Jeep Compass test drive since 2006 crossover
Perestroika spotlight
Well, here they lived almost a Jeep passenger with a completely independent suspension, built on the hatchback platform Dodge Caliber. We don't need such a jeep? Not everything is so unambiguous! Let's not rush with judgments.When Freelander appeared, the brand enthusiasts jumped: Land Rover died! When Jeep released Liberty with an independent front suspension, real jeepers squeamishly frowned. So it was and, it seems, will always be, because, as you know, it is difficult to find a greater conservative than a fan of off -road, guided by Kalashnikov’s slogan: necessary - simply, complex - no need! Although, if you carefully examine the raids, or dig into the Rock Baggi design, what to go there! A decent trophic prototype is far from just UAZ/TLC/Defender. This is all to the fact that progress does not stand still, and we should not turn away from new products only because they seem to us inconsistent with the usual concepts.
Nord-west
We were invited for the test of the new Jeep to Sweden. This means that you are not chasing the highway, the control of speed is cruel, and the Dragon fines, you won’t go to the MUD-Terrain, everywhere private property and fences under the current, you won’t turn around in the city, half of the streets in Stockholm are pedestrian, the rest are one-sided. It doesn’t matter, ”the delicious herring and the freshest sea air are expected ... The novelty was presented in three versions: diesel with a 6 -speed manual gearbox, gasoline with a variator and gasoline with a manual transmission, all with all -wheel drive. Moreover, diesel engines were intended for asphalt, and lighters were intended for off -road. The only gasoline machine with mechanics was captured by our colleagues from Slovakia and did not give anyone to anyone - the costs of international test drives, no cooperation of nations to you. Well, we choose a bright hack and having relyed the odometer, touch the journey - to the Jeep Activity Center.
The European market will supply Compass in two sets of configuration - Sport and Limited, respectively, simpler and sophisticated. As it is now accepted, the options are divided into packages and you can order, say Sport with an optional p1 option, which includes air conditioning, a full -size reserve, heating the front seats and cruise control. The P2 package additionally includes the Musik Gate acoustic system, decoration of the cabin and radio with a CD changer and MP3. It should be noted that recently Americans are much more attentive to the configuration of their cars supplied to Europe, since the Japanese themselves and manufacturers from the Old World for a long time overseas colleagues have been ahead of this issue.
Now let's see how the designers and testers of Jeep to the characteristics of controllability and dynamics reacted. On public roads, you are not particularly walking around. A short section of the highway scored by trucks, where it was barely possible to accelerate to 130 km/h, quickly ended and we turned onto the secondary paths. Smooth as a board and winding as a serpentine, they are mostly very narrow, barely a couple of cars wide and with a speed limit of up to 70 km/h. One of the locals working in the Jeep team warned that the police here like to arrange ambushes in the wilderness, and that, they say, we would not like the sizes of fines. However, we managed to find a small platform with markings for a helicopter landing. There are several sharp shifts of the course and a couple of circles at the limit of tire clutch showed that the suspension was still clamped, but the steering requires tuning. If you go to Compass, observing the rules of movement, then the impressions of the car will remain the most favorable. The new Jeep is quite comfortable, the landing is slightly higher than in the car, the review is acceptable, only the front racks in the lower part are widely wide. When the turn coincides with the roll, you have to stretch out the neck to see if anyone goes on the left. The review back, contrary to expectations, is quite acceptable, the headrests do not interfere, and the mirrors are large enough. There is nothing to complain about in terms of setting up a driver's seat. At least while you go along the asphalt. On off-road I want to raise a chair higher in order to reduce the blind area in front of the bumper, but no, the ceiling is, here it is!
Stone massage
In the Jeep Activity Center, built for the presentation of Compass right in the forest, we were waiting for gasoline versions of crossovers and - this is a surprise - several Wrangler. For comparison, or something, as representatives of the opposite part of the Jeep coolness scale? A small technical briefing was immediately held, and the insides of Compass were set: an engine with a transmission, chassis and a suspension. Both engines are in the cut and a prepared variator. A separate graph was a real, without a bald, massage with stones. Decent naked nakeds with a fist are heated in a special bath and rub their backs with them. Very nice! However, not only pilots, but also cars themselves received massage with stones, since Sweden is a huge rock, bashfully covered with shreds of soil. So cars about stones, boulders and real, only small, mountain ranges with pendants, bridges, frames and subframes, of course, were fought, the tracks for tests at Compass and Wrangler were different. The classics got in full, there were both stuck and settled after a blow to the tree. But modern in the person of the hero of our story felt quite normally on the highway, which was very similar to our forest roads after a month of rain. On this day, Freedom I FreeDom I worked for glory! In fact, this system is nothing more than an ordinary electronically controlled coupling, which is blocked when the wheels are wired by one of the axes. In our case, the front, as leading and the main on the asphalt. A feature of Freedom I is that the coupling has a premise mode - even with a slight difference in rotation of the wheels, discs begin to close, throwing part of the thrust back. This is useful on weak surfaces, such as sand or snow, where you can burst even before the coupling is triggered. He hung it a little, pressed the gas to jump out, the front wheel spun, the machine crawled and everything was a shovel in his hands. Compass in this situation jerks with the whole body - both axes will work. The probability of getting out is doubled - at least hypothetically. I also liked the work of the variator. The fact that on the asphalt can be evaluated as a delay in the reaction, in the mud turns into great benefit.
The parameters of geometric cross-country ability will not allow Compass to transpire through the log into half-knit, but there are enough degrees and millimeters within ordinary forest roads. The road clearance of the crossover is 200 mm, the angles of the entrance, congress and rolling: 21, 32 and 20 degrees, respectively. Compass bottom protection is conditional and for the most part these are subframes of pendants and spar. The rest is plastic. Therefore, the navigator carefully needs to monitor how the obstacle passes all that is within the wheelbase. In the off -road asset of the new Jeep, in addition to the active all -wheel drive, there is an anti -boom system and specially configured ABS. In a word, when accurate riding, Compass will behave on a crossed area no worse than its closest competitors, in which Toyota Rav4, Honda CR-V and Hyundai Tucson are recorded. Prices are also determined: Compass in the Sport version will cost 24,900 euros (2.4mt), with the variator it will cost 25,800 euros, the most expensive equipment is estimated at 28,700 euros. The diesel engines will appear next year.
Compass of Captain Sparrow
And yet, is Jeep a new Compass leading a faithful road? And yes, and no, and that's why. Of course, there is a place in the gamut of jeep in the gamut of Jeep, and the whole world automotive is going on. The reducing gear and uncertain bridges are not always needed. In addition, the brutal appearance is not at all obligatory for the car, from which it is required to conquer a 20-centimeter snowy drift at the garage gate, no more. In general, for its class, the car is no worse than others. But as a new direction of the brand will affect the general image of Jeep, on its unconditional renom of his boyfriend on any road and, practically, on any off -road? After all, a charmingly unshaven personality in shabby jeans, heavy boots, stained with clay, baseball cap, cowboy and a happy smile on the face does not fit into the frames that the Compass and a subtile lady with a rat -like dog on her arms looks less and less and less than next to round faces, a seven -stained radiator and the inscription Jeep on top of it. In a word, I would like Compass to not look like a tool with which Jack Sparrow was looking for his happiness, I don’t know how any enthusiast of an off-road, I probably are too conservative.
Text: Igor Gubar
Source: Magazine 4x4 [October/2006]
