Shirley Potter tells of her experience on this year’s Jeep Wanderlust escape.
Drive the new Jeep Compass through the autumnal Tuscan countryside. Enjoy an Italian cookery class in a rustic farmhouse. Have a day of sports entertainment, yoga and meditation. Enjoy lectures and workshops with experts in various disciplines of experiential well-being activities. Have a go at aerial yoga, acro-yoga and hooping, sample the new discipline of Surfset Yoga and test-drive the entire Jeep line-up.
What’s not to like about that invite?! In my haste to accept, I possibly overlooked the 5km race that was also part of the invite. More on that later…
Arriving into Bologna’s rather compact airport, it didn’t take long to get out the other side and be introduced to the new Jeep Compass. Prior to 1940 the term “jeep” had been used as US Army slang for new recruits or vehicles, but the World War II jeep that went into production in 1941 specifically tied the name to this light military 4×4. This, arguably, makes Jeep the oldest four-wheel drive mass-producer of vehicles now known as SUV’s.
First impressions count and believe me, this is a good-looking SUV, albeit a mid-sized one. It’s the size of a Qashqai or Kia Sportage and climbing inside doesn’t disappoint either. Seating is upholstered in black leather with distinctive tungsten accent stitching.
The 8.4-inch infotainment system boasts Apple Car Play which provides you with a smarter, safer way to use your iPhone in your car. You’ll be able to get directions, make calls, send and receive messages, and listen to your favourite tunes without taking your hands off the wheel or eyes off the road. Brilliant.
The 7-inch colour Driver Information Digital Cluster Display allows you to view key driving data, also without losing focus on the road ahead. You can keep track of active safety features, vehicle speed, available navigation, radio information and more besides.
Features like these make Jeep a brand highly appreciated by women, with a growing customer base that now exceeds 20 per cent of all buyers. Nope, that percentage wasn’t something I had previously been aware of either. Jeep considers this to be a further demonstration of how the values of the brand have gained the favour of women drivers who see their Jeep SUV as an extension of their personality and uniqueness, a vehicle with which to identify and be able to successfully take on the usual assortment of daily trips and travels to work, schools, gyms and so forth.
Safety and security was paramount in the development of the new Jeep Compass. Thus, there are more than 70 available active and passive safety and security features. Don’t worry; I won’t go through all 70! However, I do have a few ‘must haves’ in the safety department. Rather reluctantly, I confess that parking may not be my strong point, especially if it involves reverse parking.Thankfully, the Jeep Compass offers a super Park View rear backup camera with dynamic grid lines – which displays the area immediately behind the vehicle on the navigation screen systems removing the stress from those pesky parking manoeuvers, even if they don’t involve reversing. Parking the Jeep Compass, then, was a piece of cake – or should that be pizza?
Standard safety systems on the new Compass range include Forward Collision Warning-Plus and Lane Sense Departure Warning-Plus. Other safety options include Adaptive Cruise Control, specifically developed to actively assist the driver during highway trips. This was a feature I was very thankful for on the traffic-laden, two-hour highway journey from Bologna to Florence! It maintains distance from the vehicle ahead and can, under certain conditions, bring the vehicle to a full stop without driver intervention.
I also particularly liked the Blind-spot Monitoring feature which aids the driver when changing lanes and notifies of vehicles in their blind spot via illuminated icons on the side-view mirror and with a driver-selected audible chime – just in case you weren’t paying attention to the mirror.
Putting the Compass through its paces over the next two days – I drove the manual version – this lovely SUV was as suited to the hilly tracks of Chianti and the surrounding Tuscan regions as it was to the tarmac of Florence city and its outskirts.
This might sound picky, but hey, that’s my job, I found the boot to be a tad lacking in space. However, that’s possibly only applicable if you travel – as I’m apt to do – with a large percentage of the contents of your wardrobe. Still in picky mode, three fully sized adults might find sharing the back seat to be somewhat cozy.
Right, back to that 5km run I mentioned earlier. What has that, yoga, and mindfulness got to do with the new Jeep Compass you may well query? Well, Wanderlust 108, The Mindful Triathlon – which has been dedicated to the world of fitness and wellness for the past 10 years – originated in the United States. Given that Jeep is as American as a cheeseburger, it stands to reason that the brand would get on board the Wanderlust 108 platform.
The aim of the Mindful Triathlon is to help individuals achieve personal well-being whilst remaining in touch with their surroundings – hence the day is spent in various city parks. I had the pleasure of attending Wanderlust 108 in the Parco delle Cascine in Florence. With lots of rain on the day, it made it look like I’d sprinted through that 5k run – believe me I hadn’t!
Wanderlust 108 aims to build communities around practices such as yoga and meditation to achieve mindfulness. There is a particular focus on women, who are most likely to seek harmony in the frenetic rhythms of everyday life and the most inclined to live passions and experiences with a strong emotional impact. Jeep brand shares similar values with Wanderlust: authenticity, passion, desire for freedom and adventure and the sense of being part of a big family.
Aside from the fantastic array of activities Wanderlust 108 had lined up for the day, Jeep also had its full SUV range on display. Needing little bidding, I grabbed the opportunity to take the Jeep Wrangler for a spin around the block. The verdict? Another thumbs up to the brand that only makes SUVs.
If you like the Jeep range – and if you’re reading this, you probably do – go book a test drive. I can’t promise it will be in the Tuscan countryside, but you definitely won’t be disappointed.
