Jeep Commander (2006 – 2010) Review

Jeep Commander (2006 – 2010) At A Glance

Seven seats. Good diesel engine. Excellent off-road and decent on road.

Rearmost seats are cramped.

Reviews for Jeep Commander (2006 – 2010)'s top 3 rivals

Dodge Nitro

Looks tough and five-seat interior is practical.

Cadillac SRX

Seats seven, comes with plenty of equipment.

Mitsubishi Shogun

A rugged hard-worker that can tow heavy loads without breaking sweat and conquer terrain that would faze...

Jeep Commander (2006 – 2010) handling and engines

• Engines range from 3.0 V6 CRD to 5.7 V8 HEMI
• Readers report Real MPG to be between 19–28 mpg

Despite a solid rear axle (no independent springing like the Disco 3, new Santa Fe or Pathfinder), it not only rides well on normal roads, it handles well too. The rack and pinion steering is pleasantly precise, grip is good and the car can be hustled along quite quickly.

It's aided and abetted in this by Mercedes excellent 215bhp 3.0 V6 common rail diesel engine, and by a five-speed autobox with Mercedes style manual override. It's even reasonably quiet at speed, cruising at 80 no bother at all. And the multi-screwhead dashboard is blessed with no less than eight separately directional air-con vents.

The seats are good, supportive and electric. All three centre row rear seats fold separately so you can carry six with a nice through look down the centre of the car.

Off-road, instead of LandRover's complicated terrain control dial and hill descent control, there's just one neat little lever that you pull up to engage low range and to disengage traction control. Sensors and diffs then take over. All three are lockable as and when necessary to feed the power to the wheels with the most grip, even if that happens to be only one of them. We drove through gigantic chassis twisting ‘axle articulating' holes, down slopes of solid rock, along riverbeds (with the river in full flow) and nothing stopped it. The joy was being able to do all this without having to think which diffs you had to lock or make any judgements at all apart from simply driving the car.

It also has the potential to be an impressive tower. A 2,410kg kerb weight and a maximum braked trailer weight of 3,360kg.

Jeep Commander (2006 – 2010) interior

• Boot space is 212–1940 litres

The Commander Limited is styled to look a bit retro, along the same square cut lines as a 1990s Cherokee, and embellished by screwed-on wheel arch extenders. Oddly, but attractively, instead of hiding the screws that hold the dashboard in place, there are fake screw heads that look as if they do but don't.

It's also a seven seater in the manner of the Nissan Pathfinder and the latest Hyundai Santa Fe, but it can't take the same seven rugby players as a Land Rover Discovery 3. Legroom at the back of the Limited is limited because, like the Pathfinder, there's no toe room under the centre seats.

That said, the two in the back seats (or the dogs in the back, for that matter) have a separate air-conditioning supply. And the seats fold flat in one simple movement that won't break a lady's nails.

The centre seats double tumble to provide access, which requires a degree of athleticism (or a degree in athletics) and isn't for the elderly.

And that's where the criticisms end.

The Commander Limited is styled to look a bit retro, along the same square cut lines as a 1990s Cherokee, and embellished by screwed-on wheel arch extenders. Oddly, but attractively, instead of hiding the screws that hold the dashboard in place, there are fake screw heads that look as if they do but don't.

It's also a seven seater in the manner of the Nissan Pathfinder and the latest Hyundai Santa Fe, but it can't take the same seven rugby players as a Land Rover Discovery 3. Legroom at the back of the Limited is limited because, like the Pathfinder, there's no toe room under the centre seats.

That said, the two in the back seats (or the dogs in the back, for that matter) have a separate air-conditioning supply. And the seats fold flat in one simple movement that won't break a lady's nails.

The centre seats double tumble to provide access, which requires a degree of athleticism (or a degree in athletics) and isn't for the elderly.

Jeep Commander (2006 – 2010) models and specs

On sale until May 2009

On sale until May 2007

On sale until May 2006