The Jeep Commander came out of nowhere and got the nod for my family's road trip to Oregon. Even though it is equipped with most of the things on our checklist -- a DVD player and a navigation system -- it had not been highly rated due to smallish interior volume. But the front-running Kia Sedona developed a CD player glitch at the 11th hour and dropped from contention. Two thousand miles without decent tunes wasn't going to cut it.
We had to leave certain things at home, pack smaller suitcases, and plan on doing laundry on the road, but in the end we made everything fit. Items had to be stacked so that a rear-view corridor was maintained, as the only times I've ever gotten a ticket were those occasions when the view out the back was obstructed.
I know what you are going to say, but before you do, know this: I don't do roof racks.
So now the junk is in the trunk and we're all set to load the kids. Right away we find that we have to leave the top half of Sarah's booster seat at home, as the protruding headrest prevents the back from sitting flat against the seatback. As far as I can tell, the Commander's second row headrests cannot be raised or removed. Additionally, Sarah can't even begin to buckle her own seat belt -- something she's been able to do for two years in our Odyssey -- as the rigid buckle is set so low in the bench seat cushion and sits at the wrong angle for her to get the tongue plate around her booster and clicked home. So far, the Commander is not looking very kid friendly, but we'll give it more time.
Once underway, we notice an unexpected bonus: Sirius satellite radio. Well, maybe its a partial bonus as my wife latches onto a New Wave station. Two-thousand miles of The Smiths and Duran Duran? Perhaps I was better off with a broken CD player. The kids, however, are loving the DVD player and wireless headphones.
As we settle in, we start to develop a love/hate relationship with the ride. It's quite comfortable and soft, but it borders on floaty and the body tends to bound excessively going over certain wavy sections of road. On and off the joins of bridges and overpasses becomes a time to brace ourselves, as these are particularly "boingy." Methinks the damping is set up quite soft for comfort intentionally, but nevertheless needs more control of large motions.
Indeed the kids start complaining of car-sickness, and have to stop watching DVDs and look out the window. For my crew at least, car sickness is the double edged sword of in-car DVD players. Unless a chassis rides pretty flat, they can't spend very much time watching the screen.
We finally roll into Sacramento around 3:30 pm. So far, the Jeep has treated us pretty well, and we arrive with enough time and spring in our step to stroll around the old downtown section and visit the excellent California State Railroad Museum.
Day 1tally: 432.9 freeway miles; 28.85 gallons added in two stops; an even 15.0 miles per gallon; $90.07 fuel cost.
Dan Edmunds, Director of Automotive Testing @ 24,305 miles
navigator89 says:
02:32 PM, 08/21/06
Lol, I hope your mpg improves over time. The Commander sure is thirsty as noted by all those blog postings.
Anyway the Commander is a good road trip vehicle, although I was hoping more to hear how the Sedona is on a road trip.
actualsize says:
07:13 PM, 08/21/06
Me too. I've driven many Sedonas before, and have been impressed.
The Jeep is ahead of its mileage quota, while the Sedona hasn't had a good road trip yet. The radio was supposed to have been fixed before I left, but the dealer received/ordered the wrong part.
jerrywimer says:
10:38 AM, 08/22/06
The seat belt buckles in the second row sound like the ones in the 2007 Avalanches. About the only complaint I've had with mine so far was that it's hard to buckle my son in with his booster seat base because I have to slide him a bit toward the door to reach the rigid buckle and snap it home. I can't wait until he grows out of the seat for that reason only.
BTW, you're guess about what we might be going to say concerning the your propensity for tickets when you can't see out the rear window is wrong in my case. I could care less about the roof rack being used or not. My first thought is that maybe you shouldn't be driving in a manner that could get you a ticket..
..especially in a vehicle large enough to have that issue when loaded up..
..and even more importantly, when said vehicle is actually that loaded up (aka heavy).
:-D
actualsize says:
10:27 PM, 08/23/06
I get your point Jerry. What I should have said was that I needed to be able "to see approaching emergency vehicles so I can move to the right and let them pass."
This is not the vehicle, nor is the family vacation the time, for "spirited" driving. As far as my "propensity for tickets" goes, I have not been stopped in (knock wood) 10 years or more. Its just that old habits die hard, and I can't stand to have a blocked center mirror.
As for the vehicle being "heavy", it's not. The wife and kids together barely add up to one of me, soaking wet, and all that stuff you see in the frame above might total 100 pounds tops.
jerrywimer says:
06:29 AM, 08/24/06
Good points. It looks to be much more than that in the photo for this blog entry. But I saw the photo of how little space is actually taken up in the back of the Odyssey minivan by it (and a few other things). Having a van myself that puts things into a bit better perspective.
As far as the explanation you supplied about your driving, I'm with you. I also hate having a blocked center mirror. This is another peeve with the 07 Avalanche. GM now sells aftermarket DVD headrests for all their trucks, and the Caddie's get headrest displays by default. But most of the Chevy's get drop-down overhead displays. The displays themselves are great (sat in back with the kids playing with everything right after I got the AV).
Except..
.. well, when driving. That display blocks most of my view out of the already smallish rear window. Backing up is no problem thankfully, due to the backup cam I opted for (knowing about the small rear window and high rear end of the AV well in advance). Just normal rear vision out the center.