LET’S be honest. Compact SUVs like the Nissan Juke might look the part, but they aren’t much good off road. In fact, you may as well be in a Ford Focus for all the good the Juke’s macho looks would do you traversing a muddy field or creeping over a cratered rock bed.

The new Jeep Renegade is different. Boffins at Jeep claim it’s the first modern compact ‘lifestyle’ SUV that’s been developed with hardcore off-road action in mind.

I say ‘modern’ because the Suzuki Jimny got here more than a decade ago, but these days the primitive Suzook has all the manners and refinement of a rutting rhino.

The Renegade uses the same small-wide 4x4 platform as the Fiat 500X, and it’s built in Italy, but the comparison ends there.

While the Fiat will major on style and on-road performance, the Jeep looks like a shrinkie dink version of the Wrangler – a decision that gives it excellent off-road performance. Those squared-off looks give the Renegade the best approach/departure angle of any car in its class, meaning it can forge up steep hillocks and down the other side without fear of unwanted, and expensive, bodywork modification to the grille/bumper.

The Renegade actually sits between the two best-sellers in the lifestyle SUV market, the Nissan Juke and the Qashqai.

It’s 101mm longer than a Juke but 100mm shorter than a Qashqai, as wide as the Qashqai and taller than either of them. The distance between the front and back wheels places the Renegade (2570mm) closer to the Juke (2530mm) than the roomier Qashqai (2646mm), however.

Price-wise it’s bang in the middle. The cheapest Renegade (with a 1.6 110bhp engine) costs £16,995. Juke ownership starts at £13,620 and the entry level Qashqai will set you back £18,265.

To look at, it’s a bit Jeep and a lot Juke. The seven bar trademark grille is instantly recognisable, as is the Lego brick profile but the taillights are supposedly inspired by US Army petrol cans and the compact dimensions make it look cute, not craggy.

The Juke’s stylised interior springs to mind when you climb aboard, too. There’s the same mix of practical and peculiar, sombre black plastics enlivened with colourful plastic embellishments. The low waistline and tall roof creates plenty of headroom and great visibility, though.

More quirky are the speaker grilles (which use the seven bar grille/round headlight theme), the sneaky Willys Jeep silhouettes (can you spot them?) and the air vents that were supposedly inspired by ski goggles.

In the UK, the new Jeep will be available in four different trim levels – Sport, Longitude, Limited and Trailhawk – with a choice of fuel efficient turbodiesel and petrol engines, “WD or full fat 4WD. To save fuel the 4x4 system can disconnect the rear axle and switch into 2WD drive mode when all-wheel drive isn’t required.

Standard equipment in the well-equipped entry-level Sport includes air conditioning, DAB radio with touchscreen and Bluetooth, electric parking brake, 16-inch alloy wheels, tyre pressure monitoring, and remote central locking. Longitude adds features including 17-inch aluminium wheels, six-speaker audio system, roof rails, body coloured door mirrors and handles, cruise control, and front fog lamps.

The Limited version adds 18-inch aluminium wheels, chromed exhaust tip, Forward Collision Mitigation, heated front seats and steering wheel, leather upholstery, privacy glass and rear parking sensors.

Jeep bosses reckon the compact SUV market has been waiting for a ‘genuine’ small off-roader and, if it has, the Renegade seems well placed to do very well.

Of course, some traditionalists will decry Jeep’s move into a lifestyle segment but the same stick-in-the-muds said a Porsche 4x4 would never sell. Last year, Porsche sold twice as many 4x4s as it did sports cars.

It might be the Renegade in the Jeep line-up, but this baby rock crawler also promises to be really rather good.