ChryslerChris

My wife drives a Commander. It rides like a Cadillac compared to my little spunky JK on road. I'm tempted to take her Commander off roading but if I bust it up, I'd never hear the end of it!

pwain

CEO Sergio's thoughts: " That car was unfit for human consumption. We sold some. But I don't know why people bought them."

Hard to argue with.

Brandon1024

I had one before my 07 JKU. It has independent front suspension and a solid rear axle. There are 2.25inch spacers for them or else there is a 4 inch lift that is like 2000 in the long run. There isn't nearly the possibilities that the wrangler has. I never wheeled it hard but as everyone would say on the forum "it takes a real man to wheel a commander" Pretty much they can do things but have to think about your lines 1000x more. The clearance with the commander with 2.25 is about the same as the stock jku. I loved my commander minus a few facts. The back seat isn't the best but some people really loved the elevated seats back there... I also hated how it was always in 4wd. I had the 4.7L and it seemed to be a little sluggish at times with the 32's on there. All in all it is possible to wheel them and they will do pretty well but everything is so much more expensive because there is so few people that mod. The ride is better but hey you're driving a wrangler for a reason and the ride isn't really one of them. I got rid of mine just cause I wanted to do so much more with mods that I couldn't do with the commander. Plus I couldn't refuse the opportunity to have no doors or top I loved it and every car has its purpose. The commanders is to get people around/tow/and wheel (to an extent).

CerOf

WK as in the '05-'10 grand Cherokee.

ChryslerChris

It's still called the WK for 2011+. Internally at Chrysler at least. The public calls the 2011+ Grand Cherokee the WK2, which is an informal model code.

Repo503

I nearly bought a commander to replace my denali, but I never use the 3rd row seats and in the commander they aren't meant to be removed and if you do the load floor is terribly uneven...almost better off with a grand cherokee. That being said I liked the styling, and comfort was pretty good, at least in the front seats.

All that being said you can now pick up a very low miles used example for cheap and their 4wd system is still as good as anything in it class. I would use one for climbing over rocks and whatnot but it would be fine for lighter offroading, exploring old forest service roads and the like. I don't really wheel my jk hard either, its mostly a tool for getting me into the backcountry for skiing, snowboarding , mountainbiking and climbing and then more importantly getting me home again. Offroading isn't my hobby but many of my hobbies require a bit of offroading

Chango

Honestly I have never...and would never buy any Jeep product except for a Wrangler. There are so many SUVs on the market with good road manners and mild to moderate off road capability; Jeeps (minus the Wrangler) are just at the bottom of the heap in everything from reliability to styling.

Chrysler just built a lot of crap, slapped a brand-name on it and hoped it would sell. The Wrangler alone keeps that brand viable, and that's because Wranglers generally aren't built under the same philosophy and are in many ways an anachronism in vehicle design.

jeepingib

I have an 06' WK. It can actually fit the Rubicon 32" tires on stock. I ran mine this way for almost two years before upgrading with an Old Man Emu lift and new tires (BFG MTKM2 255/80 R17.) I've been to Moab and tackled the outer rim trail, and I've been to a few trails on the western slope of Colorado. Quadra-Drive II works pretty well. And the 4.7 moves it pretty good.

Jmd1227

​​​​​​The Commander I have is manufactured with independent front suspension paired with a solid rear axle.. Its odd hitting speed bumps sideways cause you can really notice the two different suspension configurations.

I have as much fun in The Commander as I did in my cobalt. For an SUV with a 3.7 L V-6 it handles and gives just the right amount of performance.

I don't think the 3.7 L was made to be as capable off-road as the others with bigger engines.
Being a Jeep 4x4.

​​​​​​.... Its got enough power to be fun on the road and mine handles like its in a cloud and feels like its half the weight. Its real fun in the snow without traction control and the stability is surprising for a top heavy vehicle . Could slip and slide and be in full control as I played around in an empty field last snowfall. (No people around and I'm good friends with the owner of the field.)

The more powerful commanders can handle more rugged Off-roading from what I've seen online.

The 3.7 Liter is underpowered when it comes to doing the same Off-roading the bigger engines can. But is still able to go off-road, just not sure what it could handle with the right aftermarket parts and Tires.

Most of the owners of Commanders I've seen seem to keep them close to stock and dont really push them as much as the can when they do go off-road

The Commander seems to be the Jeep that can do a little bit of everything and is good enough. Its the first Jeep to have 3rd row seating and I think they hit whatever they were trying to with that. Even tho its overshadowed by what other Jeeps can do and thier popularity, The Commander really wasnt given the attention it deserves.

​​​​​​If it was given the same attention to off-road capability as wranglers or other jeeps. It may have been updated and had different trim due to demand.

​​ I dont know about anybody else but I love The 2006 Commander. May have had issues but with its prices so Low and parts that are better quality out there. As Long as you know what your doing, it could be good reliable vehicle after so TLC if its needed.