JEEP COMPASS TRAILHAWK, MR PERFECT?

The most desirable car in India?

If a genie asked you a wish, and you wished for the most perfect  car for India. There is a high chance that the genie would give you a Jeep Compass Trailhawk

A pretty powerful car with an agile handling still carry my family and stuffs easily with enough luxury, incredible ride quality and refinement, decent off road ability great fun to drive, a perfect balance on and off the road and easy on pocket.

I am pretty sure that designers at Jeep had come across similar situation and asked him what i mentioned above. That wish came true in form of The Jeep Compass Trailhawk, The most perfect car/SUV for India.

I am a kind of a person who never loved a SUV, i am not against SUV but its not my taste. Sports Utility Vehicle as expanded, was supposed to perfectly balanced between a car and a offroader , But it was never "Sporty", They were incredibly boring to drive with a centre of gravity of a giraffe resulting in an enormous body roll and turns like a ship. "Utility" it was in case of space but they were too big for the roads and expensive to maintain. The ride of the "Vehicle" was never the best due to lot of vertical movements by those soft suspensions. In short they never made sense to its name.

Most people settle for an SUV for the sheer size it have. It gives you a feel of superiority, like a king over the peasants on the road. Also you can take it anywhere, So even if the road got over you are never done. 

Compromising your 90% of driving comfort and fun of the other 10% was never the best choice from my view, that too when a vast majority taking them even through a small unpaved path.

Cars though were much easier to live with were not loved as much as a SUV because they couldn't tackle broken piece of roads or unpaved roads and also the space was not offered as much as  an SUV. Still spending lot for SUV which can't take everyday challenges would be pain in the ass for a practical guy who wants just one car in the garage. 

This is where breeds of crossover SUVs are coming into action, The Jeep Compass can  be looked into consideration. Compass was the smallest JEEP which you could buy. The moment it was teased, the world had lot of expectation on the product. When it was launched it lived up to it's hype and the market accepted the product pretty well. It lacked  on some equipment but was a great premium package with everything necessary.

The Introduction of  Compass opened a new segment to automotive world, in India other companies started to bring in their products to rival the American. Mahindra was first with an updated XUV500 and then Tata with the harrier, MG with hector and Kia with their latest Seltos. Every single product was pretty good and had their ups and downs, but the higher prictag of compass caused many potential buyers to choose the rivaling pseudo SUVs over the Compass.

You could argue urban SUVs and pseudo SUVs does the same what compass do for much cheaper rate. With its easy maintainability, not being harsh to live with and decent to handle everyday stuffs they instantly took the market by storm, Yet they never were real SUVs and was more of a hatchback on steroids. They were not the most  driver friendly with some visible roll and most didn't even  offer proper 4wd system and none had independent rear suspension, I would call them wannabe SUVs. If you just want a big car go for the next, but if you want something more go for the compass.

This was when the JEEP introduced a more expensive special edition of an already expensive car. The JEEP Compass Trailhawk is 7 lakhs more expensive(on road) than the top varient Compass (limited plus). So is trailhawk just a huge waste of money?? We are here to answer everything about it.

JEEP was pioneers in building off-road vehicles and SUVs, From US armed forces to civilians JEEP provided tough and strong vehicle with safety and ability to tackle any terrains, but Compass was not a great off-roader to be honest. The manufacturer claims trailhawk to be much more capable SUV unlike regular compass. This can be observed from the way exterior looks. The trailhawk now has steeper angle of approach and departure. The car does looks to have more clearance with the ground too. The new front bumper is slightly inspired from the Grand Cherokee Trackhawk and does look great. The black paintjob on the bonnet too sets it apart from a regular compass. 

The trackhawk also comes with retuned suspension with more wheel travel, It does comes with selective frequency damping which was offered in compass but different state of tune. The intake of the vehicle is placed much higher too, that helps in better water wading ability. The trail rated 4X4 badge which is JEEPs rating for off road ability offered is also observed on the fender. Skid plates of larger size is also provided to protect all the critical components.

Get into the cabin and you observe the 9speed automatic torque converter unit with low ratio gearbox and 5 driving mode (Auto,Snow, Sand, Mud, Rock) all these features convinces you that the Trailhawk is a pretty decent offroader from its appearance alone.

The car do misses out on certain features like electrically adjustable seats as the higher water wading height could cause the seats to have electrical failures.

LUXURIOUS INTERIOR

The interior of the cabin is inspired from the Grand Cherokee, The dash looks simple but classy and luxurious with pretty good quality and nicely stitched leather. It does live up to its premium pricing feeling unique, posh and modern. The instrument cluster has got larger multi instrument display and that looks premium too.

GRAND CHEROKEE INSPIRED COCKPIT

PANORAMIC SUN ROOF 

The car can comfortably seat 5 and provide comfortable space for all, The front seats are large and has got good lumbar support and steering feels good to hold too. The panoramic sunroof is also offered in trailhawk.

Safety was one of the prime consideration taken into account while designing the compass, Its really safe with cross bars placed on doors and basic safety equipments. Ofcourse its an American car so safety standards are something you can  trust. 

THE DRIVE

I have highlighted the title because that's where the surprise is. The Jeep  does look like a SUV but dont expects the drive to be boring. The torque converter unit is not the quickest gearbox but is super smooth with shifts. The car accelerates with urgency but is not intimidating The 170 hp engine is the same offered in the compass but re tuned for BS6 emission norms, mated to automatic gearbox it feels smoother than before.  The engine does feel quieter and refined from the regular compass i drove. I think the BS6 updates made it more desirable. The 9speed automatic was smooth but quick overtake is where it lags. The gearbox would be running in 7th and when you step on the accelerator, It thinks for which gear to give, That is a waste of a few seconds which makes overtakes a bit difficult.The throttle  response is good but the slow gearbox made me wish for a dual clutch gearbox in the trailhawk. 

LARGER DRIVER INFORMATION DISPLAY

The trailhawk gains speed pretty fast and could cruise as long as you want. You may drive it slow and steady which is fine but push it hard and it  surprises you. The trailhawk feels so stable and planted at high speeds and it doesn't roll. It just refuses to roll and could put many cars into shame, thanks to roll over mitigation. Changing lanes and hitting the twisties were really fun and surprizing, we carried an average speed of 140kmph on "Indian roads"!!!, and we took a corner which could topple a Scorpio without even trying hard at almost 150kmph on a Trailhawk and we didnt even felt scared but a rush of adrenaline and a wide grin in our face appreciating the Trailhawk for the driving fun it offers. A 2 ton SUV carrying these speed through corners without passengers been tossed around was just something very rare. The Jeep Compass Trailhawk will take you from point A to point B faster than any other car in this price point.

The steering gives you immense feedback on the road feel and is direct, the SUV just goes where you point it to.But don't expect so much from it as a small amount of under steer do exist,but its nothing as per SUV standard, still its more recommended to be taken nice and easy through a mountain road.

As the trailhawk goes through a corner you feel a inertia acting on you, similar to the G forces you feel in a hot hatches, its more of a side ward pull that a roll. I never loved to drive an  SUV but Trailhawk surely was a pleasure to drive. Highways are where the compass feels the best, Carrying high speeds it is planted and stable. You  can carry much higher cruising speed in the Jeep than most other vehicles at this pricepoint. 

DOORS THAT OPEN 90 DEGREE

Then comes the party trick the ride quality, A car so good at handling department generally caused spine injuries due to stiff suspension, But that is not applicable here, The selective damping suspensions mounted to independent rear axle makes trailhawk glides through gutter or potholes filled uneven roads like it doesn't exist, you carry much higher speed than the traffic on a broken piece of road still neither the driver not the passengers feels the unevenness at all. We literally took the car through potholes at 100kmph or so, and all we feel was a small thud sound and nothing else. It glides over broken roads like a flowing water and you could see other vehicles accumulating there like rocks, What you feel is exactly what a ancient royal king feels when he looks down at peasents, that's how superiors you are with the trailhawk.

 The brakes were stupendous too, it anchors the 2 ton car with relative easiness and proves enough bite and feedback. All credits to the monocoque frame which unlike ladder frame reduces  the centre of gravity and unsprung mass making it agile and fun, It feels more car like than a big bulky SUV. The re tuned suspension too had to be given credits for the phenomenal ride.

Offroad was one area which i was not able to test properly, The car is rated with Trail Rted 4x4 which is a standardization by jeep representing a Jeeps ability off road that represent it can tackle toughest of terrains. The small drive through muddy terrain was fun and the low ratio gearbox do help you to tackle almost all kinds of steeps and climbs. It is not a puny off roader. It can do pretty difficult tasks which only the Fortuner or Endeavour could perform. 

TRAIL RATED BADGE=OFF ROAD READY

In short Trailhawk is a JEEP Compass tailored to perfection, It is more agile, more capable, more comfortable, smother version of JEEP Compass for slightly more money.

Compass was an inncredibly cheap car to maintain, and trailhawk is no different, It has a service interval of 15,000 km/ 1year  whichever comes first, and this includes a replacement of Engine oil, fuel filter, oil filter, air filter and ac filter along  with ad blue refilling and general checkup, which costs under 10,000 Rs only. Even hatchbacks costs more to maintain than that.

It may not be as tough as an endeavour or fortuner, but they are hardcore SUV which are difficult to manage on road. It may not be of great value for money like the 2WD pseodo SUVs or premium cars but its a bit of best from both worlds.

SUPERIOR BY NATURE

Its the perfect balance between a car and an SUV,  Today nothing hits this balance perfectly in Indian market as a JEEP Compass Trailhawk, Its a car in its dynamics and SUV on its roughness, or a car which can tackle bad roads and SUV which is agile and fun to drive.

So the verdict, Even though the normal compass and trailhawk comes under same platform they are in different class. Trailhawk cannot be compared to the other mini SUVs and the regular compass too. The Trailhawk is a 50%SUV and 50%CAR in a good way. Its one of my absolute favorites. If i could afford it i would have surely bought one. You cant compare pseudo SUV with compass as they are 2 different breed.

Do take a test drive and i guarantee you that it will make you feel all the other pseudo SUVs feels miserable and if you are ready to spend that 35 lakhs on a car please go for The Compass Trailhawk.

The other options for a compass Trailhawk buyer would be a VW tiguan and a Skoda Kodiaq which are equally great too but have not got a chance to drive so not gonna compare them, so do try them too before deciding.  

BY AMBADY ANIL & AARON JOSEPH