Disappointed with my Compass Petrol's 4-5 km/L mileage: Keep or sell?

I am writing this with a lot of sadness inside but now I am seriously considering to replace the car.

BHPian Sids85 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I am an avid follower of Team-BHP threads and its various contents. This is my first ever post on this forum. I look forward to some honest suggestions and opinions on my post. I come here to write about a dilemma and the way out.

I live in Thane and my daily commute entail covering approximately 40-50 kms for a round trip from home to office and back. I currently own a Jeep Compass Petrol DCT 80th Anniversary edition (Limited). I just love the car and the feel it gives while driving. It definitely gives the feel of a car one segment above. Everything is top notch; build, interior cabin, even the music system although it is not branded.

Unfortunately, the dark side is that it is a MASSIVE fuel guzzler. Being a Petrol AT, along with the quality of roads and traffic condition we face it just sucks the petrol and my wallet (pun intended) dry. In City, it struggles to give a mileage of 4-5kmpl whereas on highways, it reaches 14-15 and on some very good stretches even touches 18 kmpl. Considering the weight of the car and the engine power, I cannot fault it.

I am writing this with a lot of sadness inside but now I am seriously considering to replace the car. Before a suggestion comes about having a second car for daily commute, I would make it clear that it won't be possible for the family to maintain multiple cars for different commute types. Also At is the preferred choice since both me and my wife drives and we need the ease of automatic. From the family point of view and after considering my commute routes, the drive is split as: Home -> Office -> Home 70%. Long Journeys outside city - 30%.

Based on the above my preference is towards a Diesel car, a breed going extinct, not exceeding 20-25 lakhs price range with good ground clearance. I would like to make it clear I am open to Petrol vehicle as well if someone can prove the real world fuel efficiency to be good. In the meantime, I have shortlisted the following cars in my mind for consideration after test drives.

• VW Virtus GT 1.5 DSG - Spacious and amazingly fun to drive. Wife just drools over it
• Kia Seltos Diesel AT XLine - Comes with all the safety, feature rich, ADAS and almost compliments the Compass for a Like to Like replacement.
• XUV700 AX5 Diesel AT - 5 seater although misses out on many features, even basic ones like Auto dimming IRVMs.
• (A second hand Jeep Compass Diesel S model - Coz I love Jeep

Many would ask why I haven't mentioned the Hyryder/Grand Vitara. I had taken the test drive with my wife for the Hybrid but the quality especially the door (sounds like a click rather than a thump while closing) didn't inspire confidence. Harrier/Safari Diesel are fuel guzzlers themselves. Not sure if the upcoming Creta will get a Diesel AT on launch.

I look forward to getting some good suggestions. Want to make an informed decision and hope that the forum gives the right guidance. Ending with a final pic of my Jeep

Here's what GTO had to say on the matter:

Let's get one thing out of the way. With very few exceptions, no powerful AT will ever give above 6 - 7 kmpl in a crowded city. They are all guzzlers. The Civic AT & i10 AT were notorious for just 6 - 7 kmpl. My Thar Petrol AT gives 6 kmpl. If the traffic is really bad, it can even drop to 5.

Now, clearly, you love everything else about your Compass:

Why sell a car you love to save 2000 - 3000 rupees a month?

How about getting a cheap EV like the Tiago EV for this? Dirt cheap running costs, butter-smooth driving experience and small size might make it perfect for the city. Take the max warranty and you don't have to worry about maintenance.

Option 2: Do a lateral upgrade. Sell used, buy used, so you don't lose money. Swap your Petrol AT out for a Diesel AT (although you'll find many more of the Diesel MT in the market). As an added bonus, the Compass' diesel engine is the superior IMHO.

Here's what BHPian antz.bin had to say on the matter:

If the monthly running for your commute is roughly 1000km (45km*22 days office a month, fuel at 105/litre), that is 20-22k in just fuel on the Compass. So it's definitely not just 2-3k its really more than even the 9-10k you mentioned.

With a Tiago EV XT LR, the EMI would be about 16k (including the current discounts) and <1000 for electricity. Even less if you go for the Tiago MR or MG Comet. You will come out ahead by about 6-10k with the additional car and still keep your Jeep for highway use.

The other option was the like for like replacement with Seltos Diesel Automatic. 1000km on that will cost about 7k in fuel for the commute. But those don't come cheap either. The EMI itself will be roughly 37k and you eventually come out just 6k ahead on monthly payments in the best-case scenario on a car that is a segment down and inferior in terms of safety factor as well.

The final option is to go all Electric and opt for a ZS EV instead. What you spend extra over the Seltos in this case, you will get back in fuel savings. Highway usage will be rewarding as well, and the car has some discounts ongoing to make the deal sweeter.

Here's what BHPian Shreyans_Jain had to say on the matter:

Keep the Jeep for highway usage. It is unmatched on open roads, and every other car feels like a downgrade once you are used to Compass.

For your local commute, but a cheap EV like Tiago or Comet. Else, buy a cheap CNG hatchback like Tiago or WagonR or Baleno and use it as your daily beater.

Here's what BHPian svsantosh had to say on the matter:

So multiple cars ruled out in the family....

I can clearly see a wrong choice made while the Jeep Compass petrol AT was bought without looking at the cost of ownership and the practicality of a highway bred SUV doing 70% city duties. You are not alone, deciding on a car is akin to choosing your life partner, at least in Tbhp Parlance. We have threads and prospects discussing 'what car' for over 3-5 months before choosing one.

Your options are limited with various pros and cons.

1) CNG - I would not convert a Compass AT to CNG, but you can save a LOT!! Trust me - upto 50% running cost can be saved, but resale value will tank to near 0%

2) Sell to a well known used car dealer and pickup a Petrol AT with a pre-fit CNG, consider it a lifestyle downgrade but directly addresses your monthly bills concern.

3) Do (2) but go for a Diesel AT - catch here is only expensive marques came in diesel AT and you end up deeper into the rat hole. You will shell out more on repairs on the german AT issues (VW, Skoda, pain!)

4) Bite the bullet and downsize to a Hyundai MUVs or a Maruti AT which is known to be a wee bit cheaper than a full blown Petrol AT SUV.

I would suggest you work backwards from you 'upper limit' monthly or yearly car ownership costs (fuel/maintenance/insurance/repairs) and share it and we all can work towards suggesting a choice of car(s).

Here's what BHPian vattyboy had to say on the matter:

I am a Jeep Compass Diesel owner.

My car is 5 years old and now it is asking Mercedes kind of money for its maintenance and the resale value of it is very poor in single digits.

Apart from good stability at high speed, the car is overall very unreliable at 80k km injectors failed, the vacuum pump failed, the alternator failed, and mounts failed in 5th year of ownership. And you know how good we bhpians keep our cars, so there are no signs of abuse on it but the car failed to be reliable.

Jeep parts are ridiculously expensive 80k injectors, 90k alternators, 12k vacuum pump, 80k clutch etc.

And you are selling your car for mileage, so don't expect very good mileage from 25 lakh diesel SUVs with 2.0L engines. They will give 9 to 10 kmpl in city conditions and not more than that, so your criteria will not be fulfilled.

Only Kia Seltos Diesel AT has the guts to give 14 kmpl in the city and 20 on the highway. I will recommend selling the compass as it's unreliable and getting Seltos Diesel.

Seltos due to stiff suspension can only match the 85% dynamics of the compass below 30 lacs.

Read BHPian comments for more insights and information.