by Anthony Fongaro | Photos via Jeep - 02/16/2022
Things were interesting in 2010. Jeep had decided to create the Commander, their biggest vehicle. The Commander barely put a dent in the competition, and it’s taken Jeep over a decade to face off with the Chevy Tahoe and Ford Expedition. Bringing back the iconic Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer names, the vehicle that I had was the Grand Wagoneer. What does that mean? It means that Jeep isn’t going after just the Chevy Tahoe and Ford Expeditions of the world; they’re going after the Cadillac Escalade and Lincoln Navigator. When we get to pricing, you may think Jeep is shooting even higher!
First things first, the Grand Wagoneer is massive. This is the vehicle that goes against longer versions of the competition, and it has quite an interesting design. First, you don’t have Jeep logos. Instead, you’ll see Grand Wagoneer on the tailgate with black accents and tinted lights. That’s because this is the Obsidian edition, so most of the trim that would be silver is black. Included in the black theme was the Grand Wagoneer’s Diamond Black Crystal Pearl-Coat Paint and some awesome looking 22-inch wheels. Jeep gave the Grand Wagoneer automatic running boards, and the overall silhouette looks like an evolution of a minivan. That’s a compliment. Going to the front, the Grand Wagoneer once again dispenses from saying Jeep, instead of having Wagoneer above the traditional seven-slotted grille.
When I first got into the interior of the Grand Wagoneer, I thought to myself: “Did Jeep make an interior that’s worth $100,000?” The simple answer: I’d say it’s pretty much worth that. The attention to detail in the Grand Wagoneer deserves praise, especially the cleverly designed starter button. I’m thankful that Jeep decided to use traditional buttons on a two-spoke steering wheel to go through various functions. While going through the functions, I noticed something I’d never seen before: night vision. This is part of the $3,595 Convenience Package and helped with the upscale feeling. There also was a head-up display with all the information you’d want.
The interior of the Grand Wagoneer is Global Black Interior Color, while the seats are Palermo Leather-Trimmed Seats with Massage. That’s right, this Grand Wagoneer has massaging seats with four types of massages, and they worked quite well. The controls for the seats are on the door, just like a Mercedes-Benz. Around the infotainment system, there are some capacitive buttons for heated/ventilation seats and heated steering wheel, but they were so fussy, I just went into the climate control. Jeep does use physical buttons for climate control and if you’re looking for wireless charging, the screen for the massaging seats pops up! There’s an abundance of luxurious materials and the seats were quite comfortable.
Something of high praise must go to the sound system. The McIntosh sound system with 23 speakers is one of the best that I’ve heard. Your passengers will be happy as well, especially the ones in the middle. This Grand Wagoneer had the $2,000 Rear-Seat Entertainment Group package. This gives you two 10-inch screens, and something very smart. These have Amazon Fire TV Built-In, so your passengers can ignore you during the entire drive, or the other way around. The middle row also has heated seats and can control climate control. Back in the front passenger seat, there’s a dedicated screen that the driver can’t see for them to use for entertainment and various infotainment functions. I kept that off.
Before I get into driving the Grand Wagoneer, I’m going to discuss these two silver dials. They’re next to the rotary shifter and control the drive modes and air suspension. Most of the drive modes make sense including snow, auto, and sport, but there’s no comfort mode. For an SUV like this, I could do with a more relaxing setting. Anyways, let’s get to the 6.4-liter heart of the Grand Wagoneer. This giant engine makes 471-horsepower and 455 lb. ft. Combine this with an eight-speed automatic, and the Grand Wagoneer gets from 0-60 MPH in 5.8 seconds. It feels like a quick SUV, but since there’s no turbocharger, the power is much higher in the powerband. You also can’t shift the gears at all, but the transmission worked quite well with the engine.
If you’re looking for a sporty Jeep, you’re barking up the wrong tree. This is almost pure luxury. They put in a giant V8 for goodness’ sake! Unfortunately, putting that 6.4-liter engine was a huge mistake. The main complaint: fuel economy. Competitors are creating better-forced induction and hybrids that make the same or more power with better fuel economy. The number on the boards for this: 13. I tried my best, but I couldn’t get past 13.5 MPG. I know that when a vehicle gets to six-digits people say that fuel economy doesn’t matter, but I think it does due to how much you’ll have to refill.
Now for all the numbers and packages. Grand Wagoneer Series II starts at around $95,000. This does get you a lot of standard equipment including the head-up display, 360-camera, and air suspension. There were four packages and one option, being the paint for $595. The Customer Preferred package 23T came with the Obsidian Appearance Package, ventilated rear seats, upgraded sound system, and the Front Passenger Interactive Display. Tack on another $3,595 for the Convenience Group with the night vision system, rear seat monitoring camera, and better driving assist aides. Something I didn’t use was the $995 Heave-Duty Trailer-Tow Package, but it looks to have everything you’d need to tow. Finally, the Rear-Seat Entertainment Group is $2,000. Add that up, and you get a total price of $109,000.
Similar to other brands that have a large price gap between models, some may think that over $100,000 for a Jeep is ludicrous. I’d disagree. The Grand Wagoneer is a very luxurious SUV which, since it’s a Jeep, will probably tackle all terrains. This was a good spec for a Grand Wagoneer, and I would forgo the Towing and Rear-Seat packages, to get a whopping $3,000 off. Still, the Grand Wagoneer is an interesting and likable large SUV. At the end of the day, I would say that the Grand Wagoneer does feel like a $100,000 SUV.
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