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Driven: Jeep Compass 4xe Trailhawk. Image by Jeep.

Driven: Jeep Compass 4xe Trailhawk
A plug-in hybrid drivetrain with 240hp in a vehicle the size of the Jeep Compass is interesting, but the execution misses the mark somewhat.

   



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Jeep Compass 4xe Trailhawk

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Combining the power, performance and parsimony (claimed) of a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) drive system with Jeep's fabled 'Trailhawk' off-road themes, are these features enough to make the often-overlooked Compass more competitive in the midsized crossover class?

Test Car Specifications

Model: 2024 Jeep Compass 1.3 4xe PHEV 240 Trailhawk
Price: Compass from £34,150, 4xe PHEV from £44,655
Engine: 1.33-litre four-cylinder turbocharged petrol plus 44kW electric motor
Battery: 11.4kWh lithium-ion
Transmission: six-speed automatic, all-wheel drive
Power: petrol 180hp at 5,750rpm, electric 60hp, system max 240hp
Torque: petrol 270Nm at 1,850-2,250rpm, electric 250Nm, system max 270Nm
Emissions: 47-48g/km
Economy: 141mpg
Electric driving range: 22 miles
0-62mph: 7.3 seconds
Top speed: 124mph (hybrid mode, 84mph electric)
Boot space: 420-1,252 litres
Kerb weight: 1,935kg

Styling

The second-generation Compass has been around since 2016 so it's not in the first flush of youth, but the Trailhawk touches do give it some much-needed visual oomph. Bonnet graphics and black alloys work well with Jeep's trademark squared-off wheel arches and seven-slot front grille, while that little 'Trail Rated' roundel on the front wings is a mark of the company's belief in the true 4x4 prowess of the Compass. In any other trim grade than this, the Compass looks... kind of OK, but not much more, so it's an appealing overall finish.

Interior

The cabin of the Jeep Compass is, again, good without being groundbreaking. With its 10.25-inch instrument cluster and 10.1-inch infotainment screen, on first glance the American crossover appears as if it is up with prevailing tech standards in this class, but then when you starting interacting with the kit the display in front of the driver is not massively configurable nor populated with the glitziest graphics, and the main infotainment interface isn't the greatest to use either. Material quality elsewhere is decent, however, and people who loathe the latest smartphone-inspired touchscreens will be pleased to see the Compass' near-ten-year-old interior still works mainly on physical buttons. That makes it easy to get on with, as operating most of its major functions is intuitive, rather than exasperating.

Practicality

While both the Avenger and the Renegade are restricted in terms of their rear-passenger space, the slightly larger Compass is less compromised - so the idea of four adults getting comfortable onboard is not beyond the realms of possibility. There's a good boot on the 4xe too, rated at 420 litres, so it's pretty much the same as the e-Hybrid model in the range and therefore should prove useful for those wanting a compact crossover to serve as a family car.

Performance

The Compass 4xe uses Jeep's smaller PHEV drivetrain, which sees a 1.33-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine teamed to a 44kW electric motor and a (rather modest these days) 11.4kWh battery pack. With the engine doling out 180hp/270Nm and the e-motor adding in with 60hp/250Nm more, peak quoted outputs are 240hp (sum of the parts) and... 270Nm (which is just the petrol's figure on its own). On paper, it makes for a set of stats that might be deemed middling, in the wider context of PHEVs, but which are enough to place the 4xe at the top of the Compass powertrain tree: 0-62mph in 7.3 seconds, with up to 141mpg, a 22-mile electric range and CO2 emissions below the 50g/km marker to go with that purported pace.

Sadly, this particular set-up is really showing its age now, with particularly poor refinement. A sluggardly six-speed automatic doesn't exactly help matters, and on one steep uphill out of our home village, the Compass PHEV made a terrific amount of din as it revved right out... but our rate of knots didn't seem to increase in the slightest; in fact, the acceleration, such as it was, could best be described as 'painful'. The battery was nearly full at this point, too, so the e-motor should've been helping out, but apparently it couldn't be bothered.

It's not, though, as if for the rest of the time the Compass Trailhawk felt anything like as sprightly as that on-paper 0-62mph time might suggest, because it didn't. In truth, it felt leaden. And don't expect a nice economy payoff either, here, because across 171 carefully driven miles in its company - of which the Jeep's trip computer itself reckoned it managed 73 miles on electric power alone - the 4xe's trip computer showed an average economy of just 37mpg. Poor, and we could have got much more than that from the e-Hybrid powertrain instead in the same circumstances, we reckon.

Ride & Handling

At more than 1.9 tonnes, the 4xe's kerb weight does not stand scrutiny against the hybrid Compass' figure of 1,575kg. And that translates into a ride that's always a fraction too busy and unsettled on the Trailhawk's 17-inch alloys with off-road-biased tyres, while rolling refinement isn't stellar either - you'll hear plenty of both wind and road noise as you motor along in the Compass 4xe, not to mention that raucous 1.33-litre engine. OK, this crossover is probably a little more cultured and dignified to travel in that the related Renegade 4xe, but then that's not a very high refinement bar to have to clear, is it?

And the handling is mediocre. Too much body roll and too little steering feel couple together to dissuade the driver from stoking the Compass 4xe up into a steaming charge along a challenging back road, long before they've had to deal with the noise of the powertrain and the dim-wittedness of the automatic transmission. Honestly, we know Jeep can do PHEVs quite well, but the end result of driving the Compass 4xe was that we were simply yearning for the company's supposedly more modest e-Hybrid drivetrain instead. Not a good outcome for a flagship, that.

Value

The Compass range begins at £34,150, considerably more than either the brilliant little Avenger (£24,999) or the Renegade (£30,709). Now, are we comparing apples to oranges, given the Compass is supposed to be a class above both of these two stablemates? Possibly. But given that, astoundingly, our 4xe Trailhawk was not a £34,000 car but one costing £44,655, no amount of standard equipment can make up for that staggering list-price figure. It's what the top road-going spec of Compass 4xe, the Summit, costs these days, and even the entry grade of the PHEV is the wrong side of 40 large. So, weighing all of that up and setting it alongside the rather unimpressive way the 4xe drives, we cannot conscionably do anything other than recommend the Compass e-Hybrid to you instead, especially as the most that will set you back is £36,650 in North Star trim.

Verdict

Despite its advancing years, the Jeep Compass is still a decent compact crossover if you want something a little different from the 'norm', but we'd wholeheartedly avoid the 4xe drivetrain if we were you. It's unrefined and noisy, and doesn't seem to bring much to the party in terms of real-world fuel economy either. You're better off sticking with the 48-volt hybrid model if you really want a Compass... or, of course, looking elsewhere if you want a more up-to-date PHEV, or crossover-SUV in general.



Matt Robinson - 10 Jan 2025



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2024 Jeep Compass 4xe Trailhawk. Image by Jeep.2024 Jeep Compass 4xe Trailhawk. Image by Jeep.2024 Jeep Compass 4xe Trailhawk. Image by Jeep.2024 Jeep Compass 4xe Trailhawk. Image by Jeep.2024 Jeep Compass 4xe Trailhawk. Image by Jeep.

2024 Jeep Compass 4xe Trailhawk. Image by Jeep.2024 Jeep Compass 4xe Trailhawk. Image by Jeep.2024 Jeep Compass 4xe Trailhawk. Image by Jeep.2024 Jeep Compass 4xe Trailhawk. Image by Jeep.2024 Jeep Compass 4xe Trailhawk. Image by Jeep.








 

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