It's over! The Jeep spent the night in MY driveway, and I spent the night in MY bed. Vacations are excellent therapy for body and soul, but getting home after spending 1,900 miles on the road is a great feeling. All that's left is to roll into work this morning and release this final blog entry.
For our family at least, the Commander didn't turn out to be the ideal road trip implement. This Jeep seems better suited to empty-nester duty at the ranch or someplace similar where the off-road related trade-offs would be appreciated and utilized.
Before the trip started, we noticed it was too small inside. Even after we cut back on the stuff we brought along, we still had a box of CDs and a purse at wife Tracy's feet and a stack of kid stuff teetering between the girls. That it all fit easily behind the third row of my parents' minivan was a real eye opener. Commander's third row, and the raised floor that goes with it, ate up too much cargo space when folded, and offered no usable cargo space when in use.
Sarah never quite got used to the seat belt, and consistently had a hard time opening the door, probably because she's pulling down a bit more than us taller folks. The rear seat headrests lean too far forward for her and sister Shelby, especially when they were craning their necks to watch the DVD screen above.
It rode comfortably and quietly, but was just too dang soft on wavy pavement, especially over bridges. Floaty and bounding, the suspension needed more damping of primary body motions, even with a light load of people or things in the back. The best way to adapt to the car was to drive at a very moderate pace. If you're the type of driver who's always in a rush, you won't like it. If you're usually in no hurry, it might strike you as cush.
We did finally see Banana Slugs, but the honors went to said minivan, as we ended up taking it down the dirt road to Fern Canyon while the Jeep languished at a dealer waiting for parts. A new starter did the trick, at no cost under warranty, but the Jeep's electrical troubles did not end there.
While the rear DVD player worked OK, it stopped responding to disc eject attempts. Like trying to start a fire by banging two rocks together, repeated jabs at the button were required until, for no apparent reason, the disc would finally pop out on the twentieth or thirtieth try. The other problem concerned the headlight switch, as intermittently the buggers wouldn't turn off. The trouble didn't relate to headlight-off delay feature, as the darn things remained on for the length of a sit down restaurant meal -- twice.
For those of you willing to let the Jeep slide, putting the starter problem in the statistical one-off category, all I can say is that had that been the only electrical problem, I'd have been right there with you.
Off-road, the Commander was obviously in its element. It has guts and a great four-wheel drive system. The only real gripe was the lack of a grab handle for the front seat passenger - the a-pillar one being too far away owing to the vertical windshield angle.
The Hemi engine impressed, and allowed passing and merging with ridiculous ease, but boy was it ever thirsty. The highest mileage all-freeway tank, the last one of the trip, came in at 16.1 mpg. But try as I might, I could not get the Commander to 300 miles before needing a pit stop, as this best-mileage tank only made it to 293 miles with the warning lamp screaming that we had only 3 miles left before we'd be coasting. The worst was 13.0 mpg - typical of the touring and around-town driving we did in Oregon.
With great power comes great refuelability, eh?
Day 9 tally: 429 miles, 30.7 gallons added in two stops (487.1 miles since last recorded fill-up), 15.9 mpg, $93.89 fuel cost
Total trip: 1897.3 miles (11.4 of which preceded the dealer top-off), 126.6 gallons added (not including the dealer top-off), 14.9 mpg, $402.31 fuel cost
Expensive, yes, but still cheaper than 4 plane tickets...
Dan Edmunds, Director of Vehicle Testing @ 25,770 miles
navigator89 says:
03:06 PM, 08/29/06
Wow, after all these negative things I'm reading about the Commander, I'd skip it if I was in the market and consider an Explorer, Pathfinder or 4Runner.
Looks like the Sedona might have been the better road trip car.
rennf says:
07:33 AM, 08/30/06
Dan, great overall report and pics. (Looks like your daughters are big fans of the banana slug! :p) I must admit, however, that after reading all the entries I wouldn't touch the Commander with a 10-ft pole. To your credit, your reporting was completely fair and unbiased, and in fact, I'm sure most readers (in a similar position) would have succumbed to serious ranting before the trip was over. I agree with Navigator - the Sedona was likely the better choice. Although could it have made it up the Wall of Death...hrmm.
actualsize says:
11:53 AM, 08/30/06
I too was curious about the Kia for a trip of this sort, and based on my local drives, I think it would have done well.
But it suffered a breakdown before the trip -- if you are willing to call a broken CD player a breakdown. I did, because I wasn't going to drive 1,900 miles through marginal radio reception areas without tunes, or satellite radio, or a place to plug in my iPod, or a navigation system...
rovernut says:
05:10 PM, 09/ 2/06
Good review! I can't think of any thing relivent you left out. I havn't owned a jeep since '83 when I bought a new CJ, owned it for 8 years, and it too had numerious electrical and mechanical faults. Guess jeep hasn't done any better in the invening 23 years!
ma2007 says:
06:14 AM, 09/20/07
I too, just returned from a 2000 mile journey from MA to FL and back in my Jeep Commander with my family plus a relative totalling 6 passengers within the Commander. I would like to warn all Commander owners about the lack of a Transmission Dipstick. I had a local dealer check my vehicle before my long trip and they replaced an o-ring somewhere within the transmission system. Well anyway, I am on my second day of my trip on Sunday morning in GA on 9/9/07 when a passerby had me pull over due to smoke billowing out from under my vehicle. I pulled over and noticed that transmission fluid is leaking below hitting the exhaust manifold and causing the smoke. I wanted to check the fluid level but to my surprise, there is not dipstick. I called the 800 number since it is under warranty and they told me it would have to be towed to the nearest dealership and not try to drive it any longer or it would void the warranty. Well, Sunday morning in GA - there is nothing open. (Dealerships, Garage-mechanics, Car-Rental agencies). A tow truck came and brought it to a closed dealership 20 minutes away, while the rest of my family had to take a $75 cab ride to the nearest airport to rent a car. Since I was 5 hours from my destination with hotel and park tickets waiting for me that day in FL I had no choice but to rent a mini van for the week ($780.00) because the dealer in GA said that it could take up to 4 days to check out the vehicle. Well low and behold, I got a call from the dealership on Monday afternoon and they said that the transmission level was overfilled and it was just heating up and overfilling causing it to spill onto the exhaust. #1 - I hold Chrysler at fault for not putting transmission dipsticks in these Commanders which is a design flaw that I hold them accountable for my over $800 cost and troubles. #2 - my local dealer in MA did overfill it but if I had a dipstick, I could have noticed that this overfilling was the problem and I would have made it to my destination on time. I called up Chrysler and they said that it is not their fault.
Another warning to Commander owners is the problem with the ignition. 4 times now, while driving, my right knee bumped the key and this caused the car to turn off - luckily all 4 times I turned the ignition back on while coasting. This can be a serious danger to drivers.
All in all, I am highly dissatisfied with the way Chrysler responds to your legitimate complaints. I will never deal with Chrysler again and since we rented that mini-van on our trip, we will be shopping for one very soon since it had a lot more room and was a great ride.