You know the Jeep Compass, don’t you, that cheap vehicle that Jeep’s former owner, Daimler Chrysler, cobbled together in 2007 with the hope that Americans would go for a small, fuel-efficient Jeep? Sadly though, for Jeep, Americans have not flocked to the Compass.
But…this sad state might be about to change. A new Compass is coming to town. The 2014 Jeep Compass is a neither cheap-looking or feeling. It rides on 18-inch aluminum wheels. Its path it illuminates with projector-beam halogen headlamps and fog lamps, while it driver navigates the way looking through a new acoustic-laminated windshield.
However, none of these fine additions, and make no mistake about it, they are fine, is the mucho macho change. No, that addition is the six-speed steep-gear automatic transmission. Gone is the rightfully-derided continuously variable tranny. This new transmission has the added benefit of having a manual shifting mode, which should bring smiles to those who really know how to drive.