2021 Jeep Compass vs Nissan Qashqai

What's the difference?

The Jeep Compass Night Eagle is good looking and offers great practicality for a small SUV, and comes standard with good city-focussed safety tech. 

What stops the compass Night Eagle from being a great urban car is its thirsty petrol engine and a driving experience which isn’t all that enjoyable.

The Nissan Qashqai Midnight Edition has a nice look to it, and some nice interior inclusions as well. It's a good size and offers competitive value for money, and if you're not that fussed about how a car drives, you could find it to be a great choice for your needs.

But bear in mind it's getting on in years, and there are now literally 20 newer entrants in the small SUV segment that could well deserve your attention more than this car does.

Does the new Midnight Edition offer enough of a reason to consider the Qashqai over its numerous rivals? Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

There aren’t many boring looking Jeeps. If anything they look like full-scale sand pit toys. The Jeep Compass is no different but has a more refined and domesticated appearance than a Wrangler. If anything, it looks like a mini version of the big Jeep Grand Cherokee with its low narrow grille, squared headlights and tall, flat bonnet.

Even the side profile of the Compass and the rear of the car with its tailgate and taillight design is shrunken Grand Cherokee looking. Which is odd because the Cherokee, which is bigger than the Compass, looks nothing like the Grand Cherokee.

Talking of size, how big is the Compass? Here are the dimensions. The compass is 4394mm long, 1819mm wide and 1629mm tall.

That makes it a small SUV, but not as small as the Jeep Renegade, which looks tiny enough to pick up and carry.

Night Eagle sounds like a special ops code name and there are some stealthy elements to the styling, such as the black alloy wheels and the blacked-out grille. These touches are a good combination with the Grey Magnesio paint my car wore. That’s a premium colour costing $645, but the black roof is standard. In the photos I took, the Night Eagle looks as dark and as brooding as the day I took these pictures.

I’ll talk about how much room is inside in the practicality section below, but for now I can tell you that the Compass’s interior has a layout which is more functional and rugged than refined and fancy. I wasn’t overwhelmed by the feel of the plastics, which to me didn’t have the same quality as interior elements of a Mazda CX-30 or Kia Seltos.

The Midnight Edition is all about standing out from the other Qashqais in the shopping centre car park, and to the brand's credit, it does. Nissan describes the look being “stand-out” and “street-smart”. Yeah, fair call. It's a looker.

The appearance is more contemporary than the actual age of the Qashqai suggests should be possible - the angular headlights and sharp LED daytime running lights look great, while the blacked-out exterior trim finishes and colour-coded lower body kit styling pack really helps keep the old Qashqai modern looking.

But there might be some people out there who just know the facts around the Qashqai's age, and it's more evident in the cabin, where Nissan has tried to keep the cockpit appearance up to date over the years, but it's really showing its age in terms of the design. More on the practicality below.

More philosophically speaking, the Qashqai is a larger entrant in the small SUV segment. Back when it launched, it was straddling the barrier between small and mid-sized SUVs, but with the recent ambush on the compact SUV/crossover market - with the likes of the VW T-Cross, Skoda Kamiq and others all offering tiny exterior size with big interior practicality - the Qashqai is feeling a bit dated, and a bit odd-sized, too. 

At 4394mm long, 1806mm wide and 1595mm tall, it could be the right size for a lot of buyers. But what's the cabin practicality and space like? Check out our interior images for an idea.

Good practicality in a small urban car means a cleverly designed interior, which makes the most of the limited space and the Compass hits the nail on the head here. There’s a storage space under the cushion of the front passenger seat (see the images), a deep centre console bin, decent-sized door pockets and four cup holders.

You’ll find two USB ports (one in the front and one in the back), along with a 12V outlet and a 230V power point.

Boot space is large for the class at 438 litres. 

As for people space there’s plenty of elbow-, head and shoulder room up front, while legroom in the back is excellent and, at 191cm tall, I can sit behind my driving position with about 4cm between my knees and the seatback.

It's great to see that there are directional air vents in the second row. 

One of the reasons people have bought the Qashqai over the years is that it is arguably the “right size” for most buyers.

And it hits the mark for those who want something hatchback sized but also want that higher seating position. But it may be too high for some.

Like me! I usually have to lower my seat when my partner drives a test car (she is 165cm, I'm 182cm) – that was not the case in the Qashqai, because the seating position is so high as standard that she was obviously comfortable - but that was in the lowest position. I wanted to lower it further: it felt about two inches higher up than I'd like to sit.

Otherwise the ergonomics are mostly good. There's reach and rake adjustment for the lovely, flat-bottomed leather steering wheel, and the vision from the driver's seat is mostly pretty good.

The driver gets a 4.2-inch digital info screen with plenty of available data including digital speedo, and it's all pretty easy to interact with, too. 

The same is the case for the 7.0-inch touchscreen media system, which has a simple enough menu system and the Apple CarPlay smartphone mirroring tech seemed to work a treat every single time for me. I wouldn't really use anything else on most occasions, but the radio controls are easy and there are knobs and buttons to appease cranks like me who don't like digital buttons.

I like the presentation of the Midnight model's cabin, with the brushed black finishes adding a little bit of interest to what is otherwise a dated looking interior. The next-generation Qashqai - due in 2021 - is likely to take a huge step forward in terms of interior design and presentation.

Indeed, the cabin space could be better up front. There are two cup holders between the seats, and two small open storage areas (okay for a phone and wallet, but it all fills up fast), and there's a large covered centre console bin. There's no wireless phone charger, and there's no space that's really big enough for a larger smartphone to sit comfortably, either.

The doors have bottle holders up front, while in the rear the door storage is a bit smaller. Unlike some other small SUVs around this price point, there are some soft materials and elbow pads on the back doors, too.

The back seat has no rear air-vents, but has another small open storage box - would be a great spot for USB charge ports, but that's not the case. There are twin map pockets on the seatbacks, as well as a fold down armrest with cupholders which offers 60/40 split capability if you need to fold it down for additional storage.

There's enough width that you could just fit three adults, but the seat comfort isn't great - it juts into your lower back a bit. As mentioned, I'm 182cm or 6'0”, and I found the actual physical space behind my own driving position to be fine. My knees were brushing the seat ahead, while my shins were hard against it.

Kids will likely be better catered for in terms of space, and there are dual ISOFIX and three top-tether points for fixing car seats in safely. 

The boot capacity of the Qashqai is good, with 430 litres of cargo space. The shape of the boot is a little odd, meaning we couldn't fit our entire suitcase set (124L, 95L and 36L) all at once. Soft luggage could be a better option here. 

There is a space-saver spare wheel under the boot floor, too.

The new Nissan Qashqai Midnight Edition comes in at $35,900 (MSRP/RRP - not including on-road costs), which means it slots in above the mid-range ST-L grade but below the top-spec Ti model. It's also just above the existing N-Sport model, which shares a few features with this model.

So for about thirty six grand, what do you get? The Midnight Edition gets a bunch of dark-themed extras the enhance the look: black grille, adaptive front LED headlights with darkened surrounds, black bumper blades, black 19-inch wheels, darkened LED tail-lights, and black mirror caps, side mouldings and roof rails. There's also a Midnight badge on the tailgate.

Inside there are a few more black touches, with gloss and brushed interior finishes, illuminated kick plates, Alcantara trimmed seats with leather accents, and there's black headlining, too.

That's in addition to the stuff you'd usually get in the ST-L, including a 7.0-inch touchscreen media system with sat nav, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, Bluetooth phone and audio streaming and DAB digital radio. There's also keyless entry and push-button start, manual seat adjustment, manual air-conditioning, auto headlights and wipers, a flat-bottom leather-lined steering wheel, and 4.2-inch driver info display with digital speedometer.

Standard safety spec includes a 360-degree surround view camera system with reversing camera and front and rear parking sensors, and there's more to discuss on the safety specs below.

Colour options for the Midnight Edition include the Gun Metallic you see here, as well as Vivid Blue, Ivory Pearl (white), Magnetic Red and Pearl Black.

It's a decent value proposition, and could well be more appealing than some rivals. Don't know whether we could say it's better value than a C-HR Koba or CX-30 Touring, though...

The Night Eagle is the only front-wheel drive variant in the Compass range, although it has the same 2.4-litre petrol engine as the all-wheel drive Limited and S-Limited grades. In Jeep World even the engines have cool names and this one is called the Tigershark.

If only the engine was a good as its name because with 129kW and 229Nm I felt that, in the Compass, this four-cylinder engine was underpowered even when unladen.

A six-speed automatic does a good job of smooth shifting, however.

Nothing too special here. The Midnight Edition runs the same 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine producing 106kW (at 6000rpm) and 200Nm (at 4400rpm), which is paired exclusively to a continuously variable transmission (CVT) auto and front-wheel drive.

The outputs are okay for the class. The drive experience could be better, though. More on that in the Driving section.

Harbouring dreams of tackling the great Aussie caravan trip with a Qashqai? Beware the towing capacity is 729kg unbraked and 1200kg braked.

When it comes to urban driving nothing makes more sense than electric vehicles, hybrids and cars with small capacity turbo engines. So, the Compass Night Eagle with its 2.4-litre naturally aspirated petrol engine isn’t ideal for fuel economy.

Yes, this engine has a stop-start system, which will save fuel but even then, Jeep says you can expect to use 11.2L/100km after urban driving.

I live in Sydney’s Inner West, about 8km from the CBD. The traffic moves at a frantic pace, unless it’s peak hour in which case the city gridlock extends all the way to the street I live on. That kind of environment never does any favours for your fuel economy, but even then, the 13.7L/100km the trip computer was reporting at the end of my week with the Compass was high. 

Motorway miles would bring that down substantially, and Jeeps says that after a combination of open and urban roads you can expect 7.9L/100km.

This is an urban test, however, and urban fuel economy is what counts.

The claimed combined cycle fuel consumption is 6.9 litres per 100 kilometres, which again, is okay for the segment but not astounding. Turbocharged rivals claim about 30 per cent less in some cases.

In our testing, we saw an at the pump average of 10.0L/100km across a mix of urban, highway and open road driving. That's not great.

Thankfully the fuel tank capacity is a rather generous 65 litres - a lot for a compact SUV like this.

There’s good and not-so good news, here. Making the Compass Night Eagle good for city driving is great visibility, wide and comfortable seats and the smallish size of the car makes it easy to fit into spaces.

But working against the Compass was steering which seemed to lack both feel and accuracy, suspension which struggled to iron-out the many creases in Sydney’s shocking roads and not much in the way of acceleration.

A large turning circle of more than 11m also didn’t help me much in the streets where I live, either.

I wouldn't recommend the Qashqai to my mum, but you might recommend it to your mum. I know my mum would love the size, the seating position, and the fact it has a few desirable safety items.

So, why wouldn't my mum like it? She's a bit of a car enthusiast, and she loves cars that are exciting to drive. And the Qashqai - even this Midnight Edition - is not that.

Indeed, it is one of the most unappealing cars in the segment in terms of driving manners, with nothing to set it apart and make you go ‘wow!'. It's older than most of its rivals, admittedly, but just be aware that the Qashqai is a car for those who have needs, more than wants.

The 2.0-litre petrol engine is okay in some situations, but it generally feels strangled by the CVT automatic, which is annoyingly inconsistent in the way it behaves, and can be really frustrating in the way that it will offer a lot of acceleration in one instance and then almost dullness in other instances - all while applying about the same amount of throttle.

The powertrain is the biggest issue with this car - it really isn't that enjoyable to drive in any situation other than highway cruising. And yes, it will get away from a standstill fine - better than some rivals with dual-clutch automatic transmissions, too - it just struggles to maintain linear momentum and it's hard to drive it smoothly as a result.

 And the Midnight Edition with the larger alloy wheels and decent tyres also sours the drive experience, with a ride that is a bit firm thanks to the low profile rubber, but also a bit bouncy and unsettled as well. It just isn't as comfortable or as compliant as many of its rivals.

Further to that, there is some serious road noise to contend with on coarse chip roads. The M4 motorway in Sydney forms a big part of my driving, and there are sections on there where I had to adjust the stereo volume just to hear the music over the boom, while on the better surfaced parts, it was smooth progress.

Over speed bumps and in urban driving you will likely also notice that the rear suspension is a bit sharp.

In driving around town, the steering offers a light enough action and is also reasonably fuss free, plus there's a bit of feel through the wheel but it's just not that engaging to drive.

The Nissan Qashqai was awarded a five-star ANCAP crash test safety rating in 2017, but it wouldn't score that under today's stricter criteria.

That said, the Qashqai Midnight has a few safety inclusions that help it stand out. Standard is the aforementioned 360-degree surround view camera system, as well as front and rear parking sensors, and it has a forward collision warning system with a low speed auto emergency braking (AEB) but it doesn't incorporate pedestrian or cyclist detection - you have to get the Ti spec for that.

Also standard here is a blind-spot monitoring system with rear cross-traffic alert, lane departure warning (not lane keeping assistance - again, that's on the Ti grade), and seven airbags: dual front, front side, driver's knee and curtain coverage for both rows.

There's no adaptive cruise control on this grade. You guessed it - the Ti has it.

The Compass is covered by Jeep's five-year/100,000km warranty. There's also five years of capped price servicing. It's recommended the petrol variants are serviced every 12 months/12,000km and the diesels every 12 months/20,000km.

The Nissan range is backed by a five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty, which is about the standard offer in the Australian market. Rivals like the Kia Seltos, MG ZS and ZST, and SsangYong Korando have seven-year warranty cover, while Mitsubishi offers up to 10 years for the ASX and Eclipse Cross.

There's a capped price servicing plan that runs to 12 years or 120,000km so, you guessed it, the maintenance intervals are every 12 months/10,000km (whichever occurs first), which means they're a bit less lenient than competitors which offer 15,000km intervals.

The average servicing cost over that 12-year period, according to Nissan's website, is $322.75. That's not bad as a baseline, but that doesn't include some consumables.

The brand also offers a five-year roadside assistance service as part of the warranty plan.