Jeep Commander Road Test

Jeep Commander

What We Liked

• Exterior styling
• Off-road capability
• Engine / Gearbox
• Performance
• Audio equipment & Satellite Navigation system

What We Disliked

• Wooden trim and some of the interior detailing
• Lack of boot space with the seven seats in place

What We'd Like To See

• More tailoring to the British market

Build Quality

The Jeep Commander is well screwed together but some of the materials felt a little too hard and plasticky -we think it needs to be made over by a European design team.

The build quality is good but a few things weren't stuck on straight and a little bit more attention to detail wouldn't go amiss for the British market.

Value For Money

The Jeep Commander is competitively priced against its chief rivals and features an impressive list of standard equipment. Jeep offer a 3-Year / 60,000 mile warranty but we would like to see an unlimited mileage warranty as offered by its DaimlerChrysler stablemate Mercedes-Benz.

The options aren't cheap and our test featured tinted glass, command view sunroofs, Satellite Navigation, a rear DVD system and Parking Camera, at the cost of £3000 - ouch!

Overall Opinion

We preferred the Jeep Commander to the Jeep Grand Cherokee that we drove a few weeks before simply because it felt better to drive. Undoubtedly the Grand Cherokee is a 'prettier' vehicle  where the Commander is a bit of a beast but in  either you are not going to be too welcome at your local green party meeting.

Both the Grand Cherokee and the Commander's interior styling is a little too American for our taste and they were only really average on the road to be at the top of our list, but if you take into account their off-road capability they are a credible choice. If it was our money we would be looking at the Land Rover Discovery 3 as it does everything so well.

Jeep Commander