If you’ve ever seen a Jeep Wagoneer or Jeep Grand Wagoneer lumbering down the road, you’ve probably thought “Jeeze, that thing is tiny.” Well friends, fear not, as Jeep has heard your criticism of its biggest bois and slapped seven more inches to their wheelbase and 12 inches overall for the introduction of the Wagoneer L.
The brand unveiled these giant Jeeps at the New York Auto Show. The duo measure 226.7 inches long in order to keep up with its fellow full-size, longer wheelbase SUVs like the Cadillac Escalade ESV at 226.9 inches and the Lincoln Navigator L at 221.9. The passenger cabin didn’t grow in size at all —nthe L still offers 179.2 cubic feet of space that the regular Wagoneer offers. Jeep says the additional foot of Wagoneer that customers get with the L is made up of cargo space behind the third row.
That’s a whole lot of Jeep to be unveiling during historic gas price hikes. Perhaps to combat that longer car, Jeep also announced its all-new 3.0-liter Hurricane twin-turbo inline six-cylinder engine would be standard in the refreshed models. The new engine should shave an mpg or two off the existing V8's dreadful numbers, Jeep claims. But if saving bucks at the pump is your main concern, these hefty lads aren’t for you. The Wagoneer’s current 6.4-liter V8 is already rated at 15 mpg combine, making it less efficient than the Escalade at 16 mpg or the Navigator at 17 mpg. It’s not even a contest when taking into account European full-sized SUV models.
Jeep also brought a murdered out trim package called Wagoneer Carbide. It’s cool enough but definitely something we’ve seen brands bring to auto shows before. Black wheels and grilles have kinda lost their flavor after so many years of the same thing. Not every car needs to be a Batmobile.