- Search Cartoons
- Comic Archive
-
Payne
Store
Henry Payne RSS
Payne: Jeep Grand Wagoneer rolls out the red carpet
Posted by Talbot Payne on August 16, 2021
Welcome to the Grand.
The 2022 Jeep Grand Wagoneer, like Mackinac Island’s historic Grand Hotel, embraces its past to offer the most luxurious vehicle the brand has ever offered.
Grand Hotel has coddled families since 1887 with its spectacular views of the Mackinac Straits, enormous porch, and opulent grounds and golf course. The Grand Wagoneer has its own storied history as the first, giant SUV built from 1963-1991 with commanding views of the surrounding streets, enormous wood paneling, and acres of space.
The 2022 model updates the concept for the 21st century.
Sharing its bones with the Wagoneer, which ably does battle with other truck-based SUVs like the GMC Tahoe and Ford Expedition, the Grand Wagoneer offers luxury on par with names like the Cadillac Escalade and Range Rover. For its 21st century model, the Grand brings its wood paneling inside where it shares space with hotel suite-like comfort and up to 75 inches of screen technology. I’ll have more time with the Wagoneer in the future, but for now, Grand Wagoneer is the headliner.
Few can afford it, but this is a halo vehicle — a fashion plate that inspires the rest of the lineup. You covet it, then settle for a handsome, three-row, $50k Grand Cherokee L.
Escaping Gotham north along the Hudson Rover, I hustled my remarkably nimble, 6,400-pound tester over a variety of bridges, highways, and undulating country roads. Deeper and deeper I rode into the Empire State. Credit major upgrades to the ladder-frame truck chassis (shared with the Ram 1500 pickup) like air suspension and independent rear suspension.
This is the second $100,000-plus Jeep I’ve driven — the 707-horse Grand Cherokee Trackhawk being the first. Like that Hellcat-powered rhino in tennis shoes, the Grand borrows a V-8 engine — the 471-horspower, 6.4-liter V-8 — from the Dodge Challenger. While the V-8 does yeoman’s work below decks powering the land yacht along, the Trackhawk and Grand are otherwise as different as Rocky Balboa and Rock Hudson.
Drop six figures on the Trackhawk and you’ll hang out at Woodward parking lot with the boys talking horsepower, launch control, and superchargers. Invest in the Grand to take to the family to, well, Mackinac Island.
Talking about the Garden Wagoneer’s drivetrain is as besides the point as boring the family over dinner at the Grand Hotel’s Main Dining Room about the hydro-electric plant that powers the resort.
What the kiddies really want to hear about is all the cool activities on tap. The Grand Wagoneer has plenty.
Encased in a whisper-quiet cabin with the V-8 barely audible up front, a family of six each have their own room in the Grand. Up front, the driver is immersed in tech. Heck, like captaining an airplane on Autopilot, he doesn’t even have to have his feet on the pedals. I spent much of my journey in Active Driving Assist, simply toggling the speed up and down with a button on the two-spoke steering wheel.
With good lane-keep assist, radar and cameras, the Grand did the rest.
I was surrounded by high-tech opulence. To my left (in a nod to Mercedes) the Grand locates seat controls on the door. A wide, configurable, 12.5-inch digital screen displays a row of pages so I could monitor the ship’s controls: navigation route, Sirius XM station, range (a hefty 536 miles on a full tank), and so on. An additional head-up display over the bow gave me more essentials like speed limit and nav turns.
To my right, two more screens. Another 12.5-incher powered by Uconnect 5.0 — the latest, best infotainment system in the land. With quick touch screen icons, menus, and graphics, it is easy to set up. Below is yet another screen to monitor climate controls. Tap it and it opens like a secret James Bond 007 compartment to reveal a charging pad for your cell phone as well as holders for up to three more phones.
Will future Grands option a microwave oven in there?
The front passenger commands a third dash screen — sitting above lush Satin American Walnut wood embossed with GRAND WAGONEER in raised silver letters. Mrs. Payne could use the screen to watch a movie, or send the family chauffeur (me) nav instructions as to where to stop for dinner. Or she could monitor kids in the second row with a cabin cam.
The console was so choked with features — self-park, tow/haul, passenger dash screen, 007 door — that Jeep forgot a mute button for the radio. Oops. To lower the volume I had to tediously turn down the volume knob. A rare miss in this meticulous product.
Second row seating has so many options, the kids would have little time to misbehave. Available 10.1-inch screens are Amazon Fire-equipped so they can watch their favorite shows on Netflix, Amazon Prime, whatever. Road trip to Mackinac? Binge watch “The Mandalorian.”
Or mirror your phone. At a rest stop, I paired my Samsung with the big screen (it’s that Smart View button in your phone settings, Boomer) and watched the highlights from the Nashville IndyCar race. The activities seem endless. I suppose the kids could argue over the temperature controls in the 10.25-inch center tablet.
Then there is the third row, normally the attic room of three-row utes. Not in the Grand.
Kids back there may not get screens (the second-row seatbacks have to fold to make a load floor after all), but they get plenty. Like their own own sunroof. Clever engineering has brought adjustable HVAC vents within reach rather than high in the ceiling. USB ports are on tap. Legroom is plentiful.
Boy is it plentiful. At 6’5”, I could easily sit behind myself sitting behind myself in the third row. Jeep has even carved out space under the second row seat for my size 15 shoes.
Speaking of attention to detail, Grand Wagoneer does a nice impression of a fine hotel.
The bright work on the grille is gorgeous. Bronze and chrome air vents are exquisite. The raised STARTER button is a small gem. And did I mention the Satin American Walnut wood continues back through the cabin like a Grand Hotel bar?
The Warren-made Grand Wagoneer has an American flag etched on each front door, just above the wide doorstep that unfold when you open the door.
Kind of the like the American flags hanging from the Grand Hotel’s front porch.
2022 Jeep Grand Wagoneer
Vehicle type: Front engine, four-wheel-drive, six-or-seven-passenger SUV
Price: $88,995, including $2,000 destination fee ($109,580 Series III as tested)
Powerplant: 6.4-liter V-8
Power: 471 horsepower, 455 pound-feet torque
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Performance: 0-60 mph, 5.9 seconds (Car and Driver est.); towing, 9,850 lbs.
Weight: 6,420 pounds (as tested)
Fuel economy: EPA est. mpg 13 city/18 highway/15 combined
Report card
Highs: Screenfuls of tech; the gorgeous wood is on the inside this time!
Lows: Drinks fuel; volume mute button, please
Overall: 4 stars
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.