Fiat because who else would be saying Italy?
09:39 Yeah, "Ciao, baby."
09:40 Now, there's one in the taillight.
09:42 It's an XX, which is reminiscent of the old Army gas cans.
09:46 Like in World War II, the Army gas cans, the U.S. Army had an X on it.
09:49 And then there's also a Jeep grill.
09:51 But the one that really confuses me is up inside the rear window, there's a silhouette of a Sasquatch.
09:57 Now, I'm a huge Bigfoot fan.
09:59 I believe that out there somewhere is a Bigfoot running through the woods.
10:02 But why would the Jeep guys put that in the back window?
10:05 There's no connection to the Jeep brand, is there?
10:07 It doesn't make any sense.
10:08 Do they make a Sasquatch?
10:09 No, I don't know why.
10:11 Just Jeepers are always out in the woods and Bigfoot's always out in the woods?
10:15 I don't know.
10:16 It's weird.
10:17 It's cool, but it's weird.
10:18 We were coming down the mountain and Joe heard a noise.
10:29 So we checked the wheel, tire, pressure monitor, and the right front tire was dropping quickly.
10:36 So we either picked up something or somehow got a hole in our tire.
10:40 Luckily, Renegade has a full-size spare.
10:43 So we'll put the new spare tire on, throw this one in the back,
10:48 and maybe tomorrow we'll run it by a tire store and see if they can plug the little hole we got.
10:53 Next stop, Uray.
10:54 See ya.
10:55 So we stopped here at Timber Ridge, Phillips 66, to get our tire fixed.
11:05 And they recommended actually replacing it.
11:09 The only one they could find is a used tire, but that would be perfect as a spare
11:12 so that if we get to a jam and we need a spare tire, we'll have a tire that holds air.
11:17 This guy's really cool. He took us in the back.
11:20 He's got a really cool orange flat fender over here that he's owned since he was 15 years old.
11:24 We're going to get the Jeep fixed.
11:26 We're going to head on out of Uray and go try and find some snow.
11:29 Get to tell your ride before dark, hopefully.
11:33 Or die trying.
11:35 And eat camera guys.
11:37 So Jeep radars is the next thing you need to learn as a Jeeper.
11:41 What Jeep radar is, is every time you're driving around,
11:44 especially through small mountain towns or out in the country,
11:47 you start trying to spot Jeeps.
11:49 Like right there.
11:50 Well, those are JKs.
11:52 What's this right here, this green one?
11:54 TJ?
11:55 That's a TJ with the tailgate smashed in.
11:57 Oh, what's that over there?
11:58 See? It's already working.
12:00 What do we got coming here?
12:02 CJ7.
12:03 How about that?
12:04 Good job.
12:06 You're on fire now.
12:07 Yeah.
12:08 Joe, we got to find some snow.
12:17 We have one more setting on our dial.
12:19 Snow.
12:20 There's some melted snow.
12:22 That's got a little chunks of ice in it.
12:25 So what do you think about this Renegade?
12:27 We've been going through some rough stuff, dragging the bottom across things,
12:31 going up stair steps.
12:33 It's doing it. Whether we like it or not, it's doing the job.
12:38 It deserves the Jeep name that's on it.
12:41 It's kind of like an original flat fender where it has enough power to do what it needs to do,
12:47 but not a whole lot of extra power.
12:50 There's been a few times climbing things, it could have used a little bit more gearing,
12:55 a little bit more low range.
12:56 But the thing is, look at this, we're running Black Bear Pass and the thing's stock.
13:01 Oh yeah, it's going to go anywhere.
13:03 It's like a little tank over the rocks.
13:05 You put it in rock and it just motors right up.
13:08 And there's not a lot of extra wheel spin because it's not wasting a bunch of energy to turn up the wheel.
13:14 Now up ahead looks a little interesting.
13:17 This could be the end of our drive right here.
13:20 Come on little car.
13:22 Oh, come on little Jeep.
13:35 Come on little Jeep.
13:37 It's going, it's going, it's going.
13:40 Yeah, come on.
13:42 Jason, just give it a push.
13:50 Ready?
13:55 There it goes, there it goes.
13:58 Thank you, cameraman.
14:02 You believe that?
14:03 Yeah.
14:05 That is all the more power this thing needs.
14:07 Just that much more power.
14:10 It was like right there.
14:13 We having fun yet?
14:14 All right, let's keep trucking and see if we can find some snow.
14:23 Well, there's a little snow.
14:24 Doesn't look good, Joe.
14:26 We don't have very much snow to drive in.
14:29 Well, we can always make snow angels.
14:32 Boy, this stuff's hard.
14:34 Yeah, and wet.
14:35 Let's go turn the heated seats on.
14:37 Yeah, yeah, let's go turn the heat on.
14:39 At least we got to snow mode.
14:44 Black Bear Pass is an iconic Jeep trail that runs into Telluride.
14:50 And it's known for its very narrow ledge trails, where there's like a thousand foot drop off,
14:56 and then really tight switchbacks, which is actually a perfect trail for a Jeep like this because this Jeep is so small.
15:04 Wow, I mean, it is straight down there, brother.
15:08 I would not recommend every renegade owner to just come and try and run Black Bear.
15:14 You need some skill. You need a little bit of experience.
15:16 You need a good amount of experience driving off-road to run this trail.
15:25 So we just punched a sidewall into a sharp rock.
15:29 Luckily, when we were in town, we grabbed a tire plug kit.
15:32 Sidewall plugs are not really what you want.
15:35 They get us off the trail, but when we get to the bottom, we're going to put our spare tire on here
15:40 because you don't want to run a sidewall plug on the highway at speed.
15:44 I got to give it credit. It's doing pretty good.
15:53 This is so not what this thing is designed for.
15:57 Whatever. This will be fun. See, this is what people want to know. What will it do?
16:02 [Music]
16:22 We made it to Telluride.
16:25 We took the Jeep through sand, through rocks, got some mud.
16:29 We barely got a little bit of snow, and we did Black Bear Pass.
16:32 We're probably the first renegades to ever do Black Bear Pass.
16:35 That's it for Dirt Every Day. We'll see you next time.
16:38 Actually, the guys we have on this shoot are like the Spielbergs of the online, off-road, video genre.
16:51 I mean, 13 years at film school, and they ended up...
16:55 That's got to be damaging.
16:56 They ended up editing a show about some knucklehead and his two dogs driving around in four-wheel drives.
17:03 It's not that they're bad people. It's just they're so...
17:07 They're kind of weirdos.
17:08 They're weirdos, and they're freaks.
17:11 Joe, realize that they're the ones that will be watching this and editing this.
17:15 And I love them. I love those guys.
17:17 Aren't they the greatest guys ever?
17:19 They are. They're sweethearts. They've got personality plus.
17:22 Yeah.