Jeep Compass Review 2025

The ageing and thoroughly mediocre Jeep Compass in about to be replaced with an all-new model of the same name. The fact that it's closely related to several similarly sized SUVs means we have some idea of what to expect but what has been done to make sure it stands out? Find out in our full Jeep Compass preview. 

The outgoing Jeep Compass is really getting on a bit. We're not talking about the fact that it has been on sale here since 2018 — no, we're referring to the bits underneath. Its underpinnings have been around in one form or another since 2005 and most of the cars using the same core components, save for the Alfa Romeo Tonale, have long since died off.

Its replacement is well overdue, then. The thing is, the Jeep Compass of today is very different to the one that's about to vanish from showrooms. Because Jeep is part of the huge Stellantis portfolio of brands the new Compass is built on the same understructure as the likes of the Citroen C5 Aircross, the Peugeot 3008 and the Vauxhall Grandland. 

It's called STLA-Medium — Stellantis pronounces that as 'Stella Medium', which sounds like a bar order from someone who doesn't understand beer measurements. Or good beer. Borrowing parts from elsewhere is nothing new for Jeep and although we've mixed impressions of the 3008 and Grandland, we were much more impressed by the C5 Aircross, so the architecture clearly has potential. 

The teams working on the Compass — one in Italy, the other in the USA — have managed to make something that certainly looks like a Jeep, with a more angular look than the car's aforementioned cousins, with the brand's trademark seven-slot grille present and correct. It also has tough body cladding, should you decide to venture off the beaten track. 

Will the Compass be any good if you do so? Well, we wouldn't recommend tackling anything serious in one of the front-wheel drive models, but all-wheel drive versions have more ground clearance, better wading depth, hill-descent control, and improved approach, breakover and departure angles.

As far as we can work out, only the Jeep Compass Full-Electric, which we're covering in a separate review, will have an all-wheel drive version. 

The Jeep Compass's combustion engine line-up goes mostly as you'd expect, with the entry point being the Stellantis three-cylinder mild hybrid unit, with the option of a four-cylinder plug-in hybrid alternative coming later. Neither will be particularly fast. 

The car comes in at 4552mm long, which is 10mm more than the Peugeot 3008, although you get 38 litres less boot space here, at 550 litres. Still, that's a good chunk better than the old Compass and in the same ballpark as most rivals. 

On that front, the Compass has plenty of them. Along with the in-house Stellantis alternatives, you could also consider the likes ofthe Hyundai Tucson, the Nissan Qashqai and the Skoda Karoq, although none have quite as rugged an aesthetic as the Jeep.

We're yet to drive the Jeep Compass, but as soon as we do, we'll be updating this page with our impressions. For now, here's everything we know about it.

We'll have to wait and see how the Jeep Compass handles driving both on and off-road, but the company has at least given us some facts and figures that might give some clue as to how it might manage the latter. 

The Compass has 200mm of ground clearance plus approach, breakover and departure angles of 20, 15 and 26 degrees. For the uninitiated, those refer to how steep an obstacle a car can go over without the underside smacking into the ground — the numbers listed are nothing special and neither is the 408mm wading depth. 

Compass 4xe versions, which are set to join the range at a later date, do a bit better. You get an extra 10mm of ground clearance, with approach, breakover and departure angles of 27, 16 and 31 degrees. The wading depth is also said to be better but we don't yet know by how much. 

The Jeep Compass has an engine lineup that's identical to that of the Citroen C5 Aircross and Peugeot 3008, comprising two petrols.

The entry point is the 1.2-litre three-cylinder e-Hybrid. That's a bit of a fib because that makes it sound like a self-charging hybrid rather than what it is — a mild hybrid which only allows for very limited electric-only running.

It develops 145PS and 230Nm, which is modest for a car of the Jeep's size. Judging from our experiences with other similarly sized Stellantis products with the same engine, it'll need to be noisly thrashed should you want to make decent progress. The 0-62mph dash takes 10.3 seconds and the top speed is 117mph. 

A more powerful option is the plug-in hybrid, which makes a much more acceptable 195PS and 300Nm of torque. Crucially the three-cylinder engine is swapped out for a smoother four-cylinder here, joined by an electric motor supplied by a 17.8kWh battery pack. Thanks to the extra power, we'd anticipate 0-62mph in just over 8.0 seconds. 

There's no Euro NCAP rating for the Jeep Compass, although we suspect it will inherit one from the Peugeot 3008, with that car's results also carried over to both the Citroen C5 Aircross and the Vauxhall Grandland. This is because Euro NCAP considers them to be 'corporate twins' with the same structure and identical levels of safety equipment, so smashing versions of each into various surfaces would be a waste of time and money. 

Assuming this happens, it will be a four-star rating, which sounds underwhelming when so many SUV rivals manage the full five stars. Drilling down the individual categories, the 3008 scored 80% for adult occupants, 85% for child occupants, 79% for vulnerable road users and 62% for its safety assistance systems.

Standard-fit safety equipment includes a driver attention monitor, lane-departure warning and autonomous emergency braking.

The towing capacity of the Jeep Compass e-Hybrid is 1150kg for braked trailer loads, although that figure is only provisional. 

The Jeep Compass's 550 litres of boot space is less than the 588 litres you get in the related Peugeot 3008, but bang on what the Vauxhall Grandland offers. It's competitive for SUVs of this size and a good chunk roomier than some rivals, including the Nissan Qashqai at 479-504 litres.

The rear bench folds in a 40/20/40 split and although a figure for the total boot volume this opens up is yet to be provided, we expect it will be somewhere around the 1645 litres found in the similarly configured Grandland.

You also get a further 34 litres of storage space dotted around the cabin and a sizeable shelf on the passenger side of the dashboard, although that might not be terribly practical if the driver decides to swing the car around a corner with any sort of enthusiasm. 

We can't truly judge the passenger space yet but Jeep is boasting a 55mm increase in rear legroom compared with the outgoing Compass, plus in a car of this size we can't imagine headroom being an issue.

The Jeep Compass comes with a 16.0-inch, ultra-wide touchscreen infotainment system, which sounds impressive but you do lose quite a bit of real estate to the permanently displayed climate controls at either end.

We'd rather Jeep had added physical controls for all of these but it looks like there are at least proper buttons for the fan speed, air recirculation, air-conditioning plus the front and rear windscreen demisters, so that's a partial win for common sense. 

Joining the infotainment system is a 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster and a head-up display. 

The only price announced so far is £35,720 for the Jeep Compass e-Hybrid First Edition trim, which comes nicely loaded up with equipment. Judging by its Stellantis stablemates, it's likely to be a jump of a several thousand pounds should you want the forthcoming plug-in hybrid. You could offset that by opting for the lower Altitude specification, of course.

It's hard to put the Compass into proper context until we have the full range of prices, but it looks like good value considering the cheapest Peugeot 3008 is £37,790, while the Volkswagen Tiguan range starts from £38,080. 

It's £195 a year for the Jeep Compass's VED car tax, although we will have to wait and see how the plug-in hybrid prices shape up, but it's possible some specifcation combinations might breach the £40,000 threshold for the Expensive Car Supplement, which means owners will be hit with an extra £425 annually from years two to six of ownership. 

So far, we only have a provisional fuel efficiency figure for the e-Hybrid First Edition of 39.9mpg. Mind you, the figure for the PHEV will be largely irrelevant, because the current WLTP regime is very flattering for such vehicles. What you actually get will vary wildly depending on how far you're going, the kind of driving you're doing and if you're able to keep the battery charged.

Do so at home and get yourself on a variable electricity tariff with off-peak periods, and the PHEV could end up being very cheap to run if a lot of your journeys can be completed within the expected 50 or so miles of electric range. 

So far, orders are only being taken for the Jeep Compass First Edition, with regular trim levels set to go on sale in the near future.

Standard equipment for the Jeep Compass First Edition includes: 

• 18-inch alloy wheels
• LED matrix headlamps 
• Illuminated grille
• Dark-tinted rear windows 
• Bodywork protection
• Heated, electrically adjustable and folding door mirrors
• Keyless entry and starting
• Heated front seats
• Heated steering wheel 
• Dual-zone climate control
• 16-inch infotainment touchscreen
• 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster
• Wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto 
• Adaptive cruise control
• Electrically operated tailgate