By William Coleman
One of the many perks of the job is being able to get our hands on the latest tow cars and deliver you a totally unbiased opinion of what you can get for your money. Having a tow car that is up to the job is one of the most important parts of a caravan holiday, especially if you like to travel far afield for you leisure time. The Jeep Compass did not seem to make a very good impression on the UK reviewers, but we have a slightly different opinion on this fab little 4×4.
The CaravanTimes team first got our hands on the Jeep Compass at the Caravan and Motorhome Club Tow Car Of The Year testing at Milbrook in the summer of this year. Despite not taking any awards home at the actual award show we were intrigued and wanted to take a deeper look into this tow car because we really enjoyed it and gave it a very high score.
I would not go as far to say the reviews of the Jeep Compass 2.0 Multijet are scathing but they are certainly not inline with our feelings. First of you you have to look at the price range of this 4×4 and what you are actually getting for your money.
Priced between £24,745 – £34,290, meaning there is a lot of room for extras and upgrades, is a very reasonable price for a tow car of this level. The model we tested this week was top end and priced at £36,145, as it has every bell and whistle you could possible ask for.
If you were to get a top spec towcar/4×4 from Land Rover or other top brand names you would have to dig a lot deeper into the pocket.
We tested the the Jeep Compass in two 2 stages: Stage 1 was towing and stage 2 was practical day to day use. To ensure we got a very fair point of view 3 of the CaravanTimes team tested the Jeep over the space of a week.
Exterior
As first glance the Jeep Compass is an extremely smart looking vehicle, if not deceivingly small from the outside.
Face on you are presented with the classic Jeep grill, which on closer inspection you will find that the vents are blocked off meaning this is just for show so it can keep in line with other Jeep models.
The car looks like a proper SUV and has a very good chunky look all the way round giving it a much more bulky expensive appearance, hence why I am sticking to my guns that you do get a of bang for your buck.
The 18″ alloys wheels stand out well and gives the overall look a boost in the right direction, combine that with keyless entry and the press to start option you really do have a very modern SUV on your hands.
So if you are looking for a tow car that will look great both onsite and in Tesco’s car park the Jeep Compass is one to consider.
Interior
Once you’ve been wowed by the outside you may like the inside just as much. The inside tore the CaravanTimes team down the middle and we just could not agree. Based on my opinion I quite liked it but it is not without its issues.
The one thing the inside does provide is an abundance of open space, something you would not expect looking at the exterior. The good thing about the space is the amount you can load onboard, but on the flip side it does feel very empty when you are on you own or driving with just one passenger.
My main gripe with the interior layout was just how far down everything was. You have to sit fairly high up to see over the steering wheel which mean reaching down to hand break and cup holders meant having to take a quick glance to make sure your hand were heading in the right direction.
Full leather seating, cup holders, fully electric seats and mirrors are a nice addition and does make for quite a comfortable journey but at times it does feel a tad too spacious.
Bells & Whistles
From start to finish this sports utility vehicle has it all and is without a doubt is one of the most highly specked cars I have even been in.
Where do we start on the long list of features we found both in and out of the Compass? 360 parking sensors, which at times were a tad annoying, parallel & perpendicular park assist, lane detection, cruise control, automatic lights, blind spot, Cross-path Detection, automatic window wipers and Apple CarPlay. There are far too many to list here but these are some of the highlights.
The good thing about the bad things, overly sensitive 360 parking sensors, is that they can all be switched off and on whenever you like where as other vehicles, such as my own personal car, make you keep these “safety features” on at all times.
I know I keep mentioning it but for the price you really will struggle to find a car with such a high spec for the same price tag, which for me makes this a winner.
Driving
The Compass is a very smooth vehicle to drive and I cannot really highlight anything that I did not like.
The manual 6 speed gearbox and 4 driving modes mean that no matter where you find yourself you will be able to handle the terrain without much trouble.
We drove it on motorways, residential roads, dirt tracks and off road. Even on the bumpiest of routes the Jeep held its own. You really can have a lot of fun driving one of these.
The 140hp diesel does have a kick when you want to put your foot down and maintains a nice smooth sounding engine, despite what other reviews have said about its petrol counterpart.
I did find one oddity I could not quite put my finger on, all 3 drivers actually experienced this. When going over speedbumps, at a very low speed, the suspension seemed to bottom out and it felt as though the wheel was about to come off. But when taking this down a road full of deep potholes it handled like a dream, very odd.
Being a 4 wheel drive means that you can tackle pretty much every road in the UK, but having a caravan hitched up may prove a bit of a challenge even for this SUV.
Overall I very much enjoyed the driving experience the Compass provided. We covered a good few hundred miles and enjoyed almost every moment.
Towing
Ok, now for the most important part of the review. How did this perform as a tow car?
The Jeep Compass is a very capable tow car and will hold its own against a lot of the more popular options out there.
The Compass handled extremely well on A-roads and the caravan did not affect stability one bit on the drive.
The Jeep is significantly lighter than expected for the size of the car. This means it has a max towing weight of 1500KG but with an appropriately matched caravan the Compass tows very well.
Worth mentioning that this is a perfect tow vehicle if you have a restricted license because there are few cars of this size that allow you to tow on a restricted license.
The manual gearbox is great and for me brilliant for towing. Whilst most big luxury cars are automatic the manual box provides an extra level of control if you are taking your caravan off the beaten track or being used all year where snow and ice can cause significant problems for the automatics.
The control, driving position and ride high are all great. The jeep is easy to use whilst still having that luxury feel.
This could be the perfect tow vehicle if you are under 40 or like to be a bit more adventurous on your holidays.
