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A Jeep person sitting next to me on just such an occasion recommended (rather urgently, I couldn't help noticing) that I should start braking. It worked, but we were on a dry surface at the time, and I was concerned about what the effect would have been if we were on mud.

As it's customary to point out at this stage of an article about almost any off-roader, most buyers probably won't get themselves into that position. The ones that do are most likely to be the ones who choose a Renegade over a Sport or a Limited - or at least they're the ones who are most likely to want to convince others that they do this sort of thing all the time.

The Renegade, which started out in March 2005 as a special edition, looks slightly more butch than the other models, with foglights on the front grille, two more lights mounted above the windscreen, and wheelarches and side sills which are visibly riveted to the rest of the body. In most other respects it's quite close to the standard Limited specification, though features like heated leather front seats, a 6-CD autochanger and satnav are extra-cost options on the Limited which are not available on the Renegade.

According to its maker, the Cherokee is "uniquely positioned to deliver both the on-road refinement required by the mid-sized SUV market and the off-road capability for which the legendary Jeep brand is known." The alternative view is that Jeep is falling behind the opposition here and needs to replace the Cherokee with something a lot more convincing.

Price: £22,235
Capacity: 2776cc
Power: 161bhp
0-62mph: 12.2 seconds
Maximum speed: 108mph
Economy: 34.4mpg extra urban, 28.5mpg combined
CO2 emissions: 262g/km
Towing capacity: 3360kg braked
Jeep figures.

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