The Ultimate Trade In

We'll start with my wife. She has wanted a loaded CR-V since she got her first CR-V, a base 2WD model from 2003. Unfortunately, this is not a car that Hot Wheels or Matchbox seems to want to immortalize in die cast. So I had to settle on a small SUV equivalent..... the Jeep Compass. The Matchbox version is painted to make it look like a serious off roader. As any Jeep purist knows, the only time you're going to spend off road with this is if you get run off the road by a real jeep.

Still, the Compass sounds intriguing. A crossover vehicle, essentially a car with SUV like styling and utility, it's essentially the same as the Dodge Caliber, which is a replacement for the Neon. Edmunds.com has indicated the car itself is a dissappointment, calling the interior "a study in hard plastic", noting it's bad fit and finish, and pointing out it's slow and smaller than its competitors.

But, this one looks REALLY nice. And with a quick push of the hand, it goes from 0 to 60 (scale speed) in about .5 seconds. Plus it gets great mileage.

So if you're interested in trading something of value for this vehicle, e-mail me at: ultimatetradein@gmail.com.

You can read Edmunds review of the Jeep Compass here.