I know, I know, it's about time.
Kelly Toepke, Manager of Vehicle Testing and Crash Test Dummy
Categories: 2006 Jeep Commander Limited
Sunday evening my family and I were in the Jeep Commander when our Labor Day holiday came to an abrupt end. We were heading southbound on a six-lane surface street when a car came screaming out of a parking lot on the east side of the road. The car smacked a Subaru Forester that was headed northbound, spinning it in the center turn lane before it continued across the wide road directly at the Commander. My husband, Barry, was driving and swerved to the right in an attempt to prevent the car from broadsiding us. Too late. We went up on to a grass median and struck a stop sign before going head-on into a big tree.
Continue reading CRASH: Say goodbye to the Jeep Commander.
Categories: 2006 Jeep Commander Limited
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.
Continue reading Jeep Commander: Oregon Trip Wrap-up.
Categories: 2006 Jeep Commander Limited
Our Oregon adventure has entered the final phase: driving home. After re-packing our stuff and saying our good-byes, we pointed our Commander south for the 900-mile or so return trip. The run home will follow a more direct route, as the dog is waiting for us and the kids are itching to see who their teachers will be next year.
Three of the Jeep's electronic gadgets have already helped this driver wile away the miles behind the wheel: Sirius satellite radio; the Navigation system; and the Tire Pressure Monitoring System readout. Here's how they are doing:
Continue reading Jeep Commander: Headed Home.
Categories: 2006 Jeep Commander Limited
My parents own a hilltop house with a 180-degree view of the Pacific near Pistol River, Oregon. Another higher hill sits behind their place, with an old logging track servicing the top. The steepest portion is something dad proudly calls the Wall of Death, a narrow, 30-percent steep stretch made slippery by a coating of pine needles, gravel and twigs.
Low-range and a steady application of throttle are necessary here. The steepest portion is deeply shaded, making it a poor photo op. But the payoff at the top is an even more sweeping 360-degree view, with the unspoiled, rocky Pacific coastline at our feet, and the Trinity Alps behind. I don't understand why he wants to sell this place...
Continue reading Jeep Commander: The Wall of Death.
Categories: 2006 Jeep Commander Limited
Yesterday was the first full day of nothing to do but relax. Finally.
Our first task was to load six of us into the Commander and head for Jerry's Rogue Jets, where we hopped on a jet boat to take us 52 miles up into the Wild & Scenic portion of the Rogue River. Fantastic. Everyone should make this trip.
Continue reading Jeep Commander: Touring the Rogue River.
Categories: 2006 Jeep Commander Limited
Our Jeep Commander is back in service! Thanks to Harper Ford / Kia / Jeep, their helpful Green Team service writer Scott List, and an anonymous mechanic, a new starter arrived in the morning shipment from San Francisco and was installed by lunch. And no, I don't think we received any special treatment, as I never let on where I work or what I do for a living.
Continue reading Jeep Commander: Back in the Saddle.
Categories: 2006 Jeep Commander Limited
Yesterday afternoon, my folks drove 120 miles south and rescued us from the Lost Coast Brewery, a wonderful little joint that we had set up camp in while we waited. We transferred our belongings from the stricken Jeep into the back of their Honda Odyssey. Even with the Honda's third seat in use, all of our stuff from the back of the Jeep, plus items the girls had piled between them in the second row, fit well below the headrests in the Odyssey.
Continue reading Jeep Commander: Stranded III - The Rescue.
Categories: 2006 Jeep Commander Limited
Well, I guess if I had to break down somewhere, this is as good a place as any. I'm sitting in the Lost Coast Brewery in downtown Eureka, California. And since I won't be doing any more driving today, I'm having my second Downtown Brown ale with lunch.
Continue reading Jeep Commander: Stranded II, the Sequel.
Categories: 2006 Jeep Commander Limited
Day 3 of our trip to Oregon in the Commander has gone badly. After a grand total of 11.4 miles - the distance from our hotel to our breakfast stop at the Big Blue Cafe in Arcata, California, the Jeep refuses to start. Click, click, click, is all I get after a twist of the key.
It's not a dead battery, as the car sat for 12 hours overnight and started on the first twist of the key. After driving to our breakfast stop and sitting for about five minutes, I decided to move the car to a better parking spot and... nothing. I have plenty of power, as the power windows, lights, NAV screen and everything else works at full strength. And Editor Karl, who had a similar no-start incident, replaced the battery about five or six-thousand miles ago. No, something else more sinister and hidden is at work.
A sympathetic motorist who saw me fiddling under the hood offered me a jumpstart, but as expected, that didn't change anything. Click, click, click. So I've called roadside assistance, and a tow truck will be here in 30 minutes, they say, to haul me and ONE of my family to the dealership. According to roadside assistance, the other three of us need to get a taxi, at our own expense, or simply wait here, on a park bench presumably...
Continue reading Jeep Commander: Stranded!.
Categories: 2006 Jeep Commander Limited
The Commander may be many things, but I can say with authority that it is in fact Tree Rated, as it fits (barely) through the famous Drive-Thru Tree in California's Humboldt Redwoods. Okay, the mirrors had to be folded in, and we had less than an inch on each side at times, but it squeezed through.
Continue reading Jeep Commander: Tree Rated.
Categories: 2006 Jeep Commander Limited
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.
Continue reading Commander to Oregon: Getting Underway.
Categories: 2006 Jeep Commander Limited
I've concluded that you have to be in the right mood to like this Jeep. If you're in a hurry it's not much fun. The throttle is touchy, the steering is slow and there's so much slop in the suspension that you can't take turns at anything more than walking pace. Fitting it into tight parking spots is also a pain and getting in and out is a bit of a climb too.
Continue reading Jeep Commander: It's a state of mind.
Categories: 2006 Jeep Commander Limited
Although I complained yesterday about the Commander's lack of hauling capability, I can't deny that I like the driving position in this vehicle and I like the way it rides and handles -- a couple of things that continue to make this Jeep so seductive in the face of high gas prices. The driver seat is well shaped, and the seat-bottom cushion is long, providing good thigh support for those with long legs. It's a shame the steering wheel doesn't telescope, but I found it easy to get comfortable, and visibility is quite good. The cushioning has a squishy feel reminiscent of the '99-'04 Grand Cherokee, which likely explains why the seats got uncomfortable on Karl's cross-country trip, though they held up just fine during my hour-long drive last night...
Continue reading 2006 Jeep Commander: I Like the Driving Position.
Categories: 2006 Jeep Commander Limited
I'm in the midst of cleaning out my apartment, so I loaded up the long-term Commander for a quick trip to the recycling center. I was immediately struck by how high the load floor in this vehicle is. With the second- and third-row seats folded down, your load surface begins 4-5 inches above the top of the rear bumper. As I began loading in my sorted bags and boxes of recyclables, I realized I wasn't fitting much more stuff in the Jeep, which has a max capacity of 69 cubic feet, than I did over the weekend in an Audi A6 sedan, which has a 16-cubic-foot trunk and 60/40 folding rear seats...
Continue reading 2006 Jeep Commander: This is a Flat Load Floor?.
Categories: 2006 Jeep Commander Limited