On Wheels

Looking like a seven-eighths scale Cherokee, the Jeep Patriot hits the streets at an uncertain time for SUVs. The full-size Jeep Commander launched into the teeth of rising fuel costs and a shrinking full-size SUV market in 2006, and sales have been less than stellar. Now the conservatively-styled Patriot seems to be making the same mistake.

It's not immediately obvious, but the Jeep Grand Cherokee is basically an American response to Land Rover's capable luxury sport-utes. The Grand Cherokee has always been subtly different from other midsize SUVs, because it's a Jeep.

Still facing quizzical looks from automotive reporters who were stumped when it was revealed in January at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, the 2007 Compass, the first front-wheel-drive Jeep, officially debuted in Portland in June.

This original American sport utility vehicle has been under attack on many flanks, and to combat hip rides like the Hummer H3, Toyota FJ Cruiser and Nissan Xterra, the Wrangler had to change. But if there’s one word that gives the Jeep faithful the willies, it’s “change.”