[civic-sense]

Originally Posted by sbkumar

I have been in two minds because of my preference (need) for diesel automatic. Finally thought will take the plunge as the expected price for trailhawk is a little too high for me.

Unless you need a 4X4, you'd be better off with the petrol automatic. Diesel automatic is not worth the 6+ lacs premium.

[Caesar]

Originally Posted by ank.nsit

I could see 1 or 2 negative posts that were posted only by you.

Are you an owner of the compass? Can you please share in details the issues that you have faced?

I am not sure why it needs to be asked again if I own one, after me explicitly stating that I do. But I am glad that I am the only one in the country to have raised 3 concerns online. My expectations must be misplaced. Let us go back to enjoying the vehicle.

[Behemoth]

Originally Posted by Caesar

I am not sure why it needs to be asked again if I own one, after me explicitly stating that I do. But I am glad that I am the only one in the country to have raised 3 concerns online. My expectations must be misplaced. Let us go back to enjoying the vehicle.

I second the weak headlights on the LTD version that you have raised and have managed only an intermediate solution with HIR 9011 bulbs which is still not as good as the HID available with LTD (O) variant.
Also in the past 9 months of ownership the AC stopped cooling properly, which was fixed with a software update.
I guess no car is perfect and especially with a new car launch many of us are taking a risk of higher chances of niggles in the car. But end of the day the overall experience has been positive so far. How the company responds to initial customer problems is critical and will drive future sales after the initial hype is over. With the post GST increases the car is now 2.2 lacs more expensive than launch price (for the LTD variant) and people buying cars in this segment have high expectations. I expect Jeep to start offering more discounts to keep sales in the 1500-1800 units range as the unit shipments have reduced compared to the initial high levels. That said discounts alone will not deliver sales and the after sales experience also needs to be great.

[Caesar]

Originally Posted by Behemoth

I guess no car is perfect and especially with a new car launch many of us are taking a risk of higher chances of niggles in the car. But end of the day the overall experience has been positive so far.

Absolutely. And I am cheering for the success of the company and the product. In that 5 page survey, the only fly I mentioned in the Jeep ointment was the projector halogens; from a product perspective.

They have been listening intently, with higher management intervening in many cases to help. But to rake in the numbers for this wonderful product, they have to be providing consistent experience. Not everyone is equipped to approach leadership teams or to cross validate various mediums to ensure that one gets a fair deal.

Happy JEEPin

[TopSpeeder]

My Jeep Compass crossed 10k mark from Aug 2017, I drive less compared to earlier car due to car pool.

Last week Thursday, I have done the software upgrade for jeep compass.

Please find my feedback
- Engine response is more smooth and linear
- AC cooling is better than earlier
- Didn't observe any difference in U-Connect

So far I'm managing with existing headlight bulbs, Nothing I bought extra.
I really like this jeep, no doubt about it.

Service center experience (KHT, Mahadevapura, Bangalore)
- Huge place and different floor for different brands
- This is one the odd looking service center, they use lift to take your FCA cars to service center to 2nd Flr.
- I'm sure the service engineers who knows the stuff
- Sharing the floor with other fiat cars, I feel jeep should have their own service center
- I feel overall service center experience needs improvement

[sbkumar]

Originally Posted by civic-sense

Unless you need a 4X4, you'd be better off with the petrol automatic. Diesel automatic is not worth the 6+ lacs premium.

Interesting thought, somehow it never crossed my mind. The primary reason I wanted a 4x4 is for its six airbags. The petrol auto trim misses out on the six airbags as per my understanding. I would happily take a diesel 4x2 with six airbags if they had this option. The same applies to automatic transmission as well. If they had an option for the 4x2 automatic with six airbags, I would have gone for it.

[smnaren]

Hi All,

I have got my Jeep Compass limited 4x2 on May 3rd week. I had driven around 1200Kms. I need below clarifications:
- During Lowspeed in bumper to bumper traffic, couple of times engine got switch off as i missed to lower the gear. After this happens, I am getting "Low Oil Pressure" in the Instrument Cluster until i switch on the vehicle. Is it any serious issue ? Do i need to check with service center ?
- How to change the mileage option from L/100Kms to Kms/L ?

One more caution, if you have kids/toddler, its better to tell them about the electronic parking break switch and not to touch it. while i was travelling in hills around 40Km/hr, my younger daughter pressed it unknowingly, suddenly vehicle was halted with Dynamic Brake enabled message. Since there was no vehicle behind and i was going slowly, didnt face any issue.

[Olympal]

Originally Posted by smnaren

Hi All,


One more caution, if you have kids/toddler, its better to tell them about the electronic parking break switch and not to touch it. while i was travelling in hills around 40Km/hr, my younger daughter pressed it unknowingly, suddenly vehicle was halted with Dynamic Brake enabled message. Since there was no vehicle behind and i was going slowly, didnt face any issue.

This is a serious issue. During my test drive, precisely this aspect crossed my mind. What if the parking brake switch was accidentally pressed. To get around this, there should be a two step system. One for activating the parking brake system and the second to engage the brake.

[civic-sense]

1000 km update.

After trying really hard to improve the FE by driving sedately, I managed to improve my commute mileage to 13 kmpl. Until one day I had a bad day on the road, and all hell broke lose. Heck, I don't want to drive a 171bhp engine like a 50bhp engine. So I am back to my revving days, although not as much as my petrol cars, obviously. The engine groans beyond 3000rpm forcing me to shift. In the Ecosport I used to visit 6000rpm quite frequently. And my MID now shows between 7-8kmpl. That's about Rs 10 per km, but am going to live with it.

The engine suddenly became quite audible inside the cabin once I crossed 1000km.

The jerk when pressing the clutch at first gear is still troubling me. I erroneously wrote in my earlier post as releasing the clutch. Funnily, at times it does not happen, but am not able to guess when it will happen.

Originally Posted by civic-sense

I no longer rev up quickly, but wait for the revs to build up, and I shift up early. There is enough pull from the engine, so it is not really a boring affair.

There is a jerk when i release the clutch while shifting from 1 to 2. So I have to do it real slow. I hope I am not looking at premature clutch wear. I have read a few cases elsewhere.

Mileage is a disappointment. 10-11 is all I manage to get. A mileage run on the highway yielded 14kmpl, but it is boring to drive that way. Weighed in a common balance, running costs are same as my Ecosport AT, and that's not a bad thing.

The oil pressure low warning keeps coming up whenever I stall and, on asking around, looks to be a common occurrence, and nothing to be worried about. I do hope so.

Originally Posted by smnaren

Hi All,

I have got my JC limited 4x2 on May 3rd week. I had driven around 1200Kms. I need below clarifications:
- During Lowspeed in bumper to bumper traffic, couple of times engine got switch off as i missed to lower the gear. After this happens, I am getting "Low Oil Pressure" in the Instrument Cluster until i switch on the vehicle. Is it any serious issue ? Do i need to check with service center ?

Please check my earlier post quoted above. The service center said that it is normal. And a number of people in the Compass Whatsapp group confirmed it. So you need not worry.

- How to change the mileage option from L/100Kms to Kms/L ?

There is a units setting that you can change.

One more caution, if you have kids/toddler, its better to tell them about the electronic parking break switch and not to touch it. while i was travelling in hills around 40Km/hr, my younger daughter pressed it unknowingly, suddenly vehicle was halted with Dynamic Brake enabled message. Since there was no vehicle behind and i was going slowly, didnt face any issue.

Actually, you have to pull it, so it is not as easy as pressing. I have a 3 year old kid too, so I have kept a face tissue box on top of the cup holders which partially hides the parking brake switch from view.

Originally Posted by sbkumar

Interesting thought, somehow it never crossed my mind. The primary reason I wanted a 4x4 is for its six airbags. The petrol auto trim misses out on the six airbags as per my understanding. I would happily take a diesel 4x2 with six airbags if they had this option. The same applies to automatic transmission as well. If they had an option for the 4x2 automatic with six airbags, I would have gone for it.

Exact reason why I bought the 4X4 despite not needing off-road hardware, having a dislike for diesel fumes and having driven only automatics for the last 9 years. If only they had offered 6 airbags in the AT, sigh.

[blackwasp]

Team-BHP fan Anshul shares the following with us.

The 9-month old Jeep Compass he is currently using has faced its fourth breakdown. The first 3 issues included timing belt, diesel pump leakage and battery terminal failure. At the time of this post, the car is with the MOPAR RSA and has yet to reach the service center due to the fourth breakdown.







Also shared is the gate pass which the company gave after 6 to 7 days of custody under an engineer from Pune plant. It was assured that the car has been thoroughly checked and it will not face a breakdown again. The warranty was also extended for one year under goodwill.

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by blackwasp

The warranty was also extended for one year under goodwill.

Man oh man. Something like this from FCA was unheard of in the past (I did read about the other Jeep incident here which was also handled well by FCA). This is what you need to do to build brand confidence. Hope they extend this kind of support to Fiat customers. Not that their cars are flying off shelves but it sure helps to know the manufacturer is there to support you in difficult times.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by blackwasp

The 9-month old Jeep Compass he is currently using has faced its fourth breakdown. The first 3 issues included timing belt, diesel pump leakage and battery terminal failure. At the time of this post, the car is with the MOPAR RSA and has yet to reach the service center due to the fourth breakdown.

Jeep has a TERRIBLE reputation for reliability in the USA. I was hoping that the smaller & simpler Compass (which has a lot of Fiat underneath) will offer acceptable reliability. These kind of reports so early in its life are very concerning.

[ank.nsit]

Originally Posted by civic-sense

...
The jerk when pressing the clutch at first gear is still troubling me.
...

I noticed this issue today while driving 30mins in bumper to bumper traffic.

And the solution I found was to press clutch a little slowly. Basically just as we normally release the clutch gradually, we need to press the clutch gradually as well. Might not always be possible due to driving conditions, but this is the best I could conclude.

Do let me know if it works for you.

[Mu009]

It really is worrying for a prospective customer to see these issues - if these issues are cropping up so quickly, I wonder what'll happen to the vehicle over time?

It's not just here, but world-wide (where numbers are higher and time on market is longer), this thing is giving people quite a tough time. On top of that, Jeep isn't exactly being nice even in the USA, with all their consumer protection laws - I shudder to think what'll happen here in India.

"My Jeep Compass" forums (an owner here helpfully pointed me to), seems to have more horror stories than anything:

Update on everything that has been going on with the Compass:

Vehicle Service History High Level Notes:

11/15/2017 (Wednesday) Mileage 47 – Taken Delivery of Vehicle 2018 Jeep Compass 4x4 Limited with 47 Miles on odometer.

11/17/2017 (Friday): Mileage 151 – Odometer flashing, radio screen blank. Infotainment system / Safety features are not working that are tied into the radio. Dealership reset codes, unplugged radio, plugged back in, calibrated. Sent me on my way.

11/27/2017 (Monday): Mileage 741 – Radio goes out again, odometer is flashing. Dealership advises a flash is available to fix, eventually radio is replaced as flash won’t be out for a while. Without car for 15 days. Placed into a rental that only I can drive.

12/11/2017 (Monday): Mileage 754 – Start / Stop system is unavailable; New Bezel radio and HVAC bezels has to be ordered due to damage at dealership. Sirius XM Guardian features malfunctioning when remote starting car thru app, cannot resume car when using app. Dealer found a pin-fittings on trans controller broken, repaired. Replacement “refurbished” radio has cracked screen, new glass on order.

01/18/2018 (Thursday): Mileage 2.416 – Cracked radio screen replaced at dealership.

01/19/2018 (Friday): Mileage 2,430 – Radio lost alignment calibration, mileage was flashing, no XM. Calibration self-corrected before arriving at dealership. Passenger side air bag recall completed. T73 recall.

02/15/2018 (Thursday): Mileage 3,934 – Oil Change

04/05/2018 (Wednesday) Mileage 6,432 – Brought Jeep in for brake squeal in reverse and also for first 10 minutes of driving. Feels like parking brake engaged when it shows it’s not. Dealership replaced rotors and brake pads on the back.

Busted Sway bar on front passenger side determined for cause of clunking noises when driving on road. National back order for part. End up waiting 2 weeks for parts.

Jeep is also getting poor gas mileage, only observe 17MPG combined. Dealership cannot determine cause of issue. Stated it was our driving habits.

04/18/2018 (Wednesday) Mileage 7,000 – Front sway bar replaced. Noise went away on car.

04/28/2018 (Saturday) Mileage 7,488 – On instrument cluster, car was stating “Low Oil Pressure” when making turns, pull into Circle K by 11 Mile road and I-696, checked oil level, none registered on dip stick. Immediately drive to Sterling Heights Chrysler Dodge Jeep, dealer checks oil level, determines car is 4 quarts low on oil (Capacity is 5.5 per the handbook). Drove 3,554 miles on oil change. Well within oil change parameters of 6,000 miles between changes. Dealership changes oil and filter at 7,488 miles.

04/30/2018 – File for Arbitration with FCA and NCDS

05/15/2018 (Tuesday) Mileage 8,148 – Brought car into dealership to document oil consumption, dealership states only ½ quart burned. Drove 660 miles on new oil change.

05/25/2018 (Friday) Mileage 8,547 – Owner checks oil levels, determines Jeep is another ½ quart low. Tops off oil in driveway with Mopar 0w20 per handbook. Discover oil on engine cover, hood blanket, and around engine oil cap. Clean off and document. Could be potential blow by.

05/27/2018 (Sunday) Mileage 8,800 – Owner checks oil levels, determines Jeep is about another ¼ to ½ quart low. Leaves car as is to show during meeting on Tuesday.

05/30/2018 (Wednesday) – Suspension making noise, Jeep continues to consume oil and liftgate doesn’t operate correctly. Left for 3 days to be reviewed.

06/01/2018 (Friday) – Take delivery of car, left sway bar now replaced (right one was replaced 3 months ago), Oil changed at 8,899 miles and asked to bring back at 9,400 miles for oil consumption test, lift gate hardware replaced (striker adjusted, struts replaced).

06/04/2018 (Monday) - Decision on arbitration. I've been denied (shocker). Stated i've not had enough problems to justify buy back.

Major Outstanding Concerns:

Poor Gas Mileage (Documented)
Major Oil Consumption (Documented)
Non-Working at times Warm A/C (Undocumented), Started occurring 05/25/2018
Engine Start/Stop feature randomly being unavailable (Documented)
Brakes still squeaking, parking brake randomly engages (Documented)

The thread may be found here:
http://www.myjeepcompass.com/forums/.../36674?page=17

I've been following this guy's story over on that forum for a few weeks now, and I'm tremendously disappointed - shocked really.
A fair number of other dissatisfied customers too - leaks, transmission failures etc.

As someone who's contemplating the Trailhawk (if and when it launches), I wonder if it wouldn't be wiser to go hungry for some time now and stretch to a more reliable off-road vehicle, and have less to worry about 5 years down the line?

Forget resale - who knows what'll happen with a new model down the line, but for someone who plans to keep a product for a loooooooong time, this just isn't comforting at all.

I honestly don't even know if I have a real question with this post - I'm just thinking out loud, as it were - I don't know what it'll take for me to ever have confidence in FCA (world-wide, not just the India history), but so far there isn't much going for it.

[h14]

So after a month long hibernation in April, the compass is back to routine duty! The Odo is inching closer to the 20k mark. Yes 20k coming up in under 230 days of which the jeep was idle for a month.
The vehicle has been fabulous and here are the snippets over the last 3 months!

This was the stats for March 29, Bangalore to Coimbatore. Little did the Jeep know that I was leaving him behind for one whole month and eloping with the Amby! (more on that here)



Both the Palio & the Amby got washed, whilst the Jeep was ignored!



When the sun was waking up, I was already up and running with the Amby



After 27 days and 1300 odd miles, I was back home with the Amby and the Compass was so mad that he was staring at the wall. Took him out immediately for a spin and he wasn't happy at all! The Jeep is as fussy as the FIAT's for sure! Promised him a highway run the next day and he slowly got back to normalcy.



So as promised, took him to Salem for the 15k service. He hit the 14700 mark by end of March and 14900 was up whilst we reached True Sai. As always, they were on the job in no time. Apart from the service, it was time to get the second set of updates from FCA (the one for Uconnect, AC and driveability)



Work was over early afternoon and was back to Coimbatore for the weekend. Come May 1 and the Compass was back to BAU!

Service Bill



Coimbatore - Salem Stats



Bangalore - Thiruchengodu this time Fantastic 2 laned roads from Rasipuram onwards



After some rain drives, it was only fair to give him a wash. Took him to Hindustan this time







Some random shots from the trip to Hosur temple







The murugan idly shop on the Krishnagiri bypass is now a boon!



Temple visit with dad's Linea for company





A typical lonely morning



A sedated night drive



All in all it has been 8 months and 20,000 kms and the compass has been absolutely fantastic.

I believe I can confidently claim to be one among the few who much so many miles month on month and the Compass has never complained. The FE was a major factor for me and the compass wins in that aspect too! It has been a brilliant companion and I am super happy with the purchase!