I took the family for a drive to Holland Park today to have a close-up look at a CRD Commander. Missus is definately not interested in it. She dislikes the styling (inside and outside), and thought the exposed hex drive screws extremely tacky. Rear cargo area isn't really flat and it's very high to load into.

After seeing the third row seats, I think it's probably false advertising to claim it can seat seven adults. Man, those seats are tiny and I doubt the kids would be comfortable on them. Swab looks to be around 12" long!

So we dismissed the Commander and we wandered through the yard looking at all the other Jeeps. She spent some time in the used section and had a long look at a dark blue WJ Overland. Seemed to be in good nick, but we have a strong preference for a turbo diesel.

Mmmm, I think we might end up buying a CRD WG overland or limited. :)

Jack

My XJ is a bit long in the tooth now and I have been considdering replacing it, hence, I was very interesting to hear that the new Commander will out perform 'Cruisers and Patrols, 'out of the box', just the sort of thing that would make me consider buying one..I have not seen any definitive road tests at this point in time....does anyone know where this comes from??

i went to the jeep dealship wher ei bought my jeep in wannaroo and had a look and the commander nice car but i am just a bit worried about the depatuer angle has a big ass and when thoes rear seats are up there is no boot space for anything also the is no room at all under the bonet for second batt in the desiel it has the bigest batt i have ever seen under there but that wont help when you flaten it with you fridge and camp lights nicely ladied out in side power outlets front and back as well as smoke lighter up front would have to take one off road before i think i would buy one any way the my 2 cents
your in jeepin
puzzell

You just have to look at how Quadradrive II works three infinitely variable fully locking diffs, departure angle is as good or better than any other medium sized wagon (or large) on the market and the suspension is designed to cop abuse. IFS makes it smoother over rough and corrugated roads and still flexes well enough off-road (remembering it has locking diffs) finally 90% of all Commanders coming are diesel which has more power, more torque and better fuel economy than any other diesel motor on the market, just read the specs and compare- but don not expect an australian road test to be favourable- just read the thread on GC chassis's cracking, if Australian Journalists can't actually pick a fault with a Jeep they will make one up.

New Commander
 

Well...the information that threatened to kill the cat got the better of me so down we went to to the local dealer today, hoping like hell there was no oen there!!
My thoughts...firstly it looked a little smaller then I had thought it would be...I have to say, I am impressed, let me also say that I have no interest in climbing Ayres Rock....a couple of things stood out...it looks great, reminenscent of earlier Cherokees...it does have that attractive square look this is the reason why I brought my Xj so many years ago..the exposed allen head screws on the mudguards can be either loved or hated..we now have disks all round and we also have a spare (full size) hanging underneath (some of us will see the positive side of that, ie stick it on a carrier and put a larger fuel tank in its place maybe!)...it has a almost completly flat, no hang up floor and although it does have IFS, is that McPherson Struts under there??.
Ok, the extra seats will be a tight fit for anyone over 5 foot tall but again, can some of us see the possibility of taking them out?....more room for the camping gear....no tow bar, but the wiring harness is there...all ready....in fact about the only thing I was not real impressed with was the single recover hook on the front...in my humble opinion a mono chassis vehicle shout have two..

The back seats are pretty easy to remove and reveal a long. flat floor. I have no need for any more than two seats, but I really like the size of the overall package.

So the third row seats would come out and it would be very easy to put a roller drawer set-up in there complete with 2nd battery.

The front end is a SLAS, not MacPherson strut. Mac struts have no place in anything except a lightweight, front wheel drive econobox. Basically, the idea behind a Mac strut was to use the least number of components and space possible. The strut replaces the normal upper link. In a SLAS, you have an upper wishbone, which locates the top balljoint and provides much, much better geometry control and strength. The lower arms are much different, too. Falcons have a SLAS front end, Commodores Mac strut.

I have to admit that the two Commanders that we had at club meeting last week even my wife fell in love with them. yes they are boxy looking but that is one of the things that set Jeep apart from the Rice Burner rubbish that haunts the suburban shopping centres, with their so called stylish lines and other such rot. Give me rugged and an agressive look anytime
And yes the Hummer is being phazed out as their biggest market (US military) have lost the contract. So now they have to try to save them by prodicing for the civilian market