Jeep Compass Trailhawk 2020 Review

Want a Jeep that can take on terrain like a real 4x4 but still offer the comfort of a ’normal’ softroader?

The Compass Trailhawk offers a bit of both (and in the latter, more), making it an ideal companion to tour Tasmania on a seven-day road trip.

From Stanley to Strahan and Southport to Freycinet, our adventure saw us conquer almost everything Tasmania has to offer – gravel, tarmac, water, sand and wildlife – as we hit up each point of the compass in the Jeep Compass Trailhawk.

Jeep says its trail-rated Compass is “superior by nature” and therefore ready to tackle (almost) any terrain you can throw at it.

On paper, it certainly looks the part. Standard equipment includes underbody skid plates, off-road orientated suspension with raised ride height and an Active Drive Low 4x4 system.

It’s also got a wading depth of 480mm, a ground clearance of 225mm, approach angle of 30-degrees and a departure angle of 33.6 degrees – and the rough stuff goodies don’t end there.

The Jeep Compass Trailhawk also gets hill descent control, a terrain traction management system with rock mode, full size spare tyre, tow hooks and all-weather floor mats.

The Trailhawk is the range-topping variant in the four-model Compass range. This also makes it the most expensive.

Priced from $44,750, our tester was fitted with extras that bring its price up to $50,145 (plus ORCs). Those extras were a Comfort and Convenience package ($2850, more details below), a panoramic sunroof ($1950) and premium paint ($595).

A standard five-year/100,000km warranty is included and owners get lifetime roadside assistance. Servicing the Compass is recommended every 20,000km or 12 months and will cost $1700 in the first three years and $2975 over five years.

The Compass gets a good range of safety equipment but, most of it you’ll have pay extra for.

Standard features include seven airbags, reverse camera with gridlines, front and rear parking sensors and a tyre pressure monitoring system.

There’s no autonomous emergency braking (AEB), so while the Compass has a five-star ANCAP rating as tested from 2017, it would likely score lower if tested again under today’s stricter criteria.

Brake assist, adaptive cruise control, rear cross traffic alert, blind spot monitoring and lane departure warning are all extra cost options totalling $3445, which is where the Compass falls down compared to some other mid-sized SUVs.

Sitting in the same seat for hours on end isn’t what most people would call a good time. However, choose the right car and pair it with great company, good music and plenty of snacks and you can actually have a pretty good time.

The Comfort & Convenience package fitted to our Trailhawk adds creature comforts we would’ve otherwise pined for – features like remote start (to pre-warm or cool the cabin), heated front seats (to warm our tushies), a powered driver’s seat with memory and rain-sensing wipers (particularly handy for drizzly Tassie weather).

The leather seats provide plenty of comfort, with the side bolsters fitting nicely around your mid-section. But, annoyingly, the front passenger seat misses out on electric adjustment and lumbar support – those are reserved solely for the driver.

What the passenger does get is a neat hidey hole built into the base of the seat. It’s ideally sized for a small handbag or mini thermos and two tea cups.

A huge panoramic sunroof is a great addition. And with Tassie really turning on the sunshine for (most of) our trip, the Compass’ dual-zone climate control was perfect for varying body temps.

Aside from that, the Trailhawk’s interior feels robust but perhaps a little cheap due to the hard plastics that make up a good portion of the cabin’s surfaces.

An 8.3-inch touchscreen display sits centrally in the dash and while it does a good job, it isn’t the most intuitive unit on the market. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto is standard (another road trip essential), as is sat nav and a nine-speaker sound system. This sounded great no matter whether we had Drake or the Dixie Chicks pumping.

Here in Australia, we’re blessed with some of the most beautiful beaches in the world – but very few of which you can legally drive your 4WD on.

We found one during our travels in Strahan. And as a first-time beach driver the compacted sand of Macquarie Heads was the perfect place to get my tyres wet. With the Trailhawk’s low ‘crawler’ gear engaged, we took off slow and steady, navigating a rocky descent onto the beach where the waves greeted us.

Contrary to the sinking feeling I’d convinced myself we’d experience, the Compass felt confident and steady. The tyres, even without being aggressively treaded off-roaders, felt at home on the sand.

It was only as we hit the softer, wet sand that the Jeep was a little more challenged. All went smoothly, however, and we made the 30-minute trip from one entry point to the next (stopping for photos along the way, of course) and exited the beach with just enough time before the tide came in.

Back on dry land, our journey continued to the most southern township in Tasmania.

After spending time in Southport in Tasmania’s deep south, we opted for gravel and broken roads as opposed to highway driving on the journey back to civilisation. Again, the Compass Trailhawk managed each surface without a hitch, feeling at home in all conditions.

There is a lack of steering feel through sealed corners. Truth is many of Tassie’s roads (99 Bends in Queenstown, anyone) are more suited to hot hatches than soft-roaders.

Travelling north on the Huon highway offered plenty more opportunity to tackle challenging tarmac, with only the tighter corners leaving the impression that the Jeep Compass Trailhawk would much prefer to meander along a straighter road.

The Jeep Compass Trailhawk isn’t alone in this segment being an average handler. But at least here, the turbo-diesel engine manages to keep up with demand, so too the nine-speed automatic gearbox.

When we reached smoother, straighter roads again, the Compass was happy punting along at 110km/h. Loaded up with two happy campers and enough baggage to survive a winter in Antarctica, the Trailhawk’s 2.0-litre diesel engine had enough grunt for all situations.

It doesn’t get up and boogie quite as quickly as some other medium SUVs but 125kW of power and (especially) 350Nm of torque provide enough prod to get it off the line.

Those with a preference for driving in manual-mode will, however, notice a lack of precision between what you tell the powertrain to do and what it actually does. There’s no shift paddles (it’s a push and pull of the gearstick) and while it’s more engaging through mountainous roads, this aspect of the gearbox’s operation is still not overly precise -- shifting a second or so after you’ve asked it to.

Truth be told, there isn’t much else to choose from if you’re looking for a mid-sized SUV that can tackle off-road duties.

There’s the Subaru Forester (priced from $34,690) which is good for light off-roading and not much else unless you go the Spartan Suzuki Jimny route.

Aboard the Spirit of Tasmania ferry for the voyage back to the mainland, the Jeep Compass Trailhawk enjoyed a well-deserved break, while we looked back on our trip with satisfied grins.

Not only did the Trailhawk manage the 1500km trek without a hiccup – it did so taking (almost) every kind of weather condition and terrain you could imagine in its stride. No, it’s not a Wrangler, but it is a Jeep – and that for some will count for plenty...

Price: $50,145 as tested (plus on-road costs)
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel
Output: 125kW/350Nm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Fuel: 5.7L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 150g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety Rating: Five-star ANCAP (2017)