The Tata Harrier has surely escalated the competition in the compact SUV segment and it has proved to be a strong product, especially at the price Tata Motors has launched it. The Jeep Compass is the obvious-first rival to the Harrier and the company has added a new Sport Plus variant to the range in a bid to compete against the Harrier. The Jeep Compass Sport Plus has been launched in India at ₹ 15.99 lakh for the petrol variant and ₹ 16.99 lakh for the diesel variant.
The Sport Plus variant of the Compass has been positioned above the base Sport variant and is more feature-rich. The added exterior kit includes 16-inch alloy wheels finished in silver, black roof rails and rear parking sensors. The rear windscreen, pillars and window fringes are also finished in black. The cabin of the Jeep Compass Sport Plus trim will be equipped with a 5.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system and dual-zone climate control which the base trim doesn’t get. We would have liked Jeep to also include the power folding wing mirrors which makes maneuvering through tight spots easy. However, safety kits such as dual front airbags, ABS, ESC and traction control are standard throughout the range.
Mechanically the Compass Sport Plus remains identical to the base variant. The diesel is powered by the same 2.0-litre, four-cylinder Multijet turbo motor which makes 172 bhp and 350 Nm of peak torque and is mated to a six-speed gearbox as standard. The petrol is the 1.4-litre, four-cylinder MultiAir Turbo motor which develops 161 bhp and 250 Nm of peak torque and is also offered with an automatic gearbox, while the six-speed manual is standard.
Other than the Harrier, the Jeep Compass Sport Plus will compete with the W4 variant of the Mahindra XUV500 and SX variant of the Hyundai Creta.