Short Take Road Test
Don’t let the badge mislead you. The Jeep Commander commands its brand only in name. It is among the youngest nameplates in the Jeep lineup, and its sales figures command little more than an exasperated groan. From a 2006 high of over 88,000, yearly sales fell to 28,000 in 2008.
Like the disaster that beset another beleaguered commander, General George Custer, at Little Big Horn, what happened to the Jeep’s sales is well chronicled: The price of gas bloated, killing demand for SUVs; and then the value of everything else imploded, killing demand for cars of all types. You can still get a Jeep Commander with the Hemi V-8, but the responsible choice—as far as seven-passenger, V-8–powered SUVs are concerned in a gasping economy—is the smaller, 4.7-liter V-8. Oh, wait. The Hemi is only $820 more and gets better fuel economy? Never mind. (There is a V-6, but just because you have a rope and are near train tracks doesn’t mean you have to tie yourself to them and wait for the 10:15.)
Getting By with Less, but Not Getting By Very Quickly
The 4.7-liter forfeits 52 hp and 55 lb-ft of torque to the updated Hemi, and we wondered if we would miss them. Could Custer have used a few more soldiers that fateful day? Well, he couldn’t have been less successful with a couple extra regiments. Zero to 60 mph took 8.0 seconds, with the quarter-mile passing in 16.2 at 85 mph; both figures lag behind all but the slowest entrants in our last three-row-crossover comparo.
Passing power in this Jeep is the stuff of dreams, as in, “keep dreaming.” With all the aerodynamic grace of a billboard in a tornado, the Commander needs the driver to leg in for a transmission kickdown just to overcome the drag of its upright windshield and grille at highway speeds. Top speed is limited to 111 mph, plenty fast for something so tall and boxy, although high speeds are not as frightening as its proportions would suggest.
Evasive maneuvering, on the other hand, is as frightening as the Commander’s proportions would suggest. The high roof, the narrow width, and the floppy tire sidewalls—which, at the end of our testing, showed landmark shoulder-block feathering—combine for relentless understeer at the limit and truly unsettling transient behavior. If it’s anything smaller than a Sitting Bull in the road, your safest bet is to stand on the brakes—which aren’t as effective as they should be, with braking from 70 mph to 0 taking 205 feet—and auger in. The electronic stability-control system is well calibrated, though, only intervening when things get really hairy and doing so in a smooth, controlled manner. The system can be fully disabled, but we wouldn’t recommend it on paved surfaces.
Distractions Aplenty
Should this Commander find itself deployed on pavement patrols, occupants will have much to celebrate. Limited models like the one we tested come with a commanding list of standard equipment, including a backup camera—an admittedly fuzzy one that at least shows whether or not you are backing over the neighbor’s horse—a power sunroof and fixed skylights over the outboard second-row passengers, rain-sensing windshield wipers, power-adjustable pedals, heated first- and second-row seats, and Chrysler’s intuitive and easy-to-operate navigation-and-entertainment system.
The only optional equipment on our mule were a few nickel-and-dime bits, as well as the top-of-the-line Quadra-Drive II four-wheel-drive system with electronic limited-slip differentials front and rear for $795, and the rear-seat entertainment system, which hangs a drop-down DVD screen between the skylight panels for $1720.
Seating Choices: Balance Beam or Travel Trunk
Movies might placate the kids in almost any circumstance, but adults relegated to middle- or back-seat duty will be begging for more territory. The second-row seats recline individually, but the seatbacks are narrow enough to strand the inboard shoulder on the middle seat, which only folds forward. Free up some shoulder space by flipping down the center section, though, and the narrowness of the bottom cushion forces those of ample bottom to ride knock-kneed.
The third-row perches are about 25 percent wider but come with their own compromise, namely, the positioning of the seat only eight or so inches off the floor. Imagine sitting on a pair of phonebooks with your knees in your face, and you have a pretty good sense of it. And, the third row tucks so tightly against the back glass that it leaves only eight cubic feet for cargo—barely more than a Saturn Sky roadster’s trunk. At least the power-adjustable pedals, the tilting and telescoping steering wheel, and the eight-way adjustable seat mean the driver can get perfectly comfortable.
Although Custer was caught off guard by the musket balls passing through his chest and temple, the Jeep Commander knows it is entering its last stand. With its sales constricting and its parent company and the entire home market backed into a corner, the Commander is scheduled to be axed after the 2009 model year. If you want one, time is short, but there are deals to be had.
