Practical can be sexy! That’s kind of the Jeep Renegade’s whole mantra. Most of this year’s Easter Jeep Safari concepts are unusably extreme, but the little Commander actually looks pretty reasonable.
You’re pretty much looking at a regular Renegade with a 2-inch lift, squeeze 29.5-inchBF Goodrich KO2 all-terrain tires over 17-inchRubicon rims. As for the “Commander” name, I’d say that’s where the connection stops between this and the enormous brick-shaped SUV Jeep failed to sell us on last decade.
The rock sliders, skid plates, exhaust trailer hitch and extra lights are all straight from Mopar.
Things are pretty simple on the interior too, it pretty much begins with seat covers and ends with rubber floor mats just like the SUV you’re probably already wheeling.
The Renegade Commander’s most exciting feature is probably that “Fluorescent Gray” color with a cool topographical map of a famous Moab off-road route on the hood.
The 2.4-liter Tigershark engine and nine-speed automatic is stock, and paired with Jeep Active Drive Low which is the Trailhawk’s standard terrain-select system with low range.
Think of this as a realistic idea of what you could do with a Renegade platform while retaining most of the compact car’s everyday drivability. Could have used a few more headlights, but it’s interesting to see a mild build in the mix with the rest of Jeep’s mad-scientist creations.
Contact the author at andrew@jalopnik.com.