It all depends on what he wants to do with it.
Patriots have their place. They are great for getting you to/from launching points for human powered adventures. They are fine on the fire roads and semi-maintained roads in the state and national parks (yes, there are some places I wouldn't take one...). There is a lift out there, rock sliders are there...but I haven't seen any bumpers for them.
My g/f has one...and we are still considering doing some work to it. It will never be a rock crawler, nor something I would take on a RTW trip....but for getting us to the trailhead for a hiking/backpacking/mountainbiking/kayaking trip....absolutely.
With the 4 cylinder, it runs down the freeway at 85mph just fine...gets great mileage (my personal best was 33mpg, from Grants NM up to Colorado, during winter....it seems to like cold weather). It is comfortable (relative to my TJ...), quiet, handles decent.....
For a small car based SUV with no low range t-case....it isn't bad. As long as your goals fit within its limitations. And with the price they used to sell for (not sure what they are going for now...but it can't be much more than 2 years ago), it makes a pretty good commuter/soft-roader.
