Jeep Compass

Jeep has tried to make the cabin of the Compass as nice and premium as possible, and this ranks highly as one of the best built and finished cabins in its category. The dual-tone black and white upholstery looks fine but is hard to keep clean.

The perfect ergonomic setup, with height-adjustable driver’s seat, tilt-adjustable multi-functional steering wheel, and in-vision instrument console, makes up for a great driving experience ahead. The center console of the dashboard here is neatly designed too, with a simple 7-inch touchscreen infotainment system and panel for the automatic climate control below it.

While the cabin of the Jeep Compass is decently equipped with the features aforementioned above, the rear seats feel a bit cramped in terms of knee room and legroom.

Designed on the lines of the mighty flagship, the Grand Cherokee, the Jeep Compass looks like a scaled-down version of the same, which is a good thing, to begin with, thus reflecting its premium aspirations.

The Jeep Compass has a bold stance when viewed head-on, with a wide front grille having seven separate rectangular slats that get individual chrome surrounds. Just adjacent to either side of the grille, there are wide headlamps, which sadly in this variant, are devoid of any LED lights and do away with just simple halogen illumination. The fog lamps do get dedicated housings on the corners of the front bumper, with turn indicators integrated along with them. 

The Jeep Compass is very well proportioned from the sideways as well, with a high stance and ground clearance working in its favor. The wraparound design for the roofline garnish is one nice and unique touch which is a trademark design bit of the Compass. Another bit that adds some toughness to the design on the sides are squared wheel arches, which along with the bottom portion of the doors, do come with tough-looking body cladding.

The Jeep Compass has been given quite simple design at the rear, with the wraparound chrome garnish of upper window-line seamlessly blending with the lower portion of the rear windscreen. The kinked shaped tail lamps do get nice looking LED inserts, while the rear bumper looks tough with its heavy body cladding.

While the Jeep Compass misses out on the very acclaimed four-wheel-drive system from the company in this Philippines-spec model, the Jeep Compass still manages to feel rock solid and tough over off-road terrains, especially the mild ones. The SUV even feels calm and composed when it comes to urban and highway driving manners, making it one of the best SUVs to drive in its category. 

Powering the Jeep Compass is a 1.4-litre four-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine, which makes 163 PS of maximum power output and 250 Nm of maximum torque output. The engine here is paired to a 7-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox as standard, and is offered with the sole option of a front-wheel drive system.

The Philippines-spec Jeep Compass is not as heavily loaded as the global version when it comes to safety, but still, it manages to get some decent amount of kit, like the front, side, curtain, and driver knee airbags, ABS with EBD, electronic stability control, rear parking sensors, traction control, and reverse camera.

The Philippines-spec Jeep Compass might be missing out on a number of comfort, convenience, and safety features that are available in higher-spec variants sold overseas. But apart from that, it is very much the same model in terms of the way it has been built, designed, and engineered under the skin, which makes it one of the most lovable SUVs to drive.