Yea, the current one has a 3.0L Mercedes diesel. It's an excellent engine, though a bit underpowered in the Grand Cherokee. It would be great in a lighter Wrangler though.



The Compass is basically a wagon (car based), while the Wrangler and Grand Cherokee are, for the most part, truck based SUVs. The ride is going to be much different between them. Most people who aren't used to "trucks" don't like driving them, at least not right away. Personally, I've been driving various types of trucks and heavy equipment around since I was a kid, so I'm used to driving both and neither bother me in the least. The Grand Cherokee is a Cadillac compared to half the stuff I've driven (most of which costing well over $40,000).

With that in mind, you can't expect a compass to have the durability and utility of a true truck or good truck based SUV. It's a trade off. If you want to try driving something in between the compass and the grand Cherokee, try the Patriot (must be version with Freedom Drive II). It's still a car based chassis setup, like the Compass, but with low range gearing and some other touches; like skid plates and all-terrain tires.

It won't be as heavy duty as the truck based guys, but better than the compass, at least for simple off-road stuff. The next step up would be the Liberty (which is right smack in the middle of Jeeps car/truck spectrum), followed by the Grand Cherokee, and lastly the Wrangler (which is more "truck based" than most modern trucks). Remember that not all SUVs are equal, they have different abilities and purposes.