pet connection

When did DaimlerChrysler become such an innovative, value-oriented car company? I guess I just haven’t been paying much attention since I bought my Plymouth minivan — reliable, dull ol’ Forrest — a decade ago.

First, the Stow ‘N Go seats on the Dodge Caravan knocked my socks off, enabling a very comfortable minivan to go from hauling a soccer team to hauling a team of sled dogs in about the five minutes it takes to fold all the seats into the floor.

Then, I get the Jeep Compass Limited 4×4, the new “cute ute” from the venerable line of rugged off-roaders. Another winner from the DaimlerChrysler team! This one’s a great dogmobile, at fantastic price — starting below $16K for the two-wheel-drive version, the four-wheel-drive test vehicle I drove had just about everything (including heated seats) for less than $25K.

What to like? Just about everything:

• The seats fold easily, and completely flat.
• The cargo area has rubber matting instead of carpet, making clean-up after dirty paws easy.
• Fuel economy is a 23/26, better than most of the cute utes I’ve been driving.
• Good cargo space, with not much of it unusable. As with most cute utes, my side-by-side crates won’t fit except in a “T” formation. Again, with smaller dogs or fewer dogs than I have — or with the use of harness restraints instead of crates– this isn’t an issue.
• Well-placed cargo archor hooks, and lots of them.
• Good ground clearance and easy changeover to the four-wheel drive, both of which you’d expect in a Jeep, after all. This vehicle would have no problem with the fields I’m often training in.

The only dog-related complant? The cupholders down low between the front seats, easy for a dog to put a foot in (or a tongue, in the case of my youngest retriever, McKenzie, who loves lattes.)

Aside from the doggie aspects, this little SUV is fun to drive and very responsive. Pretty darn cute, too. The design of the front reminds me of a cross between the Jeep Liberty and the Dodge Nitro. I guess they were looking for a more masculine look than the Liberty, and the compromise is a good one. And guess what? The heated seats are awesome, which was a surprise considering the ones in the Dodge Grand Caravan were wimpy.

The Jeep Compass would be a great dogmobile even at a higher price. But at less than $25K as tested with almost all the options, good fuel economy and four-wheel drive, it’s definitely one of the best value-oriented dogmobiles I’ve driven.