Accessibility & Motability
Usability for people with disability or their carers
Access
The Jeep Compass is a proper off-road vehicle, whose high ground clearance makes it very capable on the rough stuff. However, what’s good news for off-road agility isn’t such a bonus where ease of access is concerned.
Things are helped by there being an adjustable-height boot floor as standard. This can be left in the lowest position for maximum carrying capacity, but the compromise is a boot lip of more than 150mm to lift awkward items over when heaving them in or out. In its high setting, that obstacle disappears, but you lose a good chunk of load volume.
The boot lip sits 770mm from the ground, which means you’ll have to lift stuff up quite a way, too. Compare this with the 694mm of an Ateca and you can see what we mean.
Ease of use and options
If you want an automatic gearbox you’ll need to choose either the 168bhp 2.0-litre diesel engine or 168bhp 1.4-litre petrol. The diesel is a natural fit for such a vehicle, because it’s reasonably strong. The automatic gearbox meanwhile is a little slow-witted and gives quite long pauses between shifts.
Equipment-wise, even entry-level Longitude models come with a rear-view camera, lane-departure warning and automatic emergency braking. You also get an infotainment system that caters for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone connectivity, enabling you to use applications on your phone – such as Waze navigation – through the car’s touchscreen in place of Jeep’s own software.
Moving up to Night Eagle trim adds keyless entry and start, and heated front seats and steering wheel, while Limited models add electrically adjustable front seats.
