DON’T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER

The anonymous English gent who came up with that would say the same of the Compass’ ride and handling abilities

FLICKING THE COMPASS INTO THE RIGHT handed turn two and then on to the short straight before the tightening off-camber left hander of turn three at the Madras Motor Race Track (MMRT), the Jeep’s poise is incredible. The body roll is controlled for an SUV this tall and even at speed it feels impressively planted with the all-weather Firestone tyres offering plenty of grip when pushing hard. They squeal only when pushed harder than you would push an SUV, even a compact monocoque-based SUV. On the long sweeping right-handed D of turns 6 and 7 at the MMRT, the Compass holds its line better than what you’d expect from an SUV where all the power was being sent to the front wheels with 4WD disengaged.

Amazingly, this handling prowess doesn’t come at the cost of ride quality. To deal with variations in surfaces, Jeep has kitted out the Compass with Koni’s Frequency Selective Dampers (FSD). These adjust the damping on the suspension almost in real time to firm things up over smooth surfaces and soften it all when the going gets rough. The Compass rides brilliantly. Nothing in this segment and very few in segments higher ride as well as this Jeep does. It almost glides over road irregularities. It really is that good. And the damping quality and refinement is also excellent, so the suspension doesn’t audibly crash and hammer into undulations.

No, the Compass isn’t a book you can judge by its SUV cover and dismiss as something that will do the ride part really well but not shine at the handling bit. For the Jeep Compass is outstanding at both.