Jeep Commander - "Carly Rae Jeepsen"
Discussion
Hi everyone, I'm Matt, and I've been a Land Rover-holic for over 15 years....
..... last week I bought a Jeep Commander! (For those of you currently going "a what?", it's a Grand Cherokee floorpan with a more boxy 7 seat body
)
With my venerable old M62-engined L322 Range Rover approaching a mileage on the cusp of big bills, I decided a change was in order but was stuck for choice. 3.5 ton towing capacity, the ability to traverse green lanes and rained-out show fields, and room to camp in the back. I hate diesel engines, so it had to be a big petrol with LPG. None of the newer Land Rovers can be converted due to valve seat weakness in the Jaguar engines, so it was time to venture into other marques for the first time. As much as I've slated Jeep in the past, they make some good off road and tow vehicles when looked at from an unbiased viewpoint.
So, the Commander. It's a 2006 model, 5.7 Hemi V8 (ooh yeah!) converted to LPG so as to give half-sensible running costs. It seems in very fine fettle, and has only done 59,000 miles. After a week and a few hundred miles, I'm appreciating the nods to heavy duty use cleverly designed into the car - such as the towing mode that alters the gearbox map for higher revs, earlier TC lockup and other things to keep it from getting too hot and going into locked gears (a common problem I had with the Range Rover). I work my vehicles hard with lots of miles, lots of towing of very large restoration projects and lots of living in the back at weekend shows - so it's nice to finally have something with downscaled heavy duty underpinnings (I'm led to believe this is a Ram 1500 drivetrain) rather than the upscaled 5-series parts groaning under the weight of the RR! My only gripe is that it's too quiet - I was expecting a nice rumble, but can barely hear a distant muted growl even when I plant my foot - still, nothing a catback exhaust shouldn't sort....
What's it like to drive? Well, its the most laid-back vehicle I've ever driven. The natural cruising speed one settles at when not paying attention seems to be about 10mph under every speed limit, in contrast to the RR which always wanted to cruise at 80. The ride and handling is a strange combination of wallowy on bumps and jiggly on poor surfaces, but then its to be expected that coil springs and a live rear axle won't hold a candle to the airsprung fully independent suspension I've been spoiled with. Similarly, the interior plastics seem to be made from recycled playmobil - but then a) I don't drive along stroking the dashboard, and b) this vehicle was a full £55,000 cheaper than the Range Rover when new, so I can forgive the lack of peeled cow on every surface. It might not feel as luxurious, but what it does feel is rugged and able to withstand a lot more abuse.
I did my second full fill-up the other day, so got my first chance to assess the economy. It seems about 1mpg better than the figures the Range Rover, also a V8 on LPG, returned. I'm surprised the difference wasn't greater, given the headlining feature of cylinder deactivation on the Hemi engine - but then it is probably more thirsty when running on 8, and a quick check showed the Jeep's tyre pressures were about 8psi down on what I had been running the RR at in a desperate bid to cut commuting bills......
I'm currently trying to source a few bits to get the vehicle up to 100%, and each one is being a total headache! I'm missing the Hemi badges from the front fenders and can't seem to find the correct combination of style and colour when looking at genuine ones on eBay (I'm not even considering one of the $5 chinese ones). I also need a set of rubber floor mats - but can only find Left Hand Drive ones. Commanders aren't common over here, are WK Cherokee ones the same, anyone?
I've already got a few mods planned, as well. I want to remove one of the 3rd row seats, and mount my spare tyre vertically in the resulting gap like in the old Cherokees, with my go-to toolbox next to it. I never carry more than 4 adults, and the 3rd row seats look like they were designed with Douglas Bader in mind anyway......
I've also seen a mod online about using a tweaked Grand Cherokee cargo cover running to the 3rd row seat latches - genius! Commanders for some reason never came with even the option of a cargo cover when new.
The previous owner has also taken the [Jeep] liberty of replacing the head unit with a much more modern Parrot Asteroid Smart touchscreen one that has nav, bluetooth and many other features - but no volume knob, only a touchscreen control which is already driving mad!
A friend of mine has even done the honours of naming the new arrival for me, as most of my previous vehicles have had girl's names relevant to them in some way - the Range Rover was Elizabeth Windsor because it was incredibly British but had German underpinnings
He decided that this upbeat, slightly cheesy but likeable American vehicle should therefore be called Carly Rae Jeepsen!
Anyway, I look forward to getting to know the car, and Jeeps in general, much better as time goes on. Prior to buying the vehicle, I'd never even seen a Commander on the road in this country - and I only learned of their existence about 2 months ago in a conversation with another PHer!
..... last week I bought a Jeep Commander! (For those of you currently going "a what?", it's a Grand Cherokee floorpan with a more boxy 7 seat body
)With my venerable old M62-engined L322 Range Rover approaching a mileage on the cusp of big bills, I decided a change was in order but was stuck for choice. 3.5 ton towing capacity, the ability to traverse green lanes and rained-out show fields, and room to camp in the back. I hate diesel engines, so it had to be a big petrol with LPG. None of the newer Land Rovers can be converted due to valve seat weakness in the Jaguar engines, so it was time to venture into other marques for the first time. As much as I've slated Jeep in the past, they make some good off road and tow vehicles when looked at from an unbiased viewpoint.
So, the Commander. It's a 2006 model, 5.7 Hemi V8 (ooh yeah!) converted to LPG so as to give half-sensible running costs. It seems in very fine fettle, and has only done 59,000 miles. After a week and a few hundred miles, I'm appreciating the nods to heavy duty use cleverly designed into the car - such as the towing mode that alters the gearbox map for higher revs, earlier TC lockup and other things to keep it from getting too hot and going into locked gears (a common problem I had with the Range Rover). I work my vehicles hard with lots of miles, lots of towing of very large restoration projects and lots of living in the back at weekend shows - so it's nice to finally have something with downscaled heavy duty underpinnings (I'm led to believe this is a Ram 1500 drivetrain) rather than the upscaled 5-series parts groaning under the weight of the RR! My only gripe is that it's too quiet - I was expecting a nice rumble, but can barely hear a distant muted growl even when I plant my foot - still, nothing a catback exhaust shouldn't sort....
What's it like to drive? Well, its the most laid-back vehicle I've ever driven. The natural cruising speed one settles at when not paying attention seems to be about 10mph under every speed limit, in contrast to the RR which always wanted to cruise at 80. The ride and handling is a strange combination of wallowy on bumps and jiggly on poor surfaces, but then its to be expected that coil springs and a live rear axle won't hold a candle to the airsprung fully independent suspension I've been spoiled with. Similarly, the interior plastics seem to be made from recycled playmobil - but then a) I don't drive along stroking the dashboard, and b) this vehicle was a full £55,000 cheaper than the Range Rover when new, so I can forgive the lack of peeled cow on every surface. It might not feel as luxurious, but what it does feel is rugged and able to withstand a lot more abuse.
I did my second full fill-up the other day, so got my first chance to assess the economy. It seems about 1mpg better than the figures the Range Rover, also a V8 on LPG, returned. I'm surprised the difference wasn't greater, given the headlining feature of cylinder deactivation on the Hemi engine - but then it is probably more thirsty when running on 8, and a quick check showed the Jeep's tyre pressures were about 8psi down on what I had been running the RR at in a desperate bid to cut commuting bills......
I'm currently trying to source a few bits to get the vehicle up to 100%, and each one is being a total headache! I'm missing the Hemi badges from the front fenders and can't seem to find the correct combination of style and colour when looking at genuine ones on eBay (I'm not even considering one of the $5 chinese ones). I also need a set of rubber floor mats - but can only find Left Hand Drive ones. Commanders aren't common over here, are WK Cherokee ones the same, anyone?
I've already got a few mods planned, as well. I want to remove one of the 3rd row seats, and mount my spare tyre vertically in the resulting gap like in the old Cherokees, with my go-to toolbox next to it. I never carry more than 4 adults, and the 3rd row seats look like they were designed with Douglas Bader in mind anyway......
I've also seen a mod online about using a tweaked Grand Cherokee cargo cover running to the 3rd row seat latches - genius! Commanders for some reason never came with even the option of a cargo cover when new.
The previous owner has also taken the [Jeep] liberty of replacing the head unit with a much more modern Parrot Asteroid Smart touchscreen one that has nav, bluetooth and many other features - but no volume knob, only a touchscreen control which is already driving mad!
A friend of mine has even done the honours of naming the new arrival for me, as most of my previous vehicles have had girl's names relevant to them in some way - the Range Rover was Elizabeth Windsor because it was incredibly British but had German underpinnings
He decided that this upbeat, slightly cheesy but likeable American vehicle should therefore be called Carly Rae Jeepsen!
Anyway, I look forward to getting to know the car, and Jeeps in general, much better as time goes on. Prior to buying the vehicle, I'd never even seen a Commander on the road in this country - and I only learned of their existence about 2 months ago in a conversation with another PHer!
Edited by ChemicalChaos on Monday 31st July 00:12
Thats a lovely vehicle and very underrated great left field choice. My friend in Sydney had one albeit a diesel one and it took a serious amount of abuse and kept going and for the money looked like a bargain.
Nice to see another LPG fan on here! Far better than the diesel alternatives, Where is your tank located? My only gripe with LPG is the short range as I only have a 60 litre tank in my spare wheel well as I wanted everything hidden.
Nice to see another LPG fan on here! Far better than the diesel alternatives, Where is your tank located? My only gripe with LPG is the short range as I only have a 60 litre tank in my spare wheel well as I wanted everything hidden.
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