I’ve always liked a Jeep. I’ve owned a classic Jeep Cherokee in the past, too, so I understand the appeal of that upright, rugged, go-anywhere look. There is something pleasing about a car that appears ready to climb a mountain, even if in this case the two-wheel-drive versions clearly won’t be doing anything too heroic.
That is a big part of the new Jeep Compass Electric’s charm. In a sea of samey SUVs, it looks refreshingly different. It is square-edged, upright and chunky, with a more traditional off-roader shape than many of the rounded, road-biased electric SUVs and crossovers now filling supermarket car parks. It has the trademark Jeep seven-slot grille, trapezoidal wheel arches, tough-looking cladding and enough visual attitude to suggest it might be happiest with a little mud around the edges.
