Among all the American auto brands in business today, none is more truly free than Jeep. You know the story. Conceived for light-duty battlefield work in WWII. Conveyor of military brass and even limited firepower. Popular and nimble off-roader. Simple mechanicals. Honest, forthright service. Ever faithful. And now, international.

The Italian-built Renegade is built on a shared platform with the Fiat 500X and fills the niche Jeep needs in order to compete in the small SUV dogfight that runs the gamut from car-derived vehicles like Subaru's Crosstrek, Chevy's Trax, Nissan's Juke, the Fiat 500X itself, Mazda's CX-3, and the absolute staple of the segment, Honda's CR-V. Aside from the Subaru, the Jeep offers the most comprehensive off-road prowess in Trailhawk form, though admittedly few will venture through mud bogs and single-track trails with any of these vehicles. (We did test a Renegade Trailhawk on serious off-road trails and even non-trails last year and came away enormously impressed. It's not just a cute ute.)

And those Italian roots actually make more sense than you might imagine now that Europeans have made such a strong shift to small SUVs from station wagons and Americans have replaced small sedans with subcompact SUVs. As a business, FCA can spread cost and productivity internationally by focusing Renegade production at the Melfi, Italy factory alongside other Fiat models.

Our more road-focused Sport was fitted with the Selec-Terrain all-wheel-drive system, which decouples the rear wheels under normal paved driving for (theoretically) better fuel efficiency. Four different driving modes allow setting the AWD for automatic, mud, sand, or snow road conditions. Unobtrusive in normal conditions, the system barely broke a sweat on some hard- and medium-packed off-road trails, but without the Trailhawk package and its 8.7 inches (220mm) of ground clearance and 19 inches (482mm) of water fording ability, we would think carefully about serious hills, ruts, or rocks in the Renegade Sport with its 7.9 inches (200mm) of ground clearance.

The Renegade Sport model we tested uses a 1.4L turbocharged four-cylinder with a genuine manual transmission and a third pedal of the type that's all too rare today. With no options, at $20,990 (including destination) the Sport offers four-wheel drive, black body trim, and love-'em-or-hate-'em steel wheels painted flat black. (As tested with back-up camera, Bluetooth, and removable roof panels, it's $24,470.) And while the Renegade is clearly boxy, it's more than a simple box and exudes Jeepness in a rather fashion-focused manner.

Inside, the controls, the seating and most of the plastics feel a grade or two better than what you'd expect in this, the second-lowest-cost Jeep. An optional removable sunroof also allows as much al fresco Jeeping as possible in a conventional unibody passenger car.

All cars, even those at the sharp end of the market, are built to a price, and this car is no exception. But the Renegade is screwed together well. The sheer abundance of Jeep logos on door panels, woven within the seat cloth, and on the windows—which actually have silhouette pictograms of the classic Jeep form embedded in the glass—makes you feel you've received good value based solely on logo count. And you'll never question what you're driving. A large touchscreen head unit with navigation is optional.

The turbocharged 1.4L four-cylinder produces 160hp (119kW) and 184 ft-lb (249Nm) from 22psi (2.5 bar) boost pressure, which can only be mated to the aforementioned manual transmission. Any automatic takers get a nine-speed unit hitched to a 180hp (134kW) 2.4L naturally aspirated four-cylinder also making 175 ft-lb of torque (237Nm). Though fuel economy is rated at 24/31/27mpg city/highway/combined, we saw a combined average of 23.1mpg—not really up to snuff but not atrocious given that we were on-boost much of the time.

This turbocharged engine and transmission combination unfortunately shines a light on throttle lag, however, which is one particular bit of engine dynamic behavior that many other manufacturers have long since been able to minimize. While some turbo lag is inevitable, we think there's more going on here.

To minimize spikes in emissions due to transients when the throttle is sharply opened or closed, manufacturers often soften those throttle opening and closing rates. The net effect worsens a typical turbo application's throttle response. On a closing throttle, this sort of strategy certainly cleans up some emissions spikes, but it can also cause the engine to decelerate—or idle down—frustratingly slowly. This Renegade exhibits some of both of those characteristics. The shift lever also provides a rather ropey, lazy feel and response.

Despite the throttle lag, outright power is quite satisfying. Even through the body roll, the Renegade handles well for this class, with steering that's surprisingly communicative.

Smartly, the Renegade uses equal-length front half-shafts which tend to minimize torque steer under hard acceleration. The Sport weighs roughly 300lbs (136kg) less than the up-level Limited—about 10 percent of the car's overall curb weight of 3,183lbs (1,444 kg)—improving its nimbleness. The Sport is actually fun to drive for what it is, which is not at all a canyon-carving sports car.

The Renegade echoes an older, mechanical generation of cars where simplicity is itself a reward. Like your grandfather’s ancient wood plane or brace drill, it’s a tool that always works well and amounts to an honest, timeless formula.