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Sad that the Jeep Wagoneer just wasn’t big enough? Fear not, there’s now a stretched Wagoneer L for you. They’ve added about a foot of length to the already ginormous SUV, almost all of which goes to the cargo area. Looking for more legroom, however? Check out the Cadillac Escalade ESV instead, because this third row doesn’t move in the stretch process. Also on offer is an all-new twin-turbo engine that you’ll soon be seeing in a wide variety of new vehicles from Jeep’s parent company…
As is the case with every other stretched full-size SUV in America, the Wagoneer L and Grand Wagoneer look like caricatures of their smaller selves. All of the additional length goes behind the rear doors. You’ll notice that the rear axle moves back from the edge of the doors by about seven inches, while the rear overhang ends a foot further back. If you were of the opinion that the regular Wagoneer looks somewhat like a hearse, you’ll find this look to be even more morbid. To us, it is a handsome design that stands out from the crowd with the same chrome accents that harken back to the original Wagoneer. There’s still no denying that it is a massive vehicle in every way.
The interior of the Wagoneer L sees no real changes other than the extra cargo space behind the third row. Unlike the competition, the Wagoneer L’s third row stays in exactly the same position behind the second row, maximizing the newfound cargo space. This actually gives it the largest cargo volume in the class behind that third row (42.1 cubic feet), so if you’re looking to carry seven or eight people and all of their cargo, the Wagoneer L is your ride.
The second largest change for the 2023 model year is the introduction of the all-new Hurricane family of engines. There are two flavors, both 3.0L twin-turbo inline-6’s that produce more power than the outgoing 5.7L and 6.4L V8’s. In the Wagoneer and Wagoneer L, it puts out 420 horsepower and 468 lb.-ft. of torque. In Grand Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer L, it produces 500 horsepower and 510 lb.-ft. of torque. These are improvements of 28 and 23 horsepower, respectively. The 5.7L V8 will remain standard on the base Wagoneer, while the 6.4L V8 will continue to be offered on the base Grand Wagoneer.
Both of the new turbo engines can also still tow up to 10,000 pounds. In regards to fuel economy, the improvements are palpable. In our day of driving around a Grand Wagoneer L, we saw around 16 mph even with some idling. That might not sound great, but it’s three to four mpg better than what you’d see around town in the 6.4L V8. The EPA rates the base Hurricane engine at 19 mpg combined,16 mpg combined for the Hurricane 510.
According to Jeep, the Grand Wagoneer L with the Hurricane 510 should get to 60 mph a hair faster than the 6.4. Despite that rating, we were able to reach 5.6 seconds 0-60 in our testing. The official rating for this engine is 5.9 seconds, so we wouldn’t be surprised if that ended up hitting maybe around 5.5 seconds in real-world driving. Obviously, we won’t know anything until we get this back at home and test it at sea level. Keep in mind, if you live in Denver, Montana, or other places with high altitudes, you might really be excited about the inline-6 turbo because it is likely going to lose less performance up there than the naturally aspirated V8. We don’t have any 60-0 stopping distance numbers just yet, but wouldn’t be surprised if this came out to be the same as the existing model at around 125 feet.
The ride quality reminds us a lot of the regular short wheelbase Grand Wagoneer. It’s very controlled, not too bumpy, nothing out of the ordinary, and it does a really good job of keeping everything composed. It’s still just a hair below the top end Escalade and other GM stretched full-size SUVs with their combination of an air suspension and magnetorheological dampers. Even in sharp corners, everything is very, very smooth. The second and third row ride quality don’t falter due to the added length either.
Accelerating from a stop is initially a little softer than you might expect, but it really gets going after about 15 mph. The 510 horsepower, 500 lb.-ft. of torque make this engine feel peppier than the V8 would at this altitude. Just for fun. This is still no competitor to the new Escalade-V, though. If Stellantis wanted to build a super-high performance Grand Wagoneer, it is possible they could utilize the 4xe plug-in hybrid formula and stick a 200 horsepower down there to help it hit closer to 700. On the flip side, it could turn out to be a more frugal setup that still doesn’t compete with the highest-performing Escalade ever. We do not know for sure what they’ll do exactly, but it has been confirmed that the 4xe is definitely coming in the near future.
If you are looking to get a full-size SUV that competes with offerings ranging from the GMC Sierra Denali all the way to top-spec Escalades and even BMW X7s and Mercedes-Benz GLSs, the Wagoneer family in L form are fresh and modern alternatives that now can be had in more efficient options than the competition (except for the diesel offerings in that mix). We think the Ls should have been available from the beginning, as this nameplate is making W’s in the sales department already. The addition of the longer and more capacious variant allows (Jeep) to now directly compete with each of the American full-size SUV entries, and it continues to put up a good fight.
