I test drove a Jeep Compass and was not entirely thrilled with the vehicle. It's like driving a Dodge Caliber. The interior was pretty cheesy and I felt the vehicle was under powered. When I saw it in person, I was also not pleased with the way it looked. My friend and I were trying to figure out what Jeeps marketing strategies were. The Compass is the girl car, the Patriot is the guy car, where does that leave the Liberty?

Can you comment a bit more on the engine? You felt it was underpowered....how bad? Was it loud?

Also, when you refer to the interior as cheesy, was it the Limited or Basic model....or does it make a difference? Was it cheesy simply because they used plastic, or was the plastic itself poorly aligned and cheap?

Thanks.

...The Compass is the girl car, the Patriot is the guy car, where does that leave the Liberty?

Out conquering the real trails?!?!? :p



j/k

...and was it a CVT or not.

from what i've heard, the extra cost for the limited is definitly worth it. i've only seen the limited in person (inside and out) and turned the car on and it didn't look too cheesy to me. it's a lot roomier that i thought it was going to be. the only thing that was kind of lame was the tailgaiting speakers that flip out. they seemed pretty flimsy.

I do feel like mine has a bit to much plastic on the dash and a few other areas but...........4x4, limited edition, leather, heated seats, AM/FM/CD for less than $23K. Go look at an Escape with those features and see how much $$$.

-Beer

I got to sit in one on my dealers lot for the first time today. I thought it was nice, and it was only $21K which isn't bad these days. It was comfortable in my opinion. I want to go take it for a ride so I can judge how the engine will be in a Patriot.

I also sat in a Hemi Commander and noticed there is no shortage of similar plastic in it as well.

The Subaru dealer is across the street, so I walked back and forth comparing the Outback to the Compass. Very similar, and the Compass was about $4K cheaper. Plus, the Compass is a JEEP so that automatically makes it a better deal in my book.

The other day I saw a black Compass Limited, and unfortunately the passenger's side was all dented and had white paint on it. That would suck to only own the vehicle for a few weeks, if that, and have it wrecked like that.

So, i finally test drove the compass today. i was debating on whether to test it or the 07 unlimited wrangler. anyways, i wish i would have chosen the latter.

the compass wasn't horrible, it just felt like i was driving my old 96 corolla. i don't think it necessarily lacked power for it being a 4 cylinder, and i think people have the misperception that there isn't enough power because you can't feel the changing of the gears.

unfortunately, i didn't think it was very quiet. it was just as loud as my JGC. another thing i didn't really like was the rear window. it was tiny especially because the rear seats are slightly on a stadium seating angle. i've driven the commander that has gotten bad reviews for that reason (that 3rd row seats block the view of the rear window) but i feel that the compass is even worse.

anyways, it's definitly not bad for an entry level vehicle, and especially since it wasn't meant to fit into Jeep's "normal" line-up. i would give it about 2.5-3 out of 5 stars.