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Good memories with my recently sold Jeep Compass

30th August 2024, 18:01 by Kanad Kalasur

So overall it was a pretty pleasant experience to own the Jeep Compass & I have had some very personal, long drive experiences on it.

BHPian Vishnuk recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Been reading this thread since the time I bought the Jeep Compass; however I have hardly contributed much to this thread. Having taken so much info from it, I thought it’s apt to give something back at least now, given that I have sold my Jeep recently. So here is my ownership experience of the Jeep Compass.

Mine was a Jeep Compass Longitude model (Manual version) manufactured in July’17, invoiced in August’17 & registered in September’17. This was part of the first batch of Jeeps manufactured in India and they started deliveries in August’17 and mine was part of the first set of Longitude models to be invoiced in Bangalore by KHT Prime, the sole Jeep dealer at that time in Bangalore. Had it with me for about 7 years and when I sold it the odo reading was about 1.10 lakhs, would have done much more than this, had it not been for Covid. It was great fun to drive on the highways, since it was a 2017 vehicle, mine didn’t have the 80 /120kmph speed alerts, so it was even better. Here are some snippets from my 7 years of ownership.

General:

- My compass never let me down on the road, not even once during the whole 7 years. No accidents / no breakdowns / no punctures (just one which was also identified at Madhu’s during wheel alignment) so there were absolutely no interruptions to my journeys by the Compass. It was a lucky car and I gave it the attention it deserved. It was regularly serviced at KHT Prime, Yeshwantpur on time as per the service schedule. Wheel alignment & balancing was done at regular intervals at Madhu’s / KHT. It never had a repaint / any dents, small scratches which will be picked up if you drive in a city like Bangalore were there, but nothing noticeable from a distance.

- I did have some niggles/ issues initially during the first few years, with the instrument cluster throwing up all sorts of warnings (like service ESC system etc) which took about a year and half (started in Nov’17 and resolved in May’19) to be finally resolved by FCA (at that time). These alerts would show up and disappear on their own, but it never stopped running. Though it would show in the error logs, it could never be replicated in the service center / during their test drives, even the frequency was different sometimes once in every 100/ 1000 kms & sometimes nothing at all for more than 5,000 /10,000 kms. Multiple sensors were replaced, but it would keep coming back. But from the time it was finally resolved in 2019 by changing the ECU & Wiring harness (FOC by FCA), it never came back again.

- Had a Chevrolet Cruze LTZ (Manual version) before I bought the Jeep Compass, coming from the Cruze, in my opinion the Compass handled way better, could maintain much higher speeds for longer, not much turbo lag & clutch wasn’t that heavy (when compared to the Cruz), great power delivery, was much more fuel efficient than the Cruze ( 9-11kmpl in Bangalore city traffic & 15 -20 kmpl on highways depending on the speed), it was a damn good car overall.

Parts changed apart from regular service:

- Tyres: (Size: 225/60 R17) The first set of Firestone’s which came along with the Compass, lasted for about 65,000kms, it was a bit hard, made a bit of noise on highways as it got older, but never had a puncture on it. The guy at the tyre shop was amazed that it had lasted for so long and yet had so much tread left in it. But it was getting too hard, the road noise had increased significantly & it started developing some very minor cracks on the treads, so replaced it with Bridgestone Turanza T001in October’21, it was a bit softer during the initial period, didn’t notice any major difference in grip, had one puncture on it which was sorted during wheel alignment. However, one of the tyres developed a very small cut on the sidewall, didn’t want to repair it/ replace just one tyre with a new one, as it would hurt the balance of the vehicle as the other three tyres had run about 35,000 kms, so replaced all four tyres at an Odo reading of around 1 lakh kms in May’24. Replaced it with Conti Cross Contact Ax6, this was the best of the three tyres in my opinion, was much more softer, ride comfort had increased quite a bit, the treads looked better suited to the Compass aesthetically & it was pretty grippy, had it for less than 10k kilometers, but liked the Conti’s better than the other two.

- Battery: The Exide battery which came along with the Compass lasted for about 3 n half years, it never died down. Was advised to replace it, when I noticed that it was taking a bit longer to crank up. Did the replacement at a local Amaron reseller, as the service center didn’t have Amaron and had only Exide batteries. Had no issues with the Amaron battery from the time I changed it, till I sold it recently.

- Clutch & Timing belt: Was replaced during the 75k kms annual service (Odo reading was around 70,000 kms), this was done along with the timing belt replacement in 2021. The total cost of service which included, annual oil change service, clutch replacement & timing belt replacement was around INR 60K, details below.

- Front Brake Disc & Pads: The front brake disc had developed slight undulations and had run its life. The brake disc was replaced along with the brake pads (this was my second set of front brake pads) during the 90k service in 2022(Odo reading 83,500 kms). (Details below)

- Engine & Gearbox mount: The Compass was vibrating a little more than usual during start-up & in general, it was identified that the Engine & gear box mounts had to be replaced, did this during the 90k kms service in 2022 (Odo reading 83,500 kms). The total cost of this service, which included annual oil change service, Front brake disc & pads, Engine & gearbox mount came to around 43k.

- A/C Compressor: The A/C became ineffective and had asked them to check it during the 120k kms service in 2024 (Odo reading was 105,000 kms, gave it a bit earlier due to the A/C issue as I didn’t want to go again separately for normal servicing), A/C compressor had conked off and this was replaced during the service. The total cost of this service, which included annual oil change service, clutch pedal spring & A/c compressor came to around 45k. (Details below).

The normal annual oil service cost was at around INR 10 -20k. The three services which went way above this range came, in the following service intervals

2021 -75k km service – INR 60K (Clutch & Timing Belt)
2022 - 90K km service – INR 43k (Brake Disc & Mounts)
2024 - 120k km service – INR 45k (A/C Compressor)

Pretty much in line with what I had predicted way back in 2018 in one of my earlier posts.

This is the maintenance plan recommended by Jeep, so I expect the regular scheduled service cost to hover around INR 10- 20K as all the parts / consumables which were replaced in this service are expected to be replaced at every service after this. Probably the 75k service will be a bit more expensive, as the timing belt kit will have to be replaced.

Service Experience:

Except for two services which were done in Coimbatore, rest all the services were done at KHT Prime- Yeswanthpur (Bangalore) service center. They had a pretty good service advisor there who knew me well & wouldn’t put any unnecessary stuff in the bill apart from what was required. Unfortunately, he left a couple of years back and it was a mixed bag after that for the last two services. But some of their old service staff are still there & have known me for a long time. And my Compass was pretty popular in workshop, as it was the first vehicle from their dealership for which people from FCA had come down to check on the instrument cluster errors. Was never overbilled for anything and had no major complaints after any service with KHT Yeswanthpur, had a pretty positive experience with them.

So overall it was a pretty pleasant experience to own the Jeep Compass & I have had some very personal, long drive experiences on it.

To conclude:

Would I recommend the Jeep Compass to anyone looking at a vehicle in this segment – In one word – Yes. In my opinion, if you are looking at sheer driving pleasure & sorted handling, there is no other comparable option in this segment as of today, the competitions still got a long way to catch up with it. To understand what I am saying, I would suggest you test drive the Compass, after test driving all the other SUV’s in this segment. But and big one at that, don’t buy the Jeep Compass, expecting Maruti like service bills or Toyota like reliability, be prepared for a bit more & take the additional warranty which is offered.

Did I look at replacing the Jeep compass with another Compass – My current need was for an automatic, I did test drive the SUV’s in this segment but nothing came close to the Compass in terms of Handling / Driving pleasure. So went back to the Jeep Compass, took a test drive of the automatic version but wasn’t very impressed with the Compass automatic version and I felt that the power delivery had mellowed down a little bit when compared to the earlier versions. So yes, I did look at replacing it with another Compass, but didn’t go ahead with it.

Happy Motoring to all those who still have the Jeep Compass with them, am already missing it. Parting picture of my lovely Jeep Compass, taken when the sun was setting down.