Team-BHP - Jeep Compass : Official Review

My yearly usage will be around 5k – 7k on the new car as we will also be using our Aspire TDCi.

With a budget of 26Lacs, I can either go for Diesel Limited Manual or Petrol Limited DCT. The driving will be 95% in Ahmedabad city and will be used by my father and me.

The yearly maintenance on the petrol variant will be lower than Diesel, and it will be AT. Diesel will be more fun to drive. However, I am not sure how manual will fare in the long term for city driving. My Dad is confident that a hard clutch will not be an issue for him as he does not find the clutch of Aspire diesel on the harder side.

I am also a bit concerned about clutch burning, not sure if the probability of clutch burning will be more in AT DDCT or MT.

I haven’t test drive the petrol Compass. Should I go for the Petrol variant, or will the Diesel manual be a better choice as it is more fun to drive?

Quote:

Originally Posted by manson (Post 5123560)

[*]Surprisingly (sea of negative impressions available online) the gearbox felt perfect and had nothing wrong about it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vid6639 (Post 5123685)

I called for the Model S AT for a drive today and came away pleasantly impressed with the updated 2021 Compass. I can confidently say that it should be a strong contender for anyone looking at the 35L - 40L space.
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These 2 posts have rekindled my hope for the Diesel AT. After months of sitting on the fence, I could not get myself to buy the Petrol AT or the Diesel Manual. The 2 issues with the Diesel AT, according to me, were the price and the stupid gearbox. I had test driven the pre-facelift and was not impressed. Now reading this has got me excited. The only fly in the ointment now is the price. With extended warranty, the Limited Option is coming to approx. INR 29.7L OTR. :Frustrati Let's see.

Quote:

Originally Posted by manson (Post 5123560)

[*]Surprisingly (sea of negative impressions available online) the gearbox felt perfect and had nothing wrong about it. The shifts were smooth and once used to the gearbox I could not fault the gearshifts through the extended test drive I took through my daily route to work. Simply put, the automatic gearbox is not a reason to reject or even ignore the Compass. Its as good as any other mass market other gearbox I've driven and most folks will certainly not have a problem with it. Most impressions about the gearbox seem to be from the original tune that first came with the Trailhawk variant which I had not driven.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vid6639 (Post 5123685)

- Straight off the bat I can tell you that the ZF9 is no longer a deal breaker that it was in the trail hawk and in the earlier version. The gearbox tuning is far far better than before and I would go so far as to say as good as any torque converter box.

For me it still feels a notch down from the Kodiaq and nowhere near as luxurious as the Skoda. The Skoda is just too far ahead in premium feel than the Compass.The Jeep on the other hand feels a lot more rugged. Where the Kodiaq is like a perfect khakhi trouser, the Jeep is like a pair of cargo pants. .

I would also urge you to drive the Citroen in that case which has the same engine but a different AT gearbox of course since its not 4x4.

Once you drive the Citroen you realize just how much better the gearbox tuning CAN be on that engine. I found the engine a tad too gruff and noisy (as rightly observed by you both) and while the gearbox is nicely linear, it is just about all right. Nothing more. I feel it still has room to be better tuned and paddle shifters and better NVH would definitely help too. I don’t have a benchmark with the old Trailhawk and maybe your observations are influenced in a comparative sense but I just judged it standalone when I saw it without a Trailhawk benchmark.

On the comparison with the Kodiaq, the Skoda would be close to 8 - 10 lakh more on road (for petrol) so I would struggle to make an apples to apples comparison between the two. It darn well better feel a couple of notches more premium than the Jeep.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Axe77 (Post 5124977)

On the comparison with the Kodiaq, the Skoda would be close to 8 - 10 lakh more on road (for petrol) so I would struggle to make an apples to apples comparison between the two. It darn well better feel a couple of notches more premium than the Jeep.

Will check out the Citroen as well. But the 2.0L engine in the Citroen is not the same 2.0L Fiat MJD in the compass. The Citroen engine is from PSA group and was used by Ford as the basis for Duratorq. The 2.0L MJD in the compass was a different engine used by GM, Opel and now Tata and MG.

I am also sure the Citroen's Aisin box will be better than the Compass but the Citroen is 41L on road and just does not make sense at the price. It makes the compass seem VFM at 36L.

Yes the Kodiaq is superior in almost all aspects but a comparison was done since the Kodiaq after discounts last year was around 40L and the Trailhawk was 36L.

The plain reason I went for Kodiaq myself was because I felt it was quite a few notches above the compass for the additional money you were getting a lot more than what you were getting with the Trailhawk at 36L.

Now the point I am highlighting is that the gap is closed with the Compass updates but ofcourse the Skoda is no longer in the market and even they get it, it's petrol only so hypothetical.

I am also a bit concerned about clutch burning, not sure if the probability of clutch burning will be more in AT DDCT or MT.

I haven’t test drive the petrol Compass. Should I go for the Petrol variant, or will the Diesel manual be a better choice as it is more fun to drive?[/quote]

I own a facelifted petrol automatic. It is very jerky and hesitant at low speeds. I personally feel that this combination is best suited for highways. It feels feels great on open roads. Interiors, build quality, handling, infotainment system are all top notch. Depends on what you really want. Also it isn’t very fuel efficient. 18 inch wheels do not offer a comfortable ride at slow speeds

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vid6639 (Post 5123685)

- Straight off the bat I can tell you that the ZF9 is no longer a deal breaker that it was in the trail hawk and in the earlier version. . It's only out on the highway that the Kodiaq's DSG shows its superiority.

But that was the issue I faced. In city you dont need the efficiency of DSG or Sports mode. Its on the high way that its sorely missed. I did a one hour test drive on the Chennai bye pass which kind of mirrors the high way traffic and the GB was not effective as compared to VW DSG. Jeep could have added a sports mode or had paddle shifters at this price point which could have given the car its needed push when you have to over take/ cut lanes. The Compass is a high way cruiser and any one who buys it surely has plans for cross country trips. But I did not notice the discomfort with the lumbar adjustments. May be owners can add some light

I too took the test drive of the Jeep Compass 2.0 diesel AT 4x4. Planning to upgrade to a more safe and powerful car from by Seltos GTX Plus DCT.

It was a Limited Options model. It is a good car but definitely not worth the asking price of 38 lacs on road Cochin. It does lag behind in refinement. NVH levels were unacceptable for this price bracket and positioning. It is a good and responsive gearbox with smooth shifts, but vibrations of the engine can be felt in the steering and the gear lever. More over the engine sound filters into the cabin too much spoiling the overall drive experience. They should have tuned the engine differently and chosen a better gearbox for a peppier performance and I would have loved a FWD AT for my kind of usage

Quote:

Originally Posted by sandygordon (Post 5125569)

It was a Limited Options model. It is a good car but definitely not worth the asking price of 38 lacs on road Cochin.

Quote:

Originally Posted by arun_josie (Post 5125883)

Limited (O) 4x4 AT is around 32-33L range, not 38L.

On road price (before discounts) of the diesel automatics in Kerala (Trivandrum, though should be same in Cochin) are as below -

Limited (O) 4*4 AT - 34,07,356/-
Limited 80th anniversary 4*4 AT - 34,70,662/-
Model S 4*4 AT - 36,67,135/-

After a couple of test drives, I must admit the 2021 compass has left me quite impressed. I also had a chance to test both manual & auto diesels, must say the diesel auto seemed perfectly fine within the city, convenient in slow moving traffic as expected. However, on open roads the gear shifts far too quickly & doesn’t stay in the meat of the rev band for too long, but still good to drive. Jeep probably missed a trick here by not providing drive modes or paddle shifters.

The diesel manual on the other hand felt like a different engine altogether, the power & torque combined with the slick shifting gearbox, good ride & fabulous handling is just addictive. Although around curves there is noticeable body roll but the whole experience left me with a wide grin on my face :D

After waiting for Kushaq/Taigun launch for months & feeling underwhelmed, this seems to be the one! Although it will burn a hole in the pocket, it seems to tick the right boxes for a driving enthusiast whilst feeling plush & premium on the interiors.

Now, it would be really helpful if existing owners of 2021 compass can provide their inputs/experience with some of the niggles being reported specifically with the facelift to help with the decision making for anyone looking at the 2021 Compass. Some of the reported niggles I came across are:

1. Battery drain issue - I believe this was widely reported but specific to the S variant probably due to fully digital instrument cluster having some bugs? Has Jeep released any software updates to fix it? It will be a pain to run the vehicle every few days as a workaround considering unpredictable lockdowns these days.

2. Dashboard rattling issue - Not sure if this issue is as common as the first one, but some owners seem to have reported it especially on other forums (YouTube etc). Some reporting a noise from the steering!

3. Compass was always believed to be the benchmark in ride & handling for SUV’s. However Vid & Manson report the ride to be too hard on bumps & general city conditions. Has Jeep reworked on suspension set up for the facelift adversely affecting it or are the 18 inch wheels to blame? Not sure if pre-facelift top end had 17” or 18” rims.

4. Clutch burn issue from the pre-facelift will be too early to detect on the 2021 models, hope those are one-off & not systemic.

Any other niggles/issues that may be of concern? I understand no new car will be perfect, but just trying to make peace with the ones that come along with this one :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by suhas_raj (Post 5125955)

3. Compass was always believed to be the benchmark in ride & handling for SUV’s. However Vid & Manson report the ride to be too hard on bumps & general city conditions. Has Jeep reworked on suspension set up for the facelift adversely affecting it or are the 18 inch wheels to blame? Not sure if pre-facelift top end had 17” or 18” rims.

I have a Longitude (O) Diesel Manual - which comes with 17" alloys (18" on the higher variants). Yes. The ride is harsh particularly at low speeds and bumps and pits are prominent and jarring within the cabin, particularly on broken roads. Though regular city roads, speed breakers are ok. The high speed ride is very good and enjoyable. Have not pushed the car on curves yet. One of the ritual that I follow every time I get a new car is to go through the user manual. One of the first warnings that I noted in the user manual goes something like "This is an SUV with a high center of gravity. So, unlike other cars that you drive, this car may topple while taking curves at high speeds. Proceed with caution". I guess this applies to all SUVs. But since this is my first SUV, this was something different that I noticed in the manual.

Note: I keep the tire pressure at 35 psi on the front and 33 at the rear as recommended on the door sill.