2024 Jeep Compass Receives Minor Stylistic Upgrades

1 year, 3 months ago - 4 September 2023, autoevolution

Updated with standard all-wheel drive and a 2.0-liter turbo four-cylinder engine last year, the Jeep Compass has entered the 2024 model year with little in the way of changes. The list comprises new wheel designs (up to 19 inches) and a new front grille insert treatment. That's it!

The Trailhawk off-road trim level has received a new type of all-terrain tire, although Jeep didn't bother naming the make and model. All we know is 215/65 by 17 inches for the tires and 17- by 6.5-inch alloy wheels.

Similar to the 2023 model, the 2024 is available in eight flavors. The Sport is $28,400 sans destination freight charge, followed by the $33,040 Latitude and $34,540 Latitude Lux. Higher up the spectrum, Jeep offers the $34,340 Altitude, $35,795 Limited, $36,690 Trailhawk, $38,965 (RED), and $38,790 High Altitude trim levels.

Pricing changes are few and far between. The Sport costs the same as it did for the 2023 model year, whereas the Latitude is merely $100 more expensive. The Altitude is $495 more affordable, and the same applies to the range-topping High Altitude. Available in black and black with Steel Gray for the interior, the Compass can be had in seven exterior paint colors for the 2024 model year: Red Hot, Sting Gray, Hydro Blue, Baltic Gray, Diamond Black, Bright White, and Silver Zynith.

Rated at 200 ponies and 221 pound-feet (300 Nm), the Compass offers best-in-class standard horsepower and torque. An eight-speed automatic supplied by South Korean automaker Hyundai is the only transmission available. It's a huge upgrade from the ZF 9HP, which is notorious for being slow, lurching, and rough shifts.

If you drive the Compass as the Environmental Protection Agency expects you to do, chances are you'll get 27 miles per gallon (8.7 liters per 100 kilometers) on the combined city/highway cycle. Trim levels other than the Trailhawk use the Jeep Active Drive 4x4 system, whereas the off-road grade levels up to the Jeep Active Drive Low 4x4. The Trailhawk's system offers a best-in-segment crawl radio of 20:1. Capable of fording through 19 inches of water, the Trailhawk is rated at 2,000 pounds (907 kilos) for towing, just like its brothers.

Easily identifiable from the 1-inch lift kit and red tow hooks, the Trailhawk also features skid plates, Hill Descent Control, 30 degrees of approach angle, 24 for breakover, 34 for departure, and LED reflector headlamps. LED projector headlamps are optionally available on the Trailhawk, Limited, and Latitude LUX.

As per the automaker's second-quarter sales release for the US market, Jeep delivered 51,292 examples of the Compass in the first half of 2023. That's an 11% improvement over the first half of 2022, yet still far off the Grand Cherokee (124,956) and Wrangler (84,642). The worst-selling nameplate in Jeep's lineup is – of course – the ridiculously expensive Grand Wagoneer. Priced at $91,140, only 5,268 units were sold from January 2023 through June 2023 in the United States.