(By Tom Lohnes) – After nearly 30 years, the production-ready Jeep Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer are here, and they look competitive.
Starting at around $55,000, The un-grand Wagoneer comes standard with a 357-horsepower, 5.7-liter V8 mated to an 8-speed auto and standard 4WD. This Jeep is poised at the Ford Expedition, Chevy Tahoe, and GMC Yukon. Inside, the Wagoneer gets Jeep’s newest interior design, with rich leathers, real metals, and a lot of screens. Overall, the Jeep Wagoneer is a solid 7-or-8-seat SUV, but it doesn’t even hold a candle to the Grand.
Upgrade to the Grand Wagoneer, and you get 7 interior screens, a lot of wood, and a blistering 471 horsepower coming out of a standard 6.4-liter V8 that makes the Grand Wagoneer able to tow 10,000 pounds. Basically a direct attack on the Navigator and Escalade, this Jumbo Jeep costs anywhere from $87,500 to $111,000. Big money for a big car.
So, are you considering these massive Jeeps for your next family vehicle? I sure would, as sales start this summer.
Cool! But don’t plan on owning one after five to six years, that’s when all the electrical gremlins will start showing up and it will turn this 100k vehicle into a 20k turd that dealers won’t be able to get rid of. For a vehicle with a modern fuel injected engine, that should be able to easily cover 200-300k trouble free miles, you’ll end up seeing them in salvage yards stripped of their engines so someone can try to use it in a hot rod.
You do realize we are no longer living in the 90’s?
Yeah, I do. We are living in an era where there are more electronic conveniences on vehicles than there ever has been. Unless your living under a rock then you know as well as I do that modern vehicles are over priced due to inflation and they are just as expensive to fix… if you can afford to fix them. Try to have someone fix the back up camera in a modern vehicle after its been on the road for a couple years and see what it costs compared to the vehicles value at that time. How about that stupid folding tailgate that GM made, get a couple years in an outdoor environment or maybe traveling on unimproved roads part of its life and see how well it operates. Think that will be cheap to replace? How about having a transmission rebuilt? Almost all vehicles now have modern automatics and they are exorbitantly expensive to repair. Detroit and the automotive industry in general lost its way when they started making vehicles too difficult for the common person to repair, let alone perform a simple oil change or a battery replacement. Combined with the inflation in our economy and around the world the automotive industry is headed the way of the dodo bird. Don’t get me completely wrong, I love the new Challengers, Camaros and Mustangs but most of society can’t afford these vehicles and those who do are hocking their backsides to the banking and credit industry. Most people need cheaper and affordable cars that are built to last and easy to work on as well.
Despite what reader Curtis opines, and I’m not saying he doesn’t have valid points to make, Jeep is aiming exactly where the $$ are being spent by the American market. Who can blame them? They are on their 3rd ownership group since being bailed out by the government in 2009.
There are no “easy to repair” vehicles any more. That ship has sailed. Since manufacturers are responsible for the emissions performance of the vehicles they sell for 100,000 miles, they do not want the public messing with their power trains. If you want easy to work on, buy something old and fix it up. If you want reliability and/or longevity, buy Toyota or Honda.
Jeep- biggest POS I have owned. Owned by Chrysler until recently, now Pugeot. neither companies known for quality.
$100,000 plus. it better have a deed and an address.