Mark Glover’s AutoGlo car reviews also can be seen in the Northern & Central California Cruisin’ News magazine published monthly out of Folsom, California.
Sacramento, California -- I don't know what it is about the Jeep brand, but motorheads across the board seem to either love it or hate it. Very rarely do I chat with someone who falls in between the extremes.
And then there's a subcategory of folks who firmly believe that the only "true" Jeep is of the Wrangler variety, with DNA dating back to the Willys Jeep of the post-World War II era.
Interesting. But I'm not hung up on such things.
It does this rather well in several areas.
First off -- good news for classic Jeep fans -- it has the look of a Jeep product. And it has off-road components and driving characteristics that make it a capable off-road performer, also a plus for those who love old-school Jeeps.
My ride was generously laden with standard equipment for a base price of just a few bucks less than $30,000. That included electronic roll mitigation, heated front seats, ambient LED interior lighting, windshield wiper de-icer and deep tint sunscreen glass.
Beyond that, the tester was lavishly loaded up with options that included a power liftgate, blind spot/cross-path detection, adaptive cruise control and a special dual-pane sunroof (power on the front, fixed on the back).
All that raised the bottom line on the sticker to $39,130. That's serious money in this vehicle segment, but it makes the point: this Compass can be dressed up to please a wide range of tastes.
Performance fans will likely find the 2.4-liter, four-cylinder engine underpowered for their tastes, but it did the job quite adequately in my outings, which included crowded urban streets, freeway runs and some modest hill climbs. You'll have to nail the accelerator hard to climb steeper hills, but it gets the job done.
Steering and responsiveness were excellent.
Fuel mileage is pretty fair at 22 miles per gallon in the city and 30 mpg on the highway.
Overall, Jeep enthusiasts should be pleased with this Compass. A lengthy list of attractive packages should at least turn the heads of consumers in the market for a small, daily driver sport-utility vehicle.
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