By the time we finally purchased the Compass, there were 3 Ford EcoSports in our family.
BHPian knightfurry recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
I’ve been lurking around the t-bhp forum for a very very long time. 13 years to be precise. Bought my Silver Tallboy (Ritz Vdi) after reading the review on T-bhp. I think it was the 1st official review.
I’m not a petrol (diesel) head but I love automobiles, and I love bikes and cars equally. It is more than a machine for me. I feel they live and breathe with us, they are our companions. I’m very particular about maintaining my vehicles and everyone in the family (including the all-powerful and supreme Wifey) is scared of using my cars, scooters or bikes.
From 2011 to 2017 Ritz served me well. The FIAT DDIS 1.2 was the best I could buy for my fresher’s salary. I loved the car for its aerodynamic shape and roomy design. It was a love-it-or-hate shape.
THE UPGRADE
I was about to get married in the summer of 2017 and the family impromptu decided to upgrade my car along with my marital status. Out of all the options (read Brezza), we finalised Ecosport. We didn’t retire the tallboy yet and it served my brother for another 2 years before we bid him goodbye.
Why Ecosport? Well, it was love at first sight for both of us. During our courtship period with my then-girlfriend and now wife, we always hired Ecosport from Zoomcar for our trips in and around Bangalore. We wanted Ecosport for a long time but couldn’t afford it. Brezza didn’t feel anything different from Ritz. Ecosport aka WhiteFire is a driver’s car in and out, definitely well built than puny Brezza (no offence to Brezza owners).
Likes
- Strong build
- Well put together cabin
- Black interiors
- Factory-fitted leather seats
- 6 airbags
- Reverse parking camera and touch screen infotainment
- Well-sorted dynamics and good high-speed manners
- Fuss-free and low cost of ownership
Dislikes
- Suspension. You can feel everything at low speeds
- No Android auto / Apple car play
- Front and rear armrest missing
- Tailgate opens on the wrong side
It was difficult to find an Ecosport in ready stock as the facelift was around the corner so dealers had very limited inventory. We finally found a diamond white Titanium (O) at Talera Ford. Immediately booked, got the loan process done and the vehicle was home within 3 days. I have very special memories with this car. Got my wife home and this is our baby’s 1st car too. It took good care of us and carried us wherever we wanted to go. It is still in very good shape and it can last for another 10-15 years for sure.
FAUDA – December 2018 – Bangalore
Jeep Compass was launched in the month of August 2017. We loved the design but didn’t think of it much as we had just got Ecosport in April + it was way out of budget. In mid-2018 Jeep launched Limited Plus and oh boy! We (I & wife) fell head over heels. We were seriously thinking of buying it. We approached PPS Jeep, Bangalore (oh yes we had shifted from Pune to Bangalore soon after marriage) and they were kind enough to get the vehicle from Hosur Road to Bellandur.
Jeep dealerships have one of the best sales guys. We test drove the Manual Diesel in Bangalore rush hours and that’s when we realised, WE NEED AN AUTOMATIC. An auto would also be easy for wifey to drive around. We tried Petrol Auto and I wasn’t particularly impressed with the engine + I was unsure about the DCT gearbox’s reliability. A few months later PPS SA called to inform about the launch of Trailhawk in Diesel auto avatar. I was crazy excited and nervous. I wasn’t able to sleep at night and every minute felt like a burden. All this anxiety, and excitement were shattered when Jeep announced the pricing.
No way we could afford it and it had some glaring omissions. I was so upset with Jeep that I wrote a very nasty email to their top management for putting out an unrealistic product. They were killing a very desirable product with a very poor lineup. Few days after recovering from my heartache we closed the Jeep topic for good.
Fauda – June 2019 – Pune
My Father in Law was looking to upgrade from his i20 to an automatic. He wasn’t sure which vehicle or class he wanted. We tried everything from 3 Big Germans to Hyundai to Mini. Around the same time, Kia launched SELTOS and it looked like a value-for-money product. There was a crazy rush once the vehicles arrived in the showroom. We didn’t like the HT (top-end variant of diesel auto at launch I guess). Kia was quick to launch HTX within a month and after the madness subsided we took a proper long test drive. Although it was a good package we decided against buying it, reasons if you may ask?
- The suspensions maxed out easily on full load.
- Jack of all trades, master of none.
- Not so impressive safety ratings.
- Too many copies on the road.
While returning from Kia’s showroom we decided to ‘peep’ in the Jeep showroom which was on the way home. By this time my Father in Law was clear he wanted a petrol automatic with all bells and whistles, a safe car with minimum tantrums and a service centre within 5-7 kms from his house.
We test drove the Compass Petrol Auto and he felt the performance was adequate for his usage. Build quality and rest was impressive in the limited plus variant. We had our apprehension regarding the engine + DCT combo. After a lot of discussions and a parking test we booked a Limited Plus petrol auto. That night my father-in-law saw a lot of videos, and read tons of stuff and the next morning he cancelled. We finally bought Ecosport Petrol Auto. Sasta, Sundar, Tikau.
LHS is my Ecosport and RHS is my FIL’s Ecosport
Fauda – September- 2019
Remember our Tallboy? It was with my brother and had started showing signs of ageing. With 1.5L on odo he didn’t want to stretch the car any further in the meantime he got a good hike too. Ritz had zero airbags, no ABS and so safety was another concern. He was looking for an upgrade and we zeroed down on Nexon. Just then we started seeing spy shots of facelift Nexon and decided against Nexon.
Enter – Jeep Compass! Since he was tight on the budget we zeroed down on the Sport variant. At 18L it was devoid of any creature comforts and the small 5-inch touch screen made matters worse. Out goes the Jeep compass, comes in Ecosport S Diesel Manual.
With 3 hit and miss Compass was written off as unreachable. All our cars were now safe, updated and good for another 5 years.
THE COMPASS SAGA
2020-2021 were uneventful. All of us were in Pune and all Ecosports were doing well. After Ford announced its exit we tried to get our hands on Endy but most of them were sold out. Dealers were quoting well above the average price on the few that were in stock with them. I also stopped servicing whitefire after horrible experiences at Talera as well as Shivalik Ford.
My WhiteFire’s odo at the end of 2022 stood at 75K and it was up for some major repairs. Replaced the following parts at my Brother-in-Law’s garage:
- Steering rack replaced
- Engine mounts
- Gearbox mounts
- Front Shocks bushing
- Battery
We had no plans to let WhiteFire go as it was in good shape and with the above repairs it was back in all its glory. We did a couple of long drives after Covid restrictions eased down. Longest after Covid was Pune – Bengaluru – Madhurai – Kodai – Bengaluru – Pune.
Since Covid had disappeared, by mid of 2022 my wife got called back to her office. In between, I had quit my job and started my own business in Pune so this time she was going to shift alone with my 4 years old son. 2022 saw Bengaluru drowning in rains and we heard / saw all sorts of horror stories. This is when we decided to buy a car for my wife. She had three main criteria:
- SUV
- Safe
- Auto
Good to have was a sizeable upgrade from Ecosport
After some research, we found none of the cars in C-SUV / neo SUV had good Diesel auto options. We steered clear from Kushaq due to 1000s of quality and failure issues reported by our members. We liked the Nexon EV Max but the rear seat comfort was disappointing. Also since it was going to be the only car in Bengaluru we thought of holding on to Petrol / Diesel for anxiety-free long drives.
Almost all cars felt dated compared to Ecosport nor did it feel like a significant upgrade. We test-drove the following:
- Nexon EV Max. – good vehicle with permanent range anxiety.
- Harrier – we could have bought it if the steering was lighter. Wifey, a 1st-time driver, felt it was too huge for her comfort. Harrier also felt a bit dated and many essential missing features like 360 cameras, led projector headlights and Infotainment system was a huge turn-off. My 2017 Ecosport has a better touch screen. Inconsistent fit and finish was also another issue.
- C5 AirCross – we came out with a huge smile on our faces after driving it on a bad patch of road. The engine gearbox combo was perfect but the interiors were B O R I N G. The car felt dated and we were ready to adjust but the pricing was way off. We dropped C5.
- XUV 7OO – didn’t want it / didn’t like it but had to check it out due to social pressure. Family and friends would have shamed us for not even checking it out.
- Thar – we flirted with the idea for a couple of hours and then came back to our senses.
- Tucson (pre facelift) : It was ok and that’s it.
Y. O. L. O.
Compass launched a facelift 2021 and I was glued to the YouTube channel for its launch presentation. I loved the looks and oh boy the interiors looked and felt like a proper luxury car. Jeep had thrown everything they could think of in the Compass. It looked much better and the S variant was properly loaded and most important it had black interiors. To my disappointment they didn’t launch a 4X2 version in Diesel auto nor did they upgrade the petrol mill. The pricing screamed premium!
We took a test drive at PPS Jeep HSR, full marks to PPS guys. They were very courteous and arranged a very well-maintained S Diesel AT. We saw the pricing and it was…I don’t know how to explain it. I even contemplated selling my kidney. Premium pricing + Coupled with high road tax in Karnataka made it a really expensive proposition. We decided to check the prices in Pune and still the pricing was eye-watering. My Father-in-Law shot down our plans to break some FDs and then (drumroll) enter pricing with BH registration. It felt so much more affordable!
After multiple discussions regarding colours and personally checking it out at a dealer stockyard we decided to go with Minimal Grey S 4X4. After 2-3 rounds of negotiations with the dealer, they only offered to waive the PDI/Handling charges and match the insurance quote. That’s it! No accessories free, not even matting or mudflaps.
We immediately booked and started to look for financing options. Some offered fixed and some floating. Thank God we went with a fixed interest rate from SBI. Now the disadvantage of going with Government Banks is they take a lot of time and require tons of documents. Since I had a business, the list of documents kept on increasing. This dealer wanted us to bill the vehicle by month’s end which wasn’t possible as SBI started the approval process on 28th of July @ 8:30 pm.
When I went to sign the agreement on 02/08/2022 I saw they had revised the quote, added 15K of PDI which they had initially ‘discounted’ and submitted it to the bank without informing me. I was really furious and came back home without signing the agreement with the bank. We decided to cancel the booking with this dealer. We started toying with the idea of getting the vehicle from a showroom in Mumbai.
To my utter disappointment, they were the worst! SA wasn’t interested in selling and they were not ready to match any insurance quote too! Around the same time, my friend who stays in Kankavli (Sindhdurg) got his Compass from Aaron Jeep, Kolhapur. Got the manager’s number and with my friend’s reference got a handsome discount on the vehicle + tons of free Mopar accessories + discount on extended warranty too. We sent them the complete down payment on the same day and came to an agreement to make the remaining payment post-PDI.
There was a lot of drama in between with the dealer adamant on us paying 50% of the ex-showroom as advance but writing about it will extend this already long post. After a couple of trips to Kolhapur and 5 cups of tea, they agreed to balance payment once the PDI is complete.
15 days after booking our silver hawk arrived. Except for some paint defects in the bonnet which I let go, the vehicle cleared all the points in the team bhp checklist. We asked the bank to disburse the remaining payment. 4 days after that we got our Silver Hawk. Since our baby fell ill the previous night, everyone in the family dropped out of travelling to Kolhapur. Me and wifey took an early morning state transport bus from Pune to Kolhpaur. It was raining cats and dogs so we had to cut our delivery ceremony short. We took the delivery and drove straight to Mahalaxmi temple and then to Pune.
And this is how we bought the Jeep Compass.
Observations and overall experience
Compass is the true successor of Ecopsort, I wish Ford instead of exiting India got some of their global products. Fords are truly built to last.
We love the car! Highway is where Compass feels truly at home. The car is very calm and composed even at maddening triple-digit speeds. Suspension setup is amazing without any lateral movements. We have covered 15,000 kms till date (August to March) and have done multiple long trips.
- Pune – Bangalore – Pune – thrice
- Pune – Bangalore – Kozhikode – Bangalore – Pune
- Pune – Baroda – Pune
Since many points have been discussed already in various threads, I will refrain from writing any sort of review. Compass till now has been very reliable with no breakdowns or any squeaking sounds from the interiors.
Thank you Bhpians for reading this long write-up. I’ll post a few more updates and experiences regarding service and places we have travelled to.
Signing off with some pics of our silver hawk.
Keyword: How we bought Jeep Compass: Why it took us 6 yrs to bring the SUV home