It’s a made-in-India Jeep. The original Jeep. The Jeep Compass was unveiled at Ranjangaon, Pune, and will be on sale this July. Unlike the other two Jeep products available so far in India – the Wrangler and the Cherokee – which are imports, the Jeep Compass is an India-made, completely localised SUV that should be pretty attractively priced, going by most guesstimates.
The big question is, how much would you be willing to cough up for this compact five-seater SUV? We think it will directly compete with the Hyundai Tucson and Skoda Yeti, putting it broadly in the Rs 25 lakh to Rs 30 lakh price bracket.
Is it worth that price? Hmm... That depends on the value you see with what it offers. First up, let’s look at the design. It incorporates elements of the larger Jeep Cherokee in the front-end, like the square-block, seven-slat grille, as well as the compact dimensions of the smaller Jeep Renegade.
It’s about the same size as a Skoda Yeti. It has 178 mm of ground clearance, which is just a couple of mm lower than a Yeti.
It will be offered with two engine options in India – a 1.4-litre, four-cylinder ‘multi-air’ (turbo-charged) petrol engine that puts out 160 bhp of power and 250 Nm of torque, as well as a 2-litre diesel engine that puts out 170 bhp of power and 350 Nm of torque. It will have options of a six-speed manual transmission or a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission.
A couple of variants will be offered with Jeep’s “Selec-Terrain” all-wheel drive system that offers modes for snow, sand and mud, and an auto mode in case you want the Compass to do it for you.
It comes will disc brakes all round and ABS as standard.
Jeep claims the top-end variants will be loaded with nearly 50 safety features such as six airbags, electronic stability control, electronic parking brake and hill start assist.
In terms of convenience features, it will have automatic climate control, a touch screen infotainment system with navigation, steering audio control and cruise control.
It has an independent front and rear suspension system, which Jeep claims offers great ride quality, but we can’t vouch for that until we drive it in June this year.
So, what would you be willing to shell out for the Jeep Compass? Do you think it’s worth our indicated price of Rs 25 lakh? Let us know what you think in the comment box below.
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