OT: Family Vehicle, Jeep Liberty or Commander?

[GoingtoWDWagain]

OT question: Family vehicle for fam of 5, Jeep Liberty or Commander? Price difference is $6612.00 (Commander being more $$ of course), dealer is holding both for 24 hours. Thanks for any tips/suggestions

 

[kmccain]

DBIL is a sales manager and brought a Commander home. It was beautiful and lots of room! How are you going to squeeze a family of 5 in a Liberty? I am sure your kids are not going to get any smaller! I hate to tell you to spend the extra money, but you may as well do it now as later!

Just my opinion!

 

[Jeanne B]

I'm not familiar with the Commander but I agree with the previous poster, I think the Liberty would be too small for a family of 5. I have a Toyota Rav4 which is similar in size and I can't imagine traveling with 5 people in it comfortably but it's great for our family of 3.

 

[DisneyMomJen]

I think the Commander would be perfect for your family. We are a family of 6 and bought the Commander last July. I love it! The only thing for us though is that I feel it is not big enough. If we have one extra person in the car, there is not any room to put anything. Last summer someone asked us to take their son to a travel baseball game. We couldn't since there would be 7 people and with adding that 7th person, there was no room for bat bags. We bought this car with the intention that it would go to my husband this summer since his lease is up. I am not sure if I want to give up the Commander. Our other choices right now are the Yukon XL or a Minivan. I have done Minivans for years and am sick of them. The Commander is much cooler looking and full of spunk! It also drives great. The one big draw back is that it is horrible on gas. I only get 12 MPG around town, compared to 17 MPG with our previous Chrysler Town & Country. I think you would regret if you went with the Jeep Liberty. It would be much too small. I know other people who have bought cars that were way too small for their family and regretted it. It is a mistake that you would have to live with for awhile. Good Luck with your decision and let us know what you decide!

 

[karinbelle]

I think there was an ad on TV last night that said the Liberty & Commander got 30 MPG! Certainly caught my attention! Anyone know if this is true?

 

[Ishy]

It will MAYBE fit 3 small children in the back. I have large children(13&21) - Just fit.

As to the liberty getting 30 miles to the gallon, well maybe... if the car is off and in nuetral and the kids are pushing.

I get about 18 miles to the gallon. (the sticker said 23 i think).

Mine is a sport 2003.

Good Luck.

 

[tadamom]

I would go for the Commander. We thought about a Liberty when we were looking 5 years ago and then I sat in the back seat. Heck no! I couldn't fit in the backseat (granted I was 6 months pregnant) but I believe your family of 5 will be much more comfortable in the Commander. Good luck!

 

[KelNottAt]

Liberty or Commander? Isn't there something in between the small and large sizes? Grand Cherokee comes to mind.

Anyway...based on what I've seen, I'd say the Commander is better for a family of 5. But, IIRC, it's not getting very good reviews.

 

[karinbelle]

Sorry,

The http://www.jeep.com Jeep website is reporting the Patriot and Compass 4 X 2 get 30 mpg on the highway.

They both look like good size vehicles.

 

[GoingtoWDWagain]

Thanks a bunch, after thinking and thinking it over, we decided the Commander fits us best. Not crazy about starting car payments all over again, but minivan is close to 10 years old w/ lots of milage on it. The dealer we went to was offering a larger discount for the Commander and Liberty and not the Compass or Patriot. I'm still looking at these figures and hoping it will all work out.....still waiting on payment amount

Thanks again for all your suggestions

 

[poohbear158]

Thanks a bunch, after thinking and thinking it over, we decided the Commander fits us best. Not crazy about starting car payments all over again, but minivan is close to 10 years old w/ lots of milage on it. The dealer we went to was offering a larger discount for the Commander and Liberty and not the Compass or Patriot. I'm still looking at these figures and hoping it will all work out.....still waiting on payment amount

Thanks again for all your suggestions

Wait until the end of the month to purchase if possible. You can get much better deals since dealers are more willing to negotiate since they need to make their monthly quota. Further more, if you can wait until the end of summer, you will get a much better deal with rebates since the 07's will be on the way out for the 08's coming in.

 

[iluveeyore]

We looked at the Jeep Commander and the Dodge Durango for our family of five - settled on the Dodge Durango - seats 8, lots of storage, and we liked the look of it better - same as the Commander otherwise, guess it just depends on whether you want to drive a Jeep or a Dodge. Just wish we could have got the Hemi, because it has the ability to switch from 8 cyl. to 4 cyl when highway driving. We get about 16mpg and had looked at the Jeep Compass for fuel mileage, but Compass was waaay to small - three kids who all want to take friends somewhere it was a no-brainer to get a vehicle that seats 8, plus my DH got away from buying a 'mom's minivan', which made him very happy!
Good luck with your purchase.

 

[daisy1234]

My sister is only getting 14-17 mpg on her liberty...it seems very small to me for a family of 5. good luck on your car decision.

 

[WDWorBUST]

DO NOT get a Liberty. I have a Liberty and LOVE it - but for a family of 5 - no way! And gas mileage - we have a 4 wheel drive Limited and get about 18 mpg - I wish it was 30. Our next vehicle will be a fuel economic compact most likely (I'm thinking Mazda 3 or maybe bump up to a Ford Fusion - I know not compact but not bad on mileage for the extra room and oomph).

 

[twinklebug]

Family vehicle for fam of 5, Jeep Liberty or Commander? Price difference is $6612.00 (Commander being more $$ of course), dealer is holding both for 24 hours. Thanks for any tips/suggestions

The Liberty and Commander are two different beasts. Only you will be able to decide which is the better for your use.

BTW - I'm partial to the Jeep Grand Cherokee, but it's a gas hog. No more Jeeps for me until they can make one that hits 50mpg

 

[teamagic]

For a family of 5, I would say go with the Commander. We have had our Commander since they first came out. We love it. We went from a Chevy Tahoe to the Jeep Commander. As for the 30 miles to gallon - maybe going downhill for ever. I usually get around 14mpg, which is not that bad because my mom and brother in law both have the Jeep Cherokee and that is what they are getting. Hope you enjoy it.

 

[gris gris]

I have a Liberty with 2 small kids and we fit in it fine. No room for the dog though. About a month after I bought it, I found out I was pregnant and was losing my job. Now I wish I bought the Commander because I would have more room and wouldn't worry about gas mileage (my commute went from 100 miles to 4). But, someone here last year posted that the Liberty has a hidden Mickey, which I find to be very cool. It makes me smile when I look at it! I don't think you can go wrong with any Jeep. My next one is going to be a Wrangler!

 

[kmjmom]

I have a Liberty and love it, but I agree that with three little ones it would definitely be too small. I have three teenagers and it's fine since they usually travel in their own cars and not mine! It;'s funny to hear about the hidden Mickeys since my DD and I have always commented that there are Mickeys in the dash design!

 

[reneritch]

The commander at Jeep.com is showing seating cap at 7
The Liberty at Jeep.com is showing seating cap at 5.

I have a 98 Grand Cherokee Limited which get about 15 miles to the gallon. Last month I purchased the Patriot Limited wanting a smaller car and also something that gets better gas mileage. Well, if I had done my homework, looking at the interior and exterior dimensions of both cars, I would not have purchased the Patriot. The Patriot is only 4" shorter than the Grand Cherokee. I could have bought a lot of gas for the amount on the car payments. However, I am getting 24 mpg with the Patriot.

Hope you enjoy your new Commander. There is nothing like a Jeep.

 

[aljer]

I have a family of 5 with 3 kids under the age of 6. all have to be in some type of car seat. I can fit two regular car seats and a booster seat in the middle row of seats. I liked the commander beacuse the kids are close and if one wants to bring a friend they can go in the way back two seats no problem. When i do not need the back set of seats i can fit my double stroller back their along with my other mommy junk. Hope you enjoy your commander, we really do! We have had ours for a 1 1/2 years. Good luck