Jeep Compass vs Alfa Romeo Junior

What's the difference?

The Jeep Compass Trailhawk is a curious beast. On the one hand, it looks pretty cool, and it has a well-executed new interior, featuring one of the best multimedia set-ups in the business. It’s spacious and has a long list of standard comfort and safety gear.

Sadly, that’s where the positives end.

It is way too expensive for what you get, especially when you consider the quality of some of its rivals from mainstream and premium brands.

The driver assist features are badly in need of recalibration and the overall drive experience is a letdown.

If you really want a diesel-powered small SUV, perhaps look at one of the much better diesel models at the smaller end of the medium-SUV segment.

The Alfa Romeo Junior is a cute car that’s charming and smile-inducing. It deserves to sell well but ultimately this will come down to whether the Australian public is receptive.

There is plenty of competition out there and if you're wanting something design-led, it's hard to look past this without spending much more money.

Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with travel, accommodation and meals provided.

When the second-gen Compass was revealed, it was seen by many as a mini Grand Cherokee. Which isn’t a bad thing. It looks tough enough, but also has a softer edge than something like the Jimny.

As part of the 2021 update, Jeep refreshed the styling with slimmer LED headlights and a new daytime running light signature, a revamped bumper and seven-slot grille, as well as a broader bonnet.

The Trailhawk features variant-specific red and black decals on the bonnet, and a unique grille treatment, as well as the visible skid plates and red tow hooks.

It certainly gives the impression of having some off-road cred, and while some will love the Trailhawk name emblazoned across the bonnet, it’s a bit much for me. The 'Galaxy Blue' premium paint looks too sparkly in direct sunlight and has an almost purple hue.

An example of wishful thinking is the green ‘Diesel’ badge with a leaf next to it on the rear of the vehicle. Save the eco badges for your electrified vehicles, Jeep.

This is such a cute and tiny car with Alfa Romeo trying its hardest to sandwich all of its hallmark design traits in. It’s certainly a busy design on the outside which I don’t love right now, but I imagine I’ll grow to like it with time.

At the front there’s a special grille as standard that features Alfa Romeo script, plus an offset license plate and cool matrix LED headlights with the company’s ‘3+3’ lighting signature.

Around the side the 18-inch alloy wheels have a flower petal-like design, hidden second-row door handles, as well as a hidden serpent (Biscione) easter egg that’s laser etched into the C-pillar.

The rear of the Junior is my least favourite angle. It tries too hard to look more like a hatchback than a crossover SUV with the slanted rear window and the big black slab where the tail-lights are.

The twin exhaust pipes are a cute look, however, especially given the engine doesn’t scream performance credentials on paper.

Inside there’s an obvious attempt at making the cabin look and feel driver-oriented and sporty.

I like the seats which have a red section that runs down the backrest and onto the seat base. It helps break up the black finishes nicely.

Speaking of, however, there's a sea of black finishes throughout the rest of the cabin. I’d like to see some more silver or chrome accents as the glossy piano black may not age well.

There is interior ambient lighting around the cabin with a customisable colour, which looks great in low-light situations. It particularly pops in the large circular air vents which flank the dashboard and are shaped like cloverleaves.

If you look closely you may notice the Junior shares a lot of its physical switchgear with the related Jeep Avenger. Examples include the steering wheel buttons, gear selector, starter button and the physical climate control switches.

While there’s an argument to say that this cheapens the feel of the Junior, I’m thankful there is physical switchgear in this car to begin with. Plus, the Junior does look different enough as it is.

The Compass sits in the small-SUV category but its larger dimensions mean it’s almost big enough to compete with models in the medium-SUV segment.

It’s longer, taller, wider and has a longer wheelbase than other larger small SUVs like the Kia Seltos and Honda HR-V, but isn’t as big as a mid-size Mazda CX-5.

It feels larger inside than other models it shares a platform with – namely the Jeep Renegade and Fiat 500X, that are no longer sold in Australia.

The biggest change ushered in by the update is the interior. Jeep has completely overhauled the cabin to the point that it’s unrecognisable compared to the pre-facelifted model.

The new dash design is much more appealing and the layout is well executed. There’s a mixture of soft-touch materials and plastic panels with red stitching running across the fascia. It’s so much more up-to-date than the old Compass and there’s a robust yet semi-premium look to the cabin.

A new steering wheel is in keeping with Jeep’s new generation of models that includes the Grand Cherokee due in Australia this year. It’s chunky, feels nice to touch and features clear audio, phone and cruise controls.

Jeep has persisted with its quirk of housing the volume and song/station skip buttons on the rear side of the steering wheel spokes. Once you remember which side volume lives (the right), it’s easy to change the levels. But surely it would be better to house them on the front of the wheel, with labels?

Storage wise, the glove box is narrow, as is the central bin, but it’s deep. The doors will hold 600ml bottles and the console houses two decent-sized cupholders with durable rubber lining which is easy to clean and can take a beating. The cupholders are separated by an upright phone holder.

Speaking of durable, that’s clearly the theme Jeep is going for with the Compass Trailhawk interior. It comes standard with rubber mats throughout, including the boot, which is great for protecting the carpet if you fancy a bit of camping.

What isn’t durable, however, is the cheap and tacky indicator stalk that feels like it will snap off every time you touch it.

After spending some time in European cars prior to the Jeep, it’s nice to experience strong air flow from the air conditioning system, especially at the height of a Melbourne summer. It’s also great to see physical buttons for the air con controls.

You can, however, also control the climate via the latest 'Uconnect 5' multimedia system housed in the 10.1-inch touchscreen.

This system is undoubtedly one of the Compass’ strong points. The modern graphics look very cool and the main icons make sense.

Once you dive into the menu there are extensive options but it’s not overwhelming. It’s intuitive and clever. The sat-nav visuals are clear and appealing too.

It’s an excellent set-up and better than systems from a whole host of Jeep’s mainstream rivals.

Apple CarPlay set-up was easy but there is an odd lag when selecting a command on the touchscreen that isn’t there when you use the Jeep system.

Another highlight is the exceptional Alpine nine-speaker audio system that’s part of the Trailhawk Premium package. It’s a belter!

The new digital instrument cluster has clear dials but changing the screen layout is fiddly. The Compass also lacks a head-up display.

The front seats with red embossed Trailhawk across the front look good, but the cushion feels like it’s elevating you in the seat. It’s not a problem with the power adjustment, it’s just the way the cushioning is designed. Thigh support is limited but upper body bolstering is good.

Visibility is impacted by the narrow rear windscreen and the tiny rear windows behind the C-pillar, that are pointless.

Rear occupants have access to lower air vents, a USB-A and USB-C port, 230-volt AC plug and a 12-volt DC plug. There are two map pockets, rubber floor mats and 600ml bottles will just fit in the door.

Space wise, there’s plenty of leg and toe room in the rear, and just enough headroom for this six-footer to avoid scraping the headliner.

Getting in and out of the front and rear seats is easy thanks to the Compass’ ride height.

The rear seats are flat and firm and the 60/40 split-fold seats have a fold-down central armrest with two cupholders.

When you open the power tailgate, the boot doesn’t look particularly big, but at 438 litres (1251L with rear seats folded), it’s five litres more than the Kia Seltos GT-Line and eight more than the Haval Jolion.

A full-size spare wheel lives under the boot floor and the cargo area features metal tie-down hooks and a small storage tray.

The cargo blind is useful but there’s nowhere to stow it when it’s not in use. And you have to lower the rear seats when you want to put it back in place.

The front seats in the Junior are very comfortable for longer drives. The driver’s seat in particular offers six ways of electric adjustability and a massage function. You don’t see features like that very often on a tiny SUV.

Ahead of the driver there’s a leather-wrapped steering wheel. It’s surprisingly slim which makes it nice to hold. There are also paddle shifters on the back which could be more pronounced.

As standard there’s a 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster which emulates analogue dials for the tachometer and speedometer. While the screen is high-res and clear, it’s interesting that Alfa Romeo chose to emulate dials in a digital way rather than just have physical ones, especially because you can’t change their appearance.

There’s a section in the middle that has a few different informative pages you can cycle through. I’d love to see more configurability given there’s limitless possibilities with a screen.

Moving across there’s another 10.25-inch screen for the central multimedia system. It certainly makes up for the lack of configurability in the digital instrument cluster and you can create and customise five different home page screens with a vast array of widgets. It’s fairly clever though at some point it feels like overkill.

There aren’t many menus or sub-menus to get lost in, however, the home button took me a while to locate. It’s above the touchscreen in a small pod of physical buttons alongside the hazard lights and door lock switch.

Underneath the touchscreen there’s a wireless phone charger, plus USB-C and USB-A charger ports.

The engine start button is mounted prominently on the centre tunnel with the lightswitch-like gear selector directly behind it. It’s mounted a little too close to the centre armrest which means craning my arm like a T-Rex to use it.

Other amenities up front include a deep console area with configurable cupholders, a sliding centre armrest with a cubby, as well as a tiny glovebox.

It’s very clear the second row of the Junior isn’t the focus. At 182cm tall I need to splay my legs on either side of the driver’s seat in my desired driving position. Despite this, toe room and headroom is adequate, even with the optional sunroof.

The second row isn’t a place anyone would want to spend too long in. Kids would likely suit better, plus there are top-tether points on all three rear seats and ISOFIX mounting points on the outboard rear seats.

Amenities are limited to a single USB-C port in the second row. There are no air vents or centre armrest. You need to make your own entertainment.

At the back there’s a hands-free power tailgate, which is rare for a vehicle of this size. Once it’s open, the available boot space is decent, especially for such a small car. There’s 415L of boot space with the rear seats upright.

The area itself is fine. There’s no load lip which allows you to get things in and out with ease, plus there’s a two-tier boot floor, allowing you to stow items under the floor away for prying eyes.

In terms of boot-related amenities there’s a 12V socket, a light and some hooks. It’s fairly standard back there.

Unfortunately there’s no spare wheel as standard in the Junior line-up. Instead there’s a tyre repair kit which is not super handy if you have a tyre blow out.

Thankfully you can purchase a space-saver spare wheel for the Junior Ibrida for $314 as a genuine accessory. It would be better if this came as standard given there’s the space for it.

The Junior Ibrida is the “entry-level” variant and has an asking price of $45,900 before on-road costs, which is fairly steep for such a small vehicle.

Depending on what you class as a rival for this car you can either see it as good or poor value. It’s cheaper than the likes of the Lexus LBX and around the same price as a related Peugeot 2008.

However, Chinese rivals like the Chery Tiggo 4 and the MG ZS, albeit slightly larger, are virtually half the price. But they lack the primo Alfa badge.

Despite this, the Junior comes fully loaded as standard in Australia so there’s plenty of kit.

Standard equipment includes 18-inch alloy wheels, matrix LED headlights, a hands-free power tailgate, two-tone black roof, dual 10.25-inch screens, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, wireless charger, single-zone climate control, heated front seats, as well as black cloth and synthetic leather upholstery.

The only options available include a sunroof and premium paint. Both of these cost $1990 each.

As mentioned, the Compass Trailhawk is now the only remaining small SUV in Australia offered with a diesel engine. Well, from a mainstream brand at least. The BMW X1 is the only premium small SUV offering with a diesel donk.

The Jeep uses a 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel delivering 125kW at 3750rpm and 350Nm at 1750rpm. It is paired with a nine-speed automatic transmission and comes with four-wheel drive as standard.

The Junior Ibrida is powered by a 1.2-litre turbocharged three-cylinder petrol engine with 48V mild-hybrid assistance.

In the six-speed dual-clutch transmission is a 21kW electric motor that’s fed by a 0.9kWh lithium-ion battery pack.

It’s worth noting that this is the exact same engine set-up that features in a growing number of Peugeot models locally, including hybrid versions of the 2008, 3008, 5008, 308 and 408.

Total system outputs are 107kW and 230Nm which is far from class-leading. Alfa Romeo claims the 0-100km/h sprint takes 8.9 seconds.

Jeep’s official combined cycle fuel use figure for the Trailhawk is 6.9 litres per 100 kilometres. After a week of mixed but mostly urban driving, we recorded a much higher figure of 11.2L/100km.

The Compass has a 60-litre tank. Combined CO2 emissions are rated at 181g/km.

The Junior Ibrida has a claimed fuel consumption of just 4.1L/100km, which is solid for a mild-hybrid vehicle.

There’s a 44L fuel tank which requires a minimum of 95 RON premium unleaded petrol.

During our 200km drive loop on the launch which consisted of mixed and spirited drive, we returned an average of 5.4L/100km. However, during one section with fewer twists and turns we saw an average of 4.0L/100km, which is incredible.

Using our as-tested fuel consumption there’s a theoretical range of 815km.

Jeep claims the Trailhawk has some off-road ability, but we didn’t get a chance to test that. Most driving was around town, freeways and city fringe.

The first thing I noticed when I got behind the wheel was the awkward position of the accelerator pedal. It could be the wheel arch intruding into the footwell, but the right side of my right foot constantly brushed the carpeted panel. It’s annoying and a clear design flaw.

Another flaw is the idle-stop system. When you park, the idle stop kicks in and cuts the engine off. But if you want to properly turn the engine off and get out of the car, you have to do something to wake up the engine, then turn off the ignition. Another annoyance.

The diesel engine is responsive enough, but it lags on take-off and it’s not as torquey as expected. Accelerating hard doesn’t reward the driver with instant response, and momentum is blunted by steep ascents.

It does come alive around 3000rpm which seems to be a sweet spot.

The nine-speed auto can sometimes hold gears and the brakes are on the spongey side.

The Trailhawk feels like a heavy vehicle on the road. Much heavier than its 1621kg tare weight would suggest. As a result, it lumbers along and makes for sloppy handling.

It moves around the road too much and there is quite a lot of body roll in corners. It’s slow to respond coming out of corners, too.

The steering feels lazy and it’s weighted on the heavy side. It doesn’t make for an engaging steer.

Ride comfort around town is well sorted. For the most part, it absorbs speed bumps and crumby urban streets, without offering a truly comfortable ride.

Overall ride quality diminishes at higher speeds. It’s busy and jittery and never feels settled.

Needless to say, this is not the small SUV to buy for navigating city traffic or to take for a fun drive on your favourite twisty country road.

A brief section of unsealed road highlighted the excellent traction of the Trailhawk.

The 225/60 R17 Falken Wild Peak tyres produce a bit of tyre noise on coarse chip roads but otherwise the cabin is fairly well insulated from outside noise.

Starting up the Junior Ibrida, the turbo three-cylinder engine roars to life with an off-beat, thrum-y sound.

If the engine is bone cold, it’ll stay on to get the fluids up to operating temperature. Once this happens it will happily switch off.

Initial acceleration is typically done on electric power alone and if you don’t press the accelerator too hard it’ll stay in EV mode at city speeds. It’s very electric-heavy for a car that’s technically only a 48V mild-hybrid.

At many points the engine switches off at speeds up to 80km/h, especially if you’re travelling on flat ground. Even at 100-110km/h, it’ll switch off if coasting.

Something to note is the electric motor is part of the six-speed dual-clutch transmission which means you can sometimes feel gear changes even when driving in EV mode. You do get used to this.

A positive of the electric motor being in the dual-clutch is it helps iron out awkward pauses and jerks that this type of transmission typically presents. It’s still not perfect though.

If you press the accelerator harder or the battery charge gets lower, it’ll inevitably fire up the three-cylinder engine. It makes a rorty note during acceleration which is fun to listen to.

The transition from electric to petrol is generally seamless. There can be a slight shudder when the three-cylinder first fires up at low revs, but I’ve experienced much worse in other cars.

There’s only one setting for regenerative braking, which is fairly strong and almost one-pedal-driving like. It takes a bit to get used to the feeling. You do still need to put your foot on the brake pedal to come to a complete stop.

With the combination of the petrol engine and electric motor, acceleration is far from break-neck but it’s far from slow. The fact it doesn’t have much power actually makes this car more endearing, especially because it’s rewarding to drive.

The steering in the Junior is communicative and direct. It's a joy to take corners in as the feel errs more on the lighter side. It almost has a Mini-like go-kart feel as the car feels so nimble.

Additionally, the ride is composed and settled, even at higher speeds on rough roads, which is rare for small vehicles. This is likely because the Junior only has 18-inch alloy wheels with a decent amount of tyre sidewall, rather than the low-profile 20-inch units that are offered in the Veloce Elettrica overseas.

On the highway the Junior’s cabin is surprisingly quiet. You can’t hear the three-cylinder once you’ve reached your set speed and there’s also minimal wind/tyre noise.

Lastly, the safety systems do a good job at working but not being annoying. The worst culprit is the intelligent speed limit assist which chimes when you go over the signposted speed limit.

If it does grate you too much, you can easily switch it off in a dedicated advanced driver assist system (ADAS) menu that can be reached via a shortcut button near the hazard lights. It’s as easy as that.

The Alfa Romeo Junior hasn’t been crash-tested by ANCAP or Euro NCAP just yet.

Standard safety kit includes six airbags, autonomous emergency braking (AEB), blind-spot monitoring, lane-keep assist, adaptive cruise control, front, side and rear parking sensors, as well as a reversing camera.

Some features missing from the line-up include rear cross-traffic alert, plus a proper surround-view camera. With the latter, however, the reversing camera stitches together when reversing to create a surround-view image, much like Peugeots.

Junior owners get 12 months of complimentary access to connected services which allows for things like SOS emergency calling and live traffic satellite navigation, plus a range of remote functionality through a companion smartphone app.

The Compass comes with a five-year or 100,000km warranty and five years of free roadside assistance. Every time you service your vehicle at a Jeep dealer, another year will be added to the roadside assist program.

The servicing schedule is every year or 20,000km for a diesel Jeep, whichever comes first.

Jeep offers a capped-price servicing scheme for the first five years. The Compass Trailhawk costs $399 for each of these services.

Like other Alfa Romeos, the Junior is covered by a five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty.

There’s also five years of roadside assistance as standard. An additional 12 months of coverage can be added for the lifetime of the vehicle every time you service at an authorised Alfa Romeo dealer.

Logbook servicing is required every 12 months or 15,000km, whichever comes first. The first five services are capped and total $3105.84, which averages out to around $620 each.

This seems pretty expensive for such a small car, but it's only a touch pricier than the Lexus LBX.

It’s clear maintaining this vehicle with its dual-clutch automatic transmission and mild-hybrid components is costly in the long run.