We're going to assume that, since this came out of a Mopar accessory catalog, the photo depicts seat warmers. But with Chrysler's interior track record, we're not ready to declare anything for certain.

Jalopnik Snap Judgment: Two things to think about: First, Chryserberus is obviously listening to consumer complaints about its interiors. Second, if Compass and Patriot are getting a refresh, ecxpect Caliber to get one as well (if it survives), possibly vaulting the three (or maybe two) from the ranks of also-rans and onto the shopping lists of millions of new small-car customers.

[via Allpar]

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...

...sucked ass. Thus, they're going out to bid to what's being termed as

"a "limited number" of undisclosed Omnicom Group agencies...including BBDO Detroit..."

Omnicom Agencies Invited to Pitch for Jeep Assignment [AdAge]

Related:
Ad Watch: Yup, That's One Head-Bobbin' Jeep Compass; Not-So-Happy Valentine's Day! Is February 14th An Important Date For Chrysler Group CEO Tom LaSorda? [internal]

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.

Why you shouldn't buy this car: Haven't you been listening — it's not a Jeep! Oh, and the Dodge Caliber's got a water bottle cooler in the glove box. And your iPod may not fit, either.

Suitability Parameters:
· Speed Merchants: No
· Fashion Victims: Yes
· Treehuggers: Yes
· Mack Daddies: No
· Tuner Crowd: No
· Hairdressers: Yes
· Penny Pinchers: Yes
· Euro Snobs: No
· Working Stiffs: No
· Technogeeks: No
· Poseurs: No
· Soccer Moms: No
· Nascar Dads: No
· Golfing Grandparents: Yes

Vitals:
· Manufacturer: Jeep
· Model tested: Compass
· Model year: 2007
· Price as Tested: $21,185
· Engine type: 2.4-liter DOHC 16-valve Dual VVT four-cylinder
· Horsepower: 172 hp @ 6000 rpm
· Torque: 165 ft.-lbs. @ 4400 rpm
· Redline: n/a
· Wheels and Tires: P215/60R17 all season
· Drive type: four-wheel drive
· 0 - 60: 10.15 secs.
· 1/4 mile: 17.5 seconds
· Top speed: we had it up to 92, it may go higher than that — but police go faster.
· Fuel economy city/highway: 25 / 29
· NHTSA crash test rating front/side/rollover: NT/NT/NT

[By Ray Wert]

Related:
Jalopnik Reviews: 2007 Jeep Compass, Part 1, Part 2 [internal]

Interior Design: ***
The Compass, like the Caliber, suffers from an overuse of light-duty plastic. Otherwise, the Compass gets good marks for comfort and design of the pump-it-higher seats, which provide a feeling of riding tall in the saddle. The air conditioning vents, fold-flat rear seats, crisp instrument panels and the center console are ergonomically spot-on, which helps compensate for the shortfall in materials.

Acceleration: ****
When you drop the hammer, the Compass actually feels much more substantial than its price would suggest. Use of the 172-hp version of Chrysler's 2.4-liter four-cylinder world engine mitigates some of the power-to-weight issues of the entry Dodge Caliber.

Braking: ****
The Compass, like its Caliber cousin, has adequate braking power. Extra star for standard brake assist on all configurations, plus four-wheel ABS.

Ride: ****
Since it's a Jeep, expectations are it'll treat passengers like kernels in a popcorn popper. It doesn't. Four stars for that.

Handling: ***
Because the Compass has a tight turning radius, emerging from one of them thar Michigan lefts on Woodward Avenue means not spilling off into three or four lanes. Otherwise, it's got a tight, almost tentative feel in the turns.

Gearbox: ****
Although the Compass comes with standard five-speed manual, the tester was equipped with the optional CVT2 continuously variable box. It uses a morass of V pulleys and a steel push belt to keep revs in the engine's most efficient range, and it did so without much ado (or free-revving, as is some CVTs' wont). No jerky upshifts means fewer spilled beverages.

Audio/Video: **
The stereo does have that killer aux in — but we're still bummed about the whole iPod-not-fitting-in-the-armrest thing. (Update: The company folks are checking on it.)

Toys: ****
The Compass, like the Caliber, is chock full of toys — from the liftgate speaker system (great for tailgating) to the factory-installed rear-seat video system. Minus one star for not adopting the Caliber's refrigerated glove box.

Trunk: ****
Even without the liftgate speakers, the rest of the Compass has ample cargo room for transporting a parking-lot or beach bacchanalia, with a diamond-plastic floor that's easily washable if the festivities go south.

Value: ****
The Compass is priced competitively with others in its segment, though more horsepower and AWD make it a better value than most.

Overall:***
Were it not for the Jeep badge, the Compass wouldn't rate the slightest comparison with any vehicle from the Trail-Rated stable. Otherwise, it's a fun, economical wagon with all-wheel-drive for a decent price.

[By Ray Wert]

Related:
Jalopnik Reviews: 2007 Jeep Compass, Part 1, Part 3 [internal]

So what exactly is Jeep doing sticking an AWD grocery getter into its fleet of 4WD rock climbers? Is it, as many are saying, the worst possible choice for a brand that's built its name on an image of off-road utility? Or rather, like the Chrysler Group's crosstown competitors, is Jeep attempting a bold move by leveraging the brand's cachet to increase sales?

Before we answer that question, let's take a look at what the Compass is. In structure and styling, the Compass is a badge-engineered clone of the Dodge Caliber — except with a big 'ol Jeep grille on the front. And it's right at the grille that the similarity between a Jeep and this ... vehicle ... ends.

Under the hood, the Compass diverges only slightly from the Caliber. Although the Compass is available with all-wheel-drive, it certainly doesn't have the goods to perform off-road like a Jeep. It does have an uprated, 172-hp version of Chrysler's 2.4-liter four-cylinder world engine with dual Variable Valve Timing (VVT) to optimize the torque curve and maximize fuel economy. Five-speed manual is standard, with a Continuously Variable transaxle (CVT2) optional.

All of this focus on fuel economy maximization and smoothing out the torque curve leaves the Compass with little Jeeplike capability off road, not that we were expecting any (Jeep's ad folks have gone out of their way to get us to Free Our Thoughts regarding the Compass). The base Compass is fitted with a standard front-wheel-drive system, and our test model had the available active full-time four-wheel-drive system with a lockable center coupling, which offers "lock mode" to handle somewhat rougher terrain.

What do I mean by somewhat rougher terrain? About the only place a Compass won't be flummoxed off-road is a flat stretch of hard-packed dirt. On a short trail of light crag, lock mode felt similar to that of a standard AWD car. That is to say, woe to it on a hard, rutted doubletrack. But again, Jeep is marketing the Compass as a versatile vehicle that offers just a "piece of the Jeep experience." It is a fun vehicle to drive, with more responsive pickup than the standard Caliber. With the seating set higher than most cars', it at least offers the on-road feel of a "real" Jeep. But with an MSRP of only $15,985 — it comes at two-thirds the cost. In the end, the Compass is a versatile car with some decent storage room that can handle run-of-the-mill snow showers with aplomb. But it's not a Jeep, so why call it that? [By Ray Wert]

Related:
Jalopnik Reviews: 2007 Jeep Compass, Part 2, Part 3 [internal]

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.

Related:
More Ad Watch [internal]

Every one of the 1,000 new employees working on the Dodge Caliber, Jeep Compass and Patriot will be a "temp" worker paid $8-an-hour less than their UAW co-workers. In addition, they'll have two-year contracts and have to wait eight months for health insurance benefits. Despite union leadership agreeing to the addition of the provision in the 2003 labor contract, we're guessing this probably won't go over too well with the 2,650 UAW rank-and-file employees at the factory.

At least their leadership's taking full responsibility. For instance, Bill Parker, president of UAW Local 1700 which covers the Belvidere plant, had this to say about the provision:

"My question is where are all these decisions being made?"

Glad to see the worker bees have someone they can count on to stick by their decisions — no matter how difficult.

Chrysler hires all-temps third shift at Ill. plant [Detroit News]

Related:
Breaking! GM Doing The Churn N' Burn — Hiring Temps To Replace Union Workers [internal]

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).

Read the press release at Dubspeed Driven

Related:
Jeep Needs Women: The New Compass Crossover [internal]

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.

Sayeth the Loverman:

"While it's true that current Jeep buyers don't climb every mountain or see a stream and automatically think there's a ford in their future, they find their Jeep's untapped capability endlessly reassuring and secretly thrilling— like a condom in their wallet or America's nuclear arsenal. The Compass reveals a radical change in Jeep's marketing strategy, an attempt to court "non-traditional buyers." Or, if you prefer, they're chasing people willing to trade the actual, honest-to-God possibility of off-roading for the mere foggy idea of it."

Ouch.

Jeep Heads South [The Truth About Cars

Related:
The Truth About Junketeering [Internal]

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.

HB Spy Shots: Chrysler Double Header

Related:
Spy Photos: 2007 Jeep Compass

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.

Newcomers Could Ding Jeep's Image [USA Today]

Related:
At My Signal, Unleash Hell!: Jeep Considering Production Version of Gladiator [Internal]

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.

2007 Jeep Compass Styling [Internal]

Related:
Jeep Needs Women: The New Compass Crossover [Internal]

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.

Related:
Spy Photos: More on the 2007 Jeep Compass [internal]

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.

Jeep Compass Spy Photos [American Car Fans]

Related:
Spy Photos: 2007 Jeep Compass; Frankfurt Premiere: Jeep Patriot and Compass Concepts; First Calibers Roll Off the Line [internal]

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.

Jeep Patriot

Related:
Jeep Releases Images of Frankfurt Concepts [internal]

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.

The Jeep Patriot is arguably the more attractive of the two, with a low roofline and high beltline, giving it a conceptual connection to the Grand Cherokee and, dare we say it, the Chrysler 300. We'll have the pictures, liveish, from Frankfurt, when these two appear in the flesh.

Related:
Spy Photos: Dodge, Jeep Crossover; More on Jeep's Dodge Caliber Platform Crossovers; Spy Photos: 2007 Jeep Compass; Jeep Crossover Concepts to Appear in Frankfurt [internal]

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.

Baby Jeeps go in a new direction [The Detroit News]

Related:
Spy Photos: Dodge, Jeep Crossover; More on Jeep's Dodge Caliber Platform Crossovers; Spy Photos: 2007 Jeep Compass [internal]

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.

Spy Shots: 07 Jeep Compass [The Car Connection]

Related:
Dodge s New Caliber: It s All in the Genes;
More on Jeep s Dodge Caliber Platform Crossovers; Spy Photos: Dodge, Jeep Crossover [internal]