2017 Jeep Compass Latitude FWD . . . or screaming across the southwest to streams of music, video an
Nobody asked me, but . . .
If you believe in reincarnation as the embodiment of righting all the wrongs you committed first time around, I have the perfect moral motorized companion to enlighten your journey through life 2.0: The all-new 2017 Jeep Compass.
But let’s begin with a bit of history. The first generation Compass, introduced a decade ago, was Jeep’s first entry level Crossover. Somehow the crossing over got lost in translation somewhere mid-stream, and to be candid, the Compass sucked hind tit big time.
Let’s forget all that and focus, instead, on the reincarnation of this small SUV.
Jeep made the Compass easy to figure out. I had 95 percent of the Jeep obeying my every command in 10-15 minutes. With U Connect and CarPlay, my iPhone integrated seamlessly into the Jeep. By the end of my three-day trip, I was referring to the Compass as my 4-wheel iPad.
That three day resulted from the Ed. saying, “Give me the Jeep experience.” Most Jeeps and other 4X4s never set foot on an unpaved road so the fact that my ride was a front-wheel-driver fits the profile of about 80 percent of Jeep owners. For my experience I hooked up with an eclectic group of media (Playboy, Marie Claire, Nylon, Woman’s Day, American Iron, Seventeen, Hot Bike, Digital Trends, Folk magazine, Cowboys & Indians, Motorcycle.com, and including The Cult guitarist, Billy Duffy) gathered together by EagleRider (www.eaglerider.com), a Los Angles-based tour company that will put you on, typically, a Harley or Indian motorcycle of your choosing, a trike such as the Harley Tri-Glide, or behind the wheel of a 3-wheel Polaris Slingshot or a 4-wheel Jeep. You have a choice of either EagleRider guiding your every wheel rotation or self-guided tours. They have offices around the world and probably the most popular route for everyone—Americans, Europeans, Asians—is Route 66 from Chicago to LA.
After a meet and greet, it was off to South Bay Customs (www.southbaycustoms.net), home of some spectacular 2- and 4-wheel rides, for a barbecue dinner and some great tunes compliments of Feed The Kitty, an LA-OC rock band.
Next morning, with light rain pissing down, we headed east to the California desert.
Death and Beauty. Beauty and Death. These two words kept repeating through my brain like a corrupted hard drive as my Jeep Compass and I traversed the aptly named Sheephole Valley Wilderness area, a desolate area east of LA. In the summer it would be 120 degrees-plus. But it was early spring, temps were in the 70s and my Jeep and I were cruising comfortably at high double-digit speeds. The Compass exhibited excellent high-speed stability, and was unaffected by cross winds that were forcefully pushing an EagleRider 4-door Wrangler chase vehicle around. The Compass tracks true. I’m hardly steering. Bumps, whoop-de-doos, broken pavement . . . no problem for the Compass. The ride is comfortable and composed, low speeds and high. The basic building block of this Jeep--it’s Fiat front-wheel-drive platform--is a marvel of today’s CAD-CAM technology. It starts out with the right bones. This rigid structure allows Jeep to create a 4WD version of the Compass with off-road capabilities akin to a mountain goat.
Following an overnight in Laughlin,NV, the other Vegas, I get a chance to play sports car with the Compass on the road leading out of Oatman, AZ, an honest-to-Colt 45, wild west, shoot-‘em-up, gold mining town located in the Black Mountains of Mohave County on old route 66.
We ride out of town on Oatman Topock Hwy, a road as twisty as a desert rattler and with a bite to match. Speed at your peril. Okay, it ain’t no Corvette, but the fwd Compass tracks around corners smoothly and predictably, handling switchbacks and 180s much faster than posted speeds. The road is slippery from blowing sand and fallen rocks. Traction and stability control remove all drama. Way to go Jeep!
The Compass is a small crossover, but, get this, the seating compartment is nearly as roomy as the larger Cherokee. And it’s got more cargo space than it’s bigger brother. There’s plenty of room for two up front and a tight knit three-some in the rear. Speaking of tight, the cabin is pleasantly free of wind and road noise at all speeds, on all surfaces, even those above triple digits. Fit and finish are exemplary, as is the abundance of feel good soft-touch surfaces, something I couldn’t say about the Compass’s predecessor.
Do yourself a favor: Order the optional power driver’s seat. It’s terrific. Not once did I dismount feeling ridden hard and put away wet. You also want Apple CarPlay or the Google Android equivalent. Say goodbye to smart phones that drive you to distraction. Siri gives you text messages verbally, and you can respond in kind. These seat and communication-entertainment options are part of two $995 option packages. Bummer, right? Yeah, these option packages add two grand to the $24,295 base price, but, trust me, you’ll kick yourself sideways about two days after your purchase if you don’t order these options.
I added one option not available from Jeep: a Garmin Dash Cam 55 (www.garmin.com), which tracked the Compass’s every move.
Garmin provides a permanent mount for their dash cams, but mine was taped to the Compass windshield so that it could be removed before the Compass was returned to Jeep.
The motorvator for all this Jeep enjoyment is a 2.4-liter 4-cylinder with plenty of umph for almost every condition. From rest the Compass jumps like a scalded coyote. Fully loaded, driving up Baker Grade you can figure on the 6-speed automatic homing in on 4th or 5th and possibly finding a droning 3300-rpm engine speed.
The price one pays for relaxed, quiet, low-rev, high-mpg cruising (I averaged XX mpg over our 590 miles of rather aggressive driving) is the need for the tranny to downshift a couple of gears before it produces enough torque to put you into passing mode. So . . . plan ahead.
Driving solo across wide swaths of our southwestern deserts provides lots of time for thinking and tuning. Okay, mostly tuning the SiriusXM satellite radio in the Compass. I don’t believe in coincidences so the music gods must have been paying keen attention.
A few examples . . . Jumping cholla and Joshua trees are found throughout Joshua Tree National Park, and there is one geological feature you can’t miss: Huge piles of boulders which look like the Thing let his kids run amuck with rocks instead of Legos. Does Jumping Jack Flash and Dylan singing Everybody Must Get Stoned, rock you? And heading into Vegas, what do I get? Elvis, of course. Driving into Oatman, it’s The Eagles and Hotel California. Across the mesmerizing Sheephole Valley Wilderness, what could be better than anything by the Grateful Dead? I’m following a poorly driven SUV that virtually comes to a halt at every turn in the road, but I can’t pass because the road is miles of double yellow. My saving grace? Slow Ride by Foghat.
The route laid out by the EagleRider crew provided me with an opportunity to put the Compass through its paces in wide-open spaces and tight, twisty places. Whether climbing into Idyllwild, storming across the desert, or trundling thorough a crowded Las Vegas, this Jeep is like a chameleon, seamlessly changing its demeanor to suit any driving situation. Yup, this Compass is “the Latitude with an Attitude.”
