Distance: 1041 km
Location: Missouri, Kansas
Dates: 28-31 March 2024
Up front: There are abundant leather surfaces on everything you touch. The fake wood trim classes up the interior as does the matte chrome strips. Control surfaces are logically laid out and the screen sometimes pairs with Apple CarPlay. If it doesn’t, it has built-in GPS to navigate and directions show up in the instrument cluster. The seats are comfortable with the exception of the lack of shoulder support.
The screen is slow to respond and is too cluttered. There’s also no knob to control screen selection and using the touchscreen is distracting. I wish there a heads up display so I don’t have to look for things on the vast 10-inch display. I don’t need big screen, I need a clear and responsive one.
In the back: The second row has plenty of legroom and seats three passengers across comfortably. There’s a little bit of recline and abundant USB charging ports as well as a 12v socket to power laptops. I wouldn’t mind being chauffeured in the Wagoneer if it means I can work on the go. The third row has enough legroom for adults, but the raised floor makes passengers feel like they’re squatting on the floor. Still, there are cupholders and four USB charging ports in the very back.
The rear hatch is automatic since it’ll be too tall to close manually, I hope he motor never breaks. There’s enough cargo space for carry-on sized luggage with the third row seats up, so six people could go on a short trip together. However, the seats must be stowed manually—no powered seats here.
Driving: It’s very big and there are too many blind spots. So many that there blind spot mirrors come standard. However, there isn’t a rear hatch mirror to see below the rear bumper in case the back up camera is obscured. It’s larger than the Chrysler Pacifica minivan, but doesn’t have as much interior volume.
The ladder frame chassis SUV is based on the Ram pickup truck, so it drives like one too—namely not very nimble. It doesn’t want to accelerate and requires the twin turbos to kick in to get up to speed. But once it’s on the highway, it has no problem cruising comfortably along. Having two turbos on the 3-litre six-cylinder makes it very thirsty at high speeds, eating up about 13 mpg. In comparison, the similarly-sized Chevrolet Suburban with a 5.3-litre V8 achieves at least 15mpg with selective cylinder deactivation.
