Jeep is a legendary American car brand that has recently lost its former glory. If Jeep is still popular in the US market, Americans love local manufacturers, then in Europe, including Russia, its positions are rather weak. For example, the Jeep Compass model, which will be discussed today, in 2019 sold an average of 30 vehicles per month, which gives us a combined amount of about 360 vehicles per year. In 2020 (before the pandemic) sales grew slightly, it is known for sure that in March of this year the company managed to sell 37 cars of this model. Just for comparison, a direct competitor to the Jeep Compass and the sales leader in its segment in Russia, the Volkswagen Tiguan crossover, according to Avtostat, was sold in 2019 in the amount of 37 vehicles. What is the reason for such sales of Jeep in Russia is difficult to say. Maybe not a very developed dealer network, maybe weak brand promotion, or maybe strange pricing, but the fact remains, while market leaders sell their models in the tens of thousands, Jeep is content with selling its cars only in hundreds of units a year.
The new Jeep Compass model has been produced since 2016, it replaced its predecessor, which entered the market back in 2007. This year in Europe, sales in Russia are still unknown, and there will also be a modification of the Jeep Compass 4xe with a plug-in hybrid. The car will be equipped with a battery with a capacity of 11,4 kWh and, in combination with a 60-horsepower electric motor, will provide a range of up to 50 km in all-electric mode. With the release of hybrid models, and this will be not only Compass 4xe, but also Renegade 4xe, the company wants to improve its sales in the European market, where the demand for electric vehicles and such combined solutions in the form of plug-in hybrids is growing. We still have electric cars and hybrids – this is the prerogative of the premium segment, which is not available to everyone, but with the development of infrastructure, you see, we will be supplied with more mass models like the Compass 4xe.
Compass 4xe
The design of the new Jeep Compass, of course, became much more interesting than its predecessor, which, in my opinion, was a very peculiar car with strange body proportions. The current Compass looks interesting, a kind of Grand Cherokee in miniature, which does not spoil the overall impression of the model, but, on the contrary, makes it more attractive in the eyes of buyers. Yes, by reducing the dimensions, the designers have violated the proportions of the body, and from the side it loses its attractiveness a little, but there are no questions in front and behind, very nice. The only thing is that, probably, a dark color is more suitable for “Compass”. White, of course, visually increases the size of the car, but protrudes imperfections in proportions.
I liked the interior design, although I would not call it modern and relevant in 2020. And also, despite the fact that the new Jeep Compass was developed in conjunction with Fiat, American roots are clearly visible in it, when the main thing is that visually everything looks expensive and rich, but you tactilely understand that you have saved on materials. Take the same door panels, plastic that is pleasant to the eye is used here, even soft to the touch, but if you knock on it a little, and you immediately realize that the material is very thin, the manufacturer has saved a little. And the leather upholstery of the seats – again, visually there are no questions to it, but to the touch it is rough, I would like the material to be softer. And the classic is that there are a lot of impractical black glossy inserts in the cabin, which are made to make everything look more attractive, however, many are now guilty of this. But in general, for its price category, the Jeep interior is not bad, and the competitors can also find flaws in both quality and performance.
I sit behind the wheel of a Jeep Compass with sufficient comfort, the front seats are electrically adjustable, and the driver’s seat also has a position memory. The very little thing is missing the steering wheel adjustment for the departure, but having slightly changed the landing, you no longer notice this. The seats are comfortable, with a good profile and developed lateral support, you don’t get tired in them even on a long trip, so you can give the Compass a five for this parameter. For comfort in winter, there are three-level seat heating and a heated steering wheel, and in the heat, two-level ventilation will save, however, the latter works too actively at maximum. The only thing that spoils the impression of using these options is that they can be controlled only on the screen. The heating and ventilation settings are located in the “Climate” section as a separate plate and in the “Controls” section (can you feel the level of localization?), And are also scattered separately in the “Applications” menu. Honestly, it is not the most convenient control option, especially on the go, and it requires at least one extra press, which is also not very convenient.
By myself, with a height of 187 cm, I sit down without problems, there is a margin for the front seat, and there is also a place below to place my legs. I don’t rest my head on the roof, and this is despite the presence of a panoramic roof, which always eats up useful space. By the way, the panoramic roof is gorgeous, with it there is a lot of light in the cabin, and the curtain opens automatically halfway, so if a child is sleeping in the back, you will not even bother him, but when he is not sleeping, he will ask you to open the curtain completely to see On sky. To install a child seat, Isofix mounts are located along the edges of the rear sofa, they are hidden between the pillows, so access to them is not the most convenient. Two chairs will stand in the back without problems, but no one will sit between them.
In addition to the full four seats (three adults will still be cramped in the back), the Jeep Compass has a medium-sized trunk of 368 liters. Its volume can be increased by folding the backrests of the rear sofa from the passenger compartment, which when folded form an almost perfectly flat floor, and the useful volume increases to 1639 liters. The luggage compartment door is electrically operated, it seemed to me that the mechanism works more slowly than usual, and the closing button is not on the door itself, but inside the trunk on the left side – unusual, but convenient. Yes, the trunk release button is also not in its usual place, it is located below the number, and out of habit everyone pokes into the rear-view camera, trying to find the button above the number plate.
Uconnect 8.4 NAV head unit with 8.4 ”IPS square touchscreen display. The screen is average in quality, with good responsiveness, but a low resolution, and in direct sunlight it almost completely fades. The menu of its own OS Uconnect is overloaded, with many small elements and very mediocre localized, and this applies not only to signatures, but also to the keyboard with Cyrillic characters divided into two screens. From a pleasant note, I will note the ability to control gestures, like on a smartphone, so to switch to another screen you do not need to aim at small elements, as well as to scale the image. There are also about 20 themes for customization lovers, but they do not differ much from each other, and two or three options would be enough.
The manufacturer removed all climate settings inside the head unit, but at least some adjustments are duplicated by physical buttons and knobs. Adjusting the temperature from the screen on the go is still a torment, you want to add by a degree (adjustment step of 0.5 degrees), and the slider flies to the very top, if you want to decrease it, it runs down. So here the usual buttons on the block below the display come to the rescue.
The built-in navigation does not shine with detail and quality of drawing, as well as the relevance of maps, so you should use it unless you go somewhere away from the city. Plus, there is only one built-in navigation, it is integrated into the car system, and the tips from it are displayed on the dashboard display. In the city, Google maps with the ability to display traffic jams, which are in Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, are quite suitable, and the Compass head unit supports both systems. But turning on the same Apple CarPlay in Jeep is another quest. You connect the smartphone with a cable, but the system does not react in any way, go to the connection settings, find your smartphone and see that there is a checkmark next to “Apple CarPlay”, press the “Connect” icon, but nothing happens. I struggled with the Uconnect system for several days to activate support for the smartphone, but it turned out that I had to go to the “Display Control” section and put a checkmark in front of the “Screen mirroring” item. Who would have thought, after all, all manufacturers call the function Miracast a mirroring of the screen.
Connecting smartphones via Bluetooth does not happen on the first try, but when you have already connected to the system, everything works without any questions. Only one device can be connected at a time. The speakerphone works flawlessly, the interlocutor always hears you well. Call control, unfortunately, is only available from the main screen, but you can create your own separate list of favorite contacts right in the car system.
Two USB ports are available for connecting devices, one in the front and one in the rear of the car, each can be used as a music source. Modern devices are charged slowly from the on-board network, so if you want to speed up charging, you will have to use additional accessories. There is also a standard 12-volt car outlet in front, while a regular American 230-volt outlet is available for the rear passengers.
The dashboard with an analogue speedometer and tachometer, the markings are too small, and the data from them are not very readable, but the speedometer readings can be displayed digitally on a large 7 “color display, which is located between the instruments. The screen, in fact, is separated from the media system, except for navigation tips, more data from the head unit cannot be displayed on it, call lists or playlists of the player are not available in it. Here you can view information from the on-board computer, check tire pressure, see tips from the driver’s assistant and other data directly related to the car. During parking, the screen displays graphic tips from the parking sensors, they are separated from the data from the rear view camera, the picture from which is displayed on the main display, which is not very convenient.
The set of assistants in the Limited vehicle, as we have on the test, is average. For example, there is a lane tracking system, which itself gently and correctly returns the car to the lane if it starts to cross a solid one. There is a collision warning system, which at first by sound and visually (a huge inscription “BRAKE!” On the dashboard screen) warns you, and if you do not react, it will stop the car itself. There should have been adaptive cruise control, but in our “Compass” it did not work, normal yes, and the adaptive did not show signs of life. There are also rear parking sensors with good sound and inconvenient visual alerts, and in addition to them – a rear-view camera, but its quality is lame, the picture is muddy and does not give a complete picture even during the day.
In Russia, the Jeep Compass is presented with only one 2.4-liter petrol engine with a capacity of 150 hp. in conjunction with a nine-speed automatic transmission and all-wheel drive. Such a car drives confidently, and only when on the track you need to overtake, the box on the kickdown begins to think, you will have time to count to three, while it goes through all its gears down to the desired one. In other cases, the machine behaves adequately, works smoothly, without jerking. The steering is slightly wadded, there is not enough sharpness of reaction, but the rolls in the corners are small. The compass baby’s appetite is quite adult, which is typical for American cars, the city claims a consumption of 13.8 liters per 100 km, in mixed mode – 9.6, and on the highway – 7.2 liters. In mixed mode, I got about 11.5 liters per 100 km, and on the highway – in the region of 9 liters, to be honest, a lot, especially considering that the American needs to be fed the 95th.
In terms of comfort, I generally liked the car, the cabin is quite quiet, only small aerodynamic noises appear on the highway. The suspension works well for large irregularities and only small potholes can be missed, and they are felt in the cabin. The Jeep Compass has good cross-country ability, although 208mm ground clearance at its highest point is not that much. On a country road, one that looks like after a bombing, the kid walked playfully, and in the cabin the passengers only slightly swayed.
Prices for Jeep Compass in Russia start at 2 rubles, the Limited version, as on the test, starts at 199 rubles, and add a metallic color to it, and the price will go over 000 million rubles.
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