[car-go]

Originally Posted by sharan_si

Shift the gear to P and press the start/stop switch.

Alternatively, while getting the 2nd demo / dealership's 15 days' follow up today, this is how it worked - at a long signal, shift from D to N (or, P) pressing the brake, switch the ignition off, momentarily take off foot from the brake pedal. When you need to start the car again, press the brake pedal, switch ignition on and change back to D.

Note that I have both the auto start/stop disabled (every time I start the car) and auto parking brake disabled (one-time from Uconnect screen). Prefer to apply parking brakes manually.

The crux is to momentarily take your foot off the brake pedal, else the ignition cannot be switched on.

[car-go]

Needed the rear parcel shelf (does not come standard in Sport). Searched aftermarket, but seems that one that can fit a Jeep Compass is not available at least anywhere in Kolkata.
Got it from the Jeep dealership who charged ~Rs.6880. Came pretty expensive, but worth it.

[Floyd de Souza]

Hey car-go, please give us an ownership review

[sharan_si]

Originally Posted by car-go

Needed the rear parcel shelf (does not come standard in Sport). Searched aftermarket, but seems that one that can fit a Jeep Compass is not available at least anywhere in Kolkata.
Got it from the Jeep dealership who charged ~Rs.6880. Came pretty expensive, but worth it.

KIA quoted even more for Seltos Parcel tray.

[car-go]

Originally Posted by Floyd de Souza

Hey car-go, please give us an ownership review

I have already given my brief initial ownership review here in this thread (giving an excerpt here; it is in page 6). Hope this helps. Will write more once I make more trips - few being planned. Any specific questions you have, let me know.

Originally Posted by car-go

Got my Sport Petrol DDCT delivered last Saturday! Enjoying the drive, and exactly as Sharan had put the experience as. Till 25-26 kmph, the car is lethargic, after which it bursts out on long stretches. Its like, when starting from a traffic, everyone seems to whizz past and mine is a white elephant, elegant and poised (ha! ha! ha!). After a while, it springs into action, very well mannered and poised on the road.

[ajayc123]

Hi Sharan, very comprehensive review. Appreciate your passion and commitment for authoring this.

I have a quick question, you have covered so many nuances related to handling the automatic transmission. Sounds a bit scary.

On the contrary manual transmission appears to be a much simpler thing to handle (just up/down) based on your judgement.

Is it really worth the hassle to go for the AT if you have to keep so many things in view?

What do you think after having experienced both MT only vs this one AT?

Driving the 1.4 MultiAir Turbo:

1.4 MultiAir makes 163 hp @5500 rpm, 250 Nm @2500-4000 rpm.
With the brakes depressed, push the start button, engine comes to life with the slight hint of shake felt in the cabin, Engine idles at around 900 rpm, small amount of engine noise is heard inside but it’s very low, noise insulation is very good if you open the window you hear the engine sound.
City Driving:
As soon as you move the Gear out of P mode, you hear the sound of parking brakes getting automatically disengaged (only if seat belts are fastened) and it notifies the same on MID. Release the brakes car crawls at 7 kmph without the need of throttle input, it’s useful in the bumper-to-bumper traffic. Push the accelerator DCT shifts to 2nd gear somewhere after 12kmph, 1st gear ratio is extremely low, just used to move the car from a standstill. With light to moderate input to accelerator DCT shifts gear to 3rd at 25 kmph, 4 at 39 kmph, and 5 at 50-55 kmph, all these gear shifts happen around 2000 rpm, with DCT in D mode it doesn’t show the current gear in MID, need to shift to M mode to check the gear engaged. You can hardly notice the gear shifts unless you carefully observe it or look at the rpm meter, at times with full 5 adults and kids, you can notice the gear shifts (only the first 3 gears, remaining shifts are unnoticed). Overall gear shifts are smooth and effortless. In city DCT will be driving in 2/3 gears at times shift to 4 gear, upshift happen quickly as soon as to climb the speedometer, but at times it holds on the gear before downshifting when you are slowing down, I have observed DCT trying to move in 2nd gear below 10 kmph on an incline(half clutch), I had to shift to M mode and shift to 1st gear.
Most of the time with light input to the gas pedal, shifts happen around 2k rpms, at higher( 3 and above) gears RPM falls below or around 1500rpm, there is a huge lag at this rpm, the engine feels numb and struggles to pull, on other hands if you push bit, DCT shifts gear around 2300-2500 rpm, and rpm falls around 2k after shifts, engine has good power in this range.
DCT works best when it’s unhurried, it solves the purpose of automatic transmission in bumper-to-bumper traffic.
At times when you lift the foot from accelerator and gradually slow down the DCT downshifts when you hit the accelerator again, it doesn’t upshift immediately, it unnecessarily revs till 2500 or above rpm range and shifts up, this happens even with light foot.
If you apply brakes suddenly when you are moving at 40+ gearbox judders, it should be avoided in DCT, I switch to Neutral when I see I have braked fast and stop.
When you vary the speed quickly DCT gets confused and hunts a couple of seconds for the right gear before settling down onto the right gear.
Automatic start-stop system: This is quite useful for city drive as we end up waiting at signals or stuck traffic for long, as per a few experiments 1.5 liter NA engine will take as much fuel to start the engine as much it would consume during idling for 10 sec, so if you are stopping for more than 15 sec, it’s better to keep this feature on, well manual says to use this feature if you are stopping for more than 30 sec. There is a switch to control this feature below the touch screen.

When you come to a complete stop engine shuts off automatically, you need to keep the brake depressed, it starts the engine as soon as you lift the foot from the brake.
This feature won’t work for the below condition.
• If you were crawling below 7 kmph from the last stop and come to a complete stop.
• If you are traveling uphill.
• Seatbelt is not fastened.
• The AC is in MAX AC mode.
It re-starts the engine within a few seconds if Auto AC is on and the desired temperature is not achieved by the climate control system or it is in the manual AC mode and fan speed is set to 6 or 7 speed.


Driving on highway:

1.4 MultiAir comes to life on the highway, 163 Bhp on tap offers fast performance, DCT which feels underperformer in the city works quite well at high speed, the midrange is punchy, overtaking is effortless. You will mostly be on 5 to 7 gears on highways, it shifts to 7th gear around 88 to 95. The engine will be just under 2k rpm at 100 kmph, it is smooth and effortless to do 100, you can do 3 digit speeds all day without straining the engine, 120 comes around 2300 rpm, which is just below the peak torque rpm range. Push the gas pedal when the engine is in peak toque range, punchy midrange induces slight torque steer, especially on uneven roads, so you need to hold the steering firmly.
For quick overtaking, floor the gas pedal, it takes a second or 2 before reacting, DCT shifts gear down by 1 or 2, tachometer climbs all the way till 5500rpm + before shifting up, the car zooms through, mid-range is punchy and the engine pulls like the locomotive.

Stability of car at High speed is exceptional, be it pushing through the curves on highway or undulation of the roads ( small bumps at bridges), it hardly unsettles or gets wavy, body roll is minimal to non-existent., level of grip it offers is phenomenal. All 4-disc brakes work well, it comes to stop from 3-digit speed without a fuss. Apply breaks in emergency situation Army of electronic aids comes to support (Electronic Roll mitigation, ESP, Rain brake support), so breaking or maneuvering in an emergency situation should be safer.

when you climb the hill, in D mode DCT shifts up before you would want it to, so putting in M mode is better. climbing down is not a problem DCT holds on to gear till 3000+ rpm before up shifting, so you can make use of engine breaking.

Driving in Manual mode.

Shift the gear lever to Left from D mode to switch to M mode, the forward push will downshift and backward will upshift, I feel other way is better initially few times I pushed back for down-shifts figured out it upshifts with this. Downshifts happen instantaneously in M mode, there is a small delay in upshifting, at low rpm (around or below 1800, depending on the gear and speed), DCT doesn’t allow upshifts to avoid engine lugging, at higher rpms (past 3500) it doesn’t allow the downshifts to avoid possible damage to the gearbox. Floor the gas pedal tachometer climbs till 6.5K rpm and stays there, the engine is free-revving, Engine gets louder and boomy at higher rpms.

[sharan_si]

Originally Posted by ajayc123

Hi Sharan, very comprehensive review. Appreciate your passion and commitment for authoring this.

I have a quick question, you have covered so many nuances related to handling the automatic transmission. Sounds a bit scary.

On the contrary manual transmission appears to be a much simpler thing to handle (just up/down) based on your judgement.

Is it really worth the hassle to go for the AT if you have to keep so many things in view?

What do you think after having experienced both MT only vs this one AT?

After using for more than 6 month, I am used to AT, I don't feel its much of hassle now, Also DCT itself adjust to your driving style. The main reason I went for AT is city traffic is increasing day by day, MT is no more practical for such kind of traffic.

[ajayc123]

Originally Posted by sharan_si

After using for more than 6 month, I am used to AT, I don't feel its much of hassle now, Also DCT itself adjust to your driving style. The main reason I went for AT is city traffic is increasing day by day, MT is no more practical for such kind of traffic.

I have driven AT on many rented cars in the US more than a decade back around 2006 (I don’t remember the technology but one of the cars was Hyundai Sonata). The learning curve was in minutes, and the experience was comfortable and can’t recollect any behaviours described by you. It was just like a toy car. I was wondering if the DCT requires sophisticated handling skills than other AT technologies ?

[car-go]

Originally Posted by ajayc123

I have driven AT on many rented cars in the US more than a decade back around 2006 (I don’t remember the technology but one of the cars was Hyundai Sonata). The learning curve was in minutes, and the experience was comfortable and can’t recollect any behaviours described by you. It was just like a toy car. I was wondering if the DCT requires sophisticated handling skills than other AT technologies ?

Taking the liberty to explain, if that helps. I have similar experience in the US where I have driven AT vehicles, rented mostly, a decade back or so. What happens is, while getting used to left hand driving itself takes effort at first, you get already attuned mentally to driving AT in the car.

Psychologically, it is a bit different in India. What happened to me was, I had been driving MT cars for years here (last one was SX4 MT). Suddenly switching over to AT (now with my Jeep Compass) found myself kicking my left leg a few times to apply the clutch and grabbing the gear knob to change gears! It took sometime to keep your left limbs at idle; that's what I guess Sharan referred to as getting adjusted to AT here.

[sharan_si]

Originally Posted by ajayc123

I have driven AT on many rented cars in the US more than a decade back around 2006 (I don’t remember the technology but one of the cars was Hyundai Sonata). The learning curve was in minutes, and the experience was comfortable and can’t recollect any behaviours described by you. It was just like a toy car. I was wondering if the DCT requires sophisticated handling skills than other AT technologies ?

I myself drove the AT in USA, it was CVT and I didnt have a high expectation from them in terms of performance, so it was fine. I was not talking about the getting used to AT from MT, that doesn't take more than few minutes. I was trying say that Jeep compass DCT is not as fast/smart as VW DSG, initially I had high expectation in terms of performance but over a time I got used to it.

[Floyd de Souza]

The Jeep Compass petrol auto does take a little getting used to. The engine/gearbox combo is the only fly in the ointment in an otherwise lovely car.
It is also probably the reason for the low city mileage. You can get decent mileage figures if you manage the throttle to match the gearing. In a 0-100 sprint, the first 0-60 is slow but gathers pace subsequently to set a decent 0-100 time.
The Compass petrol auto does test your patience.

[ajayc123]

If somebody’s use case is 90% city driving, would Jeep Compass AT (DSG) petrol make sense ?

[Floyd de Souza]

So long as you are not in a tearing hurry most of the time it makes sense. The 10% highway run will probably make you grin from ear to ear.
Do a thorough test drive and decide for yourself.

[car-go]

Originally Posted by Floyd de Souza

Hey car-go, please give us an ownership review

Dear Floyd de Souza, was not able to start a new thread on ownership review of Sport (membership permission issue). Further felt that Sharan's post suffices for all about Jeep Compass Petrol AT, hence all information goes here with variant differences for Sport. Hope this suffices.

Originally Posted by car-go

Got my Sport Petrol DDCT delivered last Saturday! Enjoying the drive, and exactly as Sharan had put the experience as. Till 25-26 kmph, the car is lethargic, after which it bursts out on long stretches. Its like, when starting from a traffic, everyone seems to whizz past and mine is a white elephant, elegant and poised (ha! ha! ha!). After a while, it springs into action, very well mannered and poised on the road.

City and dealership - Kolkata (Celica Automobiles), accessories from Glix.

What I liked - Everything. It was a family decision as well that included my wife and 7 years old daughter. We did not look beyond for any other car. TPMS (tire pressure monitoring system) is a welcome addition.

What could be still there - Fog lamps (they were there in pre-facelift model), rear parcel shelf. Compared to my SX4, I miss the full size spare alloy wheel.

What I did not mind - 8" infotainment screen instead of 10" (in higher models) as to me, the visual difference was not much (personal opinion only), or the 3.5" instrument cluster instead of 7" or up (higher models).

Background
I have driven Maruti 800 STD (my father had one, I got another later - both petrols; it was years that I drove them since 1994, till around 2003. Then I got a Tata Indica DLS (Diesel), which I drove for another 6 years. In between I was in the US where I drove a number of cars that included (US versions, in case these cars came to India) Ford Escort, GMC Envoy, Pontiac Grand AM (all out two-door sports coupe), Toyota Corolla, Honda Accord, a few pickup trucks as well as vans!

Back in India, I got a Maruti SX4 ZXI (2009 petrol), which has been my workhorse for 13 long years! It was a charm driving it, always. Wanted to change the car once maintenance including tires took toll and it was already quite a number of years with it by now (that itch!).

Choosing the vehicle
I was split on choosing either petrol (have loved it for so long, given maintenance issues in my diesel Indica earlier) or diesel (given the grunt as per TBhp reviews), and between manual (so far so long) and automatic (my knees at times show wear and tear). Celica Automobiles is the only dealer in Kolkata. However, they have been super responsive. Vishal Gupta in sales has been a charm.

I initially wanted to get the Sport Petrol MT, however they informed me that Jeep is discontinuing Sport MT (both in petrol and diesel) and Longitude versions. Later while asked why Jeep had retained the models in their online website, they said that it was a marketing tactic to retain the lowest prices (read Sport) and range (read, Longitude) there for sometime to attract customers.

Did test drives for both diesel manual (Limited) and petrol automatic (Model S). The dealership was very responsive; they were at my home within an hour of calling for a test drive. Diesel grunt was there, but that throb was something I still did not like (personal opinion only). Petrol was good except for the initial pickup as has already been covered; but I can live with it for another reason - my wife. She always complains on me driving too fast or in overtaking mode. This petrol was so sedate that my wife loved it. By the time it takes picking up speed, she cannot feel the acceleration inside the cabin.

So we settled for the petrol automatic, and brilliant white color. The color is vastly improved from the pre-facelift white (rather, off white). We had driven cars in blue, red, black, steel/ silver, and this time we wanted white as it also "looked" big.

Dealership experience and delivery
Celica was super responsive as I earlier mentioned. When the car came, they readily accommodated my request for PDI at the workshop, which is also their stockyard. During delivery at the showroom (Park Street, Kolkata), the experience was excellent. Included a cake cutting and usual photo shoot. They gave around 8 lt. of petrol to get started, for which I definitely had to land up at the nearest fuel station. TBhp was all along the way with the reviews, PDI checklists and what not!

The OTR came to Rs. 22.7 lakhs approx. after the April price increase and a small discount due to Mar '22 manufacture. Included ex-showroom, taxes, accessories (only floor mats and mud flaps), insurance (tad higher, but had negotiated; I prefer to get my new car insurance from the dealer to ensure the details are fine, and I get the right servicing in case something happens in the very first year).

The delivery demo was given in detail by the Vishal, with all papers explained meticulously. The paper owner's manual was given, however, found that the online softcopy was much more detailed. He has been a pretty thorough and accommodative guy all along the sales process, with no hurries or hard sales push exhibited.

I got the seat covers, steering cover and dashboard idol from Glix, Salt Lake. It took around 4 hours. The experience at Glix was equally great, and this has been quite recommended by TBhp members. All came at around Rs. 16K.

Driving till now
Having driven some 100+ km, the average mileage shows around 9.5 kmpl. At around 50 km, it was 11 kmpl, and then too much of stop and go traffic reduced the numbers. Only once did I get a 'service transmission' warning; restarting the engine helped (as per owner's manual) to get rid of it. Thereafter, it has not recurred, touch wood.

Now for the photos
Attachment 2306204

Attachment 2306208

Attachment 2306207

Interior with seat covers from Glix
Attachment 2306205

TPMS, as I mentioned earlier, was a great addition
Attachment 2306206

This ownership review is for my Jeep Compass Sport Petrol DDCT that has run ~750km. The first 350km. was 100% in city, and rest 400km is 90% on the highways (we travelled this weekend with the Jeep). This is in continuation to my initial review of getting the car, hence quoting the full initial review. I would mostly be specific to Sport model, and differences vis-a-vis higher models. However, I may iterate certain points from earlier reviews to emphasize such points as completeness to this review.

Pros:
1. The DRLs keep lighted up throughout the time the car is driven. Pardon my ignorance, but was not sure of this as Sport does not come with auto headlamps.
2. Cruise control is a boon for long stretches on the highways; gives a chance to relax the right leg. Nevertheless, resuming cruise control at set speed (by pressing resume button on steering controls after slowing down) is scary; the car picks up speed like anything.
3. Extremely well planted on the road, and no body roll while cornering. This was important for my daughter who has motion sickness.
4. During the long drive (200km going + 200km return), we were 5 adults and 1 kid (my daughter, 7 years old). Heights ranging from 5’3” to 5”8”, and my mother-in-law of 68 years age. Though having compact interiors, the travel was comfortable for all of them; no qualms at all. There were 4 in the rear seats (3 adults + 1 kid). My wife also did not feel any back pain related discomfort (she has chronic back pain though).
5. Speed build up was gradual and slow at low speeds, hence my wife did not “feel” any acceleration. The only reason she got to know of driving speed sitting at the back is due to the warning beep while crossing 80 kmph. No one felt a thing while the car was moving at 90+ kmph.
6. No problem is Ingress or egress for elderly people, specially my mother-in-law.
7. The bonnet well insulates the engine heat. After driving for around 100km we stopped for tea. My daughter jumped up (with a little help from me) and sat on the bonnet; it was absolutely not hot (unlike my earlier SX4).
8. My car is kept in open parking. It withstood three heavy bouts of rain recently, and there was absolutely no seepage inside.
9. The 8.4” MID and 3.5” instrument cluster display were pretty adequate for use, including rear camera view during reversing. Android Auto connectivity has been always seamless with Google Maps running the whole time during the long trip.
10. Very very adequate luggage space; we packed up for the trip, and there was enough space left. At the destination, shopping added more and more, and all went at the back without a sweat.
11. TPMS is a welcome addition which was silently added by Jeep, probably with the increase in prices in April.
12. Entire handling of the car was very sedan-like once you get used to (as I have been primarily driving sedans before), with fantastic all-round view.

Cons:
1. No fog lamps, however could not yet test whether it would really make sense on a dark night with heavy rainfall (yet to experience that).
2. No rear parcel tray/ shelf. I got it from Jeep dealership separately.
3. Manual AC, though adequate, has to be first maxed for effective cooling. Later, the fan can be slowed down to maintain a comfortable temperature.
4. The 12V socket is at the back below AC vent and USB-A socket, was a bit difficult to locate. Hence, if you are planning to use a tire inflator using it, the wire should be long enough to reach the tires.
5. Though gradual speed build up is good for my wife (does not complain anymore of kicking acceleration by me), it really tests your patience as Floyd de Souza has mentioned.
6. Could not yet satisfactorily figure out how to stop ignition and restart it at a long traffic signal with auto start/stop disabled (which I do as this sometimes can be both an annoyance, and takes toll on the engine).

What I do not care about:
1. No sunroof - never felt the need, even when driving such cars in the US; felt so relaxed about it with the soaring temperature outside while driving the car with AC on
2. No auto headlamps and wipers - though they are great technologies, was never much of a fan of sensor based electronics; felt satisfied that DRLs automatically light up during drives
3. 4x4 and features like ADAS - do not feel the need (at least yet; never have used them anyway)
4. Mobile connectivity - though present through JeepLife app in higher models, this can be added as option using a MOPAR modem (retails at Rs. 30K in Jeep dealerships), however imagining cybersecurity threats these days makes me jittery; though I know this feature has worked as a boon for many
5. The manual mode; the car anyway takes too much control and does not let you shift beyond certain RPM thresholds as Sharan has already described

Mileage:
The first 350 km in city gave me 8.9 kmpl. Overall average including the highway drive (total 750 km) gave me 10.6 kmpl. Calculations (as I did not reset the tripmeter for highway trip) shows that I got 12 kmpl on the highway. This to me is fine, and I expect it to go up a bit as it breaks in after a few thousand kms.

Photos:

More than enough luggage space at the back


No fog lamps; has been covered with dummy plastic cladding


Separately bought rear parcel tray from dealership


No fog lamp switch on the dial (unlike higher models)


Manual AC controls


3.5" instrument cluster


Instrument cluster with average mileage for 761 km


Door switches; no power folding ORVM option, rest as they are


@Mods: Please check if everything is in order or I should correct anything or make any changes for posting compliance.

[bangaloreguy]

Thanks for your review . One thing I wanted to highlight is that I do not find the speed buildup gradual and slow at all. It is just not linear. I'm not sure if you were driving it with a light foot as it is still in the break-in period. I have a Petrol AT and have driven it with a heavy foot on the highway and it is really fast. I think it matches the Compass Diesel AT in the 0-100 kmph sprint. Even in the city, if you have a clear stretch ahead of you, there is just a moment of hesitation before it surges ahead. Not perfect but will get the job done.