Jeep Commander

Hello, my name is Canape, and I drive a giant SUV. I confess.

In theory I would be driving a tiny Prius and doing my bit to save the planet, however the reality is that I have to haul stuff and haul people. It wasn’t easy finding a vehicle that fit my needs, and I have to admit, I was stunned to find out that it was a Jeep.

My needs are a bit unique, but not completely unrelated to many people I don’t think. I needed to be able to carry up to four people and an 88 key keyboard with all accessories. For reference, the keyboard is just over 5 feet long. In January, we are hoping to add a car seat to that list of needs. Making the selection of vehicles even smaller was the requirement that it weigh over 6,000 pounds in order to meet tax requirements for use in self-employment.

We began looking at Volvo C90’s, Honda Pilots, Ford Expeditions, and Land Rover LR3’s. The Volvo and the Honda turned out not to meet the weight requirement, so they were crossed off the list. The Land Rover was just too freaking expensive to justify, but it was so very nice. The Expedition? Huge. Fantastically and wrongly huge. I cannot even begin to describe how dangerous I felt driving that mammoth beast down the road.

That left the Jeep Commander. A vehicle that wasn’t even on our initial list because we didn’t know about it.

The Commander has three rows of seats. The back row folds down in two parts, and the middle row folds down in three. Not having to remove the seats and being able to choose which seats folded down was a priority for us. We can fit all of my music gear, our luggage, my stepdaughter, my father-in-law, myself, and my husband comfortably for out of town gigs. All while getting relatively decent gas mileage while cruising on the highway.

The Commander comes with a variety of options, including a Hemi engine. We skipped the Hemi because my gas guilt was already maxed out for this purchase. We did however opt for the comfort perks and the extra airbags that will come down in curtains all along where you might have passengers. I have back up sensors which work well, but unfortunately did not save the poor bunny that I still couldn’t see in my driveway last week. The sunroofs in the two forward most seats are wonderful, and I love that the driver’s seat, mirrors, and pedals reset themselves according to whose key unlocks the car, mine or my husbands.

My only gripe about the Commander is the in town gas mileage. However, it is a giant SUV, and I knew that before we purchased it. I try to pool all of my errands into one trip and stop and start slowly to save gas. Even so, taking my stepdaughter to school in some hefty traffic plummets the gas mileage to about 12-13 miles per gallon. In fact, we are looking at fixing up my old Volvo for in town trips just to keep our gas consumption down.

We purchased our Commander from Smithfield Chevrolet Jeep. They had excellent prices and terrific service. If you are in proximity, I would highly recommend them.

And if you really need the space, I would highly recommend the Commander. I really do love mine.