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Test drove the Jeep Compass 4x4 D AT: What I liked & what I didn't

26th May 2023, 08:23 by Dev Shah

The FCA 2.0L diesel does like to rev and it is very smooth. Power delivery is linear after the turbo kick. I can never get tired of diesels.

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While I flail about on OLX for Fortuners and 9anime for Isekai all day waiting for the Scorpio, I decided to have a look at the Jeep "Chompy" Compass:

What I liked:

Handling and Dynamics: This is one of the best handling crossovers this side of 40L. Enough has been said about it and it is all true. Now, if it were only rear-biased.
The FCA 2.0L diesel does like to rev and it is very smooth. Power delivery is linear after the turbo kick. I can never get tired of diesels.
The gearbox is less dog-poop than the pre-facelift Chompy. I can live with it but it will remain at the back of my head.
The materials, buttons, switchgear, door handles, everything is build absolutely solid. Controls have this nice heft to them. Only weak links are the wiper and indicator stalks.
U-Connect is nice and took 5-10 seconds to pair up to my iPhone. Similar timeframe for the OnePlus. Works flawless, nothing to complain about.
Suspension is very good at dealing with bad roads. Sharp potholes felt really soft and fluffy. It was gliding like driving on Korone or Luna's cheeks.
Yes, this is way better, even than Scorpio-N and Endeavour (not that they are anywhere even close to bad to begin with - I am one of those people who find Fortuner's suspension livable).
I will never stop praising a 360 camera system, even if it is poorly implemented (Alturas G4). This is a good one.
Both front seats are powered. Who does that in this segment?
I like the sunroof. It is big and the controls are nice. What is also nice is the button-operated rear hatch.
4WD Lock, 4 Low, Hill Descent Control, Auto-Hold, Auto-Irritate-Me, EPB, this thing is loaded.
Nice and soft seats. Very comfortable overall.
Really good A/C for a european vehicle. Especially the ventilated seats. At par with 320d/Fortuner/Swift. Slightly better than Scorpio-N (it is good) and in another dimension compared to Vento/Superb.
Audio system gets the job done. Very audiophile tuning (lacks bass).
Makes RR Evoque look like a trashcan at this price point. (Urbanmech joke?)
I like the way the digital instrument cluster looks and feels.
Sales guy mentioned that customers have upsized to 235/55R18 without issue
Vehicle is a looker and turns heads easily. The green looks lovely, both on screen and in person.
Build quality, fit and finish is really good. I daresay phenomenal and way better than my 2010 Superb.
It turned off when I opened the driver door in P.

What I didn't:

The gearbox. I said it is less dog-poop but that is still dog-poop to some degree. At a certain point I needed the full output of the engine. Put my foot down all the way.
It took 2 seconds. IT TOOK TWO SECONDS! Yeah, I can live with it but compared to this, Scorpio-N and Fortuner torque converters feel like an F1 sequential transmission.
No physical controls for ventilated seats. It's right there on the screen but I would just rather avoid using the screen other than for 360, navigation and music.
Cannot see the bonnet despite cranking seat height to the max.
Brakes are bad. Better than Vento but bad. Not very confidence inspiring. Scorpio/Fortuner/Crysta stopped and slowed exactly how I wanted.
A semi dog-poop gearbox like this could be redeemed with paddle shifters but no.
Does the subwoofer even work?
Overpriced by a couple of lakhs but it is totally worth it. Hardly any cars that are not overpriced these days.
Ground clearance is way too low for such a nice off-roader.

While not totally vetoed-out, it remains on the list alongside the Scorpio-N and used Fortuner

Here are some more pictures:

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