Jeep Cherokee vs Jeep Renegade: which is more reliable?
The Jeep Cherokee and the Jeep Renegade are level on the federal record — 66/100 against 65/100 across the years we score. Which one to buy is decided by the model year, not the badge.
The record, side by side
Jeep Cherokee
- 6 model years scored
- 2,801 owner complaints on record
- about 68 complaints per year on the road
- 29 recall campaigns, 11 safety-critical
- best year 2023 (92/100) · worst 2019 (25/100)
Jeep Renegade
- 9 model years scored
- 2,196 owner complaints on record
- about 28 complaints per year on the road
- 24 recall campaigns, 13 safety-critical
- best year 2022 (89/100) · worst 2017 (40/100)
Mean score is the average across model years from 2013 on, where both records are comparable. How the score works.
Year by year: Cherokee against Renegade
The comparison that decides the purchase. A nameplate is not one car — a redesign can move the record sixty points inside two years, and the two nameplates rarely move together.
What owners actually complain about
Jeep Cherokee
- Power Train — 1,357 complaints
- Engine — 680 complaints
- Electrical System — 591 complaints
Jeep Renegade
- Engine — 847 complaints
- Electrical System — 615 complaints
- Power Train — 421 complaints
They do not fail the same way: the Cherokee's complaints concentrate in Power Train, the Renegade's in Engine. That difference matters more to a buyer than the score gap, because it says which repair bill you are taking on.
Years to avoid on each
Jeep Cherokee — avoid: 2018, 2019.
Jeep Renegade — avoid: 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018.
A year scores below 45 on complaints per year of exposure and recall campaigns. Every car’s years to avoid.
What each costs today
A recent used Jeep Cherokee prices at about $27,900 and a Jeep Renegade at about $27,900 — they price within $1 of each other, which at this level is the same money, and they return 24.0 against 26.0 MPG combined.
Class-level estimates re-priced to your country, not a valuation of one car. Method.
FAQ
Is the Jeep Cherokee or the Jeep Renegade more reliable?
On the NHTSA record the Jeep Cherokee scores 66/100 against the Jeep Renegade's 65/100, averaged across every model year we hold. The gap is small enough that the model year matters more than the badge.
Which Jeep Cherokee and Jeep Renegade years should I avoid?
Jeep Cherokee: 2018, 2019. Jeep Renegade: 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018. Each of those scores under 45 out of 100 on complaints per year of exposure and recall campaigns.
What goes wrong on the Jeep Cherokee and the Jeep Renegade?
The largest complaint group on the Jeep Cherokee is Power Train (1,357 complaints); on the Jeep Renegade it is Engine (847).
Is the Jeep Cherokee or the Jeep Renegade cheaper to own?
A recent used Jeep Cherokee prices at about $27,900 and a Jeep Renegade at about $27,900, before insurance and the maintenance band. Both pages carry the five-year running-cost figure.