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Over the weekend I folded our Jeep Compass's rear seats flat to haul some cargo. When returning them to their upright position I discovered that their seatback recline angle can be set to multiple positions, including this one. This position is less than 90 degress relative to the seat bottom (that's my handy T-square for 90-degree reference). Who sits like this?
I remember hearing a while back that Chrysler/Jeep hadn't always intended to produce both the Compass and Patriot. The two Caliber-clone designs were shown to a focus group. The Compass was overwhelmingly preferred by women and the Patriot preferred by men. At that point, they decided to sell both...
Our long-term Jeep Compass earned its keep during the past week, when It hauled Brownies and camping equipment to the annual Girl Scout Camporee and carpooled kids to and from elementary school.
Despite the fact that the Girl Scout campground had warned (too late) against leaving food in vehicles, nary a feral cat or a ravaging squirrel smashed through the Compass' passenger window to gorge on the peanut butter chocolate chip granola bars I had left exposed in the Jeep's open dash storage bin.
Instead, the Compass suffered a worse fate at the elementary school parking lot where an unknown driver side-swiped the Jeep's rear passenger side and fled the scene.
Sheesh. What kind of lesson in responsiblity is that for your kids?..
OK. I need to say it straight-up. I'm not a big fan of the 2007 Jeep Compass. I think it's pretty damn unattractive...
I've put about 1,250 miles on our long-term 2007 Jeep Compass in the past two weeks, most of consisting of highway miles amassed during four-hour, one-way trips. For a vehicle to be a successful long-distance tourer in my opinion, it must rank high in terms of comfort, amenities, storage, passing power, quietness and range. Here's how I think the Compass stacks up.
Like its platform sibling, the Dodge Caliber, the Jeep Compass can be had with an optional audio system with flip-down speakers mounted in the liftgate. When the speaker box is lowered (pictured), the speakers point directly outwards.
It might seem gimmicky. And maybe it is...
Our long-term 2007 Jeep Compass emits a loud horn honk every time you lock it with the keyless remote. Since I live and park within close proximity of my neighbors (the joys of apartment living), I immediately applied the usual button-mashing protocol to disable this feature.
No dice, so I immediately RTM'd, and oddly enough, there's no provision to disable the honk...
Earlier this week my husband and I went to the mall by ourselves and left complimenting each other on the fact that we didn't buy anything for our seven-year-old daughter.
On the way home, we decided to stop at Ikea. Forty-five minutes later, we were loading Emma's new desk, chair, desk lamp, and other accessories into the Jeep Compass' cargo area. So much for self-control...
As we've noted on multiple occasions on this blog, and in our full road test
, the 2007 Jeep Compass makes no great strides in interior design, materials quality, or fit and finish.
I don't especially enjoy sitting in the vehicle, but I realized today that I don't like it any less than the cabins of all the Cherokees (regular, not Grand) that various friends and family members have owned. My dad still drives a Cherokee, and it's obvious he gets a kick out of its rugged image. He looks for any opportunity to shift into 4 Lo. Cash-strapped friends from college were much the same way... they didn't care that they ended up with a base trim vehicle with a manual gearbox, they just wanted in on the Jeep life.
When you drive the Compass, it's obvious the decision-makers at Jeep failed to understand this tradeoff.
Our Magellan Maestro 4050 navigation system has made a voyage to our Jeep Compass. With its crisp graphics and easy-to-use software, I've finally found something about the Compass I like. I didn't get to try out all the bells and whistles, but it did get me home from an afternoon appointment. When I disagreed with its set course, it quickly recalculated without fuss...
I like the look of the Jeep Compass. The Inferno Red paint is a nice deep shade and the 18-inch chrome wheels are pretty spiffy. See how they reflect on my driveway in the morning sunlight.
I would like to see a more powerful engine offered than the 172-horsepower 2.4-liter inline 4...
The Compass is far from perfect. One attribute alone makes the vehicle seem worse. Too much road noise. Fix that and I could appreciate the better than expected stereo and comfortable seats all the more...
I took the Jeep Compass into the local service center for its’ check-up yesterday. Apart from taking over a week to get the appointment everything went pretty smoothly. After the joy I experienced from the quick drop-off with a 5 minute turnaround the “courtesy shuttle†took over 45 minutes to arrive back at the service center from its’ most recent outing which was a bit frustrating, but can be chalked up to getting them at the wrong timing in the shuttle cycle. 
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