Jeep Compass Trailhawk review | Taking the extremely rough with the smooth

The first look

To begin with, there’s an unmissable red streak on the bonnet, with Trailhawk branding and it looks slick. The alloy wheels get a different styling pattern, and they’re also 17-inch units, as opposed to the 18-inch wheels on the other Compass variants.

This is because these smaller wheels give better cushioning and rim protection when you're driving in rough terrain as sidewalls are taller.

Jeep says the Falken tyres on them are off-road rated (even though they have a highway terrain marking on them).

For a better approach, the bumper is more sharply angled (to prevent scuffing and other damage) and is also styled differently. There is no front towing hook but there’s one at the back. The suspension has been raised and the underbody is fully protected against rough roads. Trail Rated 4x4 and Trailhawk badging are seen on the fenders and tailgate.

The inside

The interior receives a host of upgrades just like the regular Compass.

There’s a large 10.1-inch touchscreen infotainment system, a refreshed steering wheel and a very useful and customisable 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster. If you want to take a fuss-free old-school approach, you can set it to display just two dials.

The Trailhawk is as loaded as a Compass can get (essentially a top-spec ‘S’ variant with an extra kit). There are things like a panoramic sunroof, ventilated front seats with memory for the driver’s side, a 360-degree camera, red stitching on the seats, steering wheel and dashboard.

Like any Compass, the cabin is snug and three adults in the rear seat will become rather familiar with each other. The boot space is adequate for a car of this nature but certainly not the best.

Pick your mode

So far, so familiar—so where do the differences show up?

For starters, with the Rock mode in the drive selector, and then with the way the Compass conducts itself when you veer off the beaten path.

In Auto mode, which will be more than sufficient for most, the Compass lends itself brilliantly in 4x4 conditions, and all you need to do is steer—the car will lock the rear differential for you as well when required.

If you want to channel the Dakar driver in you, you can select more precise modes. Sand and Mud, for example, stop the wheels from spinning violently and prevent you from digging yourself into four holes (no pun intended).

In Snow, the car starts up in a higher gear and provides minimal inputs of power so that you don’t slip and slide away. The Rock mode is mainly for harder ground, where you need more grip. It lets the wheels spin a bit more.

I wasn’t able to test all the modes like a true pro—and finding snow would have been a task where I live—but I can report that the Trailhawk is hugely impressive as a piece of off-road weaponry.

It casually went right through the roughest terrain I could find for it, and there’s no doubt it’ll have your back when the chips are down.

The tyres provide great traction, and power delivery is smooth, which means that you can minutely modulate the throttle (an important consideration in rough terrain). Since it has a 30-degree approach angle (plus a 24-degree breakover and 34-degree departure angle), it’s way more capable than a ‘regular’ Compass, with almost twice the amount of approach, for example.

This instils a great deal of confidence and you’re emboldened to take on bigger obstacles than you would dare in a non-Trailhawk Compass.

A unique feature of the car is the 9-speed automatic gearbox. In effect, the Trailhawk starts up in second gear in regular driving conditions and the first gear is only engaged in rough terrain and when you select 4Low mode.

This ‘low ratio’ gear is normally found in the transfer case in other vehicles but the Trailhawk has it built into the gearbox as the first gear. Jeep claims that this move gives the car a better flow of power.

Regardless of how capable the Trailhawk is off-road, it is going to spend more than 90 percent of its time on the road – and its manners there are pretty good too.

Low-speed ride quality is stiffer than a regular Compass and you can also feel some shake but these are all within acceptable limits, and there are no crashes or thuds to be felt.

As you go faster, the ride quality improves and it’s a very solid vehicle for long highway drives. It makes you feel safe. There’s plenty of feedback from the steering wheel, too, though it isn't the lightest of the units when it comes to parking manoeuvres.

A ‘heavy’ mountain goat

The Trailhawk has the same 2-litre, 170 bhp diesel engine as the other Compass’ and it’s a little bit of a mixed bag.

On the one hand, it’s quite refined and has an unhurried feel to it, in conjunction with the 9-speed automatic gearbox. On the flip side, it feels a little too unhurried and could have been done with more zest. Partly this is down to the gearbox, which is frankly even slower than the one on the regular Compass (yes, in manual mode as well). It all comes down to learning how to operate this combination in the best way.

The 4x4 ‘S’ variant of the Compass is already a heavy vehicle and the Trailhawk piles on more kilos. This has the effect of making it feel a bit sluggish (even though the engine isn’t underpowered), and also reducing its fuel efficiency.

It has a claimed figure of 14.9 kmpl but that is inflated. I’ve driven a regular Compass 4x4 extensively and it returned around 12.5 kmpl at best, so set your expectations accordingly.

The Trailhawk is a rather specialised vehicle and also pricey at Rs 30.72 lakh (ex-showroom; expect to pay around Rs 36 lakh on-road).

It’s not the most spacious SUV and you can buy two well-specced Hyundai Cretas for the same money. What a Creta can’t do, however, is to take the extremely rough with the smooth so if both on and off-road cred are important to you, a Trailhawk in your garage won’t be out of place.