2022 Grand Wagoneer: As big as it looks, but it doesn’t feel it

2022 Grand Wagoneer Obsidian 4x4 vs. 2022 Lexus LX600 Luxury: A beastly battle.

This week: Grand Wagoneer.

Price: $109,025 as tested. The $3,295 Convenience Group adds night vision, intersection collision assist, and more; Heavy-Duty Trailer Tow Package, $995; rear-seat entertainment, $1,995.

Conventional wisdom: Edmunds.com likes the “roomy seating in all three rows, strong engines provide plenty of power for towing, plenty of new technology features” but not that “some interior controls are distracting to use, feels big and floaty when driving over bumps, some interior materials aren’t fully up to luxury status, not as fuel-efficient as competitors.”

Marketer’s pitch: “Anticipate greatness.”

Reality: It’s a lot, and there’s more to come.

Nothing quite like it: The Grand Wagoneer is so grand that it doesn’t even wear the Jeep name — it’s now Stellantis’ Wagoneer division, much like Toyota spawned the Lexus brand 30 years ago. The lineup also includes the not-so-grand, plain, old Wagoneer.

Competition: In addition to the Lexus, there’s the Mercedes-Benz GLS, BMW X7, Lincoln Navigator, Cadillac Escalade, Infiniti QX80.

The big downside: It’s probably just as well that the entry ticket for this vehicle starts around 95 grand, because it needs a lot of gas. The Grand Wagoneer averaged 12.3 mpg for me, which I think is about the worst I’ve seen in 11 years of testing.

An optional 3.0-liter turbo six creates 510 horsepower, so I’d hazard a guess that it’s not offering much fuel savings.

The big upside: Your family is well cared for. Super-giant Sturgis Kid 4.0 positively gushed over the room, the comfort, the sheer enjoyment that was the Grand Wagoneer. I don’t know that I’ve heard him be so effusive before.

Legroom in all three rows is excellent, as are foot room and headroom.

Cargo space behind the seat is 44.2 cubic feet; 61.9 with the third row folded; and 112.9 from the front seats to the door. Nice, but still smaller than just about any minivan.

One major downfall: That fully folded space is justthismuch too short for front-row humans to sit in front of an eight-foot piece of plywood. Fortunately, this problem is being addressed with the new 2023 Grand Wagoneer L, which is 7 inches longer and adds 16 cubic inches of cargo space.

Towing maxes out at 9,850 pounds.

Driver’s Seat: Aah, this is as comfortable as it looks. There are all kinds of adjustments through the screen, although the main controls are on the door handle near the mirror controls. For me, these are always too sensitive; controls on the side of the seat just seem more intuitive and steady. Just turn on the massage and knead those worries away …

The gauges are pretty white on black, and able to switch between dials and digital.

The Obsidian package means everything is black, with some touches of silver and almost enough wood to match the exterior panels on the 1980s-version Grand Wagoneer, but fortunately not as fake. All the graphic interfaces are so smooth and shiny they make me think about digging up six figures for a vehicle. Not.

Up to speed: The 2022′s 6.4-liter V-8 engine creates 392 horsepower and 404 pound-feet of torque. That’s enough to rocket the giant vehicle to 60 mph in 5.7 seconds, according to Motor Trend. I thought the Grand Wagoneer seemed ever so wonky on open throttle, but that’s a lot of movement from a big fella, so some full-throttle instability is to be expected.

On the road: The Grand Wagoneer has a Sport mode. Of course it does. So sporty.

But wait, the giant truck actually corners nicely. I was surprised at how well it rounded the bends without any noticeable lean.

Curvy country roads are not exactly fun, as expected, but positioning the Grand Wagoneer in your lane is not difficult at all. Surely not as difficult as controlling the F-150 that crossed into my lane on a narrowish bridge and tapped my mirror. And kept going.

But even getting around the driveway was no more difficult than in the Sturgis Family Sienna, which was surprising, considering the enormous engine compartment up front.

Shifty: Dial in Drive with the Stellantis usual transmission control. The 8-speed unit works fairly well.

All Grand Wagoneer models come with four-wheel drive standard. Those low-budget Wagoneers starting at $58,000 are rear-wheel drive, with four-by as an option.

Play some tunes: The 12-inch touchscreen operates a 23-speaker McIntosh stereo system (part of a $5,000 package that also makes everything obsidian, adds passenger interactive display and more). Sound from the system is excellent, about an A-. I’ve sampled A+ levels recently in Audis, Hondas, and the CX-50, so the grading is harder now.

Operation is fairly simple, with dials for volume and tuning and a big touchscreen for everything else. The screen works well, although it does pause when changing functions with disconcerting frequency.

Keeping warm and cool: I had the Grand Wagoneer in my possession for a serious heatwave in the 90s and nearing 100. All that optional black stuff really absorbs the heat, and should be reconsidered.

Toggles along the bottom of the dashboard control all the functions and are easy to use.

Night shift: Riding up high and being able to see the road at night is usually an either-or proposition, but not in the Grand Wagoneer. And I didn’t have 32 cars flashing their high beams at me.

Fuel economy: See above.

Where it’s built: Warren, Mich.

How it’s built: Consumer Reports predicts the reliability will be a 2 out of 5.

Next week: 2022 Lexus LX600 Luxury.