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Swiping at mosquitoes and trying to squeegee sweat from my forehead, I was taking a lunch break during the kind of workout I never realized one could get from driving a car.

The workout was courtesy of a Jeep Jamboree, an event that is to cars what a rodeo is to bulls.

No bull. Jeep owners -- that´s the only brand allowed to participate -- pay money for the privilege of abusing their vehicles.

They cross streams that could intimidate a water spaniel.

They traverse boulder fields that are more like rock quarries than roads.

They plow through thick forests and vegetation where few folks would tread without a machete.

And fields filled with 12-inch deep mud and muck? Jamboree participants relish them like kindergarten students take to Play-Doh.

Jamboree events are organized and run by Jeep and off-road organizations, and frequented by folks bent on pushing their vehicles to the limits of mechanical mayhem. I learned that while attending one a while back, driving a brand new Jeep Wrangler.

The vehicle didn´t look new when I was done. At one point, while plummeting downhill in a stream bed, a hidden rock caught one of the Wrangler tire´s sidewalls, deflated the tire and popped it off its wheel.

The folks serving as "guides" at the event told me to just keep driving. I did, eventually emerging from the stream, then climbing a steep, rocky embankment on three tires and one wheel.

Later, after the tire was re-seated and re-inflated, the route required me to drive through a small, shallow pond. Nobody mentioned there were several nasty boulders beneath the water -- until the undercarriage of my vehicle slammed into one.

It sounded like a garbage dumpster being dropped from the top of a two-story building. But the Wrangler just kept going. Despite its rugged-looking construction and reputation for durability, I was nevertheless surprised at the punishment that Wrangler could take with no lingering ill effects.

What really shocked me, however, was the ability of Jeep´s much more civilized looking Grand Cherokee to apparently do the same. During the lunch break, I found myself speaking with the owner of a two-year-old Grand Cherokee who had driven it 2.5 hours from his home so he could subject it to the same torture my Wrangler was undergoing.

I suggested he might need to call a taxi for the trip home. "Nah," he said. "This is my second Grand Cherokee and I always do at least a couple of these Jamborees every year."

I recalled that conversation last week while testing a 2009 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland. Throughout the week, the Grand Cherokee impressed me with its on-road refinement, civility and power.

But I kept thinking about its incredible off-road capabilities and wishing I could subject it to something more grueling than the uneven blacktop of countless highway repaving projects.

Vehicles such as the Grand Cherokee -- that is, conventional midsize SUVs built to deal with both on- and off-road driving -- have become the pariahs of the automotive world. "Greenies" gripe about their "footprint" (carbon and physical).

And when gas pump prices hit $4 a gallon, consumers turned away from them like residents fleeing Tokyo in one of those old Godzilla movies.

Finally, driving enthusiasts never embraced conventional SUVs, preferring smaller, more nimble and quicker vehicles.

Yet driving a top-of-the-line Grand Cherokee Overland reminded me why everyone wanted an SUV 15 years ago. Comfortable, feature-laden, versatile and powerful, it´s easy to appreciate the Grand Cherokee´s virtues when you´re behind its thickly padded steering wheel enjoying a commanding view of frequently congested roads.

That was particularly true on a round trip of nearly 1,000 miles in the Grand Cherokee. During bumper-to-bumper plodding through construction zones, the Overland´s extremely quiet cabin and soft and sumptuously padded leather seats provided a perch that made the excruciating delays more tolerable.

So did a couple of items on the Overland´s standard equipment list, which is as long as the line at any good ice cream stand on a warm July evening. The list includes a great entertainment/navigation system with Sirius traffic info that warned me about tie-ups and occasionally helped me find detours around them.

The Overland´s sound system helped entertain me when I couldn´t avoid the congestion. With satellite radio, CD, an iPod interface and even a hard drive for storing favorite tracks all included, there was plenty to keep me busy. And it all sounded great through the Boston Acoustics speaker system.

Too bad the system doesn´t include a CD ejector that can shoot discs at the idiots who think it makes sense to shut down two of three lanes on I-84 just outside Hartford, Conn., at 8:30 p.m.

When the Grand Cherokee wasn´t standing still on the highway, it was loping effortlessly on it. Its ride is downright cushy. And the big, heavy Jeep tracks straight and true at 75 mph, requiring the driver to pay little attention to the steering wheel.

That´s partly because the steering system isn´t particularly quick or responsive. That´s a good thing for the kind of serious off-roading of which the Grand Cherokee is capable. The downside is that although its steering has a nice heft to it and makes low-speed maneuvering effortless, the Grand Cherokee won´t be anyone´s vehicle of choice for tackling tight, twisty back roads.

And that´s not just because of its steering. The Grand Cherokee´s suspension is also better suited to off-roading and on-road comfort than spirited driving. Its long wheel travel, 9.5 inches of ground clearance and rock-and-rut absorbing suspension doesn´t deal as well with serpentine curves and rapid transitions on paved roads.

When pushed to play like that, the Grand Cherokee responds with a lot of body lean and balkiness, as if it´s asking the driver "Why are you doing this to me."

Bear in mind that only happens when the Grand Cherokee is provoked to do something it isn´t really made to do. For normal, day-to-day driving chores around town or on long trips, it´s very well-mannered.

But thirsty. One of the things I enjoyed most about the test car was its 5.7-liter HEMI V8 engine, tweaked for 2009 to deliver 27 more horses and 14 extra pounds-feet of torque versus last year. This 357-horsepower beast can tow nearly 8,000 pounds, pull away from most cars on the road when the traffic light turns green, and blast past slowpokes on the highway.

In short, it is smooth, responsive, potent and FUN.

But even with a "multi-displacement" design that deactivates half of its cylinders at steady speed, its EPA fuel economy rating is just 13 city/19 highway. I averaged just over 17 mpg overall and around 18 on the highway.

That´s not the kind of performance that will earn the Grand Cherokee Overland a place on any Clean-and-Green lists. But if I could afford one and did any kind of off-road driving on a regular basis, I´d be thrilled to have a Grand Cherokee in my garage.

Because few vehicles can match the Grand Cherokee when it comes to the kind of "green" for which it is intended: The green of the wilderness at the end of a long stretch of asphalt.

Scott Wasser is executive editor of MaineToday Media. He writes a weekly auto column for the Sunday Telegram and other newspapers. He can be reached at

swasser@pressherald.com

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