The Jeep Compass and Grand Cherokee SUVs are tasked with the dreaded moose test in these videos.
Ahh, the moose test. If you want to know how well your car handles in a real-world scenario, there’s no better test. It simulates finding an obstacle in the middle of the road--like a large moose late at night. You’ve got less than a second to swerve out of the way and then get back into your lane so as to avoid any potentially oncoming traffic.
Naturally, the skill of the driver plays a very large part in how successful one can complete the maneuver, but carmakers also must do their part as well by providing everyone with technology that helps them avoid a crash. In the case of most cars, that’s electronic stability control.
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Here we have a pair of videos from Spanish car insurance site KM77 testing the Jeep Compass and Grand Cherokee. Both are SUVs from Jeep. Both have electronic stability control keeping their driver’s from going into a ditch when they swerve out of the way of a moose. But how well do these big SUVs perform in real life?
First, the Compass. This mid-size SUV is much lighter than the Cherokee, and as you can see, has no trouble passing the moose test. The driver performs two tests at 79 and 81 kph (or 49-50 mph) and on both tests the Compass swerves out of the way and rights itself with the minimum of fuss. It did hit the cone on the second test, but we’re thinking that a moose won’t normally have protective cones around it, so cutting it a bit close isn’t too big a deal.
The Cherokee is a different story entirely. This big, full-size SUV weighs 5,300 lbs, and no amount of stability control is going to make it look graceful. It throws itself into the moose test at 71 and 74 kph (44 and 45 mph) and on the second test it nearly ran off the road before it could swerve back. On a third attempt, it seemed to skid and was unable to return to its lane.
Both cars were able to handle the slalom portion of the video without issue at around 60 kph (37 mph), but the moose test certainly went to the Compass.