2007 Jeep Compass: Big Fat Blind Spot

Trade the guy with the late 80's Dodge in front of you. Good looking truck. Prolly has a 318 leaking oil out of the valve cover gaskets and a 727 trans with a leaky pan. I'll bet he will trade you straight up. You'll both come out winners.

While styling is incredibly subjective (I like the Compass more than the CRV or RAV-4), the effect that it has on visibility is far from useless. While I would say that I personally probably wouldn't discount a car just because of poor sight-lines, it is an important safety issue, and something that's worth documenting.

I thought the visibility on the Matrix/Vibe was bad with it's harshly sloping rear window but the FJ, Element, and this beast appear to be even worse. Of the 3 I haven't driven this one but it can't be as bad as the FJ.

The Compass should have (as standard equipment) paper bags with eye holes for anyone unfortunate enough to have to drive - or be seen riding in - one. It is hideous. What are they smoking in the Jeep design studio? The Patriot looks like it should have little pedals in the floor and the Commander so top heavy it seems you could walk up and push it over. Fortunately there's still the Wrangler, Cherokee and Grand Cherokee to keep Jeep dealers solvent. But with junk like the Compass stinking up the lot, how long will that be?

neely2005: Thats exactly the point I was trying to make.

thats funny...if i were to every buy a compass, i'd buy it because of its looks. i think it is quite classy looking for a small SUV. other things -- the horrendous interior, dimwitted CVT, useless and loud engine (outgunned by a Prius? come on, jeep), and the fact that its a jeep meant for the city -- keep me from doing so.

Ah...finally an Edmunds post after my own heart. Part objectively true- the blind spot is big and a pain-, part sheer and blatant subjectivity, complete with insults in a foreign language (blech) . Much better than the usual ladies' home journal material or the badly informed wannabe automotive journalism. Congratulations!
Btw, the "slapped-on shiny chrome on the bumper" isn't even chrome or any metal known to man. Gag me...

Did I miss something? Is the Cherokee back in production? Both Doug and gspfan mention it as a new vehicle (although to be fair, Doug only seems to imply that it's among current Jeep models).

Well, the new Liberty is sure trying hard to mimic the old Cherokee styling, which I actually liked (the old Cherokee). I also do not care for a lot of Jeep's styling. It all, including the Grand Cherokee, seems plasticky and cheap. I do not care for the door handles on the rear doors. They seem to throw off the profile. For that matter, I don't care for that location period. It looks wrong on the Pathfinder, the X-terra, and the Tundra.
 
If I had this thing and the guy who owned that Dodge truck wanted to trade, I would probably toss him the keys and drive away in his vehicle as quick as I could. Leaky 318 and all. Heck, I could probably fit the Compass in the bed and haul it to the nearest cliff, drop the tailgate, thrown the truck in reverse and then slam on the brakes at the last second and watch the carnage.

Well, with regards to the styling, it's nothing great to me, but Jeep could certainly have done worse and made it look like a CR-V, those are just horrible.
 
The Patriot, Liberty and Commander are all pretty cool, they've got the styling nailed down in my opinion.
 
Isnt the Compass almost done in your LT fleet? Guess you wont have to tolerate it much longer.