[imthatguy]

Hi all,

I'm the proud owner of a 2011 Limited Metallic Black 4x4, with, wait for it...

Manual Tranny.

We ended up getting every option available including the awesome 430n Media Center. Deleting the CVT was the smartest thing I could do, and makes this baby Jeep a lot more capable in my hands. I've always preferred stick and would never drive without it.

I took it for a long road trip to break it in and found I was getting excellent fuel economy, around 8.4L/100km on the drive from Toronto to North Chelmsford, MA. My only complaint is the manual's gearing is a little long between 4th and 5th, and I have to gear down on the big hills.

Aside from that, it's a fantastic vehicle and I'm very happy with my purchase.

 

[i2canoe]

Warm welcome ITG -
Great to have you on board, I think you made the right (great) choice with the shifter.
When I ordered my Compass back in '07 the five speeds were a very rare commodity . . . I had to wait months extra for it to come. Worth the wait, would not own a car with out a manual.
Wish you many miles of satisfaction.

 

[CompassMike]

Welcome to the site 'imthatguy' !!

Do you have any pictures of your new Compass?

 

[imthatguy]

Thanks very much!

I also had to wait a fair bit before the vehicle arrived. 2 months iirc.

The dealer thought it was a little strange and wanted to sell me one right away. Imagine my disappointment when he tried to sell me a white (I wanted black), base stereo (wanted the 430n), automatic transmission model because he had it in stock!

My only other small complaint is related to FDII. It seems odd to me that they only offer it with the CVT. I would certainly have gotten that otherwise.

No pictures yet, but plan on putting some up.

 

[tybikes]

Hows the manual tranny working out for you? Do you find there is enough power? I've heard that the CVT saps whatever power the modest engine puts out, and figured the manual might make up for some of that. And what kind of mpg are you getting? More detailed review and pics would be much appreciated!

 

[imthatguy]

Hows the manual tranny working out for you? Do you find there is enough power? I've heard that the CVT saps whatever power the modest engine puts out, and figured the manual might make up for some of that. And what kind of mpg are you getting? More detailed review and pics would be much appreciated!

Hey, thanks for reminding me to update! We're loving the manual tranny. It's worked out just about as good as I could expect. Plenty of power through all the low gears. I'm coming from a Mazda3 Sport, and I'm finding that the only issue is the shift point between 4th and 5th. I tend to have to let it go beyond 3k rpm before I shift to 5th. No biggie though, now that I'm used to it.

Now that it's got 5k on it, I'm finding the L/100km to sit around 9-ish highway and a not so awesome 11.6 in the city. All city driving, I've seen 12's before, but not recently. I'm extremely happy with this little 'ute. Pix and review to come sometime soon!

 

[IRSmart]

welcome. the reason you cannot get the FD-II in the manual is because the "low" function of the 4WD is a feature of the transmission, not the transfer case, as it is in other 4WD cars. my removing the CVT and putting in a 5 speed, you've removed the car's ability to go into 4 low.

 

[tybikes]

Hey, thanks for reminding me to update! We're loving the manual tranny. It's worked out just about as good as I could expect. Plenty of power through all the low gears. I'm coming from a Mazda3 Sport, and I'm finding that the only issue is the shift point between 4th and 5th. I tend to have to let it go beyond 3k rpm before I shift to 5th. No biggie though, now that I'm used to it.

Now that it's got 5k on it, I'm finding the L/100km to sit around 9-ish highway and a not so awesome 11.6 in the city. All city driving, I've seen 12's before, but not recently. I'm extremely happy with this little 'ute. Pix and review to come sometime soon!

Cool, thanks for the info. Interesting to hear that it doesn't seem to be underpowered with the manual, definitely one of my concerns since I've always had larger V6 SUVs.