For a brand that’s notorious for its SUVs, there have been at least a few holes in the Jeep lineup for some time now. The most gaping of them all was the lack of a three-row offering, with the long since discontinued Commander doing away with seating for seven way back in 2010. More than a decade later, the brand finally got around to addressing the issue with the midsize Grand Cherokee L, as well the larger Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer.
For a brand that likes to brag about its lineup of nothing but suvs jeep went an awfully long time without a three row seriously the commander got the axe way back in 2010 and that was that until the grand cherokee l and wagoneer landed last year both feel important holes in the lineup but if you’ve got six figures to spend on something big and luxurious the grand
Wagoneer just might be the jeep you’ve been waiting for for more expert car reviews don’t forget to share our channel and subscribe so you can catch some of this and maybe even a little of that for those of you who are unfamiliar there are a couple different versions of this thing on the market already there’s the wagoneer and that goes up against the
Chevy tahoe or the ford expedition and there’s this grand wagoneer this one takes on the cadillac escalade and the lincoln navigator because it’s the luxury version and what does that mean well it is pretty opulent but more importantly there’s a ton of space now there are bigger versions of both on the way those are called the wagoneer l and the grand wagoneer l
Because they’ve got some real creative folks over there in the naming department don’t forget there’s that grand cherokee l as well anyway that’s not the point the point is that there’s a ton of space inside this standard version starting with this second row it’s like a lounge back here the kids are gonna love it especially if you go with these optional screens
In the back you get the wi-fi hotspot cooking you can even stream netflix right to the screens it’s awesome there’s also 2 000 liters of cargo room behind the second row which is a ton and then with the third row upright i can fit back there without a problem i was actually really surprised at just how roomy it is getting in is so easy too because you have these
Power deployable running boards and then these door openings are absolutely massive getting into either row is a breeze especially because you can hit a button here it’ll fold the seats forward you can do it from the back you can slide them around you can even drop the headrest right from the infotainment screen but there’s even more good news around back just take
A look 780 liters of cargo room with the third row upright and that means i can get four tires in here yeah they’re only for my miata so they’re 14s but that’s not the point the point is that that is a lot of stuff to have behind the third row but as you can see they fit with the tailgate closed and that is very impressive but one thing i’m not so impressed with
Is the overall styling now in automotive design you hear a lot about dash to axle ratio but to me what’s off here is the door to window ratio just doesn’t look like it makes much sense i don’t know about you guys but i’m not totally sold the weird thing is once you’re inside the windows are massive but they look small this thing looks really slab sided especially
Around this corner area it’s very awkward especially the way the window comes up i don’t know about you guys but i think this was supposed to have wood paneling right from the very beginning and then executives got cold feet and decided to ditch the plants looks very frumpy and awkward otherwise just kind of boring but what’s not boring is inside and the drive so
Let’s get to that well the good news is the interior looks a whole hell of a lot better though i do have to say i don’t think it’s quite as nice as something from mercedes-benz or bmw yes i know some of you are gonna skewer me tell me i have no taste i don’t know what i’m talking about and how dare i call myself an automotive journalist and here’s what i’m going
To say to you i just tested that bmw ix you guys saw it it’s about the same price all electric yes it’s smaller but it had that open pour wood and i really do think that is the difference this series three trim i’m testing which is the top of the line it has this wood trim i had to check to make sure that it was real because it kind of feels plasticky and fake and
You can actually see this whole panel moving a bit and i only noticed it when i hit the ignition start button here beside the steering wheel when i first got into it i was a little bit confused it definitely has the wow factor when you look at it when you first open the door it’s really impressive but then when you get up close some of the details could be just a
Little bit better i do have to say though you know instead of feeling like a full-fledged luxury vehicle or like a full-fledged family hauler it kind of feels like a blend of both and i like that a lot oftentimes in this segment especially when you’re talking about six-figure vehicles they can really feel kind of stuffy this is definitely not that it’s got serious
Living room vibes way more functional than formal that is very nice to see because it actually seems like you can kick back and relax in here and a big reason why all of these screens it’s like you called up geek squad and said i’ll take one of everything now jeep says there’s about 75 inches of digital real estate in this one i’m driving i have no reason to doubt
That because if you take a look i’ve got this digital instrument cluster this big 12 inch touchscreen another touch screen beneath that there’s even one in front of the passenger and then there’s another one back here plus optionally it’s got two entertainment screens on the backs of these seats yes they are touch the cool thing is like i said earlier you can
Stream with amazon fire tv that means netflix and stuff like that as long as you have that wi-fi subscription going you can stream right there the kids can stay happy on the road trip up to the cottage and then getting back to this screen over here on the dash it’s kind of cool because you can pull up different stuff like navigation now i am going to nitpick i
Really wish you could pull up apple carplay or android auto on that screen especially because of the whole google maps thing you guys know i love it i’ve got it running right now even though i am so familiar with these roads just one of those peace of mind things it would be cool if you could have car play up on that screen too but speaking of carplay this is one
Of the first vehicles i’ve driven that you can pair multiple phones we’re gonna go ahead and throw that up will’s gonna pair his phone too so you can see you can just toggle between two different phones that is very cool because i don’t know if you and your partner are on a road trip and you take over driving it’s very easy you don’t have to disconnect that phone
And reconnect because don’t forget those connections are wireless so it’s just very seamless to switch back and forth between them and then speaking of seamless yeah that would easily describe everything that’s going on in here from the interface here to the one down here to this digital instrument cluster it is all so simple to master there’s no real learning curve
You don’t have to be a jeep veteran to understand how any of this stuff works uconnect it’s very good this is the latest version it’s got that configurability so i can pull down my favorites to this dock down here this is also configurable too i can pull up all kinds of different views that is very handy and then this one also has a head-up display but just like
I complained about in that ram 1500 the top half of it completely cut off from my driving position yes i know i’m tall yes it is in its lowest setting but the only way i can see it is if i slouch which kind of defeats the purpose of a head-up display the whole point is you can keep your head up and see all the information you need not the case for me so if you’re
Tall keep in mind you might not get to see everything here on the windshield there’s also all kinds of physical controls you can see right here there’s a bunch for climate though i do have to say it is a little bit weird to me all the redundancies because you can pull climate up on the touchscreen you’ve got those physical controls and then this separate screen
Down here yeah that one can run the climate too both front and back just like you can through the infotainment screen so that seems at least a little bit unnecessary but the other cool thing about this lower screen that’s how you activate the massaging seats and these are as good as any i have used i do wish the programs would run just a little bit longer i think
They’re capped at like 15 minutes maybe something like that but there’s all kinds of programs yes there is a butt massage i complained about that in that bmw that it was only the seat back so i like that something else i like now not a physical touch button i’ll call them fixed because you have these touch sensors for your heated seat heated steering wheel even
The screen power it’s all these touch controls along the side of the screen but that’s not typical for these products i complained about it in that ram 1500 that you have to do everything through the infotainment screen so it is cool that you have some other options that are there all the time because i can just reach down hit that heated steering wheel without
Really having to look at it no you can’t feel it working but there are those red lights you can see it come on that part is handy same with all the controls on the steering wheel they all make a lot of sense too that really is a running theme here and then i also have to say ride quality is fantastic the grand wagoneer has both adaptive dampers and air suspension
Standard and it makes this incredibly supple but more importantly it makes it incredibly well controlled that’s what really stands out here because you know you kind of expect that smooth ride from a vehicle this big and this expensive with air suspension but it’s the way that this thing kind of stays composed even on winding roads like this it’s very nice you
Would never guess that this thing weighs 6 400 pounds yes 64 100 pounds i think this one is actually a little bit more than that and then it’s obviously even more than that with me and will in here today but you’d honestly have no idea from behind the wheel and speaking of weight this thing can tow almost 10 000 pounds which puts it at least a little bit ahead of
The lincoln navigator and the cadillac escalade it’s two main competitors right you’re talking about these big body-on-frame american luxury suvs this does have the slight edge and helping it along is what’s under the hood it’s a 6.4 liter v8 it makes 471 horsepower and 455 pound-feet of torque which is a ton i’m sure you guys know dodge jeep chrysler all those
Brands they’ve been using this 6.4 for years pretty long in the tooth also pretty inefficient i’m pretty sure this is the second worst of the suvs you can buy in canada this side of performance once it’s officially rated for 16 liters per 100 kilometers combined and yes that is premium grade gas now i was doing better than that earlier this week when i went on my
Evaluation drive so what i always tell you guys about it’s a nice blend of city highway and rural driving gives me a nice overview of a vehicle and when i did that drive i was right down around 13 liters per hundred kilometers which is still worse than its highway rating but it’s still not bad i guess in the context of that 16 but now i’m already up at almost 15
Liters per hundred kilometers and we’re barely halfway through this week something tells me this is going to be an expensive fuel bill but i guess it comes with the territory then what else comes with the territory don’t forget this does share its underpinnings with the ram 1500 so it’s not just the air suspension it’s this steering rack and it is so direct and
Nice now at low speeds around parking lots and stuff like that it gets really light it’s one of those progressive steering ratios so it makes it nice and maneuverable at low speeds but when you’re cruising around like i am today there’s none of that deceiving lightness that part is key there is nothing worse than a big heavy vehicle to have this light steering and
You have no sense of which direction the front wheels are pointed in an emergency situation that is bad news this it feels nicely tailored to the grand wagoneer even maybe a little bit nicer than the ram 1500s it just feels well suited yeah there’s a little dead spot on center but overall it’s very nice to use i would say the brakes could be just a little firmer
But that might be a case with this tester alone it might just be that it’s had some hard miles racked up over the months that it’s been on the press fleet here i wish it was just a little bit firmer when you got on the pedal you need to dive pretty deep into it but otherwise drivability is second to none super quiet in here just a little bit of wind noise makes
Its way through mostly from these huge door mirrors but then again these would be handy if you’re towing so i like that they are here and then what else can i tell you the eight-speed automatic transmission silky smooth but that’s nothing new i already talked about the suspension but body roll is hilariously well managed again considering the size of this thing
It is huge but it just doesn’t really feel like it it doesn’t feel as tall and upright and that air suspension does help too because it automatically lowers down to an arrow setting it’s a little bit lower no it’s not quite as low as that entry and exit setting which kind of makes this thing look like a low rider will even notice that as soon as he rolled up to
The chute this morning it sits so low to the ground and then the way the power running boards are tucked up underneath they kind of look like they’re part of the rocker panel because they are but it really does make it look sleek and low but then you can jack this thing way up in case you do want to take it on a bit of an adventure not that i would necessarily
Recommend it but it’s got all the stuff you would need if you choose to do because it does have standard full-time all-wheel drive but it’s also got low range gearing plus a diff a bunch of different terrain modes you can cycle through here if things call for it there’s also all kinds of advanced safety stuff here and i do have to hand it to jeep because it’s
Usually not the case with american automakers to give you standard advanced safety gear all the way across the lineup even inexpensive vehicles like this one but the grand wagoneer has it all lane keeping forward collision warning adaptive cruise control now this one is the series three so it’s got a few other goodies like a junction turn assist feature so i’ve
Talked about it before if you’re coming up to an intersection you’re about to turn left and you can’t see if there’s any traffic coming towards you yeah this will warn you of that to keep you from pulling out into some big truck that’s headed your way it’s also got night vision that you can pull up here in the digital instrument cluster that’s pretty handy too and
It’s also got an even more advanced adaptive cruise control setting that’s on its way that’s supposedly going to be completely hands-free but it’s not here just yet though even without it the adaptive cruise control does work well works better than some others out there that’s for sure though i can’t wait to see how that hands-free system works so price ranges
From about a hundred and five thousand bucks to 125 grand but that’s before options this one it’s about 131 grand before tax because it’s got that rear seat entertainment system these 22-inch wheels as well as the heavy-duty towing package is it worth that kind of money i guess it depends it also depends on if you plan to use that hands-free system once it’s there
As well as the night vision i guess how much highway driving you’re going to do because if not there might be a sweet spot a little lower in the lineup with the series 2. it’s about 111 grand before tax it doesn’t get that stuff but it’s got pretty much everything else that makes this so good and i do have to hand it to jeep for its first proper premium product in
Years especially its first proper premium modern product it really has everything it needs to keep up with the competition to recap i like that the grand wagoneer feels as family friendly as it does luxurious the wow factor you get as soon as you open the door and the fantastic ride and handling i don’t like how unbelievably inefficient it is or the questionable
Exterior styling but otherwise it’s a hit if you can stomach the price i waited an awfully long time to draw brand wagoneer but it was definitely worth it not that i’m in the market for such an opulent suv but if i was this thing would definitely make my short list and yeah i know the grand cherokee has pretty much been a premium vehicle since it came out but that’s
Not the point it’s that this is 100 as luxurious as both jeep intended it to be and as anything it competes against i’ll say it again though i really do think that series 2 might be the sweet spot in the lineup if you can live without everything that grand wagoneer has to offer yeah 111 grand is still a ton of money but at least there’s a lot to show for it and
Don’t forget there’s a grand wagoneer l on its way if you need even more but let’s just hope that straight six engine is at least a little more efficient than this beast you
Transcribed from video
2022 Jeep Grand Wagoneer Review: Plugging a Pricey Hole in the Lineup By AutoTrader Canada
