[sj_koova]

Originally Posted by agambhandari

What he meant was the Hyundai Tucson parked behind !!

While we are wishing for jeep to price it within a small distance of the Creta, they are clearly targetting the Tucson (keeping it for comparisons at the time of Salesmen trainings etc.). Totally understandable but I just wish we can get a cracking price considering it is so heavily localised.

I wish too. But I would guess Compass being an AWD and superior in all means would be going after Tucson and Tiguan unless they are here for charity service. Close to 70% of the car's on-road value is paid to govt in terms of GST, cess and road tax. Most of the recent launches in this category was over priced by at least two lakhs and I would expect Jeep to be no exception. GST may bring a bit of relief for SUV category as we all know.

[geotracks]

JEEP needs to have AT diesel variant option (like the Endeavour, Fortuner, Innova Crysta, Tucson & Tiguan). Many customers these days are preferring AT. A good, indication is the current Innova Crysta Z variant AT (private buyers), it is selling in good numbers despite its high price tag.

In summary, Indian customers (private buyers) are willing to pay premium for diesel AT for SUVs / MUVs.

[Waspune]

Originally Posted by geotracks

JEEP needs to have AT diesel variant option (like the Endeavour, Fortuner, Innova Crysta, Tucson & Tiguan). Many customers these days are preferring AT. A good, indication is the current Innova Crysta Z variant AT (private buyers), it is selling in good numbers despite its high price tag.

In summary, Indian customers (private buyers) are willing to pay premium for diesel AT for SUVs / MUVs.

+1. Diesel auto variant is the need of the hour. Rumors have it that the diesel 8 speed automatic transmission would be available early next year, mostly around January. Jeep has had problems with this zf sourced transmission which might be the reason for the late release. So initially the auto (DCT) transmission would only be available with the 1.4 multi air.

[agambhandari]

Originally Posted by jayded

Sir,

Not sure if these questions were rhetorical. But what exactly is a lateral golf bag placement test? I tried googling it and couldn't find anything related to such a test, at least on the first page of results. Which all current cars pass this particular test?

P.S. Absolutely no offense meant to you Sir, but most of your posts on SUV threads looks like Yeti promos, and that’s when the salesmen at Skoda showrooms have forgotten they have such a car in their portfolio, howsoever merit you see in your car.

Its just what it means literally, trying to put a bag of golf clubs to see if it fits. Measures the usable width of the boot.

I hate to say it, but I agree with you on the Yeti promos , although it is a fantastic car and I was very close to buying one.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by jayded

Not sure if these questions were rhetorical. But what exactly is a lateral golf bag placement test?

Originally Posted by agambhandari

Its just what it means literally, trying to put a bag of golf clubs to see if it fits. Measures the usable width of the boot.

Right. Golf bag comment is usually seen in car reviews from the UK market. May be Golf is a more popular sport there!

It means, the boot is wide as well as spacious without footwell intrusion. Although I'm not sure of the actual dimensions they check for, since I've never seen a Golf club in real life.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Right. Golf bag comment is usually seen in car reviews from the UK market. May be Golf is a more popular sport there!

It means, the boot is wide as well as spacious without footwell intrusion. Although I'm not sure of the actual dimensions they check for, since I've never seen a Golf club in real life.

Originally Posted by agambhandari

Its just what it means literally, trying to put a bag of golf clubs to see if it fits. Measures the usable width of the boot.

I hate to say it, but I agree with you on the Yeti promos , although it is a fantastic car and I was very close to buying one.

Originally Posted by jayded

Sir,

Not sure if these questions were rhetorical. But what exactly is a lateral golf bag placement test? I tried googling it and couldn't find anything related to such a test, at least on the first page of results. Which all current cars pass this particular test?

P.S. Absolutely no offense meant to you Sir, but most of your posts on SUV threads looks like Yeti promos, and that’s when the salesmen at Skoda showrooms have forgotten they have such a car in their portfolio, howsoever merit you see in your car.

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

The pictures posted look like the preparations for a media unveil / internal unveil of some sorts - the tents, carpeting, marketing material etc. And the Tucson parked seems to be there for benchmarking.

Could be wrong as well, but thats my feeling after seeing the set of pictures posted by RavenAvi.

Earlier I was trying to find answers to these questions. For the first one, looks like it has 60/40 split that folds 'almost' flat. And for the second question, boot space in the US model is 770 litres and looks wider than Yeti in pictures. But no idea about the dimensions required to place a golf bag. Total stranger to that game!

1. Thanks. I understand now that you were referring to the paraphernalia around + the Tucson's presence and thus deduced the target segment.

2. The lateral golf bag test is my personal criterion to check effective width of and actual usability of the boot space. I may say here that the Yeti fails that test, not being wide enough, but the Q3 and the GLA manage to fit a Golf bag in their boots when it is laterally placed, which is a good thing. I was trying to ascertain whether the new Jeep Compass, which seems wider than the Yeti, will also pass this test or not. I guess I shall wait for the launch and then go and try it for myself.

3. Thats good information about the 60:40 Split rear seat, but it would be nice if the rear seats folded absolutely flat and were removable completely. This frees up a lot of space and effectively converts the vehicle into a Van and can be used to transport a lot of stuff from one place to another, for example, if one is moving house or similar. This is called "Vario-Flex" seating, in the Yeti, and is indeed a very handy function.

4. Yes, I do understand that to many people here, some of my posts may seem like Yeti Promos. However, it is also true that in my 5.5 years of ownership of this vehicle, I have been and indeed, am, an extremely satisfied customer. Which is why I am very hard pressed indeed, to find a proper replacement for it. I used to want to change my vehicles every 3 years or so, but in the current dispensation, am unable to because there is nothing which comes close in terms of size, form, safety, capability and functionality in an "all in one package". Hence I am resigned to hanging on to the Yeti for a while longer. And yes, I am not cribbing about this, because any way I drive only around 7000 odd kms per annum in the Yeti and it has many miles left in it yet.

5. Like it or not, the fact is, that the Yeti continues to serve me well, which is why I write positively about it, in a world where everyone else seems to hate Skoda for whatever reason(s) - in some sense, you could consider my posts as an attempt to counter-balance these posts through my honest real life experiences with the Yeti!

[RavenAvi]

Courtesy NDTV Auto @ Twitter, who are driving the Compass today.

[ashlil]

Originally Posted by agambhandari

While we are wishing for jeep to price it within a small distance of the Creta, they are clearly targetting the Tucson

There lies the difference between 60 and 6000 per month. If they target Tucson and price it in that range, the sales will settle at 60 units per month. If they target creta, they will sell 6000 per month. I have bet before that, they will overestimate themselves and Compass will be a flop. I sometimes wonder what happened to old cost plus costing model.

[nkrishnap]

Man that while leather seats will be a royal pain to maintain. All black interiors would have been very good. Hope it is an option at least.

The red one looks smashing though.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by ashlil

There lies the difference between 60 and 6000 per month. If they target Tucson and price it in that range, the sales will settle at 60 units per month.

It's the Renegade that will go a segment below the Compass and target Creta and Duster AWD.

Compass with its 2L diesel engine, 1.4 turbo petrol, adaptable suspension and AWD would never be able to compete with the Creta no price. That said, with all those dummy buttons and the absence of cruise control, they better price it well below Tucson. Value and sales numbers depend on whether it actually justifies that price.

6000 units and all are absolutely unrealistic. With the current dealer and service network, anything about 500 - 1000 would be a decent start, and 2x times the current sales of FCA.

Originally Posted by nkrishnap

The red one looks smashing though.

Pretty sure your eyes would have caught the paint quality, specially the blue one above!

[S.MJet]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

6000 units and all are absolutely unrealistic.

Agree.

IIRC one of the initial press release from Jeep mentioned their installed capacity of 50K units per annum, of which 45-50% are for exports. That leaves ~25K units for domestic market meaning they are targeting ~2K monthly sales.

Going by this equation they should be undercutting Tucson by a reasonable margin to achieve their monthly target.
Some of the missing features like stop-start button, cruse control, sun roof etc. is also pointing towards an aggressive pricing IMO.

[cbatrody]

Originally Posted by ashlil

If they target creta, they will sell 6000 per month.

Well, I guess simply they cannot. Because they do not fall in the same category and it will not be an apple to apple comparison. Jeep Compass competes with VW Tiguan, Hyundai Tucson, Ford Escape etc. in many of the international markets. They cannot undervalue the Compass by 50% just to increase the sales numbers by targeting Creta, unless they bring it down to Creta standards.

Ford Ecosport, Renault Captur, Nissan Juke etc may fall into Creta category.

[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by ashlil

There lies the difference between 60 and 6000 per month. If they target Tucson and price it in that range, the sales will settle at 60 units per month. If they target creta, they will sell 6000 per month. I have bet before that, they will overestimate themselves and Compass will be a flop. I sometimes wonder what happened to old cost plus costing model.

Why should they underestimate themselves and place in the Creta territory? They have a winner in hand if there are features and build close to a Tiguan and priced around(or less than) the Tucson. By winner I mean, consistent numbers of around 750-1000 per month; pretty good its segment!

[RavenAvi]

This striking colour shade is called Hydro Blue, according to NDTV Auto. Here is how it looks under grey skies:

Retro-styled gear knob, which might polarise opinions of prospects.
I, for one, like it. Looks quite chic for this generation, IMO.

ACI's picture gallery has gone live as well.

[84.monsoon]

Originally Posted by S.MJet

Agree.

Some of the missing features like stop-start button, cruse control, sun roof etc. is also pointing towards an aggressive pricing IMO.

Start/Stop button is indeed present as you can see from the picture of the NDTV test car above, it is right below the steering where one would normally insert the key.

I am not sure how useful Cruise control is in a manual transmission car. I have used this feature very often in an automatic transmission cars, where the cruise control is able to vary the gear ratios by itself and therefore able to maintain constant speed while handle varying engine RPMs (such as when going up or down inclines etc.) - by varying the gear ratios appropriately. Also you can vary the speeds by a good range using the speed controls built into the cruise control to take care of most overtaking maneuvers. For example, the cruise control downshifts the gearbox automatically if needed to speed up temporarily for overtaking another vehicle.

With a manual transmission vehicle, isn't the cruise control limited to the range of speeds or engine RPMs for which the current gear ratio is valid for? So once the vehicle falls outside the optimal speed or RPM range, manual intervention will be again required, or the cruise control will need to be canceled automatically? Perhaps those who use cruise controls in MT cars can elaborate how it works and how useful it is.

I wonder if the above is the reason Jeep did not provide cruise control in the Manual Diesel 4X4 version that Autocar tested. I wonder if they may introduce this feature in the Diesel Auto when it hits the market early next year.