Weekend Athlete: 2008 Jeep Commander

First, the load floor is quite high, especially with the third row folded flat to make room for a bike. In fact, I’d strongly recommend you look at how high the cargo floor is before buying — no matter how tall you are. There are better SUVs for shorter athletes.

Second, those who keep their bikes in the vehicle (read: people who like their bikes) will note that there are a lot of cracks and valleys that catch the pedals and wheels once the seats are folded. That can slow down loading. Other cars don’t have this issue, but if you don’t ride I can’t see that part of the load floor being a problem too often. With the third row up, visibility to the rear is really restricted.

The large cargo area makes for easy gear-carrying, but if you want to leave the third row up you won’t have room for substantial camping gear. I’m not knocking points for that because I don’t go camping with seven people, but if you do it’s something to consider.

For as big as it is, the Commander was fairly easy to drive and park in the city.

Overall, it’s a big SUV that I’d guess would be capable offroad. If that’s what you want for the races, I’d say check that the load floor isn’t too high and give it a test drive. For this Weekend Athlete, though, it’s the wrong tool for the job.

Weekend Athlete Scores (Out of 10)

Ease of loading gear — 5.5: The high load floor causes concern, but taller folks will find lots of room up there.

Ease of seat operation — 5: Nothing special, and I found the center section of the second row odd.

Bike hauling ­— 7: You don’t have to remove a wheel, but you’ll need to put it in fork-first and turn the bars slightly. Also, with the third row folded there are a lot of pedal-grabbing cracks in the floor.

Locker-room cred — 5: Nothing special, but I’d say it’s aimed more at families than folks like me.

All-around — 5.5