2024 Jeep Wagoneer S Review -- Finding the Space Between

The Wagoneer S is the first battery-electric Jeep for American consumption, and it uses a 400-volt, 100.5-kWh battery pack that feeds juice to front- and rear-electric motors that are 250 kW/400V each. This gets you to a system horsepower of 600 and 617 lb-ft of torque. Of course, it's four-wheel drive, and it has a single-speed transfer case.

Range is a tick over 300 miles and the charge time on a Level 2 is a bit under 7 hours for 5 percent to 80 percent. A DC fast charger gets you from five to 80 in a little under half an hour.

The Wagoneer S shares the STLA Large platform with the Dodge Charger.

(Full disclosure: Jeep flew me to San Diego/Carlsbad and fed and housed me for two nights so that I could drive the Wagoneer S. I did not take the proffered hat but did take a notebook and pen.)

The S is positioned more as upmarket SUV than an outright performer -- maybe we'll see a Trackhawk down the line -- but that didn't stop some of the assembled media from lighting up the tires at a stoplight. I wasn't quite as willing to potentially draw the attention of the CHIPs, but every time I stabbed the accelerator I got tossed nicely back in the seat. This thing will pull.

One can adjust the regenerative braking, but it has to be done via the center-stack screen. It would be simpler to use a paddle -- especially if a driver wants to make a mid-corner change. It's a bit baffling -- Jeep worked to keep the interior design clean and the control operations simple, but this choice needlessly complicates matters. Paddles wouldn't mar the design.

Handling is about what one would expect from a large-ish SUV that's not off-road-focused. It's generally planted well with accurate, well-weighted steering, but body roll puts a damper on the proceedings. Flicking it into "sport" mode turns the traction control off, at least to an extent, in order to help the vehicle rotate.

The ride was pleasant on glass-smooth SoCal roads, but it was way too stiff over some broken pavement in the San Diego suburb of La Jolla. We were at slow speeds, in auto mode, and we were getting bounced around a bit too much. I am curious to how this thing handles the pockmarks, potholes, and craters of Midwest roads.

Jeep spent some time talking styling with us, and the Wagoneer S is good-looking, inside and out. The rear spoiler integrates well, and the dash design is clean while still incorporating knobs and buttons. There's a large center-stack screen and the passenger gets a screen, too. The climate-control screen easily slides upward to reveal extra storage and some USB ports.

Interior materials look nice, but there's a trick at play. Above the beltline, the materials feel price-point appropriate, but hard plastics lurk below. This is a trend I've been noticing across the industry -- impress the customer on the high side, pinch pennies down low.

Head and legroom are plentiful upfront and the rear seat is plenty usable for larger/taller adults. Cargo space in the rear is appropriate and there's also a front trunk for those who need more.

The 2024 Jeep Wagoneer S is on sale as you read this, and right now just one trim, the Launch Edition, is available. You can get it for $71,995 plus $1,795 in destination and delivery fees. Interestingly enough, Cadillac introduced the Lyriq-V, with similar pricing, while my boots were on the ground in Carlsbad.

Should you want one of these bad boys, you get LED lighting all round, including fog lamps, 20-inch wheels, a dual-pane panoramic sunroof, USB ports, navigation, a wireless cell-phone charger, leatherette seating surfaces, heated and cooled front seats, heated and cooled second-row seats, power tilt/telescope steering, adaptive cruise control, rearview-mirror camera, UConnect infotainment, satellite radio, and McIntosh audio.

Active safety/active driving-assist features include active driving assist, intersection collision assist, active lane management, 360-degree camera, drowsy-driver detection, traffic-sign recognition, blind-spot monitoring with rear cross-path detection, auto hold, autonomous parking assist, and full-speed forward-collision warning with advanced brake assist.

On its own merits, the Wagoneer S is a fine if not particularly remarkable battery-electric SUV. What I wonder about is this -- who is the buyer? You'll get some folks who want to own the first BEV Jeep sold in the States, for sure. But beyond that, the lay of the land is trickier.

Jeep targeted the Tesla Model Y with this one, and others in the competitive set include the Lyriq-V, Genesis GV70, and Mercedes-Benz EQE.

Realistically, though, the Wagoneer S is a tweener.

Not only is the Wagoneer S a lot smaller than the big-boy Wagoneer, it's actually smaller, in terms of exterior and interior dimensions, than the Grand Cherokee, but not by much.

So yeah, it occupies a strange space in the Jeep lineup. Jeep folks won't talk future product but they conceded that the platform could host a hybrid or even internal-combustion powertrain -- a Trackhawk with the inline-six engine from the upcoming Dodge Charger would be fun.

One thing we do know -- Jeep has plans to show at least one more Wagoneer S trim at the Chicago Auto Show next month.

Finding the right buyer profile for the Wagoneer S is a problem for the product planners, not for me -- and, indeed, they have an idea of the likely demographic, as shown to us in the product presentation. That said, it's one thing to know the likely age, gender, income, and family status of potential buyers, and another to know who will buy the Wagoneer S over the competitive set -- or over other vehicles in the Jeep showroom.

My problem/job is simply to evaluate the vehicle. And as noted above, aside from some dynamic flaws -- a tad too much body roll in cornering, a stiff ride on broken pavement -- and some cost-cutting choices that are evident in the cabin, the Wagoneer S is pretty good on the merits.

It's not a home run, nor did Jeep strike out, to use an overused baseball metaphor. The range is good, the acceleration is swift, the interior looks good and works well, and the highway ride is good if the road is smooth. It does all the SUV things well.

The Wagoneer S's presence in the Jeep lineup is a bit confounding, but sometimes you need to occupy the space between.

[Images © 2025 Tim Healey/TTAC.com]

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