The 2023 Grand Wagoneer L

If you've been shopping for a Wagoneer or Grand Wagoneer and you've been thinking to yourself, you know what, that's a little too small, a little too easy to park, then you want this. This is the new 2023 Grand Wagoneer L. L stands for really really long and this is the biggest SUV that Jeep has ever produced. Jeep's naming convention is strange and inconsistent, so hold on to your hats because I'm going to run through the lineup. We have the Cherokee, then we have the Grand Cherokee. They're unrelated to one another. The Grand Cherokee is bigger, fancier, and more expensive. Then we have the Grand Cherokee L, which is the longer Grand Cherokee. It's not the grander Cherokee or the grandest Cherokee. It's just the Grand Cherokee L. Then if you want something bigger, we have the Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer. In this construct, grand does not mean bigger. It simply means fancier with more power under the hood, but if you want a bigger one, then you have one now with the L model. The Wagoneer L and the Grand Wagoneer L, you guessed it, the regular and the fancier version of the stretched Wagoneer. Don't worry, there's going to be a test at the end of the video. The Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer are mainly defined on the outside by a slightly different grille. A little bit of extra tweaks here and there, but they largely look very much the same, which again is different than Cherokee to Grand Cherokee. At 226.7 inches long, the grandest of the Wagoneers is almost the biggest SUV on sale in America. That award still goes to the stretched General Motors full-size SUVs. Over here on this side, we have a short wheelbase Wagoneer, so you can see the difference between the two models. Here's how the 12-inch stretch sorts out. The first seven inches happens between the wheels, so we get a slightly differently shaped rear door and a longer section between the door and that rear wheel. It's definitely different than over here in the Wagoneer, where some of the wheel surround is actually part of the door that opens right there. Then about five inches happens behind the rear wheels, so this doesn't have that really long school bus-like overhang that we find on some long wheelbase SUVs in America. Visually, the biggest difference has to be this absolutely enormous third window, which I swear is bigger than the windshield that you find on a Jeep Wrangler. Back here, the big difference between the way that Jeep stretches the vehicle and the way that GM stretches the Cadillac Escalade is that this third row does not move, so we have the same combined legroom figures in the long wheelbase and in the short wheelbase model. In the Cadillac ESV, the third row moves further rearward, and that's why this has considerably more cargo room behind the third row than we find in the Cadillac, but you are going to have to give up a little bit of combined legroom for that figure. Now, the short wheelbase version, it's class-leading in terms of cargo capacity here in the short wheelbase segment, and this, at just under 45 cubic feet, is absolutely enormous for the long wheelbase segment, so if you're looking for eight-passenger ability, and if they pack lightly, eight passengers worth of cargo capacity, you definitely want to take a look at the grandest of the Wagoneers. Out back, we find the same hatch as the short wheelbase model, so no spoiler up top, no separately opening glass still. I think that is a feature I would love to see on the Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer. It would really make it more cargo practical, and then we have a very vertical rear end. Back here, we have a little cover over the hitch receiver. This is still ready to tow up to 10,000 pounds in the long wheelbase model, if you choose the right options, and of course, the base model. The upper end trims, because of the added weight of all the features on the inside, that's going to drop down towing to still above 9,000 pounds, but not quite that 10,000 pound limit. Harkening back to the legendary Grand Wagoneer right next to me, the new Grand Wagoneer L is going to be available with an inline-six engine, only this time, it's going to be a three-liter inline-six twin-turbo engine in all versions of the Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer L, and you're going to be able to get these new engines also in the short wheelbase version if you're interested for 2023. This is the all-new engine here. It's a global engine design based loosely around the two-liter four-cylinder turbo, obviously with two extra cylinders on the engine and the twin turbos right over here on this side. The engine's a really cool new design. The turbos are very close-mounted to the exhaust manifold, just as you'd expect in a modern turbocharger, and then on this side, we have a liquid-to-air intercooler setup to reduce the plumbing length and, of course, reduce the turbo lag that is inherent in any turbocharged engine. Two different power levels are going to be offered. Wagoneer and Wagoneer L will get the lower output version, 420 horsepower, 468 pound-feet of torque. That engine is tuned to run on regular unleaded, although you'll get the most power and most torque if you feed it premium. That vehicle will give you three miles per gallon better fuel economy than the outgoing 5.7-liter V8 in the same vehicle, up to 24 miles per gallon highway and over 700 miles of highway range if you get the long wheelbase version of the Wagoneer. Now, the Grand Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer L are going to get this tune of the engine, 510 horsepower, 500 pound-feet of torque. Here's how they got to that. They didn't just swap in bigger turbos, obviously that's part of the equation, but they also upgraded almost all of the components inside the engine itself to be stronger and handle the extra power and the extra torque, up to 500 pound-feet. This engine also has a different liquid-to-air intercooler and, of course, higher pressure. This gets to the increased power output by boosting the pressure from the turbos from 22 psi up to 26 psi. That's a little bit lower than some of the German options out there, but still fairly high for a 3-liter inline-six. All engines are going to be mated to a standard 8-speed automatic transmission and your choice of three different four-wheel drive systems. As before, the Wagoneer is going to be available in rear-wheel drive or four-wheel drive, the Grand Wagoneer four-wheel drive only. The base four-wheel drive system gives you a single-speed transfer case, full-time four-wheel drive, and a limited-slip rear differential. The second option is still a full-time system, but you get a two-speed transfer case if you want four low, same rear axle in the back. The next version is the QuadraDrive 2 system. This is a full-time system with two-speed transfer case and the Jeep e-limited slip locker in the back. Basically the same thing that we see in the Grand Cherokee, beefed up, of course, for the Grand Wagoneer. That's not just going to give you limited-slip functionality in the rear, it's also essentially going to give you an e-locker in the back, and that's why it's that next tier up in four-wheel drive capability. If you're looking for the ultimate off-road, full-size SUV, that's going to be the Grand Wagoneer with that top-end four-wheel drive system. On the inside, perhaps the biggest thing to know about the L version of the Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer is that the seating does not change at all. So we get the same driver's seat and same front passenger seat we find in the different trims. This is the top-end Grand Wagoneer model that I'm in right now, so the seat has a million ways of adjustment. We have an extending thigh cushion, we have inflatable bolsters, we have available seat massage, articulating seat back cushion, and four-way adjustable electric headrests. Also, we have a four-way tilt telescopic memory-linked steering column and power adjustable pedals. The passenger seat has the exact same range of motion and it also has a two-position memory over there on that side. So this is definitely the equal of the Escalade, the Navigator, and even some of the European options in this top-end trim. The second row is definitely very roomy and Jeep touts this as the roomiest second row, but as I always say, take a look at combined legroom figures because the front and second row seats slide forward and backward, so really the combined number is what you should pay attention to. And because the third row does not move further rearward, we don't find quite as much legroom in here as we find in the long-wheelbase General Motors vehicles. But the second row seat, I think, is more comfortable than the ones that we find there, especially in the way that the second row seat reclines and the way that the recline mechanism is located there. You can get the Wagoneer L and Grand Wagoneer L in seven-passenger or eight-passenger versions. This is the seven-passenger model, so there's a really big center console right next to me. Now, getting into the third row is pretty easy because these seats move in a manner that allows you to keep a child seat latch anchored into place on both sides of the vehicle. This is much more child seat friendly than we find in the Ford or GM SUVs. Thanks to the power mechanism, hopping back here into the third row is pretty easy. This seat is in a pretty upright position, but still fairly comfortable. Obviously, you can recline it even further and get some reasonable comfort here in the second row while still having plenty of room in the third row. But again, you will find more room in the Cadillac ESV because the third row does stretch out a little bit. Still, this third row is very accommodating. I have about an inch of headroom left. These seats power recline in this model, which is a really practical touch. You can make them very, very upright to square off the cargo area in the back or make them more suitable for child seats back here. We have air vents on either side, cup holders, softly padded armrests, and USB and USB-C charge ports. There's also a single pane moonroof back here for the third row. The cargo area is, of course, where the stretched wheelbase model shines. We find just under 45 cubic feet of cargo capacity back here and a very, very square cargo opening, which makes this really practical. Of course, if you want even more room, you could power fold the third row seats down. That's a one-touch operation, which is really handy. And you could also power fold the second row seats down and then have an absolutely cavernous interior where you could nearly put four by 10 sheets of whatever back here. Four by eights will easily be swallowed into this cargo area. Now, the one thing that I do find odd is that this power hatch is not as tall as I thought. I'm six feet tall. And as you can see, I am brushing right up against this top. So if you are taller than I am, you should keep in mind, you might be bopping your head on the hatch opening. Now, if you're shorter than I am, you might rejoice at the load in height, which is lower than the competition. This has an adaptive air suspension, so it can go even further down. And there's a button over here on the side to close the hatch rather than on the hatch itself to make it a little bit easier for shorter people, or of course, for children to open and close that hatch. Obviously, if you are planning on cargo hauling with your L, then you're not going to want this fixed in place center console. I wish it was removable because that would give you the option of accessing the third row a bit more easily. But of course, this one has an LCD screen in it and some electrical components, so that's why it's not removable. But if you get the eight passenger version, then this is going to be completely flat all the way up here towards the front seats. Quite logically, the entire interior, except for behind the third row seats, is the same as the regular model, including this large two-pane moonroof. And again, that smaller one back there for the third row, wave at everybody, Brian there. Moving back up front, you can see this has the optional Tupelo leather interior color. I have to say that Jeep has done a really, really good job with the quality of this interior. Moving over to the front doors, you can see where they've put the seat controls there. That's because they have the million way adjustability. If you get the regular Wagoneer, then the seat controls are on the side of the seats, more like we find in other models. We have Grand Wagoneer spelled out on the dashboard. I have to say that in this top-end trim with the metal trim panels on the dashboard, I don't think it's quite as attractive as the model with the real wood trim on the dash. This has the optional secondary screen there for the passenger. I think I would skip that. I think I like the look of the dashboard without it, personally. Over here, we have Apple CarPlay or Android Auto on the main screen. Interesting twist, you cannot CarPlay on the passenger screen, which has always struck me a little bit odd because CarPlay does support up to three screens, so they could be CarPlaying all over the place, but they decided not to do that. We have some physical controls down here below that infotainment screen, touch controls for things like the ventilated seats and heated seats. I have seen some people complain about the responsiveness of these touch controls. That's because they put the touch control itself in kind of an unusual spot. Rather than being right on the icon, you need to touch to the right side of the icon, right where those little LEDs are. That's how you touch activate that. Down here, another LCD screen that opens to reveal a Qi wireless charging mat, lots of storage space, lots of USB inputs there, a rotary style shifter, lots of buttons right on top of that for things like auto brake hold, the lane centering system, etc. Controls for the adaptive air suspension there, the drive mode setting, the transfer case, two very large cup holders right behind that area. We then find a center console, lots of storage going on there, even more USB ports, more USB ports on the seat backs, pretty large center console storage area. This one has an air conditioned center console storage in case you're interested in that. And then moving on over to the driver's side, we have a large LCD instrument cluster, lots of different views, including moving map display and the night vision system. As you'd expect, this interior is full of stitched and premium materials, wood trim items, etc. Even the stitched and soft touch center console areas here, that's where we find the trailer brake controller right there under the power button. The steering wheel is a two spoke unit. The infotainment controls are on the back of the steering wheel. You'll find the controls that multifunction LCD over here on the left side, the controls for the adaptive cruise control over here on the right side. And then we have a nice stitched airbag cover. The only thing missing, I think, on this steering wheel would be paddle shifters. We have the gear limit button down here like we find in Ram trucks. I really wish that had paddle shifters instead of the gear limit functionality. One other odd thing about this interior, the glove box in the passenger side is strangely small. You wouldn't be able to fit any tablet computers in here, not even the smaller variety. Now it's time to get the grandest Wagoneer out on the road and answer all of your burning questions about the new twin turbo inline six engine. Now, this engine is not just going to be found in the long wheelbase models. As I said before, you're going to find these in the regular Wagoneers for 2023 as well. And if you actually find a late model year 2022 short wheelbase grand Wagoneer on the lot, it may have this exact same engine under the hood. Now, according to Jeep, this should go just a hair faster zero to 60 than the 6.4 liter V8. The last time I drove that 6.4 liter V8 grand Wagoneer, I got 5.6 seconds, zero to 60. The official spec is six seconds. The official spec for this engine is five nine. So I wouldn't be surprised if that ended up maybe around five and a half seconds in real world driving. Obviously, we won't know anything until we get this back at home and tested at sea level because right out here I'm nearly at 6,000 feet. So clearly we're going to be losing a lot of power at this altitude. But if you live in Denver or in Montana or other places with high altitudes, you might really be excited about the inline six because it's likely going to lose less performance than the naturally aspirated V8. So definitely a big asset there and lots and lots of low end torque. I don't have any six to zero stopping distance numbers, but I'm wouldn't be surprised if this was basically the same as the existing model. 125 feet is what I got in that. Fortunately, we spent lots of time on gravel roads like the one that we're on here. What do you think about the ride quality? It reminds me a lot of the regular short wheelbase grand Wagoneer. It's very controlled. It's not too bumpy, nothing out of the ordinary. It does a really good job of keeping everything composed. Yeah, this is significantly better than the new Toyota Sequoia that has that's really, really firm. I was surprised by that even with the adaptive suspension that Sequoia is really firm in the back. Unfortunately, that model is kind of now like the low benchmark. I would say it's not really the one you're going to want to strive to be. You want to be more like this or something like an Escalade, something with air suspension. This isn't as good as that. It's just below, I would say. Yeah, just a hair below the top end Escalade, top end GM SUVs with the combination air suspension and magnetic dampers. But even in corners like that where there's bumps and you're going around the corner, everything is very, very smooth. And the independent rear suspension is very, very obvious versus that Sequoia. And the reason I mentioned the Sequoia really, in case you're wondering fans out there, is because it is really unusual in that it no longer has an independent rear suspension. And it's basically the only one. Actually, the Ford has an independent suspension. It's going to feel a little bit firmer than this, but the Escalade is going to be a little bit softer than this. But all three of them are going to be more composed, especially on washboard pavement like we're on right here and in these corners. These are a lot more composed than that Toyota. And even with the longer rear overhang and the extra just weight going on back there, the third row ride quality if you're sitting back there in the way back is still way better in this than in that Sequoia, just hands down. In case you're wondering about straight line acceleration, let's go ahead and give that a whirl now. I'll brake torque it just a little for funsies and let it go. The start is a little softer than you might think, but it really gets going after about 15 miles an hour. That's 510 horsepower, 500 pound feet of torque at about 6000 feet of elevation. So we've lost a reasonable amount of power up here, although the turbocharger definitely feels happier than V8s would at this altitude. Just for funs, let's try not brake torquing it. It feels pretty similar, to be honest, right there at around 3000 RPM. That's where things really take off. That's where the torque plateau really starts. It's almost V8 like in the fact, or I guess naturally aspirated like in the fact that I felt more torque near 4 to 5000 RPM. It really opens up right up there. Yet the impressive thing about this engine is that apparently the torque band is pretty level from about 2600 RPM all the way to redline. Obviously, we can't talk about cabin noise official scores just yet, but I expect this is going to be basically the same or perhaps a hair quieter than the short wheelbase model. As far as road noise goes, just rolling down the road, engine not really engaged, this should be right there around 68.5 decibels would be my guess. Yeah, Jeep did say they did some measures up front, especially with the new engine in place to make this at least this portion of the interior quieter. I don't notice I don't notice much of a difference, but it was already quietish to begin with. So yeah, I think that the difference is just in the V8 rumble. When the V8 engine was in, especially its cylinder deactivation mode, there were some interesting harmonics going on there, and that's why they had those active cancellation vibration damper things under the hood not needed for the inline six engine anymore. And the inline six engine is definitely quieter. If I floor it, there's definitely a lot of power, a lot of torque, but it is much, much quieter than the V8. And speaking of the sound, do you like the way this sounds? I mean, I do like it, but it is very discreet. I think this sounds more refined and more luxury car-like than the V6 that we find in the Ford and the Lincoln. It, um, it sounds to my ear more like the Mercedes inline six than the BMW inline six, though. I think the BMW inline six sounds fantastic. This, not as fantastic, but still very good. I find it kind of interesting that that Jeep, the company that will sell you a 392 Wrangler and formerly an SRT Grand Cherokee or, or a bonkers 700 horsepower Grand Cherokee, that they decided to make this inline six so luxuriously quiet. Right, right. And now you have competitors. Well, really the one competitor, Escalade V, that is a much higher output engine. And you're not going to get anything like that out of this car at all. That is a whole completely different animal, but cool that they did that. I don't foresee them doing something like that with this, like putting that kind of engine back because they're getting rid of the V8 on the normal models. I imagine we're not going to get anything similar to that, but that's probably not really the mission of this car anyway. What we don't know is what is the plug-in hybrid Grand Wagoneer going to be like, because we all know it's coming. You know, Jeep hasn't officially confirmed or denied everything, but we really know that that plug-in hybrid is coming. And we know that this inline six engine was designed for mild hybrids, hybrids and plug-in hybrids in the future. So, I mean, they could very well stick a 200 horsepower motor on here, the 500 horsepower tune and have a 700 horsepower plug-in hybrid. Obviously we won't know for probably another year or so, but they basically said it's coming. So let's switch gears here a little bit. Fuel economy, what have we been seeing so far? Yeah, so today we've been averaging 16 miles per gallon total, but that included an hour and 15 minutes of just idling. Prior to that, just our highway and city combined drive out to the ranch where we were filming, we averaged just under 20 miles per gallon. So pretty in keeping with the more efficient, I guess you'd say, entries in this segment. Obviously this is not an efficient segment, GLS, X7, Escalade with the V8s or Navigator with the twin turbos. None of them are going to be particularly efficient. If you were interested in efficiency, there is the Cadillac diesel though. Right, but a 15.9 including idling is better than the old 6.4 around town would have done. Absolutely, yes. And this does have start-stop if you're interested, but no mild hybrid system. I am a little disappointed in that. So the air conditioning, it's going to turn off too. Frankly, I'm amazed it took Jeep so long to bring a full-size SUV to market because this has been a runaway sales success and I'm pretty sure they wish they had done something about that earlier. For the first two quarters of calendar year 2022, Jeep has sold over 24,000 Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer models and that's without the long wheelbase on the market, which is finally coming now. In fact, the short wheelbase Grand Wagoneer alone has already outsold the Lincoln Navigator and that would be Navigator long wheelbase and short wheelbase combined. Perhaps even more impressive than that is the fact that the average transaction price on the Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer is significantly higher than most of the competition. When you simply take a look at the regular Wagoneer, it starts essentially at about $60,000 and goes way up from there. That is significantly more expensive than the base versions of the Tahoe and the base versions of the Ford Expedition. It's definitely a different kind of vehicle. The mission of the Wagoneer is to compete with things like the Yukon Denali, not the base Chevy Tahoe. And now with this vehicle in long wheelbase form, it's designed to compete with the Cadillac Escalade ESV, the long wheelbase version of the Navigator, as well as things like the Yukon Denali XL. And I'm really going to be intrigued to see how this continues to sell through the rest of the year as these long wheelbase models start to arrive on dealer lots. This really does an excellent job of competing in the luxury segment. When you take a look at this top end Grand Wagoneer model, it has all the gadgets and gizmos, all the luxury accoutrements on the inside to compete with the Navigator and Escalade, with a ride that is definitely above what we find in the Navigator, and now 510 horsepower. Now, if you want something that's faster and something that rides even better, there is the Cadillac Escalade, but it actually is going to be a little bit more expensive than the Grand Wagoneer. So you're going to pay for that extra refinement and you're not going to find as much screen real estate or as much cargo room inside. Let me know what you think about all that down there in the comment section. And would you cross shop this with the top end versions of the Navigator and the Cadillac? Are you more interested in the cargo room in the back or the little bit of extra legroom that we find in that Cadillac? The numbers indicate that lots of folks are certainly interested in the Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer. And then, of course, keep in mind that when we take a look at Tahoe sales, that includes an awful lot of fleet sales to police departments, the federal government, rental car agencies, etc. And so far, we are not seeing that same sort of sales over here in the Wagoneer lineup. Be sure to hit that subscribe button down there at the bottom of the screen. And of course, stay tuned because I will have a full video on this just as soon as I can get it at home and run it through our usual battery of performance scores. As I said before, I'm at nearly 6,000 feet in elevation here in Montana, so I have not been able to do any 0-60 testing. It just wouldn't be fair because the numbers would have no bearing in reality based on the other numbers that I run at sea level. So you absolutely could not compare them. Anyway, hit that subscribe button, find me at Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, all those other social places, and I'll see all of you next week.