The Jeep Compass was one of the surprise packages of this year’s tests. It’s not especially highly rated as an everyday drive by What Car?, but it really comes into its own when towing.

It helps that the Compass is a proper 4×4, whereas many small SUV rivals have off-roader-inspired looks but send power to the front wheels. That, together with the nine-speed auto gearbox, made for straightforward hill starts.

The engine has a prodigious 280lb ft of torque, but even so acceleration is fairly steady as the 30-60mph time of 13.8 seconds shows. Into a headwind the Jeep would only just accelerate up to 70mph.

However, we’ll take stability over speed any day of the week and the Jeep has a solid and secure feel once it has reached the motorway speed limit.

It takes a tough, no-nonsense approach to the lane-change test, too. There was some pulling at the back of the car on faster runs but the Compass never failed to show the caravan it was boss.

If there’s no time to swerve in an emergency and you need to brake instead the Jeep has your back: it took just 10 metres to come to a halt from 30mph.

What Car?‘s road testers’ two biggest criticisms of the Compass are excessive engine noise and the relatively small boot.

Certainly our practicality team couldn’t find room for a full load of holiday luggage. However, in the Jeep’s favour it does have a trailer stability system, self-levelling suspension and a reversing camera with a clear view of the towball.