Review: 2007 Jeep Compass 4X4
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Review: 2007 Jeep Compass 4X4
http://www.jeep.com/en/compass/index.html
In a Nutshell: One of the cheapest AWD vehicles available (if you can live without options)
but crudely finished and unimpressive inside.
The new-for-2007 Jeep Compass and the upcoming Patriot ( due early next year ) represent a
new marketing direction for Jeep this year, which up till now has offered only true off-road
vehicles at more or less competitive prices. All Jeep-nameplate products, up till now, have
been Trail-Rated, with low-range transfer cases and high approach, breakover, and departure
angles for rock-crawling and creek-bed-crossing. No more. Although Jeep, of course, still
sells that type of vehicle ( I recently did a CL review of the impressive new Commander ),
Jeep marketers have clearly recognized that most SUV's nowadays, outside of Jeep's own Wrangler,
rarely, if ever, venture off of paved surfaces or light-duty off-road conditions into the
truly wild stuff. And those same Jeep marketers have no doubt watched many of their potential
customers run off to other dealerships to buy car-based, unibody SUV's and crossover vehicles instead.
So, as the old saying goes.....if you can't beat them, join them. And Jeep has decided to now join that
crowd by offering what is essentially a redone Dodge Caliber AWD compact with Nissan-style
triangular D-Pillars and the long-familiar Jeep 2 round headlights and 7-vertical-slot grille...this,
of course, to try and help make the Compass owner feel a little more at home even though he or
she is not driving a REAL Jeep.
The upcoming Jeep Patriot, due next spring, will keep the car-based, Caliber-dervied chassis
and drivetrain, but will add a much more familiar 2-box Jeep upright, square, boxy design much
like today's Commander for those who want the economy, drivability and low price Compass but
cannot live with the car-like body.
I decided to review this vehicle today, in damp, drizzly conditions in the aftermath of tropical
storm Ernesto here in the D.C. area....the wet pavement and leaves, twigs, and debris all over
the roads would give the car-based AWD and steering a good test. I found the vehicle to be
basically competent, with plenty of room inside, civilized road manners, nice, well-weighted
power steering, and a fairly good exterior finish. The interior, however, had several things that
needed more attention.
However, it is hard to argue with the base price of the Compass AWD.....$17,585, including freight.
( Base-model Compasses with only front-wheel-Drive are even lower-priced, starting at ($15,985).
This makes it, without question, ( along with the AWD Suzuki Aerio ) one of the least expensive AWD
vehicles on the market, even more so than its brother, the AWD Dodge Caliber R/T ( Dodge will not
sell AWD in the cheaper, base-model Calibers ). So, while I feel the interior was poorly finished, it
appears that is one of the ways Jeep kept the cost down. Yet Subaru, Toyota, Pontiac, and Suzuki sell
competing AWD vehicles that are almost as low-priced....and those vehicles are not as stripped as the
base Compass. The base Compass is truly low-priced for an AWD vehicle....but you have to be willing
to live without some of the things we take for granted on modern vehicles, like A/C, power windows,
doors, etc.... ( I, for example, can roll my own windows up and down and unlock my own doors, but a
vehicle without A/C in an East Coast summer?.....no thanks, never again ). Ditto for a stick-shift car
in D.C.-area traffic. And a truly base, stripped model is not likely to be easily found on a dealer
lot.....chances are it would have to be special-ordered, which would, of course, be a several-week-wait.
Paint colors, of course, are a matter of personal taste, but I noticed also, perhaps not surprisingly,
that the Compass does not offer some of the brighter colors that its sportier brother Caliber R/T does;
colors like bright yellow, orange, and Inferno Red......the Compass exterior colors are noticeably more
dull.
So much for the vehicle's marketing and general overview. Let's take a look now at it in detail:
Model Reviewed: 2007 Jeep Compass Sport 4X4
Base Price: $17,585
Major Options:
CVT transmission, $1000
Air Conditioning, $850
Full-size Spare Tire, $120
Sirius Radio, $195
Power Equipment Group, $995
List Price: $20,745
Exterior Color: Stone White Clearcoat
Interior: Pastel Slate Gray fabric
Drivetrain: Transverse-mount, in-line 2.4L four-cylinder, 173 HP, 165 ft.lbs. torque, CVT ( Continuously
Variable transmission ), AWD with driver-controlled differential lock.
PLUSSES:
Very low price for a basic, no-frills AWD vehicle....still not bad even with options.
Roomy and space-efficient inside.
Firm-feeling, well-weighted power steering that is not overboosted.
Like many AWD vehicles these days, seamless and unobtrusive AWD system
Driver-actuated differential lock for semi-rough conditions.
Fairly good exterior fit-and-finish / hardware.
Economical and fuel-stingy by Jeep standards ( but of course this is not a real Jeep ).
Lots of small built-in compartments and cup holders to carry things.
Solid-feeling rear hatch ( a weak area in some hatchbacks )
High-quality trunk liner and spare tire cover.
Real spare tire, not a temporary one ( but you pay for it...it is an option )
Solid-feeling and solid-operating power window / door-lock switches.
Front-end Jeep styling makes Jeep purists feel a little more at home.
Simple, legible, well-designed primary gauges.
Fold-down, 60-40 rear seats with a pull-shade cargo cover ( an option )
Sirius radio option unusual in this vehicle class.
MINUSES:
Many taken-for-granted features missing in base model unless option boxes are checked.
Sluggish drivetrain typical of non-turbo small 4 cylinder AWD vehicles.
Typically stingy domestic-car 3/36 total-car warranty with no extention for drive train.
Poor interior finish, with some cheap-quality parts.
Rotary climate controls well-designed but small buttons inside of them very hard to
see and push.
Stereo-sound quality acceptable but not terribly impressive, even for a low-priced car.
Unusual and awkward seat-height adjuster.
As always, I begin the detail review with the first impression of the car as you walk up to it.
This is a very unusual-looking vehicle with a number of different styling cues all bound together
in one package. It is rather compact and low on the outside....especially for a " Jeep "product,
but one can immediately tell from the exterior size and roofline that it springs from its
corporate brother, the Dodge Caliber. It has the Caliber's roof, windows, and hatchback, except that
the rear-most D-pillar is done in a strong, upside-down triangular style like the Pontiac Vibe, Mazda3,
and several Nissan-designed SUV's. Fortunately, up front there is NO mistaking it from anything else
but a Jeep...the 2 big round headlights and traditional seven-slot vertical grille are unmistakible.
After all, traditional Jeep buyers are giving up a lot with this design......Jeep had to keep
SOMETHING to keep the fond memories with. The exterior hardware was better-than-average for a Jeep
and for Daimler-Chrysler products in general. And while, like I said earlier, it was a damp, drizzly
day and I could not judge the paint job in its entirety, I could tell just from wiping some
sections off and looking closely that it was also not a bad paint job by the usual low Daimler-Chrysler
standards either...there was little orange peel and the color ( white ) appeared to be evenly applied
and had fairly good sheen. Of course, it was not a Toyota / Lexus paint job......but to be honest,
what else is ?
It seemed to have slightly higher ground clearance than even the AWD Caliber....perhaps because of the
slightly higher probability of Jeep owners than Dodge to use their vehicles in deep snow or mud.
However, as I stated earlier, this is NOT a true off-roader intended for rock-climbing or stream-fording.
It is simply not designed for it, unlike previous Jeeps. Try that stuff with a vehicle like this and you
will get into a LOT of trouble, real quick.
Under the hood rests the 2.4L transversely-mounted normally-asirated in-line 4 and the CVT. It is not a
particularly large or roomy hood despite the familiar square Jeep styling up front, and the annoying and
unnecessary plastic engine cover doesn't help things either, so there is very little room to work on
anything. Why are automakers turning more and more to those above-engine plastic covers? Yes they look
nice but they make it difficult or impossible to reach things or work on them. Perhaps it is based on
the fact that more and more things are being done in the dealership service bays nowadays (This
particular Jeep dealership throws in free oil changes for the life of the vehicle as part of the deal).
Open the door and get in and two things strike you. One is plenty of head and leg room in front and rear,
partly as a result of the high roofline, even though the roofline is low by traditional Jeep standards.
The roofline curves slightly down in back (just like the Caliber's....no surprise) but not enough to cut
significantly into rear headroom either (I'm 6' 2", 280 lb. with a baseball cap and had no problem).
Legroom was more than adequate front and adequate rear....even with the seat back. One of the benefits of
these high-roofed compact vehicles of today....and this seems to be a pattern.....is to give better
seating room than in yesterday's small cars. The hatchback-trunk area in back is quite well-done, with a
high-quality trunk liner / spare tire cover ( I've already mentioned that this vehicle had the optional
real spare tire ), a nice big cubby-compartment built into the right-rear wall, and a solid-shutting
and solid- feeling rear hatch. At the release of a lever and a pull of built-in straps, the optional
60-40 rear seats folded down with good hardware and a solid feel. There was plenty of room for its size
to carry things, but of course, don't try and compare it in cargo room to a Jeep Commander.
The rest of the features inside, with the exception of the well-done and easily-read but cheap-looking
gauges, leaves a lot to be desired. Part of it, as I mentioned earlier, of course, is the low price.....
this vehicle was obviously built to a strict budget. But, even considering that, IMO the interior is rather
poorly finished, cheap-looking, and uncomfortable despite the excellent seating room. The seats are done in
a cheap-feeling fabric and are hard, flat, uncomfortable, and hard ridges in the front seatback press into
both sides of your back. ( Granted, I am a heavyweight and quite wide....a more normally-sided person might
not have that problem ). An awkward lever on the left side of the driver's seat must be pumped up and down
to raise and lower the seat height....and you cannot raise or lower the seat height keeping the seat
in place. The whole seat moves forward and backward as you raise or lower it. However, you can do the
reverse....move the seat forward or back without raising or lowering it..... if you use the conventional
pull-bar under the front seat edge. And the rake adjustment is also conventional....a lever on the seatback.
The rest of the interior, while attractively done in several different shades of black, gray, and silver,
has a distinctly cheap look and feel to it, except for the solid door and window switches. The general finish
level inside is very low, and much of the trim looks and feels bargain-basement....again, probably because
of the low price. The round climate-controls are well-designed, but have very small buttons for the A/C
compressor and recirculate-fresh-air modes....they are hard to see and operate without taking yur eyes off
the road. The stereo is OK and adequate ( This car has the Sirius radio option ), but its just-adequate sound
quality will have you wanting to get back into your Lexus with its Mark Levinson system.
On the road, the AWD system was quite seamless ( Jeep, of course, has been an 4WD / AWD master for many years ) but, like most AWD vehicles with small, normally-aspirated 4-cylinder powerplants, acceleration was quite sluggish despite the efficient and equaly seamless CVT ( Continuously variable transmission ). AWD is a jewel for foul-weather traction, but you can't overcome the laws of physics.....its weight and drag does impact on engine performance and gas mileage. Still, EPA-rated gas mileage is good by traditional Jeep standards.
( A word of note here.....I'm not just picking on Jeep and Dodge either. Most of you know I am a Subaru fan,
and the same AWD weight and drag penalties on engine performance are also evident in Subarus as well...although
Subaru, unlike the transverse-engine mount AWD system in the Compass, uses simpler AWD layouts made possible by the Subaru flat-4 and flat-6 engines ).
The rest of the Compass's road manners are quite acceptable, considering that this is neither a luxury or a
high-performanxce vehicle. Acceleration, as I said earlier, was somewhat sluggish but adequate. The brakes
performed adequately as well, with a fairly solid-feeling pedal, but the pedal was too close to the gas pedal
and too high for my big size 15 clown-shoes. The ride was noticeably better than that of the bumpy Jeep Wrangler
and Liberty, but nowhere near the smoothness and quietness of the big Commander (see my review of the Commander).
Road noise was fairly well-muted, and there ware no noticeable squeaks or rattles despite the cheaply-done
interior. I especially liked the vehicle's steering.....well-weighted, firm-feeling, and just the right amount of
responsivenes for a vehicle of this type. Body roll was not particularly noticeable despite the fairly high center-
of-gravity ( still low by Jeep standards ) but opf course the roads were wt so I didn't push cornering too hard
depite the AWD. (A traction and stability-control system is available if desired).
The verdict? You can tell by now I have mixed opinions. If you want a car-based AWD vehicle at a super-low price it is hard to beat the starting price of the base Compass. But that model requires you to give up a lot of things that most of us have come to take for granted nowadays, and many people today just won't (or can't) give those things up. So......equip a Compass like a competitive AWD Subaru Impreza, AWD Toyota Matrix / Pontiac Vibe, or Suzuki Aerio....and you are talking more or less the same price range ( 20-22K). And those vehicles, unlike the Compass, have a history of solid reliability and build quality, with noticeably higher-quality materials inside. They beat the Jeep's standard warranty as well......and if you REALLY want warranty coverage in this class, of course, the 10 / 100 AWD Hyundai Tuscon or Kia Sportage is clearly the way to go.
But....there are also reasons for buying the Compass as well. Many Jeep buyers in the past have been fanatically loyal and have built up good relationships with their dealerships and service departments as well. If they, as many people nowadays do, feel that now is the time to give up that gas-guzzling or rough-riding off-roader, now an acceptacle, more-civilized, car-based alternative is available from their own Jeep dealerships that they have such a good relationship with. And those Jeep salespeople don't care....they will just as happily sell you a new Compass as a Wrangler or Liberty as long as they have
satisfied customers, they get their comissions, and it puts food on their tables. And, while of course, this is primarily a cosmetic thing, there is that ever-present Jeep styling up front that goes back to the days when Jeeps helped to win World War II all over the planet....a big issue with many buyers.
But.....for those buyers who like the idea of the Compass's car-based, more economical AWD design, lower weight, and civilized road manners, but STILL don't like the Compass styling despite the Jeep-oriented grille, there is the new Jeep Patriot that will debut in the spring. It will have the Caliber / Compass drivetrain and mechanicals but with the boxy, Jeep styling all over....NOT just on the front end. Perhaps those Jeep buyers might want to wait and take a look at that vehicle.
I will review it in the spring if there is some interest in it.
In a Nutshell: One of the cheapest AWD vehicles available (if you can live without options)
but crudely finished and unimpressive inside.
The new-for-2007 Jeep Compass and the upcoming Patriot ( due early next year ) represent a
new marketing direction for Jeep this year, which up till now has offered only true off-road
vehicles at more or less competitive prices. All Jeep-nameplate products, up till now, have
been Trail-Rated, with low-range transfer cases and high approach, breakover, and departure
angles for rock-crawling and creek-bed-crossing. No more. Although Jeep, of course, still
sells that type of vehicle ( I recently did a CL review of the impressive new Commander ),
Jeep marketers have clearly recognized that most SUV's nowadays, outside of Jeep's own Wrangler,
rarely, if ever, venture off of paved surfaces or light-duty off-road conditions into the
truly wild stuff. And those same Jeep marketers have no doubt watched many of their potential
customers run off to other dealerships to buy car-based, unibody SUV's and crossover vehicles instead.
So, as the old saying goes.....if you can't beat them, join them. And Jeep has decided to now join that
crowd by offering what is essentially a redone Dodge Caliber AWD compact with Nissan-style
triangular D-Pillars and the long-familiar Jeep 2 round headlights and 7-vertical-slot grille...this,
of course, to try and help make the Compass owner feel a little more at home even though he or
she is not driving a REAL Jeep.
The upcoming Jeep Patriot, due next spring, will keep the car-based, Caliber-dervied chassis
and drivetrain, but will add a much more familiar 2-box Jeep upright, square, boxy design much
like today's Commander for those who want the economy, drivability and low price Compass but
cannot live with the car-like body.
I decided to review this vehicle today, in damp, drizzly conditions in the aftermath of tropical
storm Ernesto here in the D.C. area....the wet pavement and leaves, twigs, and debris all over
the roads would give the car-based AWD and steering a good test. I found the vehicle to be
basically competent, with plenty of room inside, civilized road manners, nice, well-weighted
power steering, and a fairly good exterior finish. The interior, however, had several things that
needed more attention.
However, it is hard to argue with the base price of the Compass AWD.....$17,585, including freight.
( Base-model Compasses with only front-wheel-Drive are even lower-priced, starting at ($15,985).
This makes it, without question, ( along with the AWD Suzuki Aerio ) one of the least expensive AWD
vehicles on the market, even more so than its brother, the AWD Dodge Caliber R/T ( Dodge will not
sell AWD in the cheaper, base-model Calibers ). So, while I feel the interior was poorly finished, it
appears that is one of the ways Jeep kept the cost down. Yet Subaru, Toyota, Pontiac, and Suzuki sell
competing AWD vehicles that are almost as low-priced....and those vehicles are not as stripped as the
base Compass. The base Compass is truly low-priced for an AWD vehicle....but you have to be willing
to live without some of the things we take for granted on modern vehicles, like A/C, power windows,
doors, etc.... ( I, for example, can roll my own windows up and down and unlock my own doors, but a
vehicle without A/C in an East Coast summer?.....no thanks, never again ). Ditto for a stick-shift car
in D.C.-area traffic. And a truly base, stripped model is not likely to be easily found on a dealer
lot.....chances are it would have to be special-ordered, which would, of course, be a several-week-wait.
Paint colors, of course, are a matter of personal taste, but I noticed also, perhaps not surprisingly,
that the Compass does not offer some of the brighter colors that its sportier brother Caliber R/T does;
colors like bright yellow, orange, and Inferno Red......the Compass exterior colors are noticeably more
dull.
So much for the vehicle's marketing and general overview. Let's take a look now at it in detail:
Model Reviewed: 2007 Jeep Compass Sport 4X4
Base Price: $17,585
Major Options:
CVT transmission, $1000
Air Conditioning, $850
Full-size Spare Tire, $120
Sirius Radio, $195
Power Equipment Group, $995
List Price: $20,745
Exterior Color: Stone White Clearcoat
Interior: Pastel Slate Gray fabric
Drivetrain: Transverse-mount, in-line 2.4L four-cylinder, 173 HP, 165 ft.lbs. torque, CVT ( Continuously
Variable transmission ), AWD with driver-controlled differential lock.
PLUSSES:
Very low price for a basic, no-frills AWD vehicle....still not bad even with options.
Roomy and space-efficient inside.
Firm-feeling, well-weighted power steering that is not overboosted.
Like many AWD vehicles these days, seamless and unobtrusive AWD system
Driver-actuated differential lock for semi-rough conditions.
Fairly good exterior fit-and-finish / hardware.
Economical and fuel-stingy by Jeep standards ( but of course this is not a real Jeep ).
Lots of small built-in compartments and cup holders to carry things.
Solid-feeling rear hatch ( a weak area in some hatchbacks )
High-quality trunk liner and spare tire cover.
Real spare tire, not a temporary one ( but you pay for it...it is an option )
Solid-feeling and solid-operating power window / door-lock switches.
Front-end Jeep styling makes Jeep purists feel a little more at home.
Simple, legible, well-designed primary gauges.
Fold-down, 60-40 rear seats with a pull-shade cargo cover ( an option )
Sirius radio option unusual in this vehicle class.
MINUSES:
Many taken-for-granted features missing in base model unless option boxes are checked.
Sluggish drivetrain typical of non-turbo small 4 cylinder AWD vehicles.
Typically stingy domestic-car 3/36 total-car warranty with no extention for drive train.
Poor interior finish, with some cheap-quality parts.
Rotary climate controls well-designed but small buttons inside of them very hard to
see and push.
Stereo-sound quality acceptable but not terribly impressive, even for a low-priced car.
Unusual and awkward seat-height adjuster.
As always, I begin the detail review with the first impression of the car as you walk up to it.
This is a very unusual-looking vehicle with a number of different styling cues all bound together
in one package. It is rather compact and low on the outside....especially for a " Jeep "product,
but one can immediately tell from the exterior size and roofline that it springs from its
corporate brother, the Dodge Caliber. It has the Caliber's roof, windows, and hatchback, except that
the rear-most D-pillar is done in a strong, upside-down triangular style like the Pontiac Vibe, Mazda3,
and several Nissan-designed SUV's. Fortunately, up front there is NO mistaking it from anything else
but a Jeep...the 2 big round headlights and traditional seven-slot vertical grille are unmistakible.
After all, traditional Jeep buyers are giving up a lot with this design......Jeep had to keep
SOMETHING to keep the fond memories with. The exterior hardware was better-than-average for a Jeep
and for Daimler-Chrysler products in general. And while, like I said earlier, it was a damp, drizzly
day and I could not judge the paint job in its entirety, I could tell just from wiping some
sections off and looking closely that it was also not a bad paint job by the usual low Daimler-Chrysler
standards either...there was little orange peel and the color ( white ) appeared to be evenly applied
and had fairly good sheen. Of course, it was not a Toyota / Lexus paint job......but to be honest,
what else is ?
It seemed to have slightly higher ground clearance than even the AWD Caliber....perhaps because of the
slightly higher probability of Jeep owners than Dodge to use their vehicles in deep snow or mud.
However, as I stated earlier, this is NOT a true off-roader intended for rock-climbing or stream-fording.
It is simply not designed for it, unlike previous Jeeps. Try that stuff with a vehicle like this and you
will get into a LOT of trouble, real quick.
Under the hood rests the 2.4L transversely-mounted normally-asirated in-line 4 and the CVT. It is not a
particularly large or roomy hood despite the familiar square Jeep styling up front, and the annoying and
unnecessary plastic engine cover doesn't help things either, so there is very little room to work on
anything. Why are automakers turning more and more to those above-engine plastic covers? Yes they look
nice but they make it difficult or impossible to reach things or work on them. Perhaps it is based on
the fact that more and more things are being done in the dealership service bays nowadays (This
particular Jeep dealership throws in free oil changes for the life of the vehicle as part of the deal).
Open the door and get in and two things strike you. One is plenty of head and leg room in front and rear,
partly as a result of the high roofline, even though the roofline is low by traditional Jeep standards.
The roofline curves slightly down in back (just like the Caliber's....no surprise) but not enough to cut
significantly into rear headroom either (I'm 6' 2", 280 lb. with a baseball cap and had no problem).
Legroom was more than adequate front and adequate rear....even with the seat back. One of the benefits of
these high-roofed compact vehicles of today....and this seems to be a pattern.....is to give better
seating room than in yesterday's small cars. The hatchback-trunk area in back is quite well-done, with a
high-quality trunk liner / spare tire cover ( I've already mentioned that this vehicle had the optional
real spare tire ), a nice big cubby-compartment built into the right-rear wall, and a solid-shutting
and solid- feeling rear hatch. At the release of a lever and a pull of built-in straps, the optional
60-40 rear seats folded down with good hardware and a solid feel. There was plenty of room for its size
to carry things, but of course, don't try and compare it in cargo room to a Jeep Commander.
The rest of the features inside, with the exception of the well-done and easily-read but cheap-looking
gauges, leaves a lot to be desired. Part of it, as I mentioned earlier, of course, is the low price.....
this vehicle was obviously built to a strict budget. But, even considering that, IMO the interior is rather
poorly finished, cheap-looking, and uncomfortable despite the excellent seating room. The seats are done in
a cheap-feeling fabric and are hard, flat, uncomfortable, and hard ridges in the front seatback press into
both sides of your back. ( Granted, I am a heavyweight and quite wide....a more normally-sided person might
not have that problem ). An awkward lever on the left side of the driver's seat must be pumped up and down
to raise and lower the seat height....and you cannot raise or lower the seat height keeping the seat
in place. The whole seat moves forward and backward as you raise or lower it. However, you can do the
reverse....move the seat forward or back without raising or lowering it..... if you use the conventional
pull-bar under the front seat edge. And the rake adjustment is also conventional....a lever on the seatback.
The rest of the interior, while attractively done in several different shades of black, gray, and silver,
has a distinctly cheap look and feel to it, except for the solid door and window switches. The general finish
level inside is very low, and much of the trim looks and feels bargain-basement....again, probably because
of the low price. The round climate-controls are well-designed, but have very small buttons for the A/C
compressor and recirculate-fresh-air modes....they are hard to see and operate without taking yur eyes off
the road. The stereo is OK and adequate ( This car has the Sirius radio option ), but its just-adequate sound
quality will have you wanting to get back into your Lexus with its Mark Levinson system.
On the road, the AWD system was quite seamless ( Jeep, of course, has been an 4WD / AWD master for many years ) but, like most AWD vehicles with small, normally-aspirated 4-cylinder powerplants, acceleration was quite sluggish despite the efficient and equaly seamless CVT ( Continuously variable transmission ). AWD is a jewel for foul-weather traction, but you can't overcome the laws of physics.....its weight and drag does impact on engine performance and gas mileage. Still, EPA-rated gas mileage is good by traditional Jeep standards.
( A word of note here.....I'm not just picking on Jeep and Dodge either. Most of you know I am a Subaru fan,
and the same AWD weight and drag penalties on engine performance are also evident in Subarus as well...although
Subaru, unlike the transverse-engine mount AWD system in the Compass, uses simpler AWD layouts made possible by the Subaru flat-4 and flat-6 engines ).
The rest of the Compass's road manners are quite acceptable, considering that this is neither a luxury or a
high-performanxce vehicle. Acceleration, as I said earlier, was somewhat sluggish but adequate. The brakes
performed adequately as well, with a fairly solid-feeling pedal, but the pedal was too close to the gas pedal
and too high for my big size 15 clown-shoes. The ride was noticeably better than that of the bumpy Jeep Wrangler
and Liberty, but nowhere near the smoothness and quietness of the big Commander (see my review of the Commander).
Road noise was fairly well-muted, and there ware no noticeable squeaks or rattles despite the cheaply-done
interior. I especially liked the vehicle's steering.....well-weighted, firm-feeling, and just the right amount of
responsivenes for a vehicle of this type. Body roll was not particularly noticeable despite the fairly high center-
of-gravity ( still low by Jeep standards ) but opf course the roads were wt so I didn't push cornering too hard
depite the AWD. (A traction and stability-control system is available if desired).
The verdict? You can tell by now I have mixed opinions. If you want a car-based AWD vehicle at a super-low price it is hard to beat the starting price of the base Compass. But that model requires you to give up a lot of things that most of us have come to take for granted nowadays, and many people today just won't (or can't) give those things up. So......equip a Compass like a competitive AWD Subaru Impreza, AWD Toyota Matrix / Pontiac Vibe, or Suzuki Aerio....and you are talking more or less the same price range ( 20-22K). And those vehicles, unlike the Compass, have a history of solid reliability and build quality, with noticeably higher-quality materials inside. They beat the Jeep's standard warranty as well......and if you REALLY want warranty coverage in this class, of course, the 10 / 100 AWD Hyundai Tuscon or Kia Sportage is clearly the way to go.
But....there are also reasons for buying the Compass as well. Many Jeep buyers in the past have been fanatically loyal and have built up good relationships with their dealerships and service departments as well. If they, as many people nowadays do, feel that now is the time to give up that gas-guzzling or rough-riding off-roader, now an acceptacle, more-civilized, car-based alternative is available from their own Jeep dealerships that they have such a good relationship with. And those Jeep salespeople don't care....they will just as happily sell you a new Compass as a Wrangler or Liberty as long as they have
satisfied customers, they get their comissions, and it puts food on their tables. And, while of course, this is primarily a cosmetic thing, there is that ever-present Jeep styling up front that goes back to the days when Jeeps helped to win World War II all over the planet....a big issue with many buyers.
But.....for those buyers who like the idea of the Compass's car-based, more economical AWD design, lower weight, and civilized road manners, but STILL don't like the Compass styling despite the Jeep-oriented grille, there is the new Jeep Patriot that will debut in the spring. It will have the Caliber / Compass drivetrain and mechanicals but with the boxy, Jeep styling all over....NOT just on the front end. Perhaps those Jeep buyers might want to wait and take a look at that vehicle.
I will review it in the spring if there is some interest in it.
Last edited by mmarshall; Sep 2, 2006 at 02:59 PM.
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Lexus Fanatic
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From: Virginia/D.C. suburbs
Thread Starter
Lexus Fanatic
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 94,223
Likes: 221
From: Virginia/D.C. suburbs
Well, guys, here's some news. I didn't know it yesterday when I reviewed the Compass and did this thread. Found out this morning reading Warren Brown's weekly auto column in the Washington Post. ( I know him casually...not very closely )
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...090101002.html
Mitsubishi is going to do a new Outlander based on this platform....apparantly, according to Warren here, who tested it, with a lot better fit and finish than either the Compass or Caliber. ( He's right...the interior of the Compass IS cheap ).
This, IMO, is significant enough news that I'm going to start a new thread on it in CAR CHAT rather than just continue this one....but of course your comments and questions on the Compass are still welcome here.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...090101002.html
Mitsubishi is going to do a new Outlander based on this platform....apparantly, according to Warren here, who tested it, with a lot better fit and finish than either the Compass or Caliber. ( He's right...the interior of the Compass IS cheap ).
This, IMO, is significant enough news that I'm going to start a new thread on it in CAR CHAT rather than just continue this one....but of course your comments and questions on the Compass are still welcome here.
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