Compass heading wrong way

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Friday, November 18, 2011

Every now and then in this business you come across a car which is so astonishingly good that even though you’ve been in the business for an eternity and thought you’d seen everything and experienced the best, it rattles you.

The corollary to that, of course, is that every now and then you come across something so dreadful that it is nearly impossible to believe that in this day and age a car manufacturer could possibly feel justified in foisting it on an unsuspecting public.

Of course there are cars out there which fit in the middle; cars which do have redeeming features but whose driving characteristics leave it down so badly as to make it seem a whole lot worse than it is in reality.

This week’s tester, the new Jeep Compass, I am afraid to report, fits this latter description and I have to say I thoroughly disliked this American machine.

Now regular readers down the years will know that I have enjoyed a genuine antipathy towards the American automotive industry and its produce.

In fact, while I cannot say I took any pleasure in the virtual collapse of the USA’s automotive sector in recent years, at the same time it did not shock me.

For years the Yanks have been producing cars which bore little, if any, relevance to the modern world.

The automotive industry over there only had itself to blame for its own collapse, producing as it did, machinery which bore little relevance to the needs and desires of the modern consumer. The industry there was mired in its own irrelevant view of itself.

It was no surprise that through the 80s and 90s, the American industry found itself completely undermined by a bunch of Japanese car companies who produced affordable, economic, smart, technologically advanced and reliable machines the Americans produced few such things.

And what a pity, because the American automotive business is rich in heritage and tradition and littered with fantastical names such as Studebaker, Hudson, Oldsmobile, Mercury and so many more.

But — and despite all the indicators from all points north, south, east and west — that it was failing its customers and itself, the US autocar makers blinded themselves to reality for far too long and paid for it very dearly indeed.

The collapse of the car industry there led to many changes, not least of which was that one of the former members of the ‘big three’ — they being Ford, General Motors and Chrysler — ended up in European ownership and even then it was a very unpredictable outcome.

We speak of Chrysler, previously one of the dominant forces in car making in America.

Back before the turn of the century, Chrysler was actually involved in a disastrous alliance with Daimler Benz which the German giant ran away from when it realised the depth of the company’s problems and its almost complete inability to operate in a modern climate.

Left to its own devices Chrysler duly collapsed when the recent financial crisis hit world markets and in the end it found itself being taken over by a most unlikely suitor in the shape of Fiat.

The Italians had, for years, eschewed the American market because it could not sell cars there, but in taking over Chrysler it suddenly had access to one of the biggest and most important markets on the planet.

It also got to own the famous Jeep brand as a result.

All of which brings us to the Jeep Compass, the subject of this week’s test and a car for which I had an almost instant dislike.

In fact I hated it.

Right now Jeep is in the middle of what it terms a ‘product-led resurgence’ and I have to say that if the company truly believes this, then it is in big trouble.

Sure the Compass holds its own on price in the mid-size SUV market, but its product has little to offer by way of serious competition to the Japanese, Korean and European contenders in the same segment.

Experienced drivers will know that awful feeling you get when the steering of whatever car you are driving suddenly goes light in your hands as you negotiate a corner.

Such moments could be described as ‘sphincter tightening’ experience as you feel momentarily utterly powerless to make the car do what you want it to do.

It seems like there is a complete disconnect between you, the steering wheel and the wheels on the road.

Sadly, I had many such moments in the Compass. Too many, in fact, to have any real confidence in the car.

Maybe it is that the Compass is happy on American highways where flat surfaces and the absence of anything approaching a corner would make it a fine driving companion.

On the switchback roads of west Cork, for example, a different story emerges and it is not a good one.

Certainly the Compass has a decent engine — sourced, ironically from Mercedes Benz — and it has plenty to offer in terms of interior space and specification.

But the fact remains that the car’s unresolved ride and handling issues, do it no favours.