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2018 vs 2019 Compass Comparison

7K views 8 replies 5 participants last post by  Limitedstinggrey 
#1 · (Edited)
If you didn’t see my previous thread Jasmine my 2018 Compass was totaled a couple weeks ago. She was replaced with a nearly identical 2019 Compass and I’m noticing a few differences that may interest others on this site.

First, my drive train doesn’t make the howling/grumbling noise my 2018 made. :) You can see my posts in several threads about that during the time she was on the road. Sparkles, my 2019 Compass, runs silent as a morgue. *

Second, while both had the 2.4 w/ 9-spd a/t, the 2019 shifts much snappier with no high-revving before take off. It takes some self-control to keep stuff from flying off the dash when leaving a stop sign or traffic light. I’m a pretty easy driver so that snappy start is nothing I’m demanding, its just doing it naturally.

Third, the tranny seems willing to torque it out on a hill with no frantic gear-hunting like my 2018 did. Undoubtedly FCA has made some model-year performance changes, but it still has that funky lag from 5 to 4 when descending hills. From what I understand about the ZF9HP tranny, we just may be stuck with that.

Surprisingly, while my fuel economy was excellent in my 2018, my 2019 seems even a tad better. Today on an 85 mile trip from Lancaster to Franklin NH, I averaged 40.5MPG by the EVIC—half state highways at 50ish and half interstate at 70MPH. On my previous tank I got 35.1MPG by the EVIC and calculating by hand 369 miles ÷ 10.3 gallons = 35.8MPG. Since new in 850 miles my Compass is averaging 31.5 by the EVIC and that includes some city driving and c100 miles of other people test-driving my vehicle before I bought it and long idling to cool the cabin before test-driving in July heat. That part was out of my control.

The oil consumption seems a bit better on the 2019, but this is still a very young engine and some oil consumption is to be expected in a new engine. In 850 miles I’m only down about ½ pint so it is doing better than my 2018 so far. My 2018 sucked up almost 2 quarts in its first 1000 miles though it did improve after awhile—still I had to add a quart between oil changes on a 1 year/40,000 mile engine and was usually down another quart at the next change so really it was using 2 quarts per 6,000 miles. I can’t really make a definitive comment on my 2019 until she’s got 10,000 miles behind her but I will report back when its down its first quart.

The only negative against the 2019 is the touchscreen controls. Just way too much unnecessary technology.
  • I can only adjust airflow with the touchscreen? C’mon people! Just give me a knob.
  • The voice recognition software was better in the 2018 Bluetooth. If I tell my 2019 to call home it says, “There are no work numbers for home.” Of course not! I’m not calling anyone at work, I said “Call Home.” But once it starts seeking work numbers there’s no way to dissuade it without turning the whole thing OFF and starting over. I can’t just repeat my command. I never had any such problem with my 2018 system.
  • The outside temp display is so small I can hardly read it. Not a problem this time of year, but come fall I want to know if the outside temp is +/-32F for obvious reasons, and it’s a total distraction to try reading that tiny display.

Overall the 2019 seems to be performing better in ways that matter, but if they offered touchscreen delete as an option, I’d pay more NOT to have it.

*EDIT: After saying that it was a quiet as a morgue I think I did hear that grumbling noise today. I was moving slowly, just cresting a knoll at in-town speed, maybe 25MPH, and I heard a low rumble. Kinda like a/t tires might make at that speed, but not as loud. Maybe they've lowered the speed at which we hear it and under acceleration the engine downs it out? Just gliding down the grade at low speed there was no engine noise to cover it. When I started up at the traffic light a minute later I didn't hear it, but of course there was more engine noise.
 
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#2 ·
Jasmine said:
the 2019 shifts much snappier with no high-revving before take off. It takes some self-control to keep stuff from flying off the dash when leaving a stop sign or traffic light. I’m a pretty easy driver so that snappy start is nothing I’m demanding, its just doing it naturally.
I wonder if that will last. It is a "learning" transmission computer in that it will try to adjust over time to a person's driving habits. Its terrible in our 2017.5, as most of you know I have complained about it before. It could be that they improved the learning algorithms.

Jasmine said:
the tranny seems willing to torque it out on a hill with no frantic gear-hunting like my 2018 did.
That sounds nice. Ours shifts so dang much for the slightest hill or breeze it drives me nuts. Hoping someday there is an update that will cure that.

Did you not have touchscreen controls in your old one? Ours with the 8.4 non-nav has both physical buttons and touch controls. I pretty much only use the physical controls.
 
#3 ·
I wonder if that will last. It is a "learning" transmission computer in that it will try to adjust over time to a person's driving habits. Its terrible in our 2017.5, as most of you know I have complained about it before. It could be that they improved the learning algorithms.
Mine had about 100 miles of demo driving before I got it. I figure demo rides are of the "how fast can it go" mentality so likely it was juiced up. I'm a pretty easy driver. I drive a lot of miles and fuel economy is important so I'm not racing people away from stop lights.

That sounds nice. Ours shifts so dang much for the slightest hill or breeze it drives me nuts. Hoping someday there is an update that will cure that.
I'm hoping mine stays this way. All that shifting was driving me crazy, too.

Did you not have touchscreen controls in your old one? Ours with the 8.4 non-nav has both physical buttons and touch controls. I pretty much only use the physical controls.
My 2018 had touch-screen controls with knobs. My new one only has a knob for the fan speed. It has buttons for the temperature, but Def/Htr/Bi-lvl are only touch screen.
 
#4 ·
Jasmine said:
My 2018 had touch-screen controls with knobs. My new one only has a knob for the fan speed. It has buttons for the temperature, but Def/Htr/Bi-lvl are only touch screen.
On ours in the center of the fan speed knob is a button and pressing it cycles through the vent modes (and displays on-screen what mode you are cycling through).
 
#6 ·
I have driven multiple 2019 for work as rental cars and I have to say I agree with Jasmine on their findings. I notice the better pick up and go and they are quieter than my 2017.5.

It also matters what trim level you had and now what you have as well. I have a latitude in my 2017.5 but all the ones I have driven are the limited and tailhawk versions. These have upgraded exhaust systems and might be the reason for being quieter and the moderate gains in pick up and go feeling. None the less I think the highest mile one I rent was 13k miles and I still did not hear the shift problems. FYI this sift problem is not localized to our compasses it was a problem and maybe still is a problem in renegades(just had one as a loaner and did this) and Cherokees.

They have made some improvements, but we need to be careful on what we ask for as if they change things too many things could not work on be retro fitted for our old 2017.5 and 2018 compasses.

Regards,

K
 
#7 ·
If I may add , I have a 2019 vibration grumbling from tranny I notice when Compass is not at operating temperature .So from a start engine cold , it does it once or twice then goes away. It had a pep from the go start but midrange and top end omg terrible lag !!! I installed PC07 pedal commander and from takeoff even better , but midrange and top end NO lag . Oh I have a gas allowance from work don’t care about gas mileage lol . So with Commander is way better. As for oil consumption I check 3 to 4 times a week a it’s perfect . I now have 3200 km in 4 months and it’s perfect. It’s strange to read some have oil consumption but I will still check mine. Overall my Compass is a Limited and loaded with tons of options and I like it , just wish would have had more HP , but I got my fix of insane HP from other cars I have had . Cheers guys
 
#8 ·
As for oil consumption I check 3 to 4 times a week a it’s perfect . I now have 3200 km in 4 months and it’s perfect. It’s strange to read some have oil consumption but I will still check mine. Cheers guys
that's great news, just curious, is the oil cap labeled 0w-20 or 5w-20?
 
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