Point taken: Jeep Compass is pretty swell

— -- You really want to dislike the Jeep Compass.

It's a car trying to be a Jeep. It's ugly, at least toward the rear. The interior plastics have a Third World appearance, although they fit together well.

It's built at a Dodge factory in Illinois, not the Ohio plant that is Jeep's home. It has Chrysler Group's so-called World Engine under the hood, a four-banger that's been anything but world class in previous test vehicles. And if you need a final reason for anti-Compass prejudice, it's those awful bobble-head TV commercials, the most grating pitch since Mazda hired a kid to stage-whisper "zoom zoom."

PHOTOS/AUDIO:Jeep Compass with Healey's comments

Ah, but that's the thing with prejudice — by definition, judgment in advance. After some examination, it turns out Compass is swell. It's remarkably well equipped for its price (high teens to mid-20s). The test vehicle was a $23,380 Limited with four-wheel drive and manual transmission. With the possible exception of the optional automatic transmission, what it didn't have, you don't need.

The leather seats were unusually comfortable, shaming the chairs in some much-higher-price machines.

MORE TEST DRIVE:Archive of Healey's columns

The manual gearbox shifted easily, and the clutch engaged smoothly. It's not a Miata-style snick-snick shifter, but neither is it the kind of balky, truckish operation you get in some vehicles. It needs a sixth gear, though. It revs at a fast 3,000 rpm at 70 mph, bad for fuel economy and peace and quiet.

The body leaned a fair amount in fast corners, but the tested Compass surprisingly didn't feel tipsy. It was fun, not frustrating, in those ever-tightening freeway off-ramp spirals. The suspension conquered much of the body lean to get the Compass around bends smartly.

Brakes and steering felt about the way you'd want, responsive without being touchy.

And the engine — my, what have they done? It was a coarse and crude power plant in a pre-production Dodge Caliber (Test Drive March 3, 2006). In the regular-production Compass tester, it was the opposite. No shaking or vibrating. No nasty noises, only a gruffness that grew assertive as more throttle was applied.