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 Post subject: Commander Test
PostPosted: Sun Nov 13, 2005 10:46 am 
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Here's the story. Someone put a nasty little dent in the wife's WJ right above the right rear tire, got it fixed at the dealer which did a great job. On the way home we stopped by to see out Jeep sales guy. It's a funny thing, when my wife got her WJ in 2001 it was on my Birthday. Anyways, here we are again at the dealer, on my BD. We are test driving this Commander until next Tuesday. It had 15 miles on it when I got in it. By the way, my son is getting his drivers license real soon, so we need a vehicle for him, my wifes old WJ will do just fine.
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So it seems like every 4 years my wife gets new Jeep on my BD, But I did get my KJ right before my BD in 2003.

I'll tell you what! I thought that when I would first see the Commander, it would be huge, like a box. Not!. I'm impressed. Once I got in it and drove it, It's not the big box I thought it would be. It drives great. It's got everything except the front & rear electric LSD's. I didnt want the 5.7 because I'm not sold on cylinder drop technology, it sounds like problems to me. Cadilac has used it for I don't know how many years, with problems. So it has the 4.7 which has pleanty of power. So what do you all think?

O and btw it looks great sitting next to my KJ!!!!!

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PostPosted: Sun Nov 13, 2005 11:20 am 
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I think it is cool. They already have a good size lift out for it.
http://www.rockcrawler.com/features/newsshorts/05october/superlift/display.asp?photo=xk_zebra_650.jpg

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PostPosted: Sun Nov 13, 2005 1:00 pm 
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Cadillac tried the 4-6-8 cylinder stuff in the 70's (or thereabouts). They dropped it after a couple of years. I think some people figured out how to disable it.

I agree with you, I would not want to be the "guinea pig" for that.

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sun Nov 13, 2005 2:24 pm 
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hey beautiful rig man, i love the color, keep us posted on what kinda modifications are in store for it :wink: we'll see how long it actually stays stock!

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PostPosted: Sun Nov 13, 2005 6:18 pm 
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I like it! :D Congrats on the new ride! :)

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sun Nov 13, 2005 6:59 pm 
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We just got back from crusin/wheelin (lite) all day, we love it. As for the mods, my wife is laughing in the background saying "leave it alone" It's perfect! MY COMMANDER, YOUR LIBERTY, no you can't have my tires!! :lol:
AJA this Jeep is for the long runs/out of state stuff, daily driver for the wife. I do believe it will go about anywhere, It handles great on the road. I put in 4 Lo and gave it a real good workout. It's got about 170 miles on it now, tomorrow I going to crawl underneath and check for leaks & whatnot. It's got full skids, but I swear it looks like there is no protection for the tranny pan even though it rides kinda high anyways. I'll check tomorrow. Ltr

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sun Nov 13, 2005 9:55 pm 
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it does look nice, and the tan one looks real nice...

but...

The zebra tan one is a skunkwerks/American Expedition Vehicles conversion project for SEMA this year... But on the bright side AEV did work on the commander, so maybe the aftermarket will come around quicker!

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Nov 14, 2005 10:57 pm 
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Very nice. I am loving your pictures!

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Nov 15, 2005 6:09 pm 
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Cool dealer to let you do that long of a test drive!

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Nov 15, 2005 10:24 pm 
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Yea, this will be the third Jeep he has sold us in the past six years. We drove it 4 days, put 145 miles on it. It had 15 on it when I first got in it. We signed the papers today. It's the wife's new daily driver. Now I gotta get her to the trails with my Liberty.

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Nov 22, 2005 9:05 pm 
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I took a Commander for a test drive last weekend. I was really impressed. Its driving dynamics are actually quite similar to the Liberty, although its length and bulk smooth out the bumps better. The steering is very direct and you don’t feel like you are piloting an aircraft carrier despite its size. You can’t see as much over the hood and the front windshield seems like it is a football field away compared to the KJ. My only real gripe with the drive was with the rearward view. You can’t see nearly as well out back due to the fact that you are looking through a much longer tube.

Inside I thought the front seats were excellent. The seats are much more comfortable than those found in any grade of the Liberty. I thought the rear seats were smallish and the back row is definitely the kids-only section. The sunroof and skylights are a must. I was a little disappointed with the folding seats and their hardware. When flipping the rear seats forward the headrest is supposed to retract forward so that they do not hit the back of the second row seats. Initially this did not work on the left rear seat and I had to really monkey with it to get it to work correctly.

The model I drove was equipped with the 4.7L V8. To me this engine had plenty of power. The salesman said that it would get 19 mpg on the highway and about 2 mpg worse than a Liberty in overall. Ha! I informed him that over 10,000 miles I have averaged 16.7 mpg in combined driving and less than 19 on the highway in my ’05 Liberty. I would guess that 14/17 is more realistic for the Commander.

As I recall, the Cadillac experiment with their version of multi-displacement occurred when they first introduced the Northstar engine in the ‘80s. Their version was not designed for gas mileage but to keep the engine running without seizing during a loss of oil pressure. Under such circumstances the engine was supposed to begin alternating spark to various cylinders and electronically limiting RPMs and top speed. I think they ultimately dropped the technology because it was an expensive feature that only rarely was utilized by Caddy owners because potentially catastrophic oil pressure loss is so uncommon in modern engines. I applaud DCX’s initiative in developing this technology, but I agree with you – as tempting as 330 horsepower is I would hesitate to buy until MDS is proven itself reliable over time.

Overall I give the Commander high marks. I am really glad that Jeep stayed true to its off-road roots and resisted pressure to make an Expedition-sized behemoth. Although I was unable to test this off-road I have no doubt that it is highly maneuverable, as well as tough as nails, for a vehicle of its class. If I had more than 3 kids or needed the extra room it would certainly be at the top of my wish list.

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Nov 28, 2005 10:03 am 
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Congratulations on the Commander. I agree that the 4.7 should be plenty enough.

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sun Dec 25, 2005 4:16 am 
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Black_Dog wrote:
As I recall, the Cadillac experiment with their version of multi-displacement occurred when they first introduced the Northstar engine in the ‘80s. Their version was not designed for gas mileage but to keep the engine running without seizing during a loss of oil pressure. Under such circumstances the engine was supposed to begin alternating spark to various cylinders and electronically limiting RPMs and top speed. I think they ultimately dropped the technology because it was an expensive feature that only rarely was utilized by Caddy owners because potentially catastrophic oil pressure loss is so uncommon in modern engines. I applaud DCX’s initiative in developing this technology, but I agree with you – as tempting as 330 horsepower is I would hesitate to buy until MDS is proven itself reliable over time.



Cadillac's 4-6-8 engines were not Northstar. Northstar is the cylinder head design (similar to Chevy's Vortec). Northstar is the 4 cam 32 valve cylinder heads which were not introduced untill the early 1990's. The 4-6-8 or 8-6-4 or whatever was designed to cut fuel usage and lower emissions. Yes many people did diasable the system and lived happily ever after. It was more of a novelty then anything as the fuel mileage was better, but not enough to warrant the over complicated system. Cadillac's system was all mechanical. With today's electronic, this system is feasible. Give it 4-5 years and it will be common place. GM will have a similar system on it's new trucks. I have yet to hear if Ford has a system in the works.

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 Post subject: Displacement on Demand (DOD)
PostPosted: Sun Dec 25, 2005 5:20 pm 
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The new systems from GM and Mopar are esentially the same as the Caddilac system from the 70's. The systems were designed for the same purpose, Fuel Economy. They both use components from Eaton Corp. and work the same way. The major difference between now and the Caddilac 4-6-8 is the computing power available to auto manufacturers. The Caddilac system failed because the computer was too slow and caused performance problems. I was very skepticle at first when I heard about the new engines but I would consider it if I could get 300+ horsepower and 20+ mpg.

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sun Dec 25, 2005 5:29 pm 
One of my bosses has an 06 Ram quad cab 4x2 Hemi, and he's averaging 19 mpg between city and highway:)


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sun Dec 25, 2005 5:37 pm 
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Yeah lets give it a couple years for the DC and GM to work out the kinks before we jump on the bandwagon. Otherwise everything I have heard looks promising.

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