It’s been a while since Jeep discontinued the Compass and the similarly-sized Patriot in the UK, and we doubt anyone misses them much. Now the Compass is coming back, but not as the cheap Jeep; that role has been usurped by the Renegade. Instead, the new Compass will slot in between the Renegade and the Cherokee, and will take on well-established players like the Volkswagen Tiguan, Nissan Qashqai, and SEAT Ateca.
The newcomer is a significantly plusher vehicle than the old Compass: better finished and better to drive. It rides on a longer version of the Small Wide 4x4 platform that underpins the Renegade, which means it’s also a distant relative of the Cherokee and the Fiat 500X. The Compass’ additional 150mm of length over the Renegade translates to more rear legroom and a larger boot, too.
Outside, the Compass retains the handsome mini-Grand-Cherokee styling of its predecessor, with the shark fin D-pillar carried over from the old version. Inside, the Compass looks quite similar to the Cherokee, though not as upmarket. Compared to the Renegade, the control layout is similar, but there are fewer playful details and the materials and the design is more mature.
Eager to show off its off-road abilities, we headed for the Holliser Hills off-road park in California for our first drive of the Jeep Compass. As with the Renegade, we were impressed by what a competent mud-plugger the Compass is, particularly in Trailhawk form. Armed with extra ground clearance, chinless bumpers, and Jeep’s most sophisticated all-wheel-drive system—complete with a low range and a 20:1 crawl-ratio—the Compass Trailhawk deftly picked its way through Hollister’s treacherous trails.
The Compass Trailhawk has plenty of ground clearance, but with struts at all four corners, axle articulation is limited and most off-roading is done on three wheels, with the all-wheel-drive system relying on the brakes to (automatically) grab spinning wheels and send power to the opposite side of the axle. It works well: On slipper ascents, simply apply a little extra throttle and give the all-wheel-drive system time to sort itself out. If no forward motion was forthcoming, a little more accelerator would get it going. On steep down-grades, the hill descent control system let the Compass tip-toe down steep, sandy hills with the grace of a Land Rover. Point proven: This is a Jeep, and a proper one at that.
The Compass we drove was a US-spec model; we expect the suspension will be stiffened for the UK market. One gripe was with the steering, which was inconsistent with its weighting. At first it responds too slowly and the too sensitive as you apply more lock. We were impressed by the ride, however. The Jeep engineers touted the merits of the Compass’ amplitude-reactive dampers, and indeed the Jeep stayed well composed over broken, bumpy tarmac. That said, the handling didn’t exactly paste a grin on our faces: Like the Renegade, it’s competent but not overly enjoyable.
Jeep is offering no fewer than five different engines across the world-wide Compass lineup, including three petrol engines (1.4 turbo, 2.0, and 2.4) and two turbodiesels (1.6 and 2.0). The US-spec examples we drove had the 180bhp 2.4 four-cylinder with a nine-speed automatic gearbox. We were unimpressed by the tepid acceleration, which doesn’t bode well for the smaller engines.
Will the Compass take the UK by storm? We’ll reserve our final judgement until we’ve driven the UK-spec version. For now, though, we wouldn’t anticipate the Compass jumping to the head of the class.
- Model: Jeep Compass
- Price: $20,995 - $28,995
- Engine: 2.4-litre 4cyl petrol (US spec)
- Power: 180bhp
- Torque: 237Nm
- Transmission: Six-speed manual/nine-speed automatic, front-/four-wheel drive
- 0-62mph: N/A
- Top speed: N/A
- Economy: N/A
- CO2: N/A
- On sale: Second half of 2017
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