20k mile ownership thoughts / update
Hey fellow Compass owners! I’ve now driven my 2023 Compass Trailhawk 20k miles. I’ve had my car for just under 2 years now, and I have some observations and ownership thoughts. This may be a lot of writing, as I have noticed many things!
Engine / transmission tuning → I’m not sure whether I have gotten used to driving my Compass smoothly, or whether my Compass and its powertrain has adapted to my driving style, but I feel as if the powertrain has smoothed out a little bit over time. It’s not perfect, though, and there are still times where it’s jerky. If I’m making a three point turn and shifting quickly between reverse and drive, sometimes when I shift to drive, it feels like the transmission slams into gear. There’s a noticeable clunk. However, I do feel as if the overall experience of this new 2.0T / 8-speed auto has smoothed out to an extent. Additionally, the engine is still rough on cold starts, and I do feel as if it’s very diesel-like. When accelerating, it has a throaty and gruff sound. I like it!
Engine stop / start → I wanted to touch on the engine stop / start, where the vehicle shuts off when you come to a stop. Most of the time it’s pretty smooth, only every now and then it’s a little jerky, such as if you make a quick stop and the engine still shuts off. You get some hesitation, not terrible though! I leave it turned on.
Fuel economy → Sticking with the powertrain, I also want to talk about fuel economy for a moment. At my 10k mile update, I had an average of 23.8 mpg over those 10k miles that I logged on my trip A odometer. That number improved to 24.3 mpg. Unfortunately, during one of my fill-ups I accidentally reset my trip A odometer, which was up to 17k miles. Oops, oh well. To my point, though. I reset one of my trip odometers every time I fill up with gas, and have been finding that my Compass’ fuel economy readouts have consistently been 2-3 mpg optimistic, so higher than what I’m actually averaging. I have been tracking my fuel economy with the Fuelly app for 4219 miles now, and the app always shows my actual efficiency being a few mpgs lower than what my car tells me. In reality, over said 4219 miles, I have been averaging 22.2 mpg. Granted, it is winter, I’ve only started using the Fuelly app during these colder months, and colder weather does negatively impact fuel economy. Especially now that I’ve been remote starting my Compass.
Adaptive cruise control → All of the driver assistance and safety features have been really nice to live with day to day. The adaptive cruise control has been a dream come true on highways and longer trips. With that being said, at lower speeds in stop and go traffic, the system is not the smoothest. I find the system to be a bit slow to speed back up and maintain the set following distance (I keep it at the closest / second closest distance), and I find that the system sometimes waits too long to slow back down. Not a deal breaker, but something I’ve noticed. I think Jeep could refine the adaptive cruise a bit more. Maybe this is something Jeep has worked on with 2024 / 2025 model year vehicles.
Auto brights → The auto brights are super useful, I usually turn them on during nighttime driving. Although, to be honest, my upgraded LED projector headlights, which are included with the Elite Group package, are really good headlights. They’re not adaptive headlights, so they don’t swivel from side to side as you steer around corners, but they’re more than bright enough and provide good visibility. Anyways, the auto brights work great, and when the brights are on, visibility is impressive. But, I do have one nitpick. While they do always turn off when a vehicle is coming in the other direction / in front of me, sometimes I feel as if they wait a little too long to turn off, and they blind oncoming vehicles for a second or two. It’s not terrible, just enough time for me to think to myself, “why aren’t they turning off?” And then they do turn off. Again, this is most definitely a nitpick. I can only compare these auto brights to the ones on my mom’s 2021 Mercedes, and to the ones on a 2024 Mercedes loaner vehicle. Both of those cars and their auto brights also seemed to act in this manner as well, so maybe this isn’t solely a Jeep issue.
Backup camera quality → While the quality of the backup camera in the daylight is really good, at night, it’s not the best. When I’m backing out of my driveway at night, without any lights around, you can’t use the camera to its full extent. I think this is partly due to the lack of LED reverse lights, maybe not so much the actual camera. It would be nice for Jeep to add LED reverse lights, and honestly, LED brake lights too.
Seat comfort → My Compass has the optional premium leather seats, and they’re pretty comfy! Both front seats are powered with height adjustment, 2-way lumbar support, and heating and ventilation. On longer journeys, I do find myself extending the lumbar support to prevent my lower back from getting achy. 4-way lumbar would also be a welcomed addition.
Ventilated seats → Speaking of the seats, I love having ventilated seats. Especially in the summer when it gets pretty hot and humid here in New York. Great feature to have. They work great; the seats do get nice and cool, and I usually leave them on the “low” setting because that is honestly good enough for me. That brings me to my gripe, though. They’re somewhat loud. On the high setting, you really hear the fans (or whatever mechanism is in the seat for the ventilated function), and this is another reason I leave them on “low”, as the fans are quieter. I was actually pretty surprised the first time I turned on my ventilated seat and heard how loud they were. As a matter of fact, the seat ventilation on “low” is as loud as the seat ventilation on “high” in my mom’s Mercedes. I know, first world problems, but since my Compass has this feature and I use it often, it’s something that I noticed and wished Jeep would improve on. I’d also love to be able to turn on the ventilated seat and heated seat at the same time. My Mom’s Mercedes lets you do this, and I personally love it. But, I know that’s really stretching it.
Heated seats / heated steering wheel → The heated seats and heated steering wheel are lifesavers in cold weather. They make me feel so cozy! I would appreciate it if the heated seats warm up quicker, because that’s the point; having your heated seat to keep you warm while the rest of the car is warming up. I have noticed that other vehicles have heated seats that warm up quicker. Once the seats do warm up, they’re great. Additionally, the heated steering wheel heats up right away, which is perfect. However, sometimes I wish there was more than one setting for the heated wheel. I know this is a me problem, but my hands tend to get sweaty. Sometimes the one setting makes the wheel too warm for my liking. If there was an option for the heated steering wheel to be put on low, maybe more of a lukewarm temperature, I wouldn’t mind. Once again, nothing negative and just my personal observation for my likings. And I understand that not many vehicles even offer more than one setting for the heated wheel, but I think Volvo does.
Infotainment → Jeep’s Uconnect infotainment is awesome. It’s easy to use, fast, and pretty responsive. As you may know, some of the climate controls and the seat heating and ventilation are included in the screen as well. However, I do have to agree that it would be nice, especially for the seat heating and ventilation controls, to be buttons, rather than embedded into the screen. But, it is what it is, and it doesn’t bother me too much. What I do find, though, is that the screen seems to be a little far away (and here is where I might go on a tangent). Once again, this could be a me issue, but I find myself leaning forward more than I would like to when I go to use the infotainment while I am driving. In turn, this causes me to take my eyes off the road, and therefore become distracted. I would MUCH prefer a touchpad or a center dial / control knob for the infotainment. It would be much safer, and much more intuitive. I, personally, would completely rather have a non-touchscreen interface. My mom’s Mercedes has a center trackpad, and when I drive that vehicle, I feel much safer navigating the infotainment. Using the center trackpad allows me to keep my seating position without leaning forward, and to keep my eyes on the road, as I am not constantly looking where to put my finger to touch a control. However, this may just be something with my particular seating position in my Compass. As I previously stated, my mom had a 2021 Mercedes loaner with a touchscreen, and she also has a 2023 Wrangler 4xe with a touchscreen. In both of those vehicles, the touchscreen seemed well within reach of the driver. So, I’m going to chalk this up to the Compass and how the interior is designed. Additionally, Mazda uses a center control dial for their infotainment, and their whole philosophy is how the control dial based system is safer to use than a touchscreen. I used Mazda’s system at a dealer in a Mazda CX-30, and it immediately came across as intuitive and easy to use; I loved it.
Windshield defrost vent → Something interesting I have noticed is that the front defrost vent for the windshield, that goes across the whole front of the dashboard, reflects on the windshield. In turn, I see the reflection of this vent when driving. It gets annoying, I wish it didn’t reflect in the windshield the way it does.
A-pillar → This next thing that has caught my attention is something I’ve really only noticed with my Compass, and it’s that the A-pillar is large, thus creating a blind spot when turning. I even notice this during little things, lille just turning into my driveway and looking to the left as I turn in. Additionally, one time I was making a left turn onto a road where the vehicles on said road had the right of way; they had no stop sign. I stopped and looked both ways a couple of times, until I started to make my left turn and saw a vehicle approaching from my right. I abruptly stopped before I made it too far into my turn, and all was okay. Now, by absolutely no means am I saying that this was not my fault. Rather, I completely realize that if I were to have gotten into an accident, I would be at fault. But, I do believe that the A-pillar was large enough to block my view of seeing this truck coming from the right. After this incident, I always look a few extra times than needed when turning, especially when turning left.
Storage → Overall, the storage up in the front seats is pretty good. The cupholders are a perfect size, the door cards are large enough, the center console is a usable size, and the glove box fits everything that I need it to. However, I find that there is nowhere to put my phone if the cupholders are being used. Usually, I keep my phone in the front cupholder, in front of the shifter. However, if both cupholders are being used, as they often are when I am with friends, then I find it hard to figure out where to put my phone. There is a cubby behind the shifter, however, I keep my sunglasses, among some other items there, so that’s not the best spot for my phone either. I find myself putting my phone there anyways, hoping it doesn’t crush my sunglasses or anything. I know, I’m just being dramatic, Lol.
Wear and tear → Finally, in terms of wear and tear from daily use, my Compass has held up really well. My driver’s seat has a little bit more creasing on the outside bolster than it did at 10k miles, which is to be expected, but it’s not even that noticeable if I’m being honest. The passenger seat and rear seats look brand new, and so does my steering wheel. It’s not all shiny or anything. Build quality is still so-so. There are creaks and rattles, especially in colder weather. My center console still rattles, but so what. It is what it is. What really annoys me is the shiny piano black plastic. It gets so dusty, and is all scratched up. It has not held up well, and I wish manufactures would stop using the shiny black plastic in vehicles. It’s not only a Jeep issue.
That’s about it! I can’t believe I’m coming up on two years of owning my Compass. Time flies, pretty crazy to think about. I've had no major issues and nothing has gone wrong. Quite a few recalls, but that's about it. Here’s to many more happy and reliable miles! Please don't hesitate to reach out, I'd love to answer any questions. :)