2021 Jeep Compass Trailhawk onoff-road review This SUV is 'Trail Rated'!
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TechTranscript
00:00G'day, I'm Paul. So the Jeep Compass, I know that we have already reviewed it and concluded that was probably a little bit too expensive
00:06But this is the Jeep Compass Trailhawk
00:09Which is the off-road focus version of the Compass and it's kind of unique to this segment because there aren't really any other off-road focused
00:17Small SUV. So I thought we would do a review of this because this is the top spec
00:22It's priced at just under $50,000 and it competes with things like the Hyundai Kona, the Mazda CX-30, the Toyota CH-R
00:29But it's clearly bigger than those so bridges the gap between those and the medium-sized SUVs
00:34Like I said before it is kind of unique because it's got a whole stack of off-road equipment. Today
00:38We're going to do a detailed review with a little bit of light off-roading as well to test the trail rated
00:43Credentials if you do want to skip ahead to other parts of this review
00:46You can use the time codes up on the screen there
00:48Or if you're on YouTube just scroll down and use the chapters below and if you haven't done so already
00:52I'd love it
00:52If you could hit subscribe and press the bell icon so you can find out every single time we drive a trail rated car
00:59Okay, let's talk exterior. You've got six colors to choose from and all but red are an additional
01:05$645. You can tell this is the Trailhawk because of the sticker here on the bonnet
01:11You've also got these red hooks which are common to Trailhawk models
01:14And it also means that it is trail rated which I'll explain in just a second. So design wise
01:19I still think this is a pretty good looking SUV. There is an update to this coming
01:23It was just revealed in China, and I think we'll be getting that in Australia at some point next year
01:27It comes with Jeep's seven pillar grille and then these recovery hooks. Now the red obviously is there to show this car off
01:34But it also gives you an idea of what you need to hook up to when you do get this stuck and these are
01:38Rated as well
01:39So you can hook on to that and recover the vehicle without it
01:42Detaching from the car and then severing someone's head you have a radar sensor buried down the bottom there and then over here
01:49Slightly old-school bison and headlights with LED daytime running lights
01:54You'll have a fog lamp down the bottom. Jump around to the side
01:57Okay, so you've got highway terrain tires, but they are a little bit chunky for some light off-roading
02:02You have 17 inch alloy wheels with a decent profile on the tire there, too
02:06So keep in mind that these are more for off-road use which is why they look a little bit different to the standard
02:11Compass tires and the wheels look pretty cool as well
02:13You've got the chrome element on the outside and then the darker part on the inside
02:17Wheel arch protectors there so everyone knows that you drive off-road. Now, this is interesting trail rated
02:22You'll see this on Jeeps hardcore off-road vehicles. This means that it is capable of doing off-road driving effectively
02:29So it has the credentials for higher ground clearance better waiting depth and that kind of thing
02:34But trail rate it also means that it's been tested at Moab in Utah and also the Rubicon Trail in California
02:40So that's where they go to test these cars to give them that trail rating
02:42They don't get that sticker until the car passes and they've made the tweaks that are required to it
02:47So that is the history to that now. What about the rest of the car?
02:50You've got these black mirror caps with indicator built-in the red outline on the compass again indicates that this is
02:56Trail-rated and also the Trailhawk model you have roof rails there
03:00This one has the optional sunroof privacy glass and then around the rear another Trailhawk badge
03:06LED elements on the outside of that light diesel badge down the bottom and then a 4x4 badge another recovery hook there
03:12Now this is a diesel. You can't get this with the petrol
03:15I have previously tested the Trailhawk with the petrol in the States and it really wasn't very good
03:19So I'll be keen to see whether the diesel actually makes this feel any better behind the wheel
03:24It's quicker and more efficient than the petrol. We are inside the Jeep compass. Let's start with the key
03:30Here it is here
03:31So you have unlock, lock, boot and then remote start so you can switch this on from a distance to start cooling or heating
03:38The car and then two blank buttons down the bottom then on the backside you have Jeep
03:42It's a proximity sensing key and that means you leave that in your pocket
03:46Once you're inside the car you have a little push button start off to the side here and it kicks everything on let's talk styling
03:52So I mentioned earlier that there is an update to the compass coming and it's going to bring a few interior styling changes
03:57But for the most part this looks reasonably fine
03:59I know that it is getting on in age now, but this still looks modern and a little bit old-school
04:05But modern nevertheless all of the materials they use throughout here are soft to the touch
04:10So it feels a little more premium and it kind of needs to be with the asking price for this car
04:15It is worth pointing out as well that in
04:17Comparison to a standard compass you get some of these red highlights
04:20So you can see that there you get trailhawk on the seats and also the red stitching on the doors
04:25So helps it set itself apart a little more from the rest of the compass range. Now, what about your touch points?
04:30So soft here on the center console and soft on the doors if you do want to know exactly how soft it is
04:36We have tested the main surfaces in this car
04:38And if you want to see how it compares to other cars that we've tested just use the link in the description below
04:43Now, what about build quality?
04:46This thing has been making an annoying noise for a little while
04:50I'm a huge fan of that. But aside from that the rest feels pretty good and well screwed together
04:58Moving on to infotainment you get an 8.4 inch Uconnect infotainment system
05:03If you want to see a detailed review of this click up here. We've done a sort of in-depth look at it previously today
05:08I'll just give you a brief overview
05:10Now this is a really good infotainment system and it is better than what you'll find in other vehicles in this segment
05:15And the reason is it is just really fast you click a button and it just gets straight to the point
05:20There's just no lag and it's also a really high definition screen. So you get AM FM DAB plus digital radio
05:27You also get smartphone mirroring you need a cable for it. So you get Apple CarPlay and Android Auto
05:31What I'll do now is show you what Android Auto looks like so full screen integration
05:36Well aside from the bottom, which is your shortcut buttons and it is really fast and really sharp as well
05:42Super easy to use and this is what Apple CarPlay looks like another well almost full screen integration
05:48very nice and quick
05:51Sharp there as well
05:53Yeah, really big fan of that
05:55also ahead of the driver is another LCD display which has your fuel engine temperature and also trip computer plus a couple of other
06:02Functions in terms of audio you have a six speaker sound system and then on the connectivity front you have one USB port one
06:09Auxiliary outlet and a 12-volt outlet keep in mind though when you do have a smartphone connected
06:13You won't be able to charge any other devices
06:16Terms of safety tech you have low and high speed autonomous
06:19Emergency braking radar cruise control blind spot monitoring which is built into that wing mirror a lane keeping assistant
06:25You have front and rear parking sensors a semi autonomous parking system
06:30And also a reverse view camera. Let's have a look at the quality of that
06:34Look, it's not amazing. It's a tiny bit grainy
06:36It could be a little bit better
06:37But you do get guidelines and also an assistant if you are reversing into a trailer moving on to practicality
06:43We'll stop the storage and get rid of this cable phone. Where's it gonna live?
06:46Well, there's not a great deal of room up the front there, especially for a larger phone
06:50But it can live in the cupholders in terms of the cupholders. What about our coffee cup?
06:57Fits nicely in there means you can grab the coffee and not spill it everywhere and then bottle storage is also straightforward
07:04You've actually got some
07:05rubber sort of lips on the side there that hold the bottle in nicely and then inside the door pocket you have room for a
07:11Bottle plus other bits and pieces. It's in a console the top slides forwards and backwards. It's fairly deep
07:17See how much of the bottle you can fit in there
07:20You've got some netting down the side there and then finally a glove box which fits your bottle very easily
07:26Moving on to comfort items. You have dual zone automatic climate control seat heaters for the first row
07:31Which are activated here on the screen electric seat adjustment for the driver. The seats themselves are actually quite comfortable
07:38So they have a firmer base to them, but they hug you in nicely
07:41It's just a good place to be seated the steering wheel sits nicely in the hand too
07:45With a couple of secret controls on the back and all of these controls are super easy to reach
07:51Okay, we're in the back seat of the compass. Let's have a look at how much room we have here
07:56Reasonable amount of knee room. Toe room's a tiny bit cramped and headroom is slightly compromised
08:02Just because of this panoramic roof. Keep in mind though. I do have my driver's seat pretty far back now
08:07What else have we got here? So map pockets in two of the seats
08:10I like the little red highlight there that says Trailhawk on it
08:13You've got air vents and also an actual power outlet, which is really cool and another USB port
08:19Now you do have a Cinerama ST
08:21You just have to access it by pulling this down and that reveals two cup holders
08:27Fit your bottle easily and it gives you access to the boot
08:29Then you can also put your bottle in the door where you have room for one bottle plus a couple of odds and ends
08:35It's actually a nice place to be seated, especially with that optional panoramic roof
08:39You also have ISOFIX points on the two outboard seats. Okay, let's talk cargo space
08:45So you've got a power tailgate when this opens you have just under 350 litres of cargo space available
08:51it's slightly less than other Compass models because you have a
08:57Sort of blind type thing here that comes as an accessory but beneath the cargo floor. You have a full-size spare tire
09:04It's not on an alloy wheel. It's on a steel wheel, but that means that this
09:07Elevates which means you can't move your cargo floor down to the next level which affords you extra space
09:13So you are limited there in terms of what you have but for the most part that's going to do the job
09:18You've also got storage off to the sides hooks on the back here and
09:22Interestingly, this is where the button is for the boot instead of being located up here like it is on most cars
09:27It's just on the sidewall here, which is interesting. I'll show you what it looks like with our luggage in here
09:32So laptop bag in there
09:36There you go, so that's just gonna fit in there
09:40Made a mess of that and then if you do want to expand it even further you have a little over
09:451,250 litres available if you do drop the second row out of the way which you have to do by
09:50Leaning over this cargo blind and there you go. You have a fairly flat load floor
09:55We've hit the road in the Jeep Compass Trailhawk
09:58so powering this is a 2 litre turbocharged four-cylinder diesel engine makes a hundred and twenty five kilowatts of power and
10:07350 newton meters of torque that's all made it to a nine speed automatic transmission
10:12And then you have some additional four-wheel drive controls that I'll run through a little later on
10:16In terms of how you can lock it into four-wheel drive modes
10:19But predominantly it's two-wheel drive and then we'll send torque to the rear when required. Now, what's this engine like?
10:25Well, it's actually not too bad once you get stuck into it
10:29It pins you back in the seat nicely
10:31350 newton meters of torque is is a decent amount for a car that doesn't weigh that much
10:36You can remember that this is well under two tons
10:37So it feels nice and sprightly behind the wheel and the gearbox is responsive enough
10:41it's got a nice torque band there that you can lean on without having to run back through all the gears and
10:47Just on the noise as well. The diesel isn't too noisy either
10:51Yeah, if you do get stuck into it, you can hear a little bit, but it's not a thrashy sounding diesel
10:56Which is good news. The official 0 to 100 time is 9.7 seconds. Let's see how it goes against the stopwatch
11:11The official fuel economy figure comes in at 5.7 litres per 100 Ks, which is pretty efficient
11:18Let's see what we're sitting on at the moment
11:217.7 so near enough to that figure and I think over a long-term average. This is over about a thousand kilometers
11:27That's the figure you'll be expecting if you're doing a lot of city driving and then the occasional highway run
11:32Okay, let's talk about ride. It's actually really good. So despite the fact that this is
11:36focused for off-road, they've been able to tune in a lot of compliance
11:40So out here on the country road where it's fairly choppy, especially as the speeds increase
11:45It just feels nice and comfortable and I know it's really hard to complain. It's a pretty impressive setup for long-distance touring
11:51Righto, let's talk handling. Yes. I know SUV. It's not going to be amazing and with the off-road tires
11:58Look, it's it's okay
12:00The steering feel is good. Where it lacks a little bit is when you try and get stuck into it out of a corner
12:05The gearbox can take a little bit of time to respond
12:07But you can shift gears manually using the gear shifter and that will just leave it in the sweet spots
12:12So you can actually just hit the throttle and get the torque that you need
12:15Now despite the fact as well that this uses off-road focus tires
12:19There isn't a huge amount of road noise coming into the cabin
12:21You can hear a little bit when you're driving on the highway, but it's not a huge amount of road noise
12:27coming into the cabin
12:28You can hear a little bit when you're driving above 80 kilometers an hour, especially on a course chip road
12:33But for the most part, it's fairly quiet and subdued. Let's talk visibility
12:37So looking out the front there, I can clearly see down the front of the car
12:40You can actually catch some of the reflections of that black highlight on the bonnet too
12:45Visibility out the rear is okay
12:47The envelope is slightly narrow and those headrests get in the way a little bit, but it's not too bad
12:52The wing mirrors have the blind spot monitoring built into them
12:55They could be a little bit bigger, but with the blind spot monitoring
12:58At least that's going to help you spot anything down the sides of the car
13:01Now what about the turning circle? 10.76 meters
13:05That's actually not terrible for a small SUV
13:09Normally when they're all-wheel drive, they require a little bit more to turn around
13:13Especially with off-road components
13:14So that's going to mean you don't need to do a litany of three-point turns all the time
13:21Okay, so let's do a little bit of light off-roading here
13:23But I'll run you through the specs first
13:24So you have 480 millimeters of wading depth
13:28You have 225 millimeters of ground clearance, which is pretty reasonable for this segment
13:33You also have a 30.3 degree approach angle
13:36That's the angle of the face you can approach before you hit the front of the car
13:39And then a 33.6 degree departure angle, which is the same but in reverse
13:43Now if you do need a little brush up on what all that means
13:45Click up here to watch our four-wheel drive controls explained video
13:49Down here also you have different four-wheel drive modes to choose from
13:52You have auto, snow, sand, mud and rock
13:54And they all vary stability control and what those systems do in the background
13:57You have a hill descent control, a four-wheel drive lock button
14:00Which permanently engages torque to both axles
14:03And then a four-wheel drive low button
14:04But it's not a low range transfer case
14:07It is simply a button that holds first gear and does some fancy Jeep stuff
14:11It's not actually a proper low range transfer case
14:14So let's go up Log Mountain
14:16I'm going to put it into that four-wheel drive low setting
14:19It disables traction control and the forward collision warning
14:22Let's see how it goes
14:24This is all nice and dry at the moment
14:25So it shouldn't be too hard to get up here
14:28But let's see what happens
14:32Okay
14:34Yeah, look, that's fine
14:35A tiny bit of wheel slip there
14:37But this diesel has plenty of punch in this four-wheel drive low mode
14:41Seems to be holding the first gear of that transmission
14:44Without too many dramas
14:46Excellent, that was all good
14:47Okay, let's go down our rocks
14:50Hopefully these don't destroy the underbody of the car
14:53I'm not loving that brake pedal
14:57It's quite firm
15:00So it feels like the car is running away from you
15:03A little tap there
15:06Yeah, I think I would like a little bit more feel through there
15:09Because you kind of panic a little bit
15:11And then slam the brake pedal down
15:13Because you're worried about the car disappearing away from you
15:17But aside from that, it's doing a good job
15:20Here, another tap there
15:23Okay
15:25This actually feels okay
15:26Let's try popping our hill descent control on as well
15:29Let go of the brake
15:33That's pretty good, it's controlling our descent easily
15:37That's good, it's actually not a bad system
15:39Okay, so the Jeep Compass
15:41The last time we drove this I concluded that
15:43It's too expensive for what it is
15:45And you're better off looking at some of the competitors
15:47But this time around it's a different story
15:49If you are an adventurer
15:51If you do like doing off-road driving
15:53I think the Trailhawk actually makes a whole lot of sense
15:55It's quite capable off-road
15:57It has a diesel engine that's really efficient
15:59And fairly punchy as well
16:01And I don't think you'll be able to find a competitor in this segment
16:03That's going to match what it can do
16:05Off the beaten track
16:06And then it's reasonably compliant on-road as well
16:08So it ticks all of those boxes
16:10The tech is pretty decent
16:11The room inside is not too bad
16:13Now let me know what you think in the comments section below
16:15Did you buy a Compass?
16:17Have you been trail racing?
16:19Trailhawking? Whatever you want to call it
16:21Let me know in the comments section below what you think about it
16:23And how it's all going
16:25Now if you did enjoy this video make sure you hit like
16:27Also subscribe and press the bell icon
16:29Because that's going to tell you every single time we drive something new
16:31But until next time, take it easy