Jeep Compass Mk49. An American car, built on a Mitsubishi platform, using Mercedes and VW engines and automatic gearboxes from Hyundai. But wait and see what the Jeep Compass and the Renault Laguna have in common. Jeep Compass MK49 – the official “Mr. Worldwide” car.
The Jeep Compass Mk49 sits halfway between the Caliber and the Patriot, cramped like a sanitary towel. Launched in 2006 when Jeep still had dreams and hopes in Europe just like we had until reality hit us at 25, and launched the euro offense of the mainstream car segments since then. The Dodge Avenger was for those who wanted a classic saloon because in 2006 a car had to be a car, dinner had to be dinner, alcohol had to be alcohol and a woman had to be a woman. Four doors and a boot. Then came Caliber which was a kind of Avenger with stretched legs and generally uglier and more compact, followed by Compass which was the more cross-over version of Caliber but it wasn’t even the full portion of burgers, colas, semi-automatics and freedom like Jeep Patriot. So if you wanted an off-road crossover but didn’t want the world to think you were drinking from a bottle without a label that only says “XXX” and so your sister wouldn’t think you’re hers tonight, Jeep Compass was the compromise.
And with that I have to bother wasting your time and internet bandwidth and writing the same review four times, because only the bodywork differs between Avenger and Caliber and Compass and Patriot. In fact, I don’t have to write the same review just four times, because these cars were jointly built with Mitsubishi Outlander, Citroen C-Crosser, Peugeot 4007, Mitsubishi ASX, Mitsubishi Lancer, Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross, Dodge Journey, Fiat Freemont and who knows what other cars have used the same platform. I don’t know about you, but I think it’s funny that the americans teamed up with the japanese to take the european car market by storm.
But wait, the crossover doesn’t end here, because I really want to say that the Jeep Compass uses the same CVT automatic gearbox for petrol variants as Renault used on its Fluence, Mitsubishi Colt, Nissan X Trail (all front-wheel drive petrol variants) and who knows who else used this box. Jatco JF011E is the code, go nuts.
Petrol
Diesel
It’s a Jeep from their euro offense era. If you’re too manly for a Caliber but not enough for a Patriot, Jeep Compass remains a decent choice. And why wouldn’t it be? It has a 2 litre engine sourced from VW, it handles medium off-road, it looks different. It is not a car for the pretentious, but if you want a reliable and simple car with which to do your work and you want something different from the neighbor’s Passat, then the Jeep Compass MK49 is definitely worth the money.
What engines do I recommend? For petrol I recommend both versions of the World engine, but I would prefer the 2.4 version because at least you can understand something from it performance-wise, but realistically the market is divided between the 2.0 TDI from VW and the 2.2 CDI from Mercedes. Whichever engine you pick, you’re in good american hands.
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