Jeep, the iconic off-road name in the American market has looked in new directions for the future. The company is trying to capitalise on its off-road heritage to sneak a bit of the soft-road or SUV market. The vehicle to do it is the new Jeep Compass, leading the Chrysler division in a new direction. Michael Moroney assesses the impact of the new SUV.

The new Jeep Compass offers a competitive package at €33,995 before delivery charges, for a well-specified and comfortable SUV.

The Jeep range has been known as a rugged off-road performer. We tend to think of Jeep drivers as true followers of the outdoor life, prepared at times to endure less than comfort in terms of driving conditions to achieve their outdoor goals.

With the new Jeep Compass, the Jeep brand takes a slight change of direction; it's in a sense softening the Jeep brand by offering it to a wider audience. Jeep maintains that the rugged and strong off-road credentials remain, but the image of the new Compass is that of a Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) that's a lot more comfortable on the road than off it.

Even before the arrival of the Jeep Compass, the SUV market was getting crowded, now being spoiled for choice is an issue. That's why after a week behind the wheel of the Jeep Compass it's worth seeing where it has a place.

The Compass has similar style, shape and features to some other SUVs on the market. The engine used to power the Compass is a Volkswagen 2.0 litre turbo-diesel, similar to that fitted to the Mitsubishi Outlander. Power and torque performance in the Compass is similar to the Outlander at 140bhp and 310Nm respectively, showing how close they are in that sense. That performance level is average for the segment of the market, which is now bulging with at least 11 competitive options. So why take the Jeep Compass choice?

Well if you're a Jeep fan you might be happy to note that the Jeep Compass is the first Jeep vehicle to offer fuel economy under 7.0 l/100km, on the combined cycle with its diesel engine. The Compass figure comes in at 6.5l/100km (43mpg), which is up with the best in this segment of the market. It's up with the Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4 in the economy stakes, due to the performance of the Volkswagen diesel engine.

The six-speed gearbox gives average performance. The 0 to 100kkm/hr rating is 11 seconds, which is slightly slower than average.

And the Compass is also relatively clean. The engine omissions from the Compass are rated at 177g/km, which is amongst the lowest in the group. That should leave scope for VRT-based price reductions from July next.

Compass is also the Jeep brand's first front-wheel-drive-based vehicle and also the first with a fully independent suspension for comfortable on-road ride and handling characteristics, with four-wheel drive as standard. In comfort terms, the Compass is an improvement over models such as the Wrangler and Cherokee. In that sense it offers similar comfort to most of the new competition.

The Jeep Compass comes with what is called the Freedom-Drive four-wheel drive system. This is a full-time, active four-wheel-drive system with Lock mode designed to give drivers the ability to handle rough weather and low-traction conditions.