Jeep has spent several decades cultivating a unique brand image. For many, the Jeep name is one associated with off-road vehicles that conquer the wilderness unlike anything else. Buying a Jeep gets you into a club of folks who love freedom, passion, and adventure. Two decades ago, Jeep betrayed its own image and its fans with the Compass. This was a Jeep that was an economy car under its skin and didn’t even get the iconic “Trail Rated” badge at first. It also marked a turning point.
Last week, I wrote about the unfortunate life of the Jeep Commander. Back in the 2000s, the SUV and crossover had worked themselves deep enough into American culture to become status symbols. In decades past, the buyer of an SUV likely wanted it for its off-road capabilities. Everyone wanted an SUV from so-called soccer moms to the rich and famous.
America’s SUV culture became so rich that there was everything from the cheap and cheerful SUV to the performance SUV and the luxury SUV. There really was a sort of SUV for everyone, even unexpected SUVs from brands like BMW, Volkswagen, and Porsche. Even Honda properly got in on the madness. At some point, SUVs and crossovers were dominating so hard that it perhaps became foolish not to sell as many SUVs as the market would buy.
Jeep, which was then owned by DaimlerChrysler, went on an all-out SUV offensive. In 2000, Jeep’s lineup had just three vehicles, the Cherokee, Grand Cherokee, and Wrangler. Before the decade ended, Jeep managed a great expansion of its models. The Cherokee became the Liberty, and the rest of the lineup was joined by the additions of the Commander, Patriot, and today’s subject, the Compass.
Jeep then had a variety of SUVs for every buyer, too. But there was one problem: To get there, Jeep had to throw away so much of what its fans loved.
Made For A New Movement
This story takes us back to the first half of the 2000s. As WardsAuto notes, Jeep noticed a change in those who bought SUVs. Everyone loved the rugged looks, the high ground clearance, and the luxury features of the SUVs of the 2000s, but few people were actually using their SUVs’ capabilities.
Most people drove their SUVs around suburbia, and there was a growing number of people who wanted urban-friendly SUVs. The most “off-road” that these SUVs ever saw was a dirt road or maybe jumping a parking space stop block at the local strip mall. Few people were ever really using their four-wheel-drive systems.
This put Jeep into a bit of a pickle. As I noted above, Jeep had spent decades building a brand image of being the automaker you go to when you want to beat the Rubicon. But Jeep had to face a reality. According to Michael Berube, then Jeep marketing senior manager, the compact urban SUV market was about to explode. According to forecasts at Chrysler in 2006, the compact utility vehicle segment was going to double to around 600,000 units by 2010, and then triple to more than 814,000 units by 2016.
This was something Jeep itself had predicted prior, and that forced the company to come to the harsh reality that, if it wanted to keep with the trends, it had to build SUVs for people who want a Jeep badge, but may never actually take their Jeep off-road.
Two products would come out of this effort, the Jeep Patriot and the Jeep Compass. Both made their debut in April 2006 at the New York Auto Show, and both even have the same platform. But Jeep decided to target two different customers with these vehicles.
These two vehicles didn’t come out of nowhere. Back in 2002, Jeep came up with an idea for a concept. What if Jeep had an entry-level vehicle that was designed for people who didn’t really care about Moab? The Jeep Compass concept launched that year and it was an oddball. It had a design that looked like a little bit of Audi with AMC sprinkled in. This concept borrowed much of its mechanicals from the Jeep Liberty, including its V6. However, the vehicle was much lighter duty, featuring only AWD and not a proper 4×4 system.
The Compass concept had big wheels, thin tires, and hit 60 mph in under 9 seconds. It was closer to a hot hatch than it was a typical Jeep. According to Car and Driver, it was joined by a competing unnamed off-road-oriented concept in 2003. But then Chrysler Group CEO Dieter Zetsche didn’t choose one and greenlit both concepts for production.
A Jeep For Non-Jeep Buyers
The Compass concept made a return in 2005, this time joined by the Patriot concept. Both vehicles appeared ready for production, and some big changes happened along the way to these concepts. The Compass was no longer based on the Jeep Liberty. Now, it shared its bones with the Dodge Caliber. Its sibling, the Patriot, followed the same course, robbing its platform from the Caliber as well.
According to DaimlerChrysler, the Patriot was designed to be a nod to Jeep’s past and what was then its presence. The Patriot was supposed to feel like a bit of a spiritual successor to the Cherokee XJ with Jeep’s then-current design language. A press release notes that the Patriot was designed to appeal to those who wanted to continue to embrace Jeep tradition, but have it in a smaller package that was still 4×4 and Trail Rated. Even its name, Patriot, tried so hard to make you think that this was the freedom-fueled American Jeep you know and love. Jeep’s marketing practically bludgeoned you in the head with how much it worked to make the Patriot a big deal.
On the other hand, the Compass went in an entirely different direction. Berube told the press that “the Compass appeals to non-Jeep buyers,” and this was proudly displayed in its design. The Compass did away with Jeep’s iconic boxy looks and didn’t even pretend to be an off-roader. The standard model was front-wheel-drive with a CVT and up to just 8.4 inches of ground clearance. It didn’t even get a Trail Rated badge.
According to Autoweek, it went even deeper than that, as Jeep more or less wanted to attract men to the blocky and masculine Patriot and women to the soft Compass. I suppose this also assumes that Jeep thought that women don’t care about wheeling and just want something cute to drive around town in.
The unfortunate truth is that the early version of the Jeep Compass ended up not attracting a ton of buyers of any gender.
The Compass Pointed In The Wrong Direction
The Compass seemed like a promising proposition. At only $15,985 ($25,913 in 2025), it was the cheapest and most efficient Jeep money could buy. A 2.4-liter four resided under the hood with a punch of 172 HP and was bolted to a five-speed manual. Buyers got traction control, stability control, and even side curtain airbags. If you wanted all-wheel-drive, that brought the sticker price to just $17,585 ($28,507 in 2025).
The Jeep Compass also had trendy features of its day, like a holster for your iPod, a built-in MP3 player, and a nine-speaker sound system. You were even able to get the Compass with tailgate-mounted boombox speakers so you could use your ride for a block party. The Compass also had an air-conditioner-based drink cooler that other DaimlerChrysler products had during the day. If you didn’t like rowing your own, you could have also gotten the Compass with a CVT. In other words, the Compass tried to be a cooler, more hip Caliber.
Check out the so-called Chill Zone, as it existed in the Caliber:
Meanwhile, the Patriot tried its hardest to pander to the kind of person who lamented the death of the Jeep XJ. The problem was that the Compass seemingly failed in its mission. Autoweek eviscerated the car:
Sharing a platform with the Dodge Caliber, Compass blends homely looks with unrefined manners to a degree not seen since the unlamented Pontiac Aztek. That this Compass Limited stickered out at $26,180—an easy $10,000 more than the base price of a Compass or that of a Caliber SXT—simply set its shortcomings in stark relief. The day water leaked into the cabin from the sunroof switch, drips splattering onto the sadly misguided CVT “automatic” transmission’s lever, we figured the polarization on the Compass’ needle was reversed. This thing’s headed due south.
It has become cliché among automotive journalists in the 21st century to note that there are no truly bad cars anymore—nothing so dimly regressive as the unreliable Yugos and Peugeots on which many of us sharpened our fangs 20-odd years ago. For the most part, that’s true, but if this particular Compass was representative, it’s the exception that proves the rule.
[…]
Most complaints centered on the misbehaviors of the aforementioned CVT, a $1,150 option that got similarly poor reviews in the Caliber. But in this 4wd Compass, hauling more mass with the same 2.4-liter, 172-hp four, the CVT was even more overmatched. If the ratios are “continuously variable,” one has to wonder how it can be engineered to deliver such jarring and jolting through the entire driveline when it decides to shift down. You can choose ratios manually by using the autostick feature, engaged by simply moving the lever sideways from the “D” position, but this does not improve things—the jerks and jolts are only more predictable. The CVT is supposedly worth 7 percent to 8 percent more fuel efficiency than a torque converter automatic—being generous, call it 2 mpg. Better you should learn to shift a manual.
Most of the time, I’ll quote a section of a review where a journalist highlights a few positives and negatives, but Autoweek‘s review of the 2007 Compass never stops taking swings at the poor little car. Here’s another paragraph:
Having a clutch pedal would do nothing for the ride quality. Catch a moderate-size bump with one rear wheel, and the Compass dances like a politician asked a controversial question. This may be down to the 4wd system adding unsprung mass that the suspension is challenged to control, or maybe it was the $825 18-inch chrome wheels highlighting a lack of refinement. If the aim was to mimic the harsh ride of an off-roadable truck, mission accomplished.
The exterior design supposedly did well, especially among females, in consumer clinics. Judge for yourself, but know that the same was said for Aztek. We usually applaud the Chrysler Group for daring to produce love-it or hate-it styling, but to our eyes this wafts of mediocrity.
Consumer Reports took similarly harsh swipes at the Compass when it put the micro SUV up against the likes of the Toyota Rav4 and the Honda CR-V, saying:
We found the Dodge Caliber unimpressive in the Sept. 06 test and the Compass follows suit. Its noisy 4 cly engine delivers decent fuel economy thanks to the CVT but interior materials are cheap and poorly assembled in many places. Overall ride comfort is acceptable.
[…]
Driving: Compass absorbs bumps reasonably well but has a lot of quck body motions…suspension noise makes ride worse than it actually is. Road noise is loud and engine drones constantly. Any acceleration makes matters worse. Handling is adequate but not impressive with linear but not particularly quick steering and pronounced body lean. In emergency maneuvers, it tended to plow ahead, reducing steering ability despite the standard stability control. The 4 cyl delivers avg performance. Braking distances were fairly long. Headlights had good illumination.
Inside the cabin: interior is drab and looks cheap. Interior panels are made of hard, mismatched plastics with unappealing textures and poor finishes with sharp edges. The driving position is narrow but has good head, leg, and foot room. The steering wheel does not telescope but most drivers found it a comfortable reach away. Big head restraints, thick pillars, and a low windshield compromise visibility.
Car and Driver took the wheel of a Limited, or a high-end Compass with a starting price of $20,140 for a front-wheel-drive model. The publication was nicer, but still noted problems:
Bred for suburban streets (but tested on washboard and in proving ground mud bowls, says Liddane), the Compass slaloms like a car. The mellow suspension tune toned down big impacts while keeping the body above its keel with reasonable roll control. It found its way through Hells Canyon’s switchbacks with focused steering, a trait not often associated with Jeeps. Fuel economy averaged a thrifty 24 mpg over hill and knoll.
[…]
By far the Compass’s biggest disappointment is its interior. Injection-molded out of flinty plastic with all the passion of a rubbish-bin lid, the dash has barely a whiff of the polish of the CR-V and RAV4 and none of the design spirit of the PT Cruiser. The plain gauges and the center console rise to a high mesa, squeezing the vision forward in concert with thick A-pillars. It’s a gaffe, considering that Berube expects 60 percent of Compass buyers to be women.
Do women want regular reminders that they bought an inexpensive car? Jagged mold-part seams are easy to find. Some gaps are huge, others are wavy. The one-size cup holders appear to have been formed by ramming two beer glasses into soft plastic. A deep dash cubby, handy for sunglasses and other detritus, looks like vacant real estate, as if the passenger airbag had moved to a better neighborhood (it’s in the dash top).
As always, the legendary John Davis of MotorWeek found something to like about the Compass:
MotorTrend was nicer than Car and Driver was, but complained about the vehicle’s hard plastic interior and Jeep being so aggressive with cost-cutting that the base model Compass didn’t even have air-conditioning, power locks, or power windows. In the end, MotorTrend concluded by saying that the Compass feels more like an economy car than an SUV. Ouch. But hey, at least they were rated to get 29 mpg on the highway!
A Slow Start
Unfortunately, the Compass wasn’t initially the home run that Jeep was expecting. In 2007, the first full year of production, Jeep sold only 39,491 Compass models, making it the slowest-selling model of the Jeep lineup. Surely, this would change in the Great Recession, right? I mean, it gets 30 mpg!
Unfortunately, the early Compass never had better sales than what it got in 2007. In 2008, sales sank to 25,349 units before further sliding to 11,739 units in 2009 and 15,894 units in 2010. During the height of the Great Recession, when many Americans downsized, more people actually bought other, more expensive and thirstier Jeeps over the thrifty and cheap Compass. The one bit of good news was that women Compass buyers outnumbered men Compass buyers 51 percent to 49 percent.
For some, the early Jeep Compass represented a betrayal. Jeep was a brand that you could count on to build a hardcore, off-road-capable vehicle. Yet, the early Compass was none of that. It didn’t even have the looks of a regular Jeep, either. Sure, the Commander guzzled fuel and required your third-row passengers to pretzel themselves to fit, but it still looked like a Jeep and went hard like a Jeep. To some, the Compass and the Patriot were representatives of a Jeep that had gone soft.
[Ed note: The Jeep Compass was a betrayal to true diehard Jeep fans like myself. This was the very first front-wheel drive Jeep, the very first with a fully independent suspension, the first with a continuously variable transmission, and it was the first four-wheel drive Jeep not to offer low-range gearing. To Jeep people, this was a car, not a Jeep. It was a massive departure from anything Jeep had made in any real volumes (The old Jeep Surrey and Willys Jeepster were two-wheel drive, but those were niche convertibles), and the fact that the execution was so poor just made it even worse in Jeep diehards’ eyes.
To be sure, the fuel economy was an improvement over any Jeep up to that point, and the ride was relatively OK. But the thing is, the fuel economy wasn’t that good, the ride wasn’t that good — so the Compass sacrificed its Jeepness for things that it didn’t even excel in relative to the competition. And then there was the “MCM” (Material Cost Management)-driven interior made of, essentially, stone, and there were plenty of CVT and manual transmission durability issues. Put it all together and you have the most hated Jeep of all time.
And look a lot of this is a little silly. If a brand wants to build a watered down car that departs from its history, it has every right to. Lots of automakers have done that, and even Jeep currently makes similarly “soft” products. But the latest ones are at least somewhat competitive. The Compass was a betrayal in that not only did it give up something so valuable to diehard Jeep fans — “Jeepness” — but it did so only to be a mediocre product. The juice wasn’t worth the squeeze. -DT].
It’s not hard to find early Jeep Compass haters online. There are folks on Cars.com complaining about their CVT transmissions failing, and people on Reddit telling others to avoid a Compass at all costs. It doesn’t seem as though the Compass was any less reliable than other DaimlerChrysler products of the era, but that slapping a Jeep badge on what’s still nominally a Dodge Caliber wasn’t exactly a hit with buyers.
Truth be told, I was one of the seemingly few fans of the Caliber, so I bet I’d get along with a Compass just fine. But I get why people didn’t like the Compass.
If you’re interested in an early Compass, you can find them all over your local classifieds for dirt-cheap prices. It’s not even hard to find one for under $2,000.
What’s interesting is that Jeep never really gave up on its cheaper, more road-friendly vehicles. The Patriot remained in production until the 2017 model year. The Compass got a pretty comprehensive facelift in 2011, and sales almost tripled in just that year alone. Sales would then slowly gain momentum until the 2017 model year, when the first-generation Compass finally bowed out. The improved second-generation Compass seemingly corrected the faults of the first model, and it showed in sales, where the Compass finally exceeded sales of 100,000 units for the first time in 2018, when 171,167 copies went home.
The Compass remains in the Jeep lineup today and enjoys pretty solid sales, so Jeep has found a way to build a cheaper, less capable vehicle, and keep buyers in the showroom to buy them. It just took a while to get it right.
My only memory of the Compass is when my (now) ex and I helped a guy push his up a moderate incline when he got stuck in the snow. FWD and nearly bald tires, of course. Not relevant to the article, but it’s my only interaction with a Compass.
Having had a Compass the main thing it had over the Caliber was headroom. I couldn’t fit comfortable in a Caliber but fit great in the Compass. I also didn’t fit as well in the Patriot, so for me it was more of the interior. We had an earlier one so it had the round headlights, which at the time I liked a car with round headlights, I saw more as an successor to my ’96 Neon that I totalled years before, but with a hatch, and AWD and all the traction things for New England winters.
It’s interior was terribly cheap but that also meant I didn’t worry about scuffing or scraping it, also we got ours used and it was pretty reasonable if I remember right.
Had I to do it over again I probably would’ve looked at used XJs, but it did ok, and we got out of it before the CVT exploded.
This Compass looks like a prototype with camouflage body panels.
Counterpoint: my daughter bought a used 2007 Compass with her own money in grad school, and it wasn’t complete crap. It helped enormously that “Phoebe” had a manual transmission which let her get the most out of that Tigershark 2.4. I drove it several times and it was kinda fun in very basic car ways.
Anna used Phoebe for 2-3 apartment moves, urban warrior commuter stuff in Milwaukee when she started teaching, did a lot of road trips with friends, and even took a performance driving class at Rosd America in it.
(That was hilarious. She took the class to improve her safety reflexes. Lots of testosterone junkies with Teslas and BMWs sneered at her. She won most improved from the instructors. Ha!)
Poor old Phoebe finally got put out to pasture this spring when she accumulated enough Mopar quality quirks (the door chime dinged when making left turns, died randomly at stoplights, and there was a permanent and untraceable CEL) that Anna’s trusted mechanic finally said “shoot her, don’t fix her.”
Phoebe never rusted, and those hard interior plastics looked the same at the end as the beginning. Weirdly, the interior smelled like fresh crayons for 80,000 miles. She gave her all even at the end. She was traded on a used Kia Sportage. The genial geezer who valued trade-ins saw her across the lot and said $500. After he took her for a quick drive, he came back and “bonus points for a manual transmission! Let’s make it $800.”
Sure, it was a “meh” car. But for my daughter, it will always be her first my-very-own car, and the adventure mobile of early adulthood.
(https://itisgood.org/auto-biography/#07Jeep)
Great story – thanks for sharing! Yesterday, a few of us were talking about the simple pleasures of having “enough” car, and this story really illustrates that.
She’ll always remember that Compass for all the things it allowed her to do, and, at the end of the day, that’s a million times more valuable than say someone owning a supercar they rarely drive and end up flipping to get a newer one.
Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast ends with a line I’ve always loved, that this is how it was in Paris in those days, when we were very poor and very happy…
Sharing a platform with the Dodge Caliber
Thar’s yur problum rat thear. Lip stick on a peeg. Done’t tak no colleg gaduate tuh no dat.
I was just behind one of the first-gen Compasses on the daily commute today and it reminded me how much I viscerally hated that thing.
Holy crap, that first-gen Compass was hideous! It’s like they put that nice-looking concept in front of the designers, pepper-sprayed them, punched them in the eyes, and had them get to work. Seriously, who thought that was okay?
The one time I met Ray Wert, he was driving a Compass. He was otherwise a great guy.
Those things were absolute barely drivable junk. They should have been driven right off the assembly line and right into the shredder.
Just one exhibit of many how badly Daimler screwed over Chrysler. At least the refresh under Fiat in 2011 made it more palatable.
Its amazing how many of those Fiat refreshes improved the DC products into something that could live longer and still sell well with relatively minor tweaks- JK Wrangler interiors come to mind, as do the Charger/300 interior and grill and lighting refresh.
Also the Journey, the minivans, the Sebring –> 200C update. Fiat pretty much worked some minor miracles in a short amount of time. Which is one reason why what we are seeing today with Stellantis is actually rather heartbreaking to Mopar guys.
Unrelated: saw a newish Renegade with inserts to give it the Wrangler angry eyes earlier. No Punisher stickers, but I’m damn sure that this is the sign of the impending apocalypse. Stocking up on beef jerky in preparation
Doesn’t it kinda make you wish Jeep just kept the round headlights for the Wrangler alone, instead of making it a broader Jeep thing?
I remember seeing something similar, also angry eyes on a first-gen Liberty but I think what takes the cake in my experience was an angry eyes 2nd gen Xterra. Those just seem extra comical compared to the usual angry Wrangler to me.
I’m convinced the 2.4L four banger that “powered”(and I use that term loosely) all those Avenger/Caliber/Patriots is only useful for turning gasoline into NVH, as they didn’t have any low-end torque and didn’t make any power on the top-end either. CVT’s just made it worse.
I drove a JKU for about 10 years. I originally intended to buy a 2 door Wrangler, but after test driving a 4 door, I opted for that due to increased cargo space and far better ride quality. For years I had second thoughts and wondered if my JKU was a “real” Jeep.
At one point a coworker, after hearing about my JKU, mentioned that he too drove a Jeep. I inquired further and it turns out he drove a Compass, and a front wheel drive one at that. After that conversation I never again had second thoughts about opting for the 4 door.
It didn’t help that Daimler used their ownership of Chrysler to send their accountants on a Rumspringa of cost-cutting.
When I worked at an auto auction as a temp job I quickly learned to hate these and their platform mates. The trim below the steering column stuck down really far and was very square. Consequently I based my knee into them very painfully multiple times.
The auction did a lot of off lease Chrysler vehicles so I got the “joy” of driving a tonne of these hateful little things.
I remember a co-worker traded in a Buick Encore and bought a Compass.I couldn’t believe what bad taste she had in vehicles.She finally got smart and bought a Rav-4 when the tailgate and quarter panels started rusting in no time on the Compass.
2014 was really the start of when the Compass was actually pretty decent, when you could opt for the Hyundai 6F24 automatic instead of the JATCO CVT (sorry about the hit to the namesake commenter, but it really was bad).
Honestly, I’ve thrown abuse to my 2014 that most car enthusiasts don’t even do to their actual fun/sporty cars, and mine hasn’t broken down, yet.
Only thing I don’t like is the MPG, but a 99/1 city/highway split will decimate anyone’s range unless they have an EV anywho, so eh.
The Compass/Patriot/Caliber were criminally terrible cars, but I do find the Compass to be the worst of the bunch. A cynical badge engineered cash grab aimed at people who knew nothing about cars, but knew they wanted a “Jeep”. Just hateful fucking things. Without question the worst modern car I’ve ever driven. I lived in the town where these turds were built, so I couldn’t walk out my front door without seeing at least one of those cursed triplets.
When I was rear ended about 8 years ago I had the displeasure of getting a base Jeep Patriot as a rental car and it was completely miserable hateful little thing just like the Compass and Dodge Caliber. These cars represented a low point for Chrysler as if their German overlords intentionally made them worse than they had to be.
This reminds me a little of the Porsche saga and the complaining that has accompanied pretty much any change it’s wanted to do, ever.
People: “keep making just this one perfect but niche sportscar at a stretch price I can imagine paying. Make sure both that it doesn’t ever change in a meaningful way except to make it faster/better and give me the things I want. And devote all your time to this.”
I am a 5 time jeep owner (one of those a commander) and I loved the 3 model jeep line up of the 1990s. Here is the thing. This was not a jeep AND a bad quality jeep. If people are looking for a small crossover they will just go by a Honda or a Toyota. Yes some people buy these and wonder why they do not get ducked or waved at but really they just suck. People bought Dodge Calibers over these things.
While I’m not into the whole duck thing, I did leave a mall within the past few months and someone ducked my Compass.
I don’t even have any modifications done to mine!
It should have been the Eagle.
Pacer headlights/turn signals, Gremlin quarter windows.
My God, I see it now… I was more focused on the market segment it fit into.
Just another of the many failures of the Daimler-Chrysler “merger”.
f*ck I’m old.
“Take a Caliber and make it uglier” is a graduate-level challenge
I had forgotten how homely these were. Woof.
To my eyes, it’s the rear doors back that kills the overall look. It really does look like two vehicles mashed together.
When the Compass came out, it took over the role of the ugliest car made for America. So much was lost in translating it from the concept car.
That’s in addition to everything else that the article mentions was wrong with it.