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Visit the "View All Vehicles" section of Jeep's website and select the "$17,000 to $21,000" price range, it displays no vehicles, subtly admitting the Compass and Patriot are too cheap and inconsequential to be considered. (Thanks Robert!) More »
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The Jeep Compass (the Jeep MK platform for the ladies) and Patriot (the Jeep MK platform for the boys) will be getting revised interiors with softer lines for 2009, according to a first look at some Mopar dealer catalogs scanned by the Chrysler forum fan-boys at Allpar. Gone are most of the hard-edged "plastic box" features that made up the first-gen mini-Jeeps, replaced by a more fluid-looking motif still using the same basic layout. Compass pictured above; Patriot interior after the jump. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=399775&view=rss&microfeed=true Not to be outdone by the Corvette Z06 GM sent round the Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix road course by the folks from the General, some putz took his Jeep Compass out on the track — you know, to see how it's done. Unfortunately, he didn't crash into a barricade as he slowly made his way through a few of the turns. The best part's the fact he's trying to tape and drive at the same time. Can somebody say "Super Crash Potential?" We know we will all weekend as we cover the Detroit Grand Prix. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=295703&view=rss&microfeed=true Why do we get the feeling the workers at Belvedere being paid the least are the ones working on the Jeep Patriot? Just sayin'... [Detroit News] More »
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Apparently Tom LaSorda's got some serious rage going on today. We're assuming it's about the terrible head-bobbing ads for the Jeep Compass and not just random displays of bravado in the face of what'll more than likely be a terrible Valentine's Day tomorrow. The ads, which were criticized by both the ad pundit class (for being well, head-bobbing) as well as dealers (for showing nada in the way of details on the new "urban-uv") were created by the ad house, Global Hue, but were to be shunned in favor of something from the folks at BBDO Detroit. Unfortunately, as AdAge is reporting today — the creative seen by the CEO of the 'merican half of the German-American hybrid apparently... More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=236376&view=rss&microfeed=true Why you should buy this car: You're the type of person who thinks "Jeep" is a cartoon character named Eugene from the 1930's Popeye comic strip. You're someone who doesn't give a rat's ass what other people think about them and wants an inexpensive and useful vehicle to go from one place to the next — sometimes even in snow. More »
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Exterior Design: * More »
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Jeep has always signified a go-anywhere-and-damned- if-I'm-not-allowed-to mentality. It's a marque that's retained the muddy patina of its roots as a military vehicle, despite post-decommissioning hazards that included rotating ownership and a raft of spotty offshoots. It even survived (and flourished amid) a more "feminine" — as some would say — tangent with the Jeep Liberty. That's because, despite the front office's desire to attract a wider audience, the Liberty shared the same "Trail Rated," status as the company's other Rubicon-crossing models. All of that history ends with the Jeep Compass, an economy car. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=194125&view=rss&microfeed=true There are four ads for the Jeep Compass featuring bobblehead dolls head-bobbing at each other. Each of the four make an attempt at being funny, and then just as quickly, they each fail. On top of that, they're just creepy as hell, and there's no real explanation for who, what, why, where...and to be honest, we couldn't give a rat's ass how. The best thing we can say is the music by KRS-One, which we think is called "Steady Bounce" is not as annoying as Celine Dion, but also not as good as the Chris Classic/Nazareth "Charger: Unleashed" mash-up. But we expect more out of a powerhouse like BBDO Detroit who we know can do it and do it well, so we're going to give them a pass on this one. It'll be like a "gimmie" or a "do-over" — we're going to pretend we never saw these and just hope they use it. UPDATE: Turns out the citations we found attached to the commercials were incorrect. It wasn't BBDO Detroit, but rather a company called "Global Hue." We don't know what they've done before, but we hope whatever it was made up for these ads. The first and "best" is sitting up top, the rest of they-who-must-not-be-named are just a click away. More »
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Chrysler's been hyping the new third shift being added to the Toledo, Ohio plant to boost production of the Liberty-platform Dodge Nitro SUV. And no wonder — they're hiring the 750 added workers in Toledo from the pool of UAW workers sitting around in the job bank. That's the type of news that makes the UAW very happy — unlike the news out of the Belvidere, Illinois plant. They'll be adding a third shift, just like Toledo — except with one minor difference. More »
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The first of the new, soft-roading Jeeps just got its pricing on. Chrysler Group released the MSRPs of Jeep's hairpin turn off the trail (and into the cul-de-sac), the Compass. Riding the same platform as the Dodge Caliber, the base 2WD Compass, which gets the corporate 172-hp, 2.4-liter world engine and five-speed manual will start at $15,985, while the four-by model will be $17,585 (both include $560 destination charge). Options include a Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT2), sunroof, AM/FM radio with six-disc CD player and MP3 CD play capability, SIRIUS Satellite Radio, reclining rear seats, fold-flat passenger seat, passenger assist handles, illuminated entry, and manual height adjuster, air conditioning, tinted glass and other gadgets that come standard in the Compass E package, which has an MSRP of $18,585 ($20,185 for 4 4). The Jeep Compass Limited, which includes leather and 18-inch wheels, will start at $20,140 ($21,740 for 4WD). More »
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We were introduced to Jonny Lieberman by a girl who could rebuild the top end of a motor and suck a golf ball through a coffee straw. We highly recommend her. In fact, our first meeting occurred in mixed company in a bar where women removed their clothes on a stage. Needless to say, Jonny's good people. It's also rumor'd that he may be Satan, but that's neither here nor there, is it? Apparently, Farago thought pretty highly of him, too, becuase he's unleashed Lieberman on Jeep's decision to build a non-Trail-Rated utelet. More »
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Jonathan of How Bourgeois has the eye of a hawk and a quick finger on the shutter button. He caught the Jeep Compass and Dodge Nitro rolling around in minor disguise, tentatively taking baby steps out into the wild world of Metro Detwa. Jonathan also notes the low-profile tires on the Nitro and posits that it could possibly be the SRT version of Dodge's Liberty sibling. More »
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Man, when the graph-meisters at USA Today start getting all up in your grill about the new cute-non-utes you're attempting to grow the brand with, you might start to wonder if you'd made a bad decision. But not Jeep! John Plecha, director of the marque's marketing says, "We're not watering down the brand. We know what we have and we're protecting it." Meanwhile, John Wolkonowicz, a senior analyst at Global Automotive Group is worried about the Compass in particular, calling it "a sad little car." Ouch. More »
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Oh man...reader Ben braved the Compass website and came back with this nugget of marketing mush: "Your Compass reflects your good taste with eight available exterior colors, 2 interior schemes and slick features like 17- or 18-inch wheels, fog lamps and tough but tender body lines." [Italics ours.] There should be nothing tender about a Jeep except for the meat of the small animals one has run over with it. Hey, LaSorda, the plot just called it's hopelessly lost. More »
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Chrysler rolled out the Compass this past Monday in Detroit to a media-savvy crowd who couldn't hide their puzzlement. What did the wagon up on stage have to do with the Jeep brand? (The non-sequitur appearance of actress Angie Harmon — who can Law our Order anytime — distracted some from the puzzle, at least temporarily.) We'd seen the Compass in Frankfurt as a concept, read about its imminent arrival with disbelief and saw the spy shots — and yet none of it prepared us for the weird, silver car with the warped Liberty nose, front-wheel drive and a fully independent suspension, which wore its Jeep badging like a third-grader in sergeant's stripes. We get the accounting case: finding new markets, expanding to unserved buyers, attacking new segments, etc. But will the stated independent-minded, college-educated, recently married women in their 20s to early 40s dig it? (Likely more than their Wrangler-driving husbands (or partners) will.) Or will the Jeep-unjeep become the Yoko Ono of the Jeep brand. More »
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With the Dodge Caliber on its way down the pike, it's fitting that American Car Fans would uncover some spy shots of its badge-engineering mate, the Jeep Compass. Taken during cold-weather testing in Northern Europe, the shots indicate a vehicle similar to the concept unveiled in Frankfurt last September — albeit dressed in its finest leather-daddy attire. Production of the four-banging front/all-wheel-drive crossover (Trail Rated, huh?) will reportedly begin in mid-2006 for the 2007 model year. More »
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Greetings from Camp Jeep! (NB: Frankfurt is an irony-free zone.) DCX's off-roading brand has unleashed two new concepts for the compact SUV segment. The Patriot is the sensible one, a rugged, flying brick shaped-SUV designed to holster a new 2.4-liter four (coming soon to a Mitsubishi and Hyundai near you). The Compass (pictured) is the Patriot's evil twin, a rally-style off-roader featuring enough bad-ass body cladding to kit out a Florida trailer park. Nineteen-inch wheels, a roof-mounted spoiler (Spoiler? I just met her!) and dual exhausts signal the Compass sporting direction. More »
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Chrysler Group released artists' renderings of what its new Jeep Compass Rallye and Jeep Patriot concepts will look like when they're unveiled at the Frankfurt show in September. Yesterday, we noted that evoking off-road rally culture was a natural fit for Jeep's marketing of a carlike vehicle. But looking at the Compass rendering (pictured), with its signature Jeep Liberty face fused to a Dodge Caliber body, makes us feel weird. It's like one of those birthday cards where they put grandpa's face on grandma, or cousin Sally. More »
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DaimlerChrysler is preparing two crossover concepts — models that have already been rumored as 2008 production models — to debut in that hot-dog town named for Frank. We kid Frankfurt, because it's shaping up to be a major flashpoint for a number of big automotive news items, including Jeep's introduction of its newest line-extending models, built on the Dodge Caliber platform that debuted in Geneva. (Yes, folks, globalization is alive and well). While the Patriot is said to be a car-based small SUV, in the family of the RAV4 — lower and shorter than the Liberty — the most excitement may be generated by the Compass, a "low-slung sporty hatchback whose design was inspired by European rally cars." Picture the Caliber concept as a WRC racer, and Jeep may just have found a winning segue into the car market. More »
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Spy photog Chris Doane caught some new shots of the Jeep Compass — Jeep's version of the neon-replacing Dodge Caliber — during road testing. A five-passenger crossover, the Compass will use Chrysler's new small-car platform, which provides for all-wheel drive, though AWD it will be available on the Jeep as an option. Jeep has been threatening to broaden the appeal of its line beyond, er, jeeps, for a while. Still, the Compass seems like a huge, and unnecessary, gamble for the Chrysler-owned brand, which defines itself on "Trail Rated" sensibilities. Trailing its parent brand in weak-kneed cars doesn't seem to be what they had in mind. More »
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