Upon opening my laptop on Monday morning I saw R. Henry’s excellent review of his rental Jeep Compass Trailhawk. When I first saw the headline I thought “Oh no, there goes my post idea!”, but then as I read it I started to wonder if we had really rented the same vehicle, as my recent experience had turned out to be quite different.
As with many things, both points can be true. We had in fact rented the same “basic” vehicle, but they were very different versions from each other and as a result (notwithstanding the inherent subjectivity of different people) our results differed.
My trip to the Dallas/Fort Worth area last weekend was undertaken with my 9-year-old airplane fanatic son with the simple goal of spending a few days in an area that is rife with airplane and helicopter manufacturing and the history thereof, containing several excellent museums on the subject.
As a bonus, my son’s favorite airline is Southwest and he wanted to A) fly into Love Field which is their home airport and B) see their HQ building. Decked out in his Southwest T-shirt, he worked his magic and chatted up the staff for our flight pre-boarding and was invited to the cockpit for a visit as we walked down the jetway where he proceeded to ask the pilots if they were aware they were on a Boeing 737-700 etc. Once we eventually chose seats and sat down, he was (morbidly) excited to all of a sudden come to the realization that he had unwittingly chosen seat 14A, the seat that was the scene of Southwest’s only in-flight fatality several months ago (Yes, he knows this stuff). I decided to tighten our belts a little more than normal and looked in my bag for my free drink coupons.
I had booked our car rental through Costco (who knew?) and reserved a “Standard 2/4dr, ex. Kia Soul” for the (excellent in my opinion) all-in price of $89 for four days from Alamo. Upon presenting ourselves at the rental counter early in the morning after our late-night flight we were shown a selection of vehicles in a row marked “Executive” and told to pick what we wanted and then just drive out through the gate. This is by far my favored rental scenario (picking your own) as opposed to just the usual random rental car lottery result.
Our choices consisted of a Hyundai Elantra, two Hyundai Tucsons, three old-style but new Dodge Caravans, a Nissan Rogue in absolute base trim, another Nissan Rogue in absolutely loaded trim (gee, which to pick of those two?), a base level Nissan Murano, a Jeep Wrangler Sport 4-door (JKU) and then our eventual selection, this Jeep Compass. It took us about an hour to decide, I let Riley sit in every vehicle and he ended up making this decision. Notice that only one of the vehicle choices was a sedan.
First impressions were favorable. Although decked out in typically boring Billet Silver paint it had a contrasting black roof, and appeared fairly loaded as well as only having 5260 miles on it. Leather seats, a large touchscreen, and well-inflated Continental tires gave a good welcome. Opening up the luggage area for our bags presented the first surprise relative to RH’s review, as this one had a power liftgate which is a $595 option on this model.
The Limited trim model is the second highest in the line-up (just below the Trailhawk) but seems to be on sort of a lateral mission compared to that one, focused more on a luxury dynamic. Base price for the Limited trim is $27,890, which is $1,100 less than the Trailhawk but only equipped with FWD at that price as compared to the Trailhawk’s standard AWD. If one were to add the AWD and nothing else, it would result in a higher price than the Trailhawk by several hundred dollars.
Looking at the “Build and Price” tool on the Jeep website, our rental includes the following options: The Safety and Security Group (Blind Spot Assist, Rear Park Assist, Automatic Wipers) for $745, Navigation System for $845 which includes/incorporates the UConnect4 8.4″ central touchscreen system and 18″ Wheels with 225/55-18 Tires (no charge).
Additionally, the aforementioned Power Liftgate for $595, black leather seats with perforated leather inserts (no charge), and our paint combination (also at no charge), makes for a grand total of $30,425 before destination etc. This initially seemed like a lot of money to me but does include a lot of content. It appears roughly in line with similarly equipped competitors. Note that it is still FWD at that price.
Someone commented on RH’s review that they would prefer the Cherokee due to its size over this, however I realized that with the Compass, the Cherokee, and the Renegade, Jeep really has three small vehicles that very much overlap in different areas. Height, width, and interior room dimensions seem to vary in different ways between the three models so that the actual seating position and your view out can easily give the perceived “smaller” model an advantage.
It’s not as easy as saying the Renegade is smaller than the Compass which is smaller than the Cherokee. The Compass is the second rung up Jeep’s ladder above the Renegade but did not seem significantly (if at all) smaller than a Cherokee. Or perhaps the Cherokee feels smaller to me that I thought it would. Either way, I wouldn’t just pick a Jeep based on its position in the lineup, I’d look at all of them due to the overlap.
All Compasses are powered by the same 2.4l “Multi-Air” 4-cylinder engine producing 180hp@6400rpm and 175lb-ft of torque at 3900rpm but the transmission differs depending on AWD vs FWD models. I found the 6-speed automatic unit built by Aisin in my FWD variant to be excellent. It was unobtrusive, shifted smoothly when it made sense to and was notable more for its ability to not be noticed rather than anything else. Exactly what you want.
Clearly the 9-speed in the AWD version still has issues (Or it’s a “learning” type of transmission that has to re-learn with every renter, who knows), but the 6-speed had no such foibles. Here in Colorado I don’t think we would see many FWD examples of the Compass but in the Dallas area I don’t see why you’d really ever need or want AWD and the added expense of it. Additionally, playing around in the Jeep “Build and Price” website shows that you can even get a Compass with a manual transmission but only on certain trim levels which I was not aware of previously.
I didn’t drive as far as RH did, instead only adding a little over 200 miles to the odometer reading over our four days. However, we did incorporate a lot of city driving and a fair amount of higher speed Freeway/Expressway driving in that time.
My biggest issue with the car (by far) was the driver’s seat. Initially comfortable enough, after a few miles I found that the headrest was causing me discomfort. At the next stop I made sure it was extended all the way up (limited to at most a couple of inches of travel) but soon realized that the problem was more with the seatback itself being very short with the result being the headrest literally starting at and digging into my upper shoulder area.
This seemed odd but no adjustment (tilting the headrest forward or back, raising it, lowering it, adjusting the seat itself) solved it. I’m almost 6’2″ with a 32″ inseam for reference and weigh around 220lbs. The rest of the seat was great for me, just not the very upper back/headrest area. Someone of different stature may well have a very different experience, especially if shorter in the torso.
Visibility wasn’t as good as it could be either. The car has various thick pillars and the Blind Spot Warning System did its job more than once for me. Navigating a strange town always has its dangers and the DFW area is currently experiencing a lot of road construction and differences relative to the navigation system’s maps, necessitating several heroic dives across lanes to reach the desired ramp etc., causing quick glances over the shoulder to be frustrating when the path of vision is then less than clear.
Handling was very good, I recall remarking to myself that the cornering abilities of this were excellent for a vehicle of its nature and really more like a much lower and sportier hatchback. It didn’t wallow very much, took a good set and was frankly fun to drive. The suspension was well buttoned down, not wallowy, and damped road imperfections well.
Power was more than adequate at Dallas’ elevation (430 feet). No, the engine is not constantly going to light the tires up but it accelerated to the flow of traffic on freeway on-ramps without issue, and didn’t require an abnormally heavy foot in general driving either. As I said before, this transmission worked well in this case, and the engine had easily enough power to be at least class competitive. Note that it was just myself and a 9-year-old and carry-on luggage at most in the car. With four adults and more luggage, that extra weight may have been more of an issue.
As RH stated, the back seat was plenty roomy. By the end of our trip, my son had staked out the center position so he could see better out the front but I tried sitting “behind myself” and had no issues. It’s no Suburban, but it’s perfectly manageable for the size that it is. Our car did not have a sunroof so no headroom issues front or back.
The power liftgate seems to have the same issue that I disliked on the one in the Grand Cherokee, that being that its “close” button is inside the cargo area instead of on the tailgate itself. In our case it wasn’t a huge issue since we didn’t have much luggage but if the cargo area was stuffed it could have been. In the picture above the button is on the left side about halfway up.
However you still have to reach in and then duck out of the way of the tailgate as opposed to if it was on the tailgate itself. Thinking about it now I realize I probably could have used the keyfob instead which includes that button (as well as lock/unlock and remote start), however that didn’t occur to me at the time.
The air-conditioning worked very well in our up-to-100 degree weekend and was used heavily. All controls fell readily to hand and as usual, the large UConnect touchscreen is my favorite of the genre. I did not use the voice command feature but did select various destinations on the navigation screen manually with success, it was easy to use. The system has enough redundant knobs for commonly accessed features (fan speed, temp controls etc.) making it a very usable device.
The navigation system did have one weird foible that I experienced – see the picture above indicating a turn at NE 28th St. It decided that should be pronounced/instructed as “Turn left at Nebraska 28 Tee Aitch Street” instead of “Turn left at NorthEast 28th Street”. (To non-North American readers “NE” is the abbreviation the State of Nebraska). It took me a few second to figure out what was going on and then I took the picture while waiting for the light to change.
I didn’t notice issues with the plastics in the cabin, but then again I am currently used to the interior of a Wrangler…But really, the Compass lineup starts at around $21,000, the bits that aren’t commonly caressed aren’t going to be swathed in alcantara or something. I only had the rental for four days so a longer test period may cause certain areas of cost-cutting to become more evident, however the overall impression of my “Limited” trim cabin was very favorable. For those who care, there are many soft-touch areas in the cabin with most of the dash and much of the door trims being “soft”.
RH’s review did take issue with the storage cubby in front of the gearshift in his car. As my rental was FWD it had a larger cubby due to not needing space for the Terrain Management Menu knob. My iPhone 8Plus as well as the keyfob bundle both fit in there together without issue (laid sideways). At other times I also used the cupholder for those items, I didn’t even realize the cubby could be an issue until I read his review.
Assuming the fuel tank was full when we received it (who really knows) we filled it up before returning it and calculated that we had gotten around 23mpg. For driving around town, being stuck in a few traffic jams, and hitting speeds of 75mpg on the freeway along with some full-throttle acceleration runs, this seemed acceptable. As with RH, we found the stop/start system annoying but just ended up pushing the little button aft of the gearshift to defeat it (every time we started the car).
I am fairly sure I came across the menu item to defeat it for good in the UConnect menu while I was looking for a particular setting for the navigation system but didn’t end up going back to it in there (and could be wrong as it wasn’t my focus at the time). The start/stop wasn’t the smoothest system and reduced the A/C output when stopped which wasn’t desirable in the heat of our days there.
All in all however, I came away quite impressed with this Compass. I found it quick, nimble, and well built. I have actually driven a Trailhawk model briefly (and only off-road) at a media event when it was introduced and while my time with it was extremely short I had a worse impression of the Compass then based on that than I do now based on this rental.
Going into this rental I had an eye open for it possibly being a decent vehicle for my teenage daughter to drive and since she is shorter than me the seat may not be an issue for her. Based on that criteria my rental made me think very highly of the Compass, for myself to drive it and be happy with it long-term something would have to change with the seat. On average however, I think it was/is a good vehicle and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to others to at least explore further.
I certainly don’t take issue with any of R. Henry’s findings in his review, while on the surface we had the “same” car, in actuality they were quite different (trim level, transmission, options, features, weight) and as such we had different perceptions. What I realized is that even if there is a vehicle I may not enjoy for whatever reason, a different version of that same vehicle may end up providing a different experience depending on what exactly the issues were.
Did you drive as far as Dyess AFB near Abilene, Texas to see the wonderful outdoor display of all types of USAF planes?
Nope, not this trip unfortunately. We went to the Cavanaugh Flight Museum (background of first pic), then to the Fort Worth Aviation Museum (relatively small but really good, lots of hands-on including letting us walk around, touch everything, and sit in the seats of a Jolly Green Giant helicopter with wonderful docents that were great with Riley), and then the Frontiers of Flight Museum which along with tons of other great displays also has very large histories of both Braniff as well as Southwest, both of which have/had their home base at Love Field where this museum is.
There is another museum that has a lot to do with American Airlines but it was closed for refurbishing and was having its re-opening the day after we were to leave. Next time…
“Turn left at Nebraska 28 Tee Aitch Street”
I wonder if Chrysler farmed the voice thing out to Garmin, because that is the sort of nonsense my Garmin babbles (Rd comes out “round” and CH for County Highway comes out “church”).
As I recall people reported the Dart with the 6 speed automatic was more cooperative than the 9 speed as well. Sticks in my mind the Dart’s 6 speed was sourced from Hyundai, while the current Compass 6 speed is a Japanese built Aisin. Can’t help but wonder what the problem is with the FCA 9 speed as it has been drawing the same complaints since it first came out.
The importance of the Compass to FCA can’t be dismissed. With the European Fiat line being cut down to the 500 family (the Punto was dropped a couple weeks ago and the Tipo will reportedly be withdrawn from Europe) the Compass is likely to end up being the “large family car” in their European lineup.
About that Chrysler 9 speed automatic, I recall complaints about the operation of the Chrysler-built 6 speed that was in the minivans a few years ago. Based on my short rental experience with it, it was often indecisive about which gear it wanted to be in and could be fairly obtrusive when it finally decided. It was night and day from the silky 6-speed unit in my Kia.
I wonder if the problem with the 9 speed is that Chrysler has just done a poor job on transmission logic and/or controls.
I wonder if the problem with the 9 speed is that Chrysler has just done a poor job on transmission logic and/or controls.
iirc the 9 speed is a ZF. Given the difference in character between the 6 speeds in the Dart and Compass and the 9 speed used in the same cars, my suspicion is FCA simply outsources transmission programming to the trans vendor, and the person responsible for programming the ZF can’t, or chooses not to, get the thing dialed in.
JP, I too rented a Chrysler minivan a few years ago, the 6-speed in the Compass was NOTHING like that minivan one. In the Compass it was how you’d hope and expect a transmission to work the whole time. The mInivan, well, you had the same experience I did.
Ditto. The transmission in the Routan (behind the Pentastar 3.6) simply ruins the driving experience of what would actually be quite enjoyable for a minivan.
The 6AT in my ’15 RAM (5.7 gas) has the same horrid shift logic, but at least I can put it in tow mode, where it behaves more like an old 4AT.
I have read complaints about the ZF 9 speed which is also used in Range Rover and some Acura’s. It shifts abruptly, never seems to be in the correct gear and is reluctant to downshift until excessive throttle is used. I’m guessing with FCA it to achieve decent fuel economy from excessively heavy vehicles with large non-turbo engines.
Interesting that this nav expands NE to Nebraska (incorrectly). I wonder what it does with a Nebraska state highway, presumably designated “NE xxx”. My Toyota nav spells out the highway abbreviations, at least locally, so California 1, universally known as Highway 1 here (NOT “The 1” or “The PCH” anywhere north of Malibu) is read as “See Eh One”, which I find annoying.
So it sounds like that 9 speed automatic ruined a perfectly nice car. I appreciated your review, but wonder how long that 6 speed will remain if CAFE targets continue to get harder to hit.
So it sounds like that 9 speed automatic ruined a perfectly nice car. I appreciated your review, but wonder how long that 6 speed will remain if CAFE targets continue to get harder to hit.
Aisin, which produces the Compass 6 speed, also builds an 8 speed. The 8 speed as used in the VW Tiguan and Atlas has drawn generally positive reviews. It will be up to FCA to tell ZF either get the 9 speed sorted, or they jump ship to Aisin.
The other thing that FCA SUVs have been criticized for is the 2.4 engine. A new turbocharged 4 was announced last spring, so the noisy and vibrating 2.4 should be going away.
It’s a ZF DESIGN, but not ZF built or controlled. Chrysler builds it under license and applies their own programming to it as opposed to some other manufacturers that also use a ZF 9-speed.
Also, this 2.4 was neither noisy nor rough. Maybe that changes as it gets older or the mounts wear, but at 5000 miles it was unobtrusive.
It’s a ZF DESIGN, but not ZF built or controlled. Chrysler builds it under license and applies their own programming to it as opposed to some other manufacturers that also use a ZF 9-speed.
Thanks for the clarification. The combination of less complexity in the 6 speed and the royalty paid to ZF is probably the cost difference that prevents the in house 9 speed being the default trans for everything. That brings us back to the question of why the heck can’t FCA get it sorted out, as people have had the same complaints about it for years.
Earlier this year, I rented a Jeep Renegade in south Florida with the 2.4 Tigershark and 9 speed automatic. Very strong A/C. Plenty of power and the transmission worked perfectly!!🚗🚘🚗🚘
Was able to negotiate the 80+ MPH crowd on Aligator Alley with ease. Should my current SUV bite the dust, the Renegade would be high on my list😉😊
One thing you can do about the headrest issue is to take them out and then put them in backwards. I ended up doing this on both of my Mustangs because, as installed, the headrest was in the “perfect” location to hit my wife in the back of the head. I’m sure that this lessens the effectiveness of the headrests but the positive trade off is not having to listen to that complaint when we are in the Mustang. Of course this might not be feasible in a rental vehicle as it usually requires some sort of tool (like a screwdriver) to hold down a tab while you extract the headrest from the seat back.
It will be interesting to see how all of these 8/9/10 speed transmissions hold up in the field. I’m sure they have been engineered and tested before they became standard or optional equipment but it just seems counter-intuitive to me that installing more and more gearsets in the same size housing can be a good idea. Like everything else, time will tell.
Thanks for sharing another viewpoint. Now that I think about it, I don’t know what trim my sister’s Compass is other than it seems to be loaded. I thought they all had the 9 speed. Whichever it has, it seemed to be just fine around town. I find Costco is almost always the lowest price for a car rental, by a good bit as well. I don’t know if Southwest has started taking delivery of the 737 MAX yet, but he’ll want a ride on one of them next. My daughter is not a plane nut but I was able to pick seats in the front and back of the MD 88/90/95 family on a trip last year so she could hear the difference from front to back. She preferred the front but did comment the back was no where near as bad as that “prop plane” (non-Q Dash 8) she flew in once.
Yeah he is dying to get into a MAX!
When I rented the Compass I was thinking the transmission seemed perfectly fine, I wonder if it’s the 9-speed that people seem to not like. Not until after the first day was I able to determine that both are offered and mine was in fact the 6 due to being FWD. Then I saw HR’s review and realized the big difference…
A good counterpoint. It’s always interesting how a change in trim or drivetrain can sometimes make a profound difference. The driving experience of these two had an intriguing contrast.
$89 for 4 days is a steal! A few years ago when I was renting, thus the slug of rental reviews at that time, it was generally about $35 for 24 hours through the Budget/Avis rental agency up the street from work. You did well, Herr Klein!
Great review Jim and awesome to hear another point of view on the same car!
With regards to the nav’s mispronunciation, I am reminded to the nav in my mom’s 2013 GLK 350. Her’s doesn’t have the upgraded Mercedes navigation system as part of the $3,200 multimedia package, but rather the less costly $600 Becker unit that’s essentially like having a Garmin in the dash. Works fine when you need it, just not very advanced, especially by 2018 standards.
Anyway, it too has trouble with abbreviations, as it phonetically pronounces them as if they were the actual words. For example, RI (Rhode Island) is pronounced as “ree” and even more comical, TPKE (turnpike) is pronounced as “te-pa-ke”
Yes, it worked out well that we both rented at similar times but that there WERE differences besides just subjective “feels”. Paul and I were a bit concerned about this turning into Curbside Compass Rental week though… 🙂
Nice counterpoint and an interesting contrast. One thing worth mentioning about the price is that unlike some of the competition these never sell at MSRP. Plenty of Limited 4x4s listed for around $26K right now around me. I don’t think these are as refined as the competition, but when you aren’t paying as much that’s OK by me.
I can also vouch for renting a car through Costco–the prices are AMAZING and the selection of cars/rental companies is great. Costco even provides good deals in super-expensive rental markets like the NYC area, and can be shockingly cheap in places like Houston (in my case, a five day rental cost in total what you usually pay per day renting directly from one of the major rental chains)
For anyone who is a Costco member, be sure to check out their rentals under Costco Travel.
I don’t understand how, after all these years, manufacturers still can’t get automatic transmissions right. It’s like we’re back in 1950, again. I guess the problem is trying to maximize fuel economy by making transmissions with absurd numbers of gears (or going the CVT or dual-clutch route). One of the worst of the latter type was the automatic in the smart car. Apparently, it had to be driven like a manual transmission car, i.e., accelerate, then lift off the throttle as if actually clutching and moving a shift lever. Otherwise, it was a herky-jerky experience.
It’s especially disheartening that it’s FCA who can’t get it right, considering the legacy of the TorqueFlite. OTOH, even in the glory days of the old, bulletproof TorqueFlite, it still shifted harder than the less stout Cruisomatic or TurboHydramatic.
But other FCA products get similar vitriol. One of the worst is supposedly the automatic in the small Ram Promaster City (aka: Fiat Doblo).
Thank you for the write up and the plane information as well. From my experience with these as rental cars a number of these Compasses have needed new front tires by 10K or so Miles. I imagine that having the tailgate close button on the tailgate itself is not good for those in a wheelchair. I like that it is lower on various Chryslers.
Good point on the close button location. Those would be the folks who need it the most.
Personally, I’ve come to be pretty annoyed by auto closing tailgates since they are so slow and the warning chimes noisy. I don’t use the one in our van near as much as I used to.
Great to see another new car review and fascinating to see the contrasts between your review and R. Henry’s and the contrasts between your FWD Limited and his Trailhawk.
I still would like to see an up-level engine option in this car but maybe Jeep is worried that’d tread on the Cherokee. There does seem to be a bit of overlap between Renegade, Compass and Cherokee.
The styling on these continues to impress me. They look really handsome. Jeep has slipped a bit in Australia as of late – bad exchange rate, a spate of recalls – but I’m starting to see more of these Compasses around although, oddly, virtually no Renegades.
Jeep has come a long way with its crossovers since the first Compass and Patriot…
Thanks for sharing. I’m going to be in the market for a newish vehicle next year and seeing a couple of mostly positive reviews of these helps keep them on the short list. (I’m really interested in a Cherokee Trailhawk.)
Booking anything for $89 for four days is amazing! I rented a Focus from Enterprise to go from Dubuque to Chicago last year and it cost $49 per day! Hopefully we’ll get a Costco out here one day.
Jim, you are a good dad. People we are patient with will be patient with us, and that goes for children, too.
Friends have an ’06 Toyota Sienna with all the bells and whistles (four owner’s manuals to explain it all). Their automatic hatch is operated using a strap hanging down from the inside of the hatch. You simply pull down on it, moderately, just as you would to begin closing a manual hatch, and then the electric motors engage and take over. Intuitive, and effective-good design.
We have always gotten a good deal using Costco. While you could not have used it on this trip, an extra driver is included at no extra charge. That can be a huge savings.
Alamo/National/Enterprise is currently my favorite based on recent experiences. National pioneered the “pick any car in the isle” concept.
Last year on Hawaii we got a Compass FWD as a free upgrade. It was a lower trim level, but that was ok. The conventional automatic and big four got the job done, as with other FCA cars rented in recent years. It was big enough for odd jobs like sleeping in it overnight and taking a big load of recyclables to the dump. I have Ohana (family) there, so when I visit it is more than just the typical tourist duty for the rental.