Jeep Compass Trailhawk Lord Of The Real Jungle

The Bharat Stage VI ready Jeep Compass Trailhawk may not look very different from the Jeep Compass variants already available in India.

- P. Tharyan

But take a closer look and you will find that it’s actually cut out for some great offroading. For one it is trail rated, a methodology initially established by the Nevada Automotive Test Center and Jeep Engineering to objectively measure off-road performance for all Jeep vehicles. Trail rated Jeep vehicles are like commandos among the lot. Trail rated vehicles need to come winners in tests like traction, water fording, maneuverability, articulation and ground clearance.

EXTERIORS

The external features of this vehicle have been fine-tuned with a major objective of off-roading. If you look at the bottom of the bumper, unlike the existing Jeep Compass, here the design is more curved inwards so as to get an approach angle of 26.5 deg and since the ground clearance has been increased marginally by 30mm, the break-over angle of 21.2 degrees ensures that obstacles do not come in contact with the underbody while driving over tough tracks.

Similarly, at the rear too, the bottom of the bumper area has been redesigned to curve inwards, which ensures a departure angle of 31.6 degrees. All this is ideal for off roading or else your front and rear bumpers would simply crash against obstacles. This is how the overall ground clearance has been taken care of.

The Trailhawk also comes with a tow hook at the rear that can carry tug 1.5 times the weight of the vehicle.

The Jeep Compass TrailHawk gets heavy-duty 17 inches five-spoke alloy wheels. Coming to the bonnet, you find a huge black decal on it. This signature black hood decal ensures that while offroading you don’t get the sun rays reflecting off the bonnet and blinding you while you are making those sharp climbs or dips.