[enj0y_ride]

Prelude

A lot has been written about Jeep Compass by expert BHPians as part of the official reviews as well as ownership reviews. I never thought of attempting one myself. One fine frustrating work day, I started jotting down my experiences with my new car in a word doc, but never planned to make it a big one. I was also sceptical if anyone would want to read it as almost all features have been discussed in detail. Hesitantly, I moved it to Assembly Line section thinking I will decide on completing it later. That evening, I got a "Thanks" hit from GTO and it geared me up to complete it. Hope, this might help someone with similar needs to make their purchase decision.

I am not an automotive expert and hence most of what I write will be in layman terms. I decided to focus more on my experiences than detailing out every feature ( as those are already covered in expert blogs ). And here it goes, my very first blog on a public platform.

Let's start with the customary likes/ dislikes.

Likes

• As many BHPians pointed out, it's "Built like a Tank" and "Feels like a Tank".
• The Grand Cherokee looks is timeless and likely to age well.
• Excellent driving dynamics on all road types. Highway behaviour is exceptional.
• Magical steering that's light enough for city and solid at high speeds.
• Super confident handling of curves with negligible body roll.
• Powerful brakes that inspire confidence.
• Well-packed features and interiors.
• You never get tired driving a Compass.
• The cult brand and decent road presence.

Dislikes

• You can't rush through city traffic. DCT will disappoint you - it just won't understand the gear you want.
• It takes atleast 1000 kms ride to program your right foot manners to the needs of DCT [ especially those coming from MT or even DSG background ].
• Less spacious rear seats, though leg space is decent.
• FE is extremely sensitive to driving style.
• Over priced.
• Rattles ( even though minor in my case ) is not expected of 30L car.
• Considerable torque steer when pushed hard on uneven roads.
• AC performance is sub-par.
• 18 inch alloys restrict sidewall thickness. No AT tyres available in market for stock size either.

The First Date

I had my first date with Jeep Compass in 2018 when I did the test drive of Diesel MT at the dealership. I was using a 2013 Verna 1.6 sx Diesel back then and my kids ( twins ) were close to two years at that time. Space in the back seat was an important requirement and I thought, switching to a SUV will enable me to place two child seats in the rear and my wife can sit in the middle of the rear seat ( apparently, we used to travel like that in Verna for some time ). The moment I entered Compass, I knew my plans for two child seats + 1 person in the rear seat will never work out ( or atleast it's never an upgrade from Verna in terms of rear space. ). OTR price for Limited variant was somewhere in 22L range and it was a big investment for me. No improvement to space was big NO.


The Car I Owned


Fast forward to 2021, when most of the time was spent at home due to pandemic, with dreams of going on long drives, vacations etc. My Verna clocked around 1,56,000 kms by then [ primarily because I used to stay 50kms away from my work ]. My car was in good shape [ pic below ] – All services were done on exact schedule and all the repairs/ replacements were done without any delays.




The Trigger


My family including my parents and kids never liked travelling in the rear seat of Verna. Despite the beige interior, the low seating position coupled with high window lines gave a claustrophobic feel.
One of my kids and my mother get nausea when travelling in diesel cars ( added to the claustrophobia of Verna’s rear seat ). It's something hardwired to them and it's just not just when the car is parked in closed space, but on highway rides too. I have tested their reaction on petrol and diesel variants of the same models like Swift ( without opening the window ). Somehow they get dizziness when in diesel cars. [ May be it’s a separate topic all together for medical experts ].

The maintenance of Verna too started becoming relatively troublesome: In a single month I had multiple repairs. I had to replace brake calipers ( the fluid started leaking from rear disc brakes and it took nearly 3 weeks for parts to arrive ). Couple of weeks after it was fixed, AC stopped working. Again, 3 weeks wait for the AC valve and other parts to arrive ( and that too they were not sure if its due to the value. They said, if value replacement doesn’t solve it, replace compressor ). Driving without AC for 3 weeks in Kerala’s humid weather made up my mind to anyhow switch the car.

The needs


By August 2021, I decided to go for a new car. My requirements were a bit different than in 2018:

• Need an SUV with very good driving dynamics [ should have excellent steering manners and suspension ]. This was one of the biggest drawbacks of Verna.
• I used to love the torqueiness of Verna’s 1.6 diesel engine and never imagined buying a petrol car. However with my family’s aversion to diesel, I have to make that big sacrifice – “Things we do for love !!!!”
• Should have excellent reliability [ Was totally fed up with Hyundai who survives on repairs and make us wait 2-3 weeks every time for any repairs ]. I made up my mind to go for a better brand which will have better quality parts ( even if service network is not as good as Hyundai ).
• Should be safe.
• No claustrophobic interiors or seating. Should be able to travel long distances without any dizziness. I assumed, having a panoramic sunroof will help in this regard.
• The car should serve as a daily commute car as well as a vacation car.

My requirements for rear seat space changed. Kids are 5 years old and they wont use child seats anymore [ though they are supposed to use booster seats, I no longer have that control ]

Coming from Hyundai background, I am done with fancy equipments and electronics. That no longer was a need for me. When I bought Verna, I focused too much on such things and didn’t go for Vento. Every time I hit a pothole at high speeds, I regretted my decision.


The Buying


Since Compass matched most of my requirements and I had been desiring that car since its launch in India, I booked test drive in Aug 2021. The car arrived on the same day. It was red colour Model S Petrol. The SA was new to Jeep but he was really considerate ( a no-nonsense guy ). After delivery, he in fact revealed that I was his first customer. I had a very pleasant experience with test drive ( as I had very low expectations on the transmission and petrol engine ). The car handled pothole ridden roads in breeze. In fact, whenever I used to slow down for humps or potholes ( habit from Verna ), the SA was insisting I continue in same speed. The steering was very stable and any one coming from Hyundai background will be very pleased. However when they shared the price, it blew my dreams away. I was looking for only Limited or Model S variants, and both were priced north of 30L [ To my family, the max budget I kept talking about was 25L ].

I always preferred getting the top end for car purchases. However, Model S comes at 2 L premium above Limited trim, for features like TPMS, Wireless charging, 360 degree camera, Ventilated seats, 9 speakers with subwoofer and most of these were not high on my preference. I desired the 360 degree camera though.

With history of claustrophobia in Verna, I wanted to ensure the car interior should give an airy feel. Hence black interior was a NO for me [ Model S comes with black interiors ] . Having said my requirements, the SA too recommended Limited petrol variant for my requirements.

Other cars I had shortlisted for consideration below ( but my heart was so fixed on Compass anyways ) :

VW T-Roc : The biggest question was : am I getting a hatchback for 25L+ just because its CBU? I felt the car didn't have much road presence either. The sales guy wanted me to try out Taigun ( that too he insisted 1.0 - not sure why ), but I informed him I am not proceeding.

VW Tiguan : The 5 seater variant was not re-launched when I was looking for the car. Only Tiguan Allspace was available. But some research indicated that the price of 5 seater too will be north of 30L and will be much above compass ( I considered Compass itself overpriced ).

Citroën C5 Aircross: True to its tag line " it's comfort driving redefined". I wasn't too familiar with the brand and the price was way above my budget ( even if I stretch ).

Hyundai Tucson : I did read some positive reviews about Tuscon, but this time I didnt want to go for Hyundai.


The sacrifices


Petrol vs diesel confusion: I love torquey diesel cars. My family was so adamant on not going for diesel. My mom gets nausea when travelling in even bigger diesel cars like Innova. Price wise, Compass Limited variant costs almost same for petrol AT and Diesel MT [ I have test driven Diesel MT earlier and loved it] . The Verna experience made me go for petrol as my whole family loved travelling in my dad's 12 year old Dzire ( petrol ) than ever stepping inside Verna. Whats the point in buying a 30L car when your family cant ride in it.

I also had to find more logical reasons to convince myself. Now, I am staying closer to office ( less than 15 mins drive daily ). Hence my daily commutes are shorter and I might go for long drives only once in 3 months. Bingo !!! I convinced myself - if I go for diesel, I will have DPF issues more often and petrol is well suited for my needs. Many prominent manufacturers like VW stopped diesel cars even for higher end segments. I prefer to keep the car for 10 years and more than likely most auto manufacturers would stop the production of diesel cars by then and even the govt policies might make it harder to sell diesel cars after 10 years.


MT vs AT : I used to love driving by shifting gears and is obsessed with car being on right gear ( even when I am a passenger in someone else’s car or even on public transport, I feel irritated when the engine under or over revvs ).

I wanted Limited variant of Compass considering the features ( 6 airbags, sunroof were mandatory for me ). There was no MT option for the trim.

Quick update from today: Couple of months of riding AT, I am different now ( rather lazy to for MT ). I don’t think, I will go back to MT again.


VFM options: There were many value for money options ( few slated to launch shortly at that time ) – Harrier, Safari ( you get 7 seats for lower cost ), XUV 7oo, then the ones that got launched a segment lower like Taigun, Kushaq. I didn’t look for Korean siblings since I wanted something different than Hyundaish steering and suspension.

When I am paying 30L+, I wanted to go for a brand that delivers the experience in that range and hence didn't really opt looking for Harrier-Safari duo or soon to be launched ( then ) XUV7OO. Also I heard like Harrier/ Safari had been in work-in-progress state for years and still they haven't got handle on perfecting it ( unlike Nexon ). XUV 7OO was not looked at, since I never wanted to buy something in the first year of launch and also I didn't like the looks that much.

This decision will cost me atleast 5-6 L extra.

Known devils:

I was very well aware of the laggard response of the 1.4 Petrol + DCT combination, but still decided to go for it.

Then there is the "Rattle-gate" many owners reported. Decided to take my chances.

Booking and delivery

I booked the car in October as my budget was to be ready only by Nov- Dec. I kept asking the SA if I will miss any year end deals like earlier years. They kept saying the price is bound to go up and not down even if its year end ( which in fact happened ). The sales manager and my sales guy came to my home to take the booking and the experience was good.

Choice of colour : Since we had black car earlier, my kids never wanted black again. They asked me to choose from two options : PINK or YELLOW !!!!! It took me few days to negotiate to WHITE.

When I had the required funds in November, I contacted them for delivery ( as the vehicle was already available with them ). I did the PDI, a week before delivery and it went smooth. Pic on the day of PDI here.



I had 35% NCB on my order car ( with HDFC Ergo ). I contacted them and got the NCB certificate and got equivalent discount on new insurance. On top of that dealer gave some extra discount on insurance.

I took extended warranty and it valid till 2026. In addition, I opted for the accessories ( except the car cover which I was sure I am not going to use it ).

On the day before delivery, they said they do not have 3D mats available and agreed to deliver their stock Premium mats. I did the mistake of going for it. The material gets dirty too soon and not suitable for Indian conditions. Later I ordered 3D Maxpider Kagu Mats for Rs 9,300 ( lower than what Jeep guys quoted earlier ).

Delivery experience they gave was fairly new to me. It was a premium feel that they created with too much focus on us – cake cutting, photoshoots, goodies etc with all staff focusing on you. May be it's normal for premium cars. For me, it was the first time experience.

I got the ceramic coating done by the dealer themselves, though it was costlier than other vendors outside. I didn’t want the car to be given elsewhere for few days soon after taking delivery. I had evaluated PPF option, however no vendor can confirm if there will be discolouration after 2 years. 3M openly said its not a good option for White colour as there could be discolouration in 2-3 years. Jeep guys used ManzaPro ceramic coating ( with 3 year warranty – 3 applications ).

Posting some pictures from the day of delivery:





The niggles


Overall, ownership experience has been fairly positive barring few niggles, which haven't bothered me much.

Rattling:


As with most owners, me too got it, but luckily it's only audible from outside ( and it's not loud either and you wont notice unless you pay close attention ). I got it by around 69 kms itself. Posting the video I took then.

So far no other rattling in the inside. Since many owners got rattles from sun roof, I mostly open only the blinds ( and not the roof ). May be that saved.

I had recorded the video when I started hearing it ( it was within initial 69 kms )

https://youtube.com/watch?v=IKHkF0UbORI?feature=share

Auto start stop system:

In traffic, it stops the engine too soon and hence in stop-go traffic I feel it might impact battery life in long run. On the other hand, when on highways, even though the owners manual states that it takes into account of engine temperature before stopping, I found it auto stopping too soon, even after 4-5 hours drive ( not sure what’s their threshold temperature ) – which might be bad for turbo. There is no way to permanently turn it off, you will have to turn it off every time you start your car.

There are some software bugs that pops up in very rare scenarios ( I am not able to replicate it consistently). I noticed the Auto start stop warning light ON when on cruise control once. Video below. Stopping the car and restarting solved it.

https://youtu.be/hbfY0YH0Sao

Auto park brake:

There are some scenarios when the auto park brake wont disengage when you shift from P to D. Some understandable ones like downhill parking etc are there. However, I have noticed that sometimes when I turn off auto-start/stop function and then shift to D, it sometimes wont disengage. For those, used to the vehicle, you can easily sense if park brake is ON or not when starting in D. However, there is a risk of wearing the brakes if you miss that.

This too seems to be some bug in the software system.

I am not entirely sure whether the system engages park brake after the gear selector is in PARK or just before that. Few cases when parked on hill, I could feel the load on the gear selector when trying to move out of PARK. If it's true, then manual operation of park brakes is better to avoid load going to transmission.

Minor Imperfection

Failed to notice this during PDI. Though there is a gap, it's hardly noticeable.



The unexpected


I didn't want to categorise these as niggles.

Tyre cut

The first week of ownership itself my front right tyre had a cut and it narrowly missed the sidewall. Pics below.




I took it to Jeep's service center without booking. Though their approach was good, I didn't like the solution they suggested. I had a vague idea that it wont be covered under warranty, but regardless checked with them. The service advisor was creating an excuse like they need to take out the tyre and take photos from inside and send it to Jeep to check for warranty and its going to take one full day. That was my first experience with Jeep service and I decided not to take the car there any more for minor repairs. I took the car to a Tyre shop just opposite to their service center and they assured me its not serious damage.


Rock inside brakes

We have a bit of gravel road when starting from my home and one fine day, soon after exiting that gravel road, some squealing sound starting coming ( initially I thought its some construction work near by ). When I opened windows, it's a very loud grinding squealing sound that's coming from my own car. I was horrified and stopped the car. I expected some iron rod or something that got stuck beneath, but couldn't find anything below the car. Tried starting the car again and when it started moving, again the same sound and I realised its coming from brakes. I had no idea what it was and the noise was very loud. Having exhausted my troubleshooting skills, I decided to drive back home ( which was only 200 meters from there ) and call RSA. Luckily, after I reversed and started increasing speed, whatever was stuck inside the brakes got off. After some research in internet, I figured it was some rock/ gravel that got inside the brakes.


The first scratch


Well, as you can imagine first scratch is a daunting experience. I couldn’t sleep the day it happened. It was a narrow escape., luckily no one was hurt.

The incident was with a multi-axle BharatBenz truck ( yes the big one ).

This is what happened. My car had 5 people ( all colleagues from office ). We were turning right below a flyover and it was raining.

I have tried to represent it below. In reality it was cramped with many cars and bikes, though in picture I represented only the vehicles involved. [ Top is East in my representation ]




The bottom portion of the flyover where we turn is wider, however the road to enter is narrower. My car and Truck-2 were waiting in two lanes beneath, awaiting to move East ( awaiting policeman’s signal ). Out of no where another multi axle truck ( labelled as Truck-1 ) came with full load and the driver was aggressive. When we started moving, Truck-1 veered towards right to enter the narrower road and was about to hit my front left. Me too had no other option but to turn slightly right. I noticed Truck-2 starting to move, but I assumed he will stop seeing this and I miscalculated that it will come only slower. I had my eyes on ORVM while trying to avoid the hit from left front. Then I saw it happening, the truck hit back door with a big sound and as my car moved, I saw it scratching till end of bumper. My heart sank and I got off. It was heavy traffic and honkings all around. I saw the scratch and some small dent like mark on the door. But hearing the sound and knowing it’s a large truck, I expected worser. I had to let go off it and moved my car.

No one will believe, only this much happened with such an encounter. I think, the car parts survived it very well. Part of the hit was on the plastic cladding and part on the metal parts all the way to bumper. This is how it looked like after I reached home in that rainy evening.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=OYmtVWjtqQY?feature=share

The next day was another surprise. I decided to wash the car and take a look. To my surprise, even though there was dent, the scratch was going away as I continued to rub with the microfiber cloth ( may be the ceramic coating protected it to some extent ). In the second pic, you can see the bend, but no paint damage ( in the portion where there is a bend ). The gap between the claddings widened a bit, but is not noticeable.





Few things saved my day:

- Jeep’s build quality.
- Ceramic coating prevented scratch to great extent.
- Truck too had a decent bumper that would have absorbed some force.

After that incident I was observing bumpers of trucks on the road. The newer generation ones seem to have decent ones and might actually help the victim in similar scenarios. Had it been an old generation truck with metal bumpers ( god knows what they are meant for ), the scene would have been totally different.


The long trip


Well, every new car deserves one and decided to take a Mysore trip from Kochi ( and return via Wayanad ). Total round trip was 890+ kms. A significant portion of the driving time was spent on Ghat roads with hair pins and climbs of varying degrees. Finally, thanks to Google maps - I got a near off-road experience where it took me through a supposedly 10 mins faster route where a hilly road surface was peeled off with JCB for re-laying.




We had four adults and two kids - my father, mother, wife and two kids. Yes, it was slightly packed in rear but wasn't that bad and they had a comfortable journey.

We had heavy luggage too since we were travelling with kids. I found the boot space to be reasonable for my needs even though we packed more than normal. My mom even packed back-up food, water etc ( though we ended up stopping at restaurants for breaks ). Pic below



The first stretch of our journey was on highway. As many BHPians pointed out earlier, Compass has excellent driving dynamics on highway. The steering is rock stable and very predictable. Even if you hit a pothole in triple digit speed, the car stays straight - suspension is beautifully tuned. There is negligible body roll even when maneuvering in high speeds [ it feels like driving a hatchback ]. RPM stays little lower than 2000 even when speed hits 100; the car keeps asking for more throttle and raring to go at higher speeds. At empty stretches, you will realise you hit 120 only due to the speed alarm.

Many portions of Kerala, TN highways there are intermittent signals which occasionally gets crowded. This is where Compass Petrol DCT doesn't perform well. You just cannot do a drag race to stay in front of traffic when signal turns green or when leaving toll booths. The car obeys only the gentle footed, no slamming the right pedal. You might even find smaller hatches moving ahead of you when you start from a signal [ but stay tight ; the moment you reach slightly higher speeds, you are in a different league ].

When you enter city traffic too, you just need to practice being a calm driver. You cannot rush through traffic - the DCT wont find the right gear that you want it to be when rushing in cities.

As we entered Ghat section near Sathymangalam forests, where there are 27 hair pin bends, Compass out performed by expectations. I had lower expectations on the gearbox and was planning to manually use the auto stick to stay on lower gears. However, the car simply climbed steeper slopes without breaking a sweat ( for curves where I would otherwise be in first gear too, I can sense that it was climbing smoothly on second gear ). Time for pics from Sathyamangalam.




Some of these climbs where I parked, I had auto park brake ON. However, I could feel the load on stick when I was trying to move back to D, which ideally should not happen as the brakes are supposed to be engaged before P and as expected auto park didn't disengage automatically since I was parked on a slope.


Pic from forest area.




and somewhere just outside of forest ( nearing Mysore district ):




There were stretches of roads that were dusty as well. I had JOPASU duster that I bought from Amazon. It came in handy to keep the car in good condition.




The return travel we decided to take more of mountain/ forest routes and went via Bandipur-Mudumalai forests.

Lots of deers near to road ( you can see few in the back drop of the car ).



Driving in forests with panoramic sunroof open is a good experience.



Roads within Bandipur forest area was good ( though narrow ) and was a pleasure to drive.



From there, we took the route to Wayanad - again lots of uphills and downhills. When I slow down during downhill drive, the DCT was down-shifting and I could sense smooth descend using engine brakes.
Usually, my elderly parents get sick when driving through so many bends, but on Compass everyone seemed still fresh though its been 7 hours since we started back from Mysore.

Pic taken near Thamaraserry hair pin bends.


Google maps did some mischief when we were in Kozhikode district, took us to some unpaved roads full of rocks with promise of shortening travel time by 10 mins. And there you go, a near offroad experience in the same trip. One problem I faced is, there is excessive torque steer and you need to be careful on your right foot when trying to climb uphill, especially when the road is full of rocks/ gravel.

It was a 15 hour journey back home, on the round-about route we chose. But, you never get tired driving a Compass.

The 4000 km update

I finished 4000 kms with a 40 km non-highway trip with higher FE. It was a relaxed cruise during morning hours.

Speaking of mileage, the car ( rather, DCT ) is extremely sensitive to driving style. If you have softer right foot, it gives FE above 10, but the moment you slam the accelerator, FE drops significantly even below 8. On an avg I get around 10-11, with a mix of city and highway rides.

Coming to some of the miscellaneous items :

Ceramic coating: : Manza Pro ceramic coating that I got from Jeep seems to be holding good after 25 washes. Posting some pictures below:

Initial wash ( actually second wash. I missed taking pic of the first ) :





After 22nd wash: Took a video . Link here:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=KG3dakYB7RY?feature=share

I use shampoo too intermittently. Bought "MEGUIAR'S Nxt Generation Car Wash pH Balanced Rich Lather Shampoo" from Amazon and it seems to be good.

Hill start assist: : The feature works reasonably well and is useful. However, my car porch has a slight incline ( not at all steep and car wont roll back since the floor is cobblestone ) and I need to move car back and forth few times to get it out to the narrow road outside. Every time, I switch between R and D soon, brakes kick in and I am dragging the vehicle in brakes.

It works when you switch from P-> D or R-> D. But most often in signals, I shift to N and when moving from N -> D, it wont kick in.

Driving in stop-go traffic: The auto start/ stop system kicks in too soon when you stop during traffic snarls. I usually feel bad for the battery and the turbo, when this happens. Sadly, we can't disable this feature permanently. You need to remember every time after starting your car to turn it off.

One positive side to this feature is, it might save the brakes when in signals as most people continue to be in D even for prolonged stops.

I usually turn it off after starting the car and be on N when in signals.

Experiment on an extreme incline: I had once tested how the car performs on extreme incline ( usually we wont find such steep inclines during normal driving ). When starting slower on such steep incline, I could see the car was not revving higher and engine stalled. However, the car didn't roll back ( I didnt apply brakes ). Within a second, the engine spurred back with a jerk and revved higher and its 160+ horses pushed the car up. My initial assumption was that DCT didn't downshift and it was in 2nd gear ( usually it switches to 2nd pretty soon ).

The next attempt, I switched to manual mode and kept in 1st gear and attempted the same slope. To my surprise, same scenario repeated. It didn't revv high enough to produce the power and engine stalled. Within a second, it spurred back into action and revved higher to push the car up.

AC: I think, the cars two segment lower cools faster than Compass's AC. To get the same cooling effect I got with 23degree setting in Verna, I have to use 21 degree setting in Compass.

Alloys/ Tyres: 18 inch stock alloys are primarily for the looks of the vehicle. The sidewall thickness is not good enough for offroading. You will have to downsize the alloys to R17 to avoid bent alloys in longer run. More importantly there are no AT tyres available in market that fits stock size : 225/ 55 R18, even if you wish to use AT tyres to improve the looks of your vehicle.

Slight increase in tyre pressure increases in the bumpiness of the ride. Anything greater than 35 psi will make the ride bumpy.

I had to do alignment only once within 4000 kms. I did it before taking the long drive.



Android Auto and Car Play: The wireless Android Auto and Car Play works pretty well. I use one iPhone and another Android phone and the experience is limited to the app we use. For instance, Google maps works better on Android Auto, where as Amazon Music works better on Car Play.

Wireless Android Auto and CarPlay drains the battery significantly when using navigation or any apps that streams data to uconnect system. For long drives, remember to carry the charger.


Connnected Car Tech: The connected car features are enabled through Jeep Life application which is activated using IMEI number of the hardware available in the car. The connected car system seems to be premature when compared to what FCA offers in other markets like US. It has basic features for remote lock, unlock, blinker, honk etc and you can track your vehicle.

Compass has inbuilt GPS, but I found the sampling frequency to be low. It updates your location only once in a while ( may be based on distance or time interval - not sure of that ). The car has a SIM ( not sure if its eSIM ) with data connection. However, in my experience the data connection definitely is not 4G or even 3G. Seems to be standard GPRS speed which makes the experience terrible. You issue a command to lock or even try to fetch the location of the car, and it takes ages to get you that.

Their server infrastructure too doesn't seem to have adequate capacity and its extremely slow. You will realise it right from the time you login. No wonder FCA is mute about the subscription plan for these features. May be once they are ready, they might activate more features and demand a subscription fee.

USB and 12 V ports: I am happy with the USB ports ( A and C types ) in front. It charges your phones or laptops pretty fast. However, there is only one 12 V port which is at the rear. May be its based on a trend that all phone chargers cables are now USB compatible. So far, I never had to use 12v port. I had been searching for good dashcams ( but most good ones I found use 12 V port and not USB ).

Cruise Control: Very rarely we will get to use this feature. But, I wasn't too comfortable staying on cruise control for long during highway rides as I felt I am not in control of vehicle. The primary reason for this is, your right foot movement from accelerator pedal to brake works on reflex. But when your right foot is on the floor, I am not confident if I will get the reflex action to apply brakes for all the unexpected events we face on Indian highways.

Features I still haven't got a handle of:

Manual gear shifts: It's hard to shift gears manually, due to the position of the manual controls and the operation confuses me. The transmission doesn't give any better feel than using automatic, hence I am not much motivated to use it.

Gear position when in D: There is no display that says which gear the vehicle is in, when you are in Automatic mode. The only work around is to switch to manual during the drive and it displays the current gear.

Rain sensing wipers : I really don't know when and how it activates though I have enabled it in uconnect. In one of the wiper setting, it automatically increases or decreases the speed based on the intensity of rain ( but I prefer to do it manually ). I have noticed rear wiper has automatically turned on ( based on the wiper marks ), but I failed to notice the scenario. I assume, it turned on ( one flick ) when I reversed during rain.

Steering mounted control for FM: You cannot switch channels of FM stations using the steering mounted controls. Every time you try to toggle station using the left bottom steering mounted control, it just Tunes the next FM station and does not really switch to the next pre-set station.

DRLs: I didn't find any option to turn it OFF.

AC air intake from outside: Even if you enable Recirculation option, the AC automatically takes air from outside after every 25 minutes of operation [ which is a good thing to maintain oxygen level ]. However, sometimes this 25 minutes might fall in places where there is dust, smoke or odour. It has occurred to me many times. If there was a manual override for this 25 mins air intake, it would have been better.


Mats: As I mentioned earlier, I got rid of the stock premium mats within a month as its not suited for Indian conditions and ordered 3D Maxpider Kagu Mats directly. It seems to be good for rough use. Some pics below. Even when its dirty, its easy to clean.





My next milestone is the 5k first service schedule. I will keep posting any major updates in this forum. Thanks very much for taking time in reading through my experience.

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Congratulations from a fellow Limited owner. Wishing you thousands of miles of happy ownership.

Originally Posted by enj0y_ride

Rain sensing wipers : I really don't know when and how it activates though I have enabled it in uconnect. In one of the wiper setting, it automatically increases or decreases the speed based on the intensity of rain ( but I prefer to do it manually ). I have noticed rear wiper has automatically turned on ( based on the wiper marks ), but I failed to notice the scenario. I assume, it turned on ( one flick ) when I reversed during rain.

DRLs: I didn't find any option to turn it OFF.


Mats: As I mentioned earlier, I got rid of the stock premium mats within a month as its not suited for Indian conditions and ordered 3D Maxpider Kagu Mats directly. It seems to be good for rough use. Some pics below. Even when its dirty, its easy to clean.

1. Rain sensing wipers work perfectly on my car. You can turn it on the wiper stalk itself. The first two positions and for Auto Low and Auto High - two sensitivity levels with which it will respond. Switch that on and test by pouring water on the windscreen.

2. Can be switched off with the Headlamps switch turned anti-clockwise all the way to OFF instead of Auto. However, there is no option to leave it on Auto and turn the DRL only OFF.

3. Try the Jeep slush mats during the next change. Just as good and looks nice IMHO.

[enj0y_ride]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Congratulations from a fellow Limited owner. Wishing you thousands of miles of happy ownership.

2. Can be switched off with the Headlamps switch turned anti-clockwise all the way to OFF instead of Auto. However, there is no option to leave it on Auto and turn the DRL only OFF.

Thank you very much. I have kept the switch in the extreme left position as in this image. However DRLs are still ON when car is in D.

[CosmicWizard]

Originally Posted by enj0y_ride

USB and 12 V ports: So far, I never had to use 12v port. I had been searching for good dashcams ( but most good ones I found use 12 V port and not USB ).

Most dashcams will work just fine with USB also, provided there is enough amps in the ports. Mine (ddpai Mola N3) came with 12V charger also but I compared the dashcam amps with the USB port specification in the car's manual and it works just fine.

[sharan_si]

Congrats on New car, car in white looks dashing, I remember your post on my review thread, I face same issues, there are few missing manual overrides. I think having a hill hold switch on center panel like the one present auto start would help as its turns off automatically after ignition is off.
I too faced rattling on B pillar, but it got fixed during first service, problem was with seat belt height adjustment sliders. I am getting slightly better FE on highways, on a recent trip, I got around 14kmpl over 600km drive, I miss 12v socket in the front. I learnt to manage DCT lag in city.

[Maky]

Originally Posted by enj0y_ride

Prelude

A lot has been written about Jeep Compass by expert BHPians as part of the official reviews as well as ownership reviews.

Thanks for sharing this ownership experience.
I read such great ownership threads(these seem often!) and feel sometimes I should just ignore and live with the rattles this car seems to get just for the 'everything else' that is great about this otherwise reliable car.

[chandu]

Thanks for a great update on your experience with the Petrol compass.
We purchased the Limited Compass DCT in March this year. We have had no rattles develop till now (touch wood and crossed fingers).
However, we have found that the FE is very poor, general driving in Hyderabad has given us hardly 7 kmpl till now, although we have only driven it for about 800 km in the past month. Maybe it will improve after it crosses 1K.
The Uconnect does have bugs and it has random issues which detract from a good experience.
The Auto start stop is also unreliable and the thing which I miss while driving is the Auto Hold function. In a car of this price range, this is totally unacceptable.
I was reading the manual and it says that the DCT requires a few thousand K's of driving to get into a proper groove as it has some sort of Fuzzy logic/AI learning algorithm that tries to adapt to the drivers driving style. So I will check after a little more driving.
The car feels solid on the road and is very handsome overall. We got the blue colour which is amazing to look at in the sun, it has this deep purple colour with sparkles which only show up in direct sunlight.

[enj0y_ride]

Originally Posted by chandu

However, we have found that the FE is very poor, general driving in Hyderabad has given us hardly 7 kmpl till now, although we have only driven it for about 800 km in the past month. Maybe it will improve after it crosses 1K.

Congratulations on your new car. Yes me too felt FE improving post 1000 kms ( it's either the car or we get used to dealing with the transmission better )

[TN13Sleeper]

Congratulations on your new purchase. Respect for maintaining a black sedan for 1,50,000+ km in our conditions.

Originally Posted by enj0y_ride

The Trigger

One of my kids and my mother get nausea when travelling in diesel cars. It's something hardwired to them and it's just not just when the car is parked in closed space, but on highway rides too. I have tested their reaction on petrol and diesel variants of the same models like Swift ( without opening the window ). Somehow they get dizziness when in diesel cars.

Till a few years ago, most of the mass market petrol cars were naturally aspirated (non turbo) and most of the diesel cars were turbo charged. I think that family members may associate dizziness to the turbo spool as it's well pronounced in turbo diesel cars.

[enj0y_ride]

Originally Posted by TN13Sleeper

Congratulations on your new purchase. Respect for maintaining a black sedan for 1,50,000+ km in our conditions.

Till a few years ago, most of the mass market petrol cars were naturally aspirated (non turbo) and most of the diesel cars were turbo charged. I think that family members may associate dizziness to the turbo spool as it's well pronounced in turbo diesel cars.

Yes. That could be one of the reasons. The prominent one I found in internet was the presence of Nitrogen Oxide that diesel cars produce. Even if we keep the AC in recirculation mode, it could still enter the cabin. Some people have very less tolerance to nitrogen oxides.

[vinodvaddi]

Originally Posted by sharan_si

I learnt to manage DCT lag in city.

Can you please elaborate on how do you 'manage' the lag?
I just accept the lag and try not to rush it till the car gains some momentum(around 50kmph).

[sharan_si]

Originally Posted by vinodvaddi

Can you please elaborate on how do you 'manage' the lag?
I just accept the lag and try not to rush it till the car gains some momentum(around 50kmph).

I learnt to modulate the accelerator for this DCT, it works well most of the time, sometimes when I want quick acceleration, I shift to manual mode and shift down.

[abhaumik]

Hey, let me first wish you many happy miles with your Jeep!!

The car looks quite impressive in white. Would you mind sharing the cost of the ceramic coating? And did they rebadged the car while applying the coat?

[enj0y_ride]

It's been an year since I bought my Compass. I have done an initial ownership review here (My Jeep Compass Limited Petrol AT - Initial Ownership Review & 4000 km update).

Overall, my ownership of Compass has been exhilarating and it has been hassle free, so far. My daily driving has been limited ( as I stay closer to work ) and the distance I clocked is mostly with the occasional long rides.

The more you drive, the more you fall in love with this car. In fact some of the negative perceptions I had during my initial ownership changed.

Summarising the key updates below:

• The suspension and steering inherits true Jeep DNA and you got to take the car off tarmac to experience the magic ( though it's not an off roader ).
• Initial days, I was disappointed for not having the torquey diesel mill ( due to family preference for petrol ). Now I have come in terms with the MultiAir-DDCT combo. The break-in period ( read: your adaptation period ) seems to be 10k. I found the performance improving over this duration.
• It's abuse friendly when compared to other cars in the segment. Took my car off-road as part of Jeep Trails ( this variant is not designed of it, but suspension is just awesome ).
• Excellent highway dynamics. It’s so planted on road in triple digit speeds as well.
• The turbo petrol is extremely fuel sensitive ( as expected ). If you need to enjoy this variant, you got to forget the fuel efficiency.
• The cabin space is small in segment standards [ outside width doesn't translate to interior space, especially the back seat ]. This was one major reason I wanted light colour interior and panoramic sunroof.
• AC performance is poor ( though dual zone ).
• Brakes are good and very predictable. It's confidence inspiring and doesn't sweat a bit in stopping 2 ton weight.
• You got to maintain < 35 PSI for comfy ride. Slightly higher pressure makes the slow speed rides on uneven roads a bit bumpy.
• Negligible body roll and you can take curves in high speeds with full confidence.
• I did not face any interior rattle issues ( which many reported for 2021 model ). May be , not yet.
• Service experience has been satisfactory, so far.
• Car is definitely over priced [ and Jeep keeps increasing it every quarter ]. However, your heart smiles every time you drive it.





Slot to D, the car starts like an elephant and transitions to a tiger in midrange, with its feet so planted and inspiring lot of confidence. Initially, I was a bit disappointed with the laggard performance of the automatic, however as I hit 10k something has changed [ could be me or the car or both ]. Initial days, it wasn’t pleasing to drive in city traffic, but now I am able to push through and the car behaves based on my expectations. Though I was not a fan of automatic transmission earlier, I am starting to love it. Check this trip ( round trip- Kochi to Kannur ) taken without much breaks. It’s more or less like city traffic throughout with occasional highway stretches. I cannot imagine riding that without AT now. The 15 hour drive wasn't tiring.



The car is reasonably feature packed though latest trends like ADAS are missing ( I am not a fan of ADAS for Indian roads ). The only accessory I installed was Dashcam.

Fuel

I get a fuel economy of approx 9 kmpl for a mix of city and highway rides. Turbo petrol is extremely sensitive to your foot manners and it gulps fuel when pushed. Another reason why diesel is an obvious choice for Compass.

While we often say it's almost the end of diesel era ( for cars ) in India, I feel petrol cars too are not immune either. We got to know India has achieved 10% ethanol blend only after it was implemented. Likewise, now govt is pushing hard for 20% blend. Compass Owner's Manual states that use of fuel with Ethanol content higher than 10% may result in engine malfunction. It also states, use of higher ethanol content may void warranty.

I wrote to Stellantis support and received the below response regarding the same:



I try to fill premium petrol for alternate refills with the assumption that it does some level of cleansing. With regards to the premium petrol offered by PSUs, I found BP SPEED to perform better when compared to others [ though the improvement is only marginal ]

DashCam

I installed the official Jeep accessory cam ( Mopar branded ). Have written a thread about it here (Jeep India now offers a dashcam as official accessory for the Compass / Meridian):

Like the car itself, the cam is overpriced but the performance is pretty solid and it does its job. The recording is HD and night ( & low light ) clarity too is liveable. I did not find any of the ADAS warnings working ( ADAS (FCWS, uFCWS, LDWS, FVDW ) - probably the screen needs to be ON for it to work. There is no WiFi data transfer available as well.

I purchased the below "All in One card reader" that has USB C support inorder to transfer data to my phone ] : https://www.amazon.in/gp/product/B08...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I have used Transcend and few more dashcams from Chinese brands earlier for my older Hyundai cars [ a terrific combination to get gizmo-fatigued ]. 90% of the features that I had then, ( including lane departure warning ) I had kept it turned off ( as it was causing annoyance ). Though wifi transfer is convenient, it's significantly slower than USB C transfer. Hence I do not miss those fancy features in this cam.

1 min video consumes 100 MB ( 50 MB each from front and back cam ). The default memory card capacity available with the camera is 32 GB and it can hold approx 5 hour video. The camera also has some jerk detection ( driving event detection ) and the video files captured during the event won't be overwritten. Except that all the older files get overwritten.

I purchased a set of two 64 GB cards for recording footage for long rides. Yes, you will have to swap the memory cards in case if you wish to keep the recording without overwriting.




Jeep Trail Experience and some soft-roading


I participated in two Jeep Trails organised by the dealer – Pinnacle Jeep, Kochi. Thanks to them for convincing me to join those and experience my own car in a new way. Initially I was a bit hesitant as I was worried about scratching my car and I knew the variant I bought was never designed for off-road. Thanks to Pinnacle team – they convinced me stating they have already explored the trail routes and re-assured nothing can go wrong and they got the technicians at site, should any need arise.

Well, what’s the point in owning a Jeep without a JEEP experience and I decided to give it a try.

The first Jeep trail I participated was a small one ( one-day ) arranged as part of the Compass 5th Anniversary trail. Unfortunately, this event happened before I installed Dashcam and I do not have much footage of the drive.





After seeing the trail route ( filled with vegetation ), I infact wanted to avoid it. With heart in my throat I took the car off the road for the first time. The car scratched underneath at few stretches and also the sound of the vegetation scratching the sides feels like something scratching your heart.

But once you finish the ride covering all obstacles, the feel you get is inexplicable. I was so excited that I was the first one to register for the next trail when they announced.

The next one was planned for two days at Kodaikanal. It was close to 8 hr drive from Kochi to Kodaikanal and an adventure ride there.






Luckily for the Kodai trail, I had the Dashcam installed. I will let the Dashcam footages do the talking.

https://youtu.be/b7hDLFLczR0

While it was no hard off-roading by any means, there were some stretches where my car got stuck - the wheels were slipping.

The customary wheels up pic



Since I had power only on two wheels, I had to sustain the momentum inorder not to get stuck. But, my wheels were slipping and I was losing momentum in the initial obtsacles, as the Traction Control was ON. Once I turned it OFF, the rest of the navigation was relatively okay. I was able to sustain the momentum in muddy stretches as well, though had to counter steer swiftly ( as car was accelerating ) and not going straight. My tyre pressure was 35 PSI, which too might have added to losing traction initially. Anyways, those were Offroading 101 lessons for me.

I never thought I will take my car off-road. But I thoroughly enjoyed ( though, this may not even seem like adventure for most ). While it was more or less some adventure for 2WD vehicles, I felt sorry for Wrangler owners who attended these events. The stretches where I had to push hard on right foot, the Wrangler was going in slowest possible speed, and I dont think the riders experienced any feedback on the terrain from the vehicle ( must have been like a highway ride for Wrangler ).

Some pictures from the event below:





Pic after the ride, with muddy shoes.




Service

I have done the first ( 5k service ) and the 1st year ( I didnt complete 15k , so ) service. Since I did not have much issues to be fixed, the experience was quite satisfactory.

As part of first service, I also opted for undercoat, which was done pretty fast. Apart from that, there was charge only for alignment and balancing. No other charges.



The second service, 1 year service was done recently and there were charges associated with oil change, filter change etc. Overall bill was around 9k including WB+WA. The labour was free of cost.

Post delivery, I noticed that steering was not perfectly center corrected after alignment. It was very minor ( probably 1 or 2 degree shift ), but I often am able to feel that minor change and do not like to drive that way. The technicians were patient and they made it perfect after multiple iterations and test drives.

I also did the first free service of the Ceramic coating ( Menza Pro ) during second service. It was done from dealership itself. Hence they took care of it when I gave the car for service.

My Jeep Life app had stopped working [ The last updated date shows one month past ], which obviously means data is not coming in from the car. I have seen many owners reporting similar issue and in my case, it stopped working exact 1 year after manufacturing month. Not sure if it's a coincidence. The service center folks raised a ticket with "Jeep Connectivity Helpdesk" and the support was prompt. They asked to remove dongle and reset the same. After reset, it works fine and I am able to view car data in the Jeep life app and also the remote actions ( like lock, unlock ) are working. Their helpdesk got into a call with me along with service center technician and made me check out all functions before closing the ticket. It was a good experience. If there is an option to call their support directly, the process is simple and we might be able to do it ourselves.

This is the dongle that connects to OBD port and enables connected car functions.





Other observations


uConnect: As part of the second service, they upgraded the uConnect software. Earlier, the car audio system did not use to turn on when ACC was not ON. Now, even if it powers off automatically when you turn off the car, you can manually power it on ( even without key in the car ). Initially I assumed, the power will be there only for 10 mins after ignition off. However, the power button of uConnect turns ON the music even when you enter next day. I am not sure if its a bug or its expected this way ( or if my older software had issue and it wasnt working this way). Anyways, I prefer it this way. Keeping ACC ON just for playing music doesn't make sense.

Auto Start/Stop: : I am not a fan of this feature. It's neither good for the battery nor for the turbo. Though the Owners Manual states, it takes into consideration of engine temperature for activation, I have found it turning off the engine in signals even after riding for 7 hours continuous. The software that controls it too is not perfect and could go awry. I was once in a busy signal when it auto stopped ( I involuntarily slot to N in signals ) and I had to lean back to the back seat to pick something up and hence unbuckled the seat belts and shifted to P. The signal turned Green. I buckled again and slotted the gear to D and released brakes.. Boom !!! the car doesn't start. The gear lights starts flashing and it was beeping all over. I was stuck there with honking all around. After attempting multiple times, unbuckling... then turning off ACC , and then starting all over, it somehow worked ( couldn't recall the exact sequence I tried ). After that incident, I make it a point to turn it off everytime I start the car. I have heard similar bad experiences with auto start/ stop from others too.

The only good part of this feature might be, it's good for the transmission mechatronics during long signals when on D. But shifting to N during long halts could be an alternative.

Indicator lever: The multi function lever for turn signals & passing light has some usability issues. Even after one year of use, sometimes when I try to put the left turn, the passing light flashes.

Sunroof: Considering the small size of the cabin, the panoramic sunroof with shades open is a pleasant experience, especially when riding in rain or a starry night.



Alloys + Tyres : While the current 18 inch alloys look good, I think 17 inch might be more comfy. And it's strictly a highway wheel. The sidewall thickness is low and eventually could damage the alloys. It's the same size for 4x4 variants ( other than Trailhawk )too, which is a pity. On top of it, there are no AT tyres available for stock size.

I felt the tyre wear to be higher than other cars, probably due to the weight. The front tyres lost almost 40-50% of tread within 12k ( which I rotated recently to back ).

Brand experience


Jeep is a cult brand aspiring to position themselves as a premium one, though low on reliability. My previous cars were from Maruti and Hyundai. From the sales+marketing perspective, the experience that Jeep-India delivered through multiple programs like the Jeep Trails, other launch programs conducted by the dealership etc were good. Probably, it cannot be generalised and might vary with dealership [ In my case, Pinnacle Jeep @ Kochi did a good job ] . I have clocked only 12k and did not have any issues with the car, so I can't comment on the service [ but the feedback from people whom I know have been mixed ]. Interestingly, I also happen to meet quite a few people who upgraded from Jeep to Jeep [ Compass -> Trailhawk/ Meridian ]. Even though I have come across many who upgraded from Swift to Swift or WagonR to WagonR, I felt its a bit different in this segment and considering Jeep vehicles are insanely priced. The programs like Jeep trails, infact will inspire you to crave for capable offroaders like Trailhawk or Wrangler [ probably, thats their intent as well ].