If you're after sheer road presence the Jeep Commander has it in abundance, in fact short of driving a Challenger battle tank through the streets of some quaint British market town dragging various items of street furniture in your wake, the Commander looms on the horizon to show all the SUV pretenders that back in the day Jeep started the whole off-road thing.
However in terms of showroom success, the Commander is unlikely to cause much concern to its arch nemesis the Land Rover Discovery. Land Rover expects to sell around 12,000 Discos a year, while Jeep's modest plans involve shifting only 600 examples of its seven-seat Colossus. Put another way, Jeep's annual target is less than Land Rover expects to sell in around three weeks.
Oh well, never mind that because the Commander can play its trump card of wait for it, a 330bhp, 5.7-litre V8 engine which gives a 0-60mph sprint time of 7.5 seconds and maximum speed of 127mph which is highly respectable for a vehicle that weighs in at around 2,400kg.
Environmental concerns may deter a lot of buyers these days not to mention average fuel returns of 16mpg from Chrysler's renowned HEMI V8 power plant. This can also be found in the Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT and the awesome Chrysler 300C. The big Jeep's cunning solution is to use a Multi-Displacement System (MDS), which cuts off four of the eight cylinders at cruising speed, but in all honesty this does little to quench the Commander's insatiable thirst.
Because of this, Jeep estimates that the alternative 215bhp 3.0-litre turbo diesel engine will account for around 85 per cent of new sales. Owners of this model are likely to see their fuel consumption creep to as high as 25mpg on a motorway run. This may offer some comfort as diesel fuel prices seem to be heading down again
Ride quality at any speed is excellent; yet as a 4x4, the Commander feels neither quick nor comfortable being thrown around country lanes. Jeep says it will adjust the set-up for European roads, but the Commander has some way to go before matching the all-round ability of the all-conquering Land-Rover Disco.
Its squared-off, no-nonsense styling may not be to everyone's liking, either. Inside, exposed metal Allen bolts will be too macho for some as will the visible bolts around the lights and wheel arches. I must confess I am rather curious as to why some manufacturers started this trend, I understand it is primarily to convey ruggedness but to me it just looks like some bloke has stuck them on in his garage. Also the interior plastics aren't what I would expect from a car in this price range. There are some neat touches, though, such as the roof-mounted drop-down DVD player, easy-to-use folding seats, twin sunroofs and carry hooks. But some other practical features let the Commander down a little. The middle row of seats is surprisingly tight on legroom and the third row is strictly for children or very short people only. The individual ventilation and temperature controls are a nice feature though and will stop the usual arguments between middle and back seat passengers about being too hot or too cold especially amongst kids.
While it is priced a little higher than Jeep's own Grand Cherokee, The Commander has a slightly higher level of standard kit, so the argument for the Commander comes down to whether you really need the two extra seats. If not, the Cherokee is clearly a more sensible buy. However if you wanted a V8 Discovery you would be paying a whole lot more so in that sense the Commander is a bargain by comparison.
