This transition is not particularly finessed, and because the petrol engine is quite laggy, there’s still not very much grunt, so you find yourself prodding the accelerator pedal even harder. This spurs the gearbox into a rather sudden downchange, bringing the turbo on song and firing you forward perhaps more urgently than intended. 

The way the Compass rides bumps contributes to its rather gawky on-the-road feel. None of the SUVs that sit on this Fiat-Chrysler “Small Wide” platform rides particularly well, but the Compass feels particularly wooden, stumbling rigidly over lumps in the road and thumping its wheels into potholes. 

You might think this tendency would iron out at speed, and it does – but the 4xe still feels unyielding even on the motorway, pitching and swaying over undulations, which leaves it feeling unsettled and not particularly relaxing.

Much better

If you’re expecting this to mean a fairly uninspiring driving experience once you get it onto a smaller, snakier road, you’re partially right. But it isn’t actually all that bad.

This is chiefly because once you switch it from ‘Auto’ to ‘Sport’ mode, the two powertrains work in parallel, rather than in series. That means the petrol engine works with the electric motors, rather than cutting in as a back-up once the motors can do no more.

Now, suddenly, the powertrain feels very well judged. At low revs, the Compass bounds forward, the electric motors filling in the gap in torque left by the petrol engine’s turbo lag, and as the motors wind down, the engine’s turbo is just coming on song, giving you lots of lovely urge at the top end of the rev range, too. Why can’t it be this way in ‘Auto’ mode?

It’s even quite entertaining to drive, the body countering lean pretty well, the front end diving into corners eagerly and the motors on the rear axle working independently of one another to supply drive to whichever wheel has the most grip, mimicking the effect of a limited-slip differential.

Underneath, you can sense the hand of Italian chassis engineers, too, although their best efforts are drowned out by the numb steering, as well as the stiff suspension’s habit of knocking the car off line all too easily, as a result of which you find yourself having to adjust your line just a little too much mid-corner.

Pricey pick

Is any of this enough to make the Compass a car you’d want to buy? Not really. Especially when you factor in its price; this S version is admittedly the top-spec model, but it’ll set you back almost £41,000. And you can add another £1,100 to that if you want them to paint the bodywork in any colour other than black, which feels like a bit of a rip-off. 

With paint factored in, an equivalent Kia Sportage PHEV will set you back only £400 more; it’s a better car, and has a seven-year warranty for good measure, so it’s well worth it. And a Vauxhall Grandland Hybrid-E in top-spec Ultimate form costs more than £2,000 less. 

This, of course, affects company car user-choosers, too, for whom the high P11D value will be a turn-off. And combined with relatively unimpressive CO2 emissions – for a PHEV, that is – of 44g/km, that’ll make this an expensive company car to pick. In real terms, what that means for someone paying the higher rate of income tax is that the Jeep will cost almost £500 more a year in company car tax than the Vauxhall – and almost £1,000 more than the Kia. 

The Telegraph verdict

Even when it’s at best, then, the Compass 4xe is merely average – but at its worst, it feels cheap, tacky, and poorly finished. It’s OK to hustle along a back road, but never more than that – and everywhere else it feels ponderous and dim-witted. 

You might be able to forgive this if it was priced accordingly, but it isn’t. And that’s the case even if you’re choosing one as a company car, which really is the final nail in its coffin. 

With that in mind, it’s very hard to recommend this car over and above its much more accomplished rivals. This particular Compass, sadly, is not one that will help Jeep change direction. 

Telegraph rating: Two stars out of five

The facts

• On test: Jeep Compass 4xe S
• Body style: five-door SUV
• On sale: now
• How much? £40,895 on the road (range from £30,705)
• How fast? 124mph, 0-62mph in 7.3sec
• How economical? 149mpg (WLTP Combined)
• Engine & gearbox: 1,322cc four-cylinder petrol turbo, six-speed automatic gearbox, four-wheel drive
• Electric powertrain: two AC motors with one 11.4kWh battery, 7.2kW on-board charger, Type 2 charging socket
• Electric range: 30 miles (WLTP combined EAER)
• Maximum power/torque: 236bhp/N/A lb ft
• CO2 emissions: 44g/km (WLTP combined)
• VED: £0 first year, £510 next five years, then £155
• Warranty: 3 years / unlimited miles
• Spare wheel as standard: No (optional extra)

The rivals

Vauxhall Grandland 1.6 Plug-in Hybrid-E 225 Ultimate

222bhp, 192mpg, £38,125 on the road