Jeep Liberty vs Jeep Compass

The Jeep Liberty is an off-road-ready compact SUV with the heart and soul of the brand’s much heartier vehicles. It’s able to climb, crawl, and wade through much stiffer terrain than its tiny size would suggest, and it makes use of four-wheel drive (4WD) and a solid rear axle to get through the tough stuff.

The Liberty is targeted at new-car buyers who want a rugged and capable SUV to take them where more pedestrian vehicles just can’t go. It competes with the Toyota RAV4, the Honda CR-V, and the Subaru Forester. Jeep offers the Liberty in just two trim levels: Jeep Liberty Sport and Jeep Liberty Limited Edition. Though it slots below models like the Grand Cherokee, the Liberty carries much of the same styling and off-roading attitude as those pricier models.

A single engine is available for the 2007 model year: A 3.7-litre V6 engine that produces 210 horsepower and 235 pound-feet of torque. Power hits all four wheels through a six-speed manual transmission by default, but a four-speed automatic transmission is available on Sport and standard on the Limited Edition.

The 2024 Compass Sport carries over last year's major powertrain upgrade without any increase to the base price: $35,995. That's very close to the littlest Jeep, the Renegade, and more than $10,000 below the similarly sized Cherokee (and prices on those last two are from 2023 because both have been discontinued). It's also cheaper than a Ford Escape and many other compact SUVs but without the bargain-bin interior of older Compass models. While upper trims get too pricey for their britches, the base-model Compass we tested provides real value in an era where new-car prices increase every few months.

The 2024 Jeep Compass offers good tech and impressive safety features, and it arrives with a sub-$40,000 base MSRP. The Compass still lags behind some of the competition in terms of materials quality and performance. Now in its second year past a 2023 facelift, however, it’s many strides better than older iterations.