2018 Honda HR-V vs Jeep Compass

What's the difference?

Obviously, the SUV body style has pretty much conquered the new car world… and it's based on a belief that a sports utility vehicle has to be more practical, has to be more roomy and, let's face it, has to be a little more exciting than the run-of-the-mill passenger cars we've all been used to for the last couple of decades.

But does this theory - that all SUVs create excitement - actually ring true? After all, quite a few are derived from the very sedans and small passenger cars we are all now studiously ignoring on the showroom floor.

The Honda HR-V is a great case in point. A spin-off of the small Honda Jazz, the HR-V sits underneath its sister CR-V in terms of size, and is regarded as a compact SUV – which is, after all, a small hatch on stilts at the end of the day.

Can a compact SUV, and in particular the Honda HR-V, let its relatively short hair down for a little bit of a good time? Let's find out.

SUVs are so ridiculously popular right now that nearly all carmakers have one, and if they don't they're scrambling to work out how to build one.

That's good news if you're looking to buy one because there's a sea of SUVs to choose from, particularly small ones, but it's also easy to get swamped by the choice.

So, just stop for a second – wouldn't it make sense to also check out an SUV from a brand that not only made the first SUV, but has only ever made SUVs? No, not Range Rover... Jeep.

The new Jeep Compass is a small SUV along the same price and size lines as the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross or Nissan Qashqai. What Jeep was keen to impress on us at its launch was that the top two specs – the Limited and the Trailhawk – were quite capable off-roaders. That is an ambitious statement, and for something to have any off-road ability in this small SUV class is rarer then teeth on a hen.

We went to the wilds of Tasmania to drive these two. The mission: Are they really any good – off and on the road?