2009 Jeep Commander Review and Road Test

Why do we (Americans) like our SUVs so much? Is it because they give is a commanding view of the road or because they big SUVs are safer than a subcompact car? Do we like them because we can look down upon other drivers in their teeny passenger cars and think to ourselves "I can run over your butt if I have too."? Even though people are trading in their Rhino-sized SUVs for eco-friendly Toyotas, there is still many of us who love our gas hogs.

Among the full size and medium size SUVs there's one brand that stands out above the rest, Jeep. Nowadays people are turning away from their mammoth sized Tahoes and Excursions and buying smaller CUVs but for the rest of us who want to down size just a wee bit, the Jeep Commander is a good choice. There is three choices of engines but you might as well go for the 5.7L Hemi engine. All three engines have horrible gas milage but for one MPG less you can have a rip-snorting beast of an engine. The Hemi equipped Commander is not incredibly fast but it is quicker then most other V8 SUVs. The milage is not good though. Real world millage you'll see 13 to 15 MPG in the city and 17-18 MPG on the highway. Well, what do you expect for a vehicle with the aerodynamics of a refrigerator? The top of the line Commander comes with a full time 4X4 system and it is really, really good. This Jeep will off-road just fine but if you really want to "wheel" it, you probably should go buy a Wrangler. The Commander is built for on road driving with just a bit of off-roading. Don't worry when winter comes 'round you'll probably won't get stuck. The commander's on-road manners are very good... for an SUV. The ride is smooth and it handles surprisingly well for being a big heavy box on stilts. (Nowhere near the pervasively tested VW Tiguan though) There are some shortcomings though. For starters the build quality is garbage. (Not talking about reliability, which is decent) On the outside the door gaps don't align up all that well. There are a couple sheet metal and paint defects on our tester. The interior is cheaply made, the plastics feel like they came from a lego factory. The buttons feel like they are going to fall off. The cup holders are just plastic holes, nothing to hold the cups in place, so when you go around a corner your cup slides and moves about. The fit and finish is just bad, peroid. This cheap build quality is not just a problem with Jeep though, it's a problem with pretty much all American cars. Sorry, but true. If your in the market for a good an SUV that is easy to live with and can have fun doing some weekend off-roading, the Jeep Commander is a no-brainer.

P.S. Sorry about the Wikipedia jeep picture.

Side Note: Although the interior in the '09 Jeep is pretty bad, the years before were worse. So at least Chrysler is trying to improve their cars. I also see this improving trend continues throughout Chrysler's lineup.

Cardboard Grid Spot

There are a few ways to make a grid spots. Some people use straws, while others use cardboard. Well, I used cardboard. I think it's about the easiest to make.

Just cut some cardboard into 1 & 1/2 inch (or smaller) wide strips. Your hight and length will vary from flash to flash. Glue them together and your golden. You might want to wrap a rubber band around them while the glue dries to help them stick better. I found some really thick cardboard so it only took three strips to cover the front of my flash. Once everything is done drying, you hold the grid to your flash with a rubber band. See how easy that was?

An example of using this grid...

Because the width of my cardboard strips are wider, the size of the light spot

that comes out of the grid is quite small

How to stay in touch with your inner photog.

Every so often photographers tend to get off the photography track. Maybe school, work, or family might get you sidetracked. Whatever the reason there is an easy way to keep your mind on the creative path. There are some photographers who told me I should go out and about and shoot something every minute or so, for an hour or half an hour, at least once a day. Not everybody has their camera on them everyday though, or do they? Almost everybody and their grandma has a cellphone, more specifically a camera phone. See where I am going with this? A great photographer, named Chase Jarvis has come up with the idea of using his iPhone to take pictures everyday and throughout the day. Since you carry your phone with you anyways, why not? Chase says he takes 1 to 1,000 photos a day with his iphone. The point of taking these photos is not being able to produce stunning works of arts. (Although it is possible) The point is to keep your mind thinking creatively. When your walking around and thinking, "what can I photograph", you keep keep the wheels in your head turning, all of the time.

Here is Mr. Jarvis talking a little bit about his idea.

"The best camera is the one that's with you." -Chase Jarvis

ChaseJarvis.com

Can you tell I am fan of Chase's work?

2009 Volkswagen Tiguan review and road test

"Buy American and save our jobs," says the bumper sticker on the rusty 1989 Ford pickup truck. When was the last time this guy contributed to America's GDP? I'll tell you when, in 1989. Autoworkers pensions are huge, their benefits are plentiful, and they cry when their pay gets cut by 50 cents. If you're tired of the American autoworkers and their cars with roast beef sandwiches between the door panels, you might want to try a foreign car. You'll even be helping out America more than that guy in the rust bucket truck. What foreign car do you want? You're downsizing from your gargantuan American SUV, but you don't want to go too small. Where does that leave you? Crossovers? Too "soccer mom-ish." Passenger cars? Too small. How about a CUV? Perfect. You can get a Honda CR-V, but the CR-V is boring and too reliable. Which gets boring. What about a Mazda CX-7? Ugly and who knows where a Mazda dealer is anyways? Volkswagen Tiguan it is. The Tiguan is the Touareg's little brother. VW says the Tiguan is the GTI of SUVs. I will have to agree. The Tiguan has sporty looks, European tuned suspension, and a turbocharged 4 cylinder engine that will propel the SUV from 0 to 60 in 7.7 seconds. As the Tiguan growls off the line there is a little bit of turbo lag, which only adds to the fun of driving this SUV. There is some torque steer in the FWD models but that too adds to the fun of driving. My test car was a FWD SE model, being so, the milage was better than a 4 motion AWD model. The milage was around 23 MPG city and rural (on premium gas). On the freeway the Tiguan can get on the good side of 27 MPG but the milage usually hung around 25 MPG. The handling is great. It feels sporty and planted on the curvy roads. If you're used to a big American SUV, the Tiguan will feel like a sports car. The cabin is quiet while driving down the road. The interior of the Tiguan is of high quality. There's soft-touch plastics through out, and all other materials are good quality too. The seats are comfortable and will hold you in place when going around corners. These seats don't feel as wide as American SUV seats. If you are of larger proportions, you might feel the seat bolsters a little more then in a Jeep. So what's wrong with the Tiguan? Well not too much. This VW is an upscale SUV so the starting price is a little higher then other rivals but you get more for your money then you might think. Besides the amazing ride, handling and build quality, you get many features standard. Such has traction control, all wheel disk breaks, and a bunch of airbags, an 8 speaker stereo, and even windshield wipers that move when you shut off the car so that the wiper is not sitting on the same edge as it started with. This makes the wiper blades last longer. If you opt for the SE model, which most will do, you get a lot more goodies. You get heated mirrors and washer nozzles, better stereo, leather wrapped steering wheel and shifter, fog lights, and the list goes on. The Tiguan is very safe too, it was a top safety pick by the IIHS. Another "problem" with the VW is that there is less cargo room then it's rivals. Although the rear bench slides back and forth to allow for more cargo room in the very back, which is a cool feature. The front seat folds down for your longer cargo.

So like the GTI the Volkswagen Tiguan is the best "all-a-rounder. "

Volkswagen Tiguan Homepage

IIHS Top Safety Pick

The next car review will be a 2009 Jeep Commander.

Cactus V4 wireless flash trigger review.

I didn't get around to writing the VW review, mainly because I have been distracted by these triggers. So, I will write my first impressions on these "Poverty Triggers." For those who don't want to shell out over 400 big ones for those amazing pocket wizards, there is another alternative, Gadget Infinity's wireless flash triggers. Now I never had the V2s but these V4s are supposed to be a lot better. The build quality seems pretty good. None of the plastic bends or moves on either the receiver or transmitter. Only time will tell how well the receiver will hold up with the weight of the flash head on it. Moving on to what you guys and gals want to know about, reliability.

Well, the good news is, on all of the shots I have taken so far, the flash has fired every time.

The bad news, if you can call it that, is the receiver was within a few feet if the transmitter.

What can I say, I only had them for a day. As far as setup goes, it is simple. I didn't even need to look at the directions. Just slide 'em on to the hotshoes and start shootin' away.

Before I forget, this V4 set came with a PC sync cord so I can connect the receiver to a flash or studio strobe without using the hot shoe. "When Light Dances" was also included in this set. It's a small book with photos that used Cactus's triggers to light up the subject. The book gives you a little diagram how the shot was lit.

These triggers are without a doubt, worth the $40 I paid for them.

A few (very quick) shots taken with a 580EX ii triggered by the V4s.

This one I used a "poverty reflector." (Folded piece of paper)

Straight from Hong Kong, Gadget Infinity V4s...

Gadget Infinity v4 trigger set

What is Cars and Cameras?

I started this blog to talk about two topics. The first is cars. I will be doing car reviews and talking about the automotive scene in general. The second topic I will be discussing will be photography. I will post some reviews of camera equipment, go over some tips and tricks , and I will be posting up some of my own photos too. All types of photography will be covered, including automotive photography. By the end of this week I should have a review/road test for the 2009 Volkswagen Tiguan.