2023 Jeep Compass Trailhawk 4x4 on 2040-cars

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2017 Jeep Compass is finally a compact crossover worthy of its badge

Jeep finally thinks it has a Compass that points true north. When the compact crossover first debuted alongside the Patriot for the 2007 model year, it was all wrong. The original Compass didn't look like a Jeep, didn't have any off-road credibility, and wasn't remotely fun to drive. It was, by all accounts, a failure. A mid-cycle refresh helped matters in 2011, and the addition of a six-speed automatic to replace the unloved CVT made 2014 and later models the best of the breed. Until now, that is. View 14 Photos There's a brand-new Jeep Compass for 2017, and it looks to put Jeep's compact crossover contender back on track. The new Compass looks a lot like a shrunken Grand Cherokee, which is no bad thing. A slotted grille leads the way, and the bulging fenders and slowly rising bodysides add visual interest to the two-box shape. An optional dual-pane sunroof should help keep the cabin from feeling too confining, though the Compass lacks any sort of removable top system like that of its smaller sibling, the Renegade. One engine will be available in the United States. The 2.4-liter Tigershark four-cylinder engine offers 180 horsepower and 175 pound-feet of torque. That's 8 more ponies and 10 more lb-ft than before. Buyers can choose from three transmission options, starting with a six-speed manual on either 4x2 or 4x4 versions. Front-wheel-drive Compass models get a six-speed auto option, while 4x4 models get a nine-speed. Both the Jeep Active Drive and Jeep Active Drive Low – the latter system features a crawl ratio – can send 100 percent of the engine's available torque to whichever individual wheel has the most traction. A Trailhawk model (above in red) is a new addition to the Compass line, and it comes with unique fascias and a small suspension lift that improve its off-road cred with a 30-degree approach angle, 24-degree breakover angle, and 34-degree departure angle. Trailhawk models get Hill Descent Control and a Rock Mode added to the Selec-Terrain system, which, coupled with a 20:1 crawl ratio, should make the Trail Rated Compass the most capable vehicle in its class. As you would expect, the Compass is a unibody. That should make it pretty comfortable on the road, too, and its Koni frequency damping struts both front and rear ought to make it ride pretty well. Inside, there are three different center LCD screen sizes, depending on trim. Base models get a 5.0-inch unit, with larger 7.0- and 8.4-inch units optional.

Build a Jeep Gladiator 392 next? The Hummer H3T Alpha blazed the trail

The 2021 Wrangler Rubicon 392 will combine the go-anywhere capability of a Jeep's iconic off-roader with the grunt of a V8 for the first time in decades. As cool as that is, we can't help but think Jeep is missing out on a huge opportunity to pair that 470-horsepower, 6.4-liter Hemi V8 with the Wrangler's pickup cousin, the Jeep Gladiator, in the form of a Mojave 392.  Autoblog took part in a media Q&A session with Jeep ahead of the Rubicon 392's announcement in which the company's product higher-ups said that there are currently no official plans to build a 392 variant of the Gladiator pickup. But whether or not Jeep has plans, it certainly has precedent, and from our perspective, a market.  Rewind to 2008, better known as one of the worst possible years to introduce a gas-guzzling, V8-powered pickup truck. Enter the 2009 Hummer H3T Alpha, the first variant of Hummer's midsize truck/SUV hybrid to be offered with a 5.3-liter V8. The 300-horsepower small-block was an upgrade to the sturdy but relatively uninspiring 3.7-liter inline-5 that the H3 lineup had inherited from its midsize pickup platform mates.  As our Jeremy Korzeniewski noted in the Rubicon 392's introductory piece, an open-top Jeep has not been offered with an optional V8 for as long as the "Wrangler" nameplate has existed. The last Jeep 4x4 to do so was still a CJ, or civilian Jeep, and the 304 cubic-inch engine came from American Motors Corporation. Incidentally, this generation of the Wrangler is also the first to be offered in a pickup variant. Cue the beard-stroking.  Now, frankly, it's not even remotely fair to compare the H3T's powertrain offerings to the decade-newer Gladiator's, but the Hummer actually boasts a few advantages over Jeep's modern pickup. While most of the Jeep's off-road specs give it an edge, the Gladiator doesn't come close to the H3T's 30.1-degree departure angle, for instance. And in more practical terms, the stubbier H3T has other maneuverability advantages. The Gladiator has 3" of wheelbase and 5" of overall length on the H3T, and a 22.4-foot turning radius to show for it. The Hummer's? Just 18.5'.

Vile Gossip: My Jeep Wrangler dreams

Jean Jennings has been writing about cars for more than 30 years, after stints as a taxicab driver and as a mechanic in the Chrysler Proving Grounds Impact Lab. She was a staff writer at Car and Driver magazine, the first executive editor and former president and editor-in-chief of Automobile Magazine, the founder of the blog Jean Knows Cars and former automotive correspondent for Good Morning America. She has lifetime awards from both the Motor Press Guild and the New England Motor Press Association. Look for more Vile Gossip columns in the future.The new 2018 Jeep Wrangler's model designation is JL, my original initials, as in Jean Lienert. Don't Google that. You'll find I died in 2014 in Pittsburgh at age 85. I take this JL thing as a sign from God that I am supposed to finally buy a new Wrangler, the very first car of my dreams when my dreams included saving $25,000 and living off the grid in a one-room log cabin with all of my cast iron pots and pans. I did live in a tiny log cabin once, but when I discovered there was no line for phone, fax and printer, I trudged down the dirt road a half mile, knocked on a stranger's door and borrowed their phone to call AT&T. So much for living off the grid. And so much for the Wrangler. I bought a truck, which was useful, but it was not a Jeep, a fact confirmed when I landed a job writing about cars. Among the Porsches and Fords and Ferraris and Dodge Power Wagons were Jeep Wranglers. Wranglers meant adventure. Here are two favorites:1981 — Delivering the Pig of Bronze, Car and Driver's over-accessorized 1978 project Jeep CJ-7 (named for its chrome hood ornament), to the police chief of rural Waterloo, Neb. He got it because he wrote the editor a letter asking for it. It was my assignment to drive it there. I plotted as many miles of dirt roads as possible between Michigan and Nebraska, not wanting to waste my first big Jeep adventure on pavement and never questioning the ability of this denim-trimmed orange Jeep and its aftermarket aluminum wheels to get us there.So naive. Somewhere in deepest Iowa with the windshield flipped down to the hood for maximum coolness, the Pig's rear end began to shudder. As we rolled to a stop, the photographer looked back in time to see one of the five fancy extra-long chrome lug nuts plop into the dust. Two others had vanished. The last two had backed off to the ends of their studs.