"While the Commander shares the Cherokee's 109.5-inch wheelbase, it creates slightly more shade with its two-inch-longer and four-inch-taller stance. Despite being larger, the Commander does have slightly better approach and departure angles (34 and 28 degrees, respectively) that allow it to avoid bumper scrapes like the Grand Cherokee can get. On numerous occasions, while inching down steep slickrock slopes, we had to look out of the Commander's sunroof to see the trail in front of us--no kidding. On extreme hillclimbs, the Quadra-Drive II's electronic diffs seemed to magically deliver traction without so much as a tire chirp. The traction system is controlled by computers that constantly monitor all four wheels for slip and can adjust power to a given tire in milliseconds. And the system eliminates crow hopping, typically experienced with conventional locking diffs. In addition, Quadra Drive II allows the driver to defeat the traction control. We also appreciate the fact Jeep engineers included a different throttle sensitivity when in low range to limit the jerkiness we usually feel during low-speed rockcrawling. On our early engineering drive, the Commander flat amazed us during severe off-road testing--even when hauling seven people."
First Drive: 2006 Jeep Commander