Just picked up a 2008 Patriot, maunual tranny in a 4x2. Hoping for great mpg, and utility. Any bad expereinces with Patriots out there? Can't belive Jeep is selling these things so cheap!

Hey:

Congrats on the new purchase. I purchased mine about a month ago. No signs of any problems here so far. My fuel economy has been pretty bad to date, but we have also had really cold temperatures, which I think has significantly affected my mpg. Also it takes awhile for the CVT to learn your driving habits. Though with your manual tranny you don't have to worry about that.

The only significant problem I have heard about is that some people have had problems with water leaking from the roof, usually around the dome lights.

I have a Compass (save engine an tranny) and it does take some time for the CVT to get used to your driving style. The cold weather is a drag on the gas mileage but that does get better went it's not so cold. After the warmer weather came plus some miles on the engine I'm getting 25.3 miles to the gallon. So hang in there, these engines really do save on gas as long as you drive them without hard and fast acceleration and fast stops.