Jeep's New Compass and Old Cherokee Are About to Step All Over Each Other

Matt Posky
by Matt Posky

We knew that Jeep’s redesigned small crossover was going to be sized up, priced up, and niced up in order to avoid cannibalizing the Renegade. What we didn’t know was that Jeep would dump it into the KL Cherokee’s lap like a scalding cup of coffee. At $22,090, the base 2017 Compass is only a stone’s throw away from the larger model’s pre-destination price of $23,695 MSRP.

Worse still is that Fiat Chrysler’s inability to update or enhance the Jeep Cherokee in any meaningful way has helped sales implode in recent months. The KL was Jeep’s top selling model in 2015, with 220,260 units sold in the United States, but it took a sales hit of almost 30,000 vehicles the following year and saw a noticeably weaker beginning for 2017.

While the new Compass could bring some of those numbers back to the brand, the tiny price gap is bound to siphon off sales from its bigger brother. Jeep is rationalizing the Compass’ higher price by explaining that the revamped crossover is significantly more refined and capable off-road than the previous model — something the Cherokee was occasionally condemned for. If that ends up being the case, the only reason for buyers to choose the Cherokee will be its slightly better cargo volume (or growing incentives).

FCA dropped $5,600 in incentive spending per unit by December. However, this could be the best time for Jeep to stockpile Cherokees — vehicle production will be leaving Toledo, Ohio for Illinois this April to make room at Jeep’s home base for production of the next-generation Wrangler.

A bright spot for the Cherokee is that its smaller sibling only comes with a 2.4-liter Tigershark inline-four making 180 hp and 175 lb-ft of torque. That’ll be a deal breaker for a lot of shoppers; many will insist upon the larger vehicle equipped with the 3.2 liter Pentastar V6 — as long as Jeep can keep the price competitive with the in-brand competition. The new Compass comes in Sport, Latitude, Trailhawk, and Limited trims. While the Sport and Latitude are available in front-wheel or four-wheel drive configurations, the Limited ($30,090) and Trailhawk ($29,690) are 4×4 only.

After incentives, the Cherokee Trailhawk costs exactly the same.

[Image: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles]

Matt Posky
Matt Posky

A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.

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  • Drzhivago138 Drzhivago138 on Feb 27, 2017

    I thought I had heard somewhere once that the next model Cherokee was going to be enlarged a little bit more, into true mid-size CUV territory, but I can't remember where I heard that.

  • Wally109 Wally109 on Feb 27, 2017

    I have a 2014 familyjeepsterpatriotwagonsport2wd with the Korean 6-speed and optional 2.4L. I love that rental-grade lump of not-a-real-jeep. Its the best car to own if you have an autistic kindergartner who destroys car interiors. Sometimes a no-frills station wagon on stilts is just what you need. In other news; a gutless 2wd station wagon can make it to the top of Francis Peak in Utah if you have nerves of steel,balls of brass, and brains of play-do. I get that the new compass will be a whole new vehicle, but I think most buyers won't realize that. I foresee a lot of buyers cussing out the salesman when he says "Would you like to test drive the brand new Compass?" They should have parked that name for a while before bringing it back.

  • Dukeisduke Womp womp.
  • FreedMike China's whining about unfair trade practices? Okay.
  • Kwik_Shift Hyunkia'sis doing what they do best...subverting expectations of quality.
  • MaintenanceCosts People who don't use the parking brake when they walk away from the car deserve to have the car roll into a river.
  • 3-On-The-Tree I’m sure they are good vehicles but you can’t base that on who is buying them. Land Rovers, Bentley’ are bought by Robin Leaches’s “The Rich and Famous” but they have terrible reliability.
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