2012 Jeep Compass

2012 Jeep Compass 4x4

29 highway MPG/23 city MPG <-from Jeep website

The Jeep Compass is a small SUV that (supposedly) seats 5, meaning there are seat belts enough for five, whether you can comfortably seat five is another story, but if three or more people need a ride and you are willing to give them one, then they should just be happy they’re not walking.  Now remember, this is a car used by a rental company so it does not have all of the features that a crazy, all features, all options, Compass will have.

To begin, let’s start with the outside.  When you first look at the Compass there are a couple things that I think stand out.  First, it is not a “boxy” car, which isn’t surprising considering most new SUV are steering (pun intended) away from the boxy shape.  Now you can find a lot, if not most, big car makers opting for the sleek, rounded look.  The Compass is not quite as round as the 2013 Ford Escape or the Ford Edge, but it is more rounded than other Jeep options like the (horrid) Jeep Liberty.  Another external feature is that the car sits low to the ground, which has its pros and cons.  Pro – easy to get in and out of.  Con – bad in snow and/or extreme sport outings.  The third external feature that gets your attention is that the back door handles are not where the handles usually are, they are not under the windows near the back but next to the windows.  It’s not big thing, most certainly a design aspect, but I can tell you I was constantly reaching for the wrong place when trying to open the doors.  Somewhat annoying?  A bit.  Super inconvenient?  No, not at all.

*The arrow looks like an anchor, but it’s totally not, it’s an arrow trying show that the vehicle is both round and close to the ground.

*It’s hard to actually see the handle in this picture but that’s where they are placed.  Weird, right?

Moving on with the interior.  We are going to start from the back in the trunk to the front.  First the trunk – it is a good size for this class of vehicle, larger than the trunk of the Ford Escape and the Jeep Liberty.  I also noticed that in the trunk, and throughout the floor of the whole vehicle they have used the very common felt-like material.  Whatever it is, it is in pretty much every car and it must be super cheap to use or why else would everyone install it?  But, like all things, that cheapness comes with a price.  If you load cargo a lot, drag things across the material (ie luggage, dead bodies), or even vacuum out your car a lot then the material gets really ratty looking and quickly.  It gets nappy like a sweater, but way worse.  I don’t know/think that there is any way to avoid this from happening, but if someone does know I would love to hear it.  Okay, maybe there is, I just haven’t taken the time to look it up.  There is also a back windshield wiper which is always nice. 

The back seats do go down, which you will find in most every car these days, even the teeny Toyota Yaris, so that’s not a surprise, but is obviously helpful for hauling more stuff.  But moving forward in the vehicle you find out why the trunk is larger than other vehicles in this class, the back seats are tiny!  There is very little leg room.  I am 5’5’’ and as long as I am sitting straight my knees do not hit the seat in front of me, but if I were to slouch or if, god forbid, my 6’4” boyfriend were to try and squeeze in there it would be touble.

 

There are two cup holders in the back for the back seat riders (none for the bitch L) that you cannot take out.  What I man by “Take out” is that some vehicles have a feature that I like very much where you can take out the bottom lining of the cup holders.  I like this so much because it makes it very easy to clean, because for some inexplicable reason cup holders get very nasty very quickly.  Even in my own car which I do not eat in it and try to keep very clean.  There is also a design feature with the speakers that you will find in both the back and front doors – they’re very large and very round.  Probably an attempt to appeal to the young, hip crowd (ie strange Nissan Cube features).

To the front!  The front seats have manual controls which you can find in the standard positions of below and to the sides of the seats themselves.  The middle console is very very basic – two cup holders with only one that you can take out the lining (why not both, Jeep?), next to the cup holders is the emergency brake which I always find more convenient in the front, not by your feet.  There is also the middle, for lack of a better word, cubby which has the small top compartment (with a liner you can take out, you don’t find that often) and bigger bottom compartment.  Also in this space is the 4WD lock with a big open space.  Possibly for big hands but I think it is just to take up more space so the car doesn’t feel so lacking in the features department.  The shifter (all cars in fleet are automatic!) is huge and cumbersome, it takes up so much space! 

*Is that a shifter or are you just happy to see me?

 

The glove compartment is very small with an odd open space above it, although the liner in the space can be taken out for cleaning or what not.  I feel like that space should either not be there at all and make the glove compartment larger or make it another closed compartment on top of the glove compartment like in some other vehicles like the Toyota Prius.  What if you have something you want to hide from the popo or something you don’t want getting stolen that won’t fit in the glove compartment?  Another beef I have with the open space is what if you have to come to a screeching halt and everything you have in there tumbles on the ground and while you are trying to pick it up you are not paying attention to the road and drive off a cliff?  Who will take responsibility for that, Jeep?  (Not the irresponsible driver, of course).  There is also no sunglasses holder, which is very odd for a larger vehicle.  There are also no lights above the mirrors in the visors, not cool because I cannot primp in the dark.  The radio is standard and very basic with an auxiliary port, AC adapter jack, but no USB port.

The dashboard is big and rather long, not too uncommon in a SUV, but it really is unnecessary in my opinion because it makes the front windshield really small.  Usually in a big car you feel like you can see the road better, but not in this one, you can see more of the road in a Kia Soul.  But this seems to be common in Jeeps like the Liberty and of course the Wrangler.  The steering wheel has the cruise control options on it, nothing new, but it does not have any radio and/or volume controls which is becoming more and more standard.

Speaking of steering, the wheel here is actually pretty nice, it is not “gummy” at all.  Some cars it feels like you are pulling the wheel, through molasses to turn the darn thing.  The Compass also has a pretty good turning radius for a SUV, but I do not like the way this car feels while it’s driving.  You feel 100% of the road in the pedals and through the steering wheel, and the acceleration is very loud and very jerky.

To conclude (how’s that transition for ya?), the Jeep Compass is a very basic SUV.  Really there is nothing special about it and I think Jeep tried to make up for that with odd designs (see: back door handles), it feels cramped for a vehicle that is supposed to be able to hold and do a lot more than just the average car, but I don’t care for the 5 passenger SUV class anyway.  Either you give up trunk space for more room in the back seat (Escape) or more trunk space for smaller seats (Compass).  A car is going to give you the same space as what is in Jeep Compass and will probably give you better MPG while doing it.