Which Jeep Commander Years Had HEMI Engines & How Much HP Did They Have?

SUVs are all the rage right now, but you could argue their trajectory was set in part by the strides of the '90s and early 2000s, when a slew of now-successful SUVs hit the market for the first time. The '90s saw the introduction of many household names like the Ford Explorer, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Toyota RAV4, and Honda CR-V. This trend carried into the 2000s, with the launch of heavyweight Japanese models such as the Toyota Highlander and Honda Pilot.

Jeep didn't want to be left out of the 2000s party either, and so it introduced its first three-row vehicle, the midsize Commander, in 2005 (as a 2006 model) with an optional 5.7-liter HEMI engine to entice performance enthusiasts. The HEMI was available on the Commander for the 2006-2010 model years.

Sadly, even with its high-powered HEMI V8 engine, the Jeep Commander was an oddball and never found the same success as the others. The midsize SUV was based on the Grand Cherokee's unibody construction, but instead of stretching the wheelbase out to provide more interior space to comfortably accommodate a third row in the seven-seater version, Jeep left it largely untouched, opting to make only slight changes.

With limited room to work around, Jeep positioned the second and third row seats higher than the first row, and with this came a raised roof designed to create additional headroom for the passengers in the back. The result was a midsize SUV with relatively cramped comfort and less impressive design than its more streamlined contemporaries. Unsurprisingly, the Commander struggled to find buyers, with sales dropping from a high of 88,497 units in 2006 down to 8,115 units by 2010 (according to GoodCarBadCar), forcing Jeep to discontinue production after just five years.

It wasn't all bad news for the Jeep Commander, though. The midsize SUV gets a lot of praise not only for being a capable off-road vehicle, but also for being quiet and comfortable to drive on the road. The list of standard equipment was also generous. For instance, you could get the 2010 as standard with a power driver's seat, tilt-and-telescoping steering wheel, satellite radio, a six-speaker audio system with support for CD-MP3 player, heated power outside mirrors, and 17-inch cast aluminum wheels. However, by far the most positive thing about the Jeep Commander is that it is one of the few Jeep models with a HEMI engine under the hood.

The HEMI 5.7-liter V8 engine that was available on the 2006-2008 Commander models generated 330 horsepower and 375 lb-ft of torque. Starting with the 2009 model, output increased to 357 horsepower and 389 lb-ft, with that boost coming thanks to an upgraded variable valve timing (VVT) system that ensured better intake valve control and optimized the combustion cycle, sending more energy to the crankshaft instead of losing it as exhaust heat.

While that's not a lot of power by more modern standards, it's enough to etch the Jeep Commander 5.7 HEMI V8 nameplate on lists of the most powerful Jeep models ever built. It's even more impressive when you compare the HEMI's output with the other Jeep Commander engines. With 330-357 horsepower on tap, the HEMI engine offers 120-147 more horsepower than the Commander's standard 3.7-liter V6 (210 horsepower) and 25-52 extra horses over the 4.7-liter V8 (which jumped from 235 horsepower to 305 horsepower in the 2008 model).