[The Rationalist]

The following is one area I disagree with GTO. The reason that most people are buying Compass or for that matter any car that costs more than 20 lakhs is because we aren't afraid of EMI's anymore. One friend of mine who has a similar pay like me has bought a BMW X1 and one who is drawing less than me has bought a Compass. And both are on substantial EMI's , one for 40,000 and the other one for 24,000 which make up about 20 - 25 % of take home salary, and add the down payment and fuel expenses for these, the outgo reaches around 30-40 % of one's income.

So these sales figures doesn't reflect anything as far as better economic situation of Indian families are concerned, it just shows that people have no financial knowledge.The higher sales figures of costly cars actually scares me, because most are taking big financial risks.

But I'm happy for FCA as they didn't give up on Indian market even after all the previous setbacks and didn't try to bring some tin cans in the name of 'Made for India'. Hope this let other manufacturers realize that the problem was not the market, but their products.

Sorry for the

[pankajparikh]

No doubt, Compass has been a good product just like Fiat had decent products like Punto, Linea. Yet, the one thing that had ruined Fiat until now has been customer service be it after-sales, pre-sales or spares - they have been on the verge of closing down in-spite of giving some of the best products. Kind of similar trait was seen with brands like Chevrolet, Opel, Daewoo, Mitsubishi and they never could recover.

I have been a fan of Compass, ever since the launch in India. I was on the verge to freeze on the Hyundai Creta, until the Compass was launched. Yet, when it comes to spending my hard-earned 20-lakh, I had to do some intensive research and that's when the other things that matter came into perspective.

Service, is the core reason brands could make or break in India. I started judging Fiat in an unbiased way with the Compass and it failed me right at the start of the journey. Few points to be considered:

1. Of now, only 1 dealer in Hyderabad and other major cities. Which means, if you don't like their service you don't have any other option but giving your >20lakh worth car to a local service center.

2. Service and SparePart issues have been a forte of Fiat - for them to turn around on this require incorporating the importance of customer service right from the showroom guards to the dealership owners. Which I highly doubt is happening.

A very recent incident at the Hyderabad dealer, gave me an eye opener perception towards their service. I was on the verge to take a test drive and pay the booking amount for the Compass and was heading to the showroom. The moment I reached there, I saw the parking was empty, but some gentleman had parked their cars on the road, blocking the way towards the parking. When I called the Jeep Showroom guard available there, asking why didn't he stop them from blocking the way towards the entrance of the showroom - he bluntly says "not my responsibility, I was overseeing tasks inside of the showroom". When I called the supervisor and asked him about this guard's responsibility - he said he was supposed to oversee the parking. And this guard stood there with an attitude like he owned the dealership was looking with a, care a damn attitude. This small incident, made me rethink again - a dealer who is not able to get his guards do their duty responsibly, I can imagine how would they be able to incorporate customer service attitude from their after-sales teams. And trust me, after-sales is a completely different ballgame, where if you don't be on your toes, you are out of the game. Ford realized this late and they are still working on damage control.

So before you go-ahead with your purchase - please keep in mind, if customer service is your priority then either go-ahead with the brands which have their forte also in customer service or wait a little longer and see how Fiat performs on this.

[cool_dube]

Does anyone has any clue on the likelihood of Trail Hawk making it to Indian showrooms?

[captmukhi]

I have booked Petrol automatic at Sky motors Pune, I am told that it would be available for test drive by end of September, Looking forward to Official review from TeamBHP

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Good to see some solid marketing from FCA this time around -

[abhoumick]

I took delivery of my Compass 4x2 Manual in Limited trim on the 31st of August 2017. The photographs might lead you to believe it is the Limited (O), I had opted for the black-top as an accessory

Coming from a Corolla Altis D-4D the transformation in power is radical for me. The sensation of driving an SUV coupled with the high power of 173ps is making me learn to drive all over again. When you suddenly have double the power under the hood you have trouble holding on to it

My first impressions, there seem to be no turbo lag, the power delivery is extremely smooth coupled with the light clutch, making city driving a pleasure. Compared to the Altis, I feel I'm having to do a little more shifting though. Till now I've driven only about a 100Km. Took it to the Yamuna Expressway during the weekend and enjoyed the drive.

More on ownership experience as I put more on the ODO.

[Behemoth]

Originally Posted by abhoumick

I took delivery of my Compass 4x2 Manual in Limited trim on the 31st of August 2017. The photographs might lead you to believe it is the Limited (O), I had opted for the black-top as an accessory

More on ownership experience as I put more on the ODO.

Congrats from a fellow Compass owner!
Great to see the Red colour, it really stands out on the Compass! The black top also looks nice and add more character to the car.

[abhoumick]

Originally Posted by Behemoth

Congrats from a fellow Compass owner!
Great to see the Red colour, it really stands out on the Compass! The black top also looks nice and add more character to the car.

Thank you.
The colour choice credit goes to my wife who is also taking the keys

[ghostrider]

Originally Posted by Omkar

What you won't:

• Small size for the price! A sentiment echoed by most people who saw it in person
• Suitable for 4 adults, not 5. Narrow cabin
• Inexplicably, only the AWD Diesel gets 6 airbags! All other variants have 2
• Tiny dealership network. Plus, after-sales quality & long-term reliability are unknown factors
• AWD's premium is over 2 lakh rupees on-the-road. Includes 4 extra airbags, but is still too much
• Diesel Automatic is still sometime away (petrol AT coming soon)
• Turning radius of 5.65m is more than the Safari Storme's. Also, 17º approach angle is too low
• Missing goodies (blanks on the steering, auto-dimming IRVM, auto wipers & headlamps, lumbar adjustment, reclinable rear seats)

For a self-professed petrolhead who claims that the feel of the car is the most important thing, I find myself having a hard time coming to grips with the lack of minor conveniences like auto-dimming IRVMs and auto-wipers, especially.
My Cruze (almost 6 years old) has both these and I cant even begin to describe how convenient they are. It's been exactly 6 years since I've had to adjust my IRVM because some moron behind me is driving with his high-beams on in the city, or had to adjust my wiper speeds every few minutes in the monsoon as the intensity of the rain varies.

Hopefully the first facelift in a couple of years (or maybe sooner?) fixes some of these omissions.

Having said that, the fact that the 2.0L diesel and the 'box it's mated to work well together is extremely good news.

Great review.

[igp_79]

Originally Posted by ToyotaFan

It would be great if you could share with us when did you book your car?

The car was booked on 20th june at 8.30 am on the Jeep website and I got the acknowledgement SMS with reference code 'JEEP71'. It mentioned that the dealer would get in touch, which they did in two days. I let my preference be known and they have followed up on that.This is the coimbatore dealership. Hope this helps.

[for_cars1]

Originally Posted by pankajparikh

No doubt, Compass has been a good product just like Fiat had decent products like Punto, Linea. Yet, the one thing that had ruined Fiat until now has been customer service be it after-sales, pre-sales or spares -

Yet, when it comes to spending my hard-earned 20-lakh, I had to do some intensive research.
- please keep in mind, if customer service is your priority then either go-ahead with the brands which have their forte also in customer service.

I don’t intend to nitpick on your post and just want to put a neutral view point wrt., the service aspect.

Most of the (bad) service apprehensions come from people who have never owned a Fiat but just 'heard' about the service aspect from others who have again never owned one but just passing what they heard.

My thought process about 15 years back was to go with a good product in the first place and then deal with the service aspect (not heeding to apprehensions).

I can now happily recollect that I enjoyed every bit of the 12 long years of the Fiat ownership, service included. I stuck to scheduled service intervals, used only OEM parts and never faced issues during the entire course of ownership and also got a decent resale value of my immaculately maintained car. Rarely you will find the real first hand owners complaining if they have taken proper care as per the scheduled service sticking to OEM parts.

Even the per service cost was surprisingly low compared to the Hyundai that I get serviced. Service is certainly not about offering coffee with a grinning face and then fleecing the customer with a big bloated bill again with a polite smiling face. Chances of poor service can happen with any brand, its just the human attribute if some (unscrupulous) service advisor feels that they can take a gullible customer for a ride with a bloated bill having unnecessary addons. Very common and can happen all the time everywhere with any brand if we are not careful and aware.

We will have to look beyond that silly watchman at the dealership, thankfully he won't be coming along with the purchase.

[Sawyer]

Originally Posted by for_cars1

Most of the (bad) service apprehensions come from people who have never owned a Fiat but just 'heard' about the service aspect from others who have again never owned one but just passing what they heard.

I used a Fiat Uno and Palio for 12 years together. I enjoyed both cars except for the Palio in the last 2 years of its ownership where Fiat service was unable to fix the AC that wasn't effective, even after changing the compressor. I got fed up and sold it; if it wasn't for the AC problem, I would have perhaps still had it in my garage because it was built to a higher standard than some cars today and the 1.6 litre petrol was a joy to use.

Some of us aren't just passing on what we heard.

Now I would wait and see if the service situation has improved before buying a Fiat or a Skoda - both make excellent products in other ways, but one can't have them stay off the road because of poor after sales support.

[PrideRed]

Originally Posted by for_cars1

Very common and can happen all the time everywhere with any brand if we are not careful and aware.

We will have to look beyond that silly watchman at the dealership, thankfully he won't be coming along with the purchase.

As long as the service is good, one should be least bothered about watchman,receptionist. You might need a good sales advisor until you get hands on car but rest of the action happens in service center who have no clue on what's happening at showroom.
That said the biggest concern with Fiat I see is stability. The dealers keep changing, service centers keep moving around. Fiat always had blockbuster openings in India(Premier Padmini,Uno,Palio etc.) with most of its car fetching maximum bookings. IIRC Uno still holds the record for maximum bookings. After the initial euphoria settles down, dealers find it difficult pushing cars. The reason might be a plenty- reliability, bad service, marketing etc. and I really dont know what the actual cause is. Hopefully Fiat doesnot repeat the same mistakes with Jeep.

[abhoumick]

The Compass Limited, in India, comes with 6 speakers, whereas there is a space provided in the top of the dash for a 7th speaker, which, I believe, would be for the sub-woofer.
Unfortunately, the space is empty & I haven't verified yet if it has the wiring harness left in the cavity to connect the sub.

I'd like to put in a sub in that space, hence, I'm trying to find out the wattage & impedance of the speakers currently used in the doors. Anyone already knows that? If you happen to know the brand as well that's an added bonus.

The US versions have the JBL & Beats, but I don't think the India version comes with either of those, as there is not branding on the grill & both these companies will definitely brand their installation, as well as Jeep would have advertised the same

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by abhoumick

The Compass Limited, in India, comes with 6 speakers, whereas there is a space provided in the top of the dash for a 7th speaker, which, I believe, would be for the sub-woofer.

Not an ideal place for a sub woofer, which can rattle a lot of screws loose with its amplified low frequencies. Best to have a sub under the seats or safely in the boot. And you certainly need an amplifier (at the minimum) while adding that sub.

The space at the centre would be for a dash mounted centre channel speaker, but that's almost useless to add aftermarket without spending a lot of money on extra digital signal processors etc.