- The Wagoneer S costs $71,995 in its launch-edition form
- It’s the quickest Jeep ever, besting the Hemi-powered Trackhawk
- EPA ratings: 303 miles on Falken tires, 270 miles on Pirellis
- Think urban wagon, not off-roader
It’s taken a while to strike out on the EV trail, but now Jeep has its first American-market electric vehicle in the form of the 2024 Jeep Wagoneer S. The five-seat, midsize crossover SUV shares only the Wagoneer name with the bulkier body-on-frame SUV also sold by Jeep—and it disavows gas entirely, at least for now.
The Wagoneer S rides on the same STLA Large platform as the Dodge Charger EV, and it’s the second of a brace of new electric vehicles Stellantis promises for the U.S. soon, including a Wrangler-like Recon EV. In practice, it’s a companion to the Grand Cherokee—but with its under-floor battery, more a direct rival for vehicles like the Tesla Model Y and Cadillac Lyriq.
Of those, the Lyriq offers the better analogue. Like the Cadillac, the Wagoneer S overdelivers on ride quality and acceleration, while off-roading talent and state-of-the-art charging take a back seat. Jeep also now faces the same hurdle Cadillac once faced: Are Wagoneer buyers really looking for a smaller, battery-powered utility vehicle—and are they willing to overlook old brand bona fides to get into one?
2024 Jeep Wagoneer S
Jeep Wagoneer S: More wind-cheating wagon than SUV
Meant to conjure the strong-selling shape of today’s Grand Cherokee—and remind drivers less of the awkward uprights of the full-size Wagoneer—the Wagoneer S drapes more tapered body panels over the five-passenger cabin with more than the usual SUV grace. It’s attractive but not especially compelling.
In part, that’s because since the days of FCA, Jeep has watered down the single visual cue that defines its brand within the packs of think-alike crossovers. Here the seven-slot grille no longer slots anything at all. It’s a series of nubbins that rivet an LED light bar to the front end, and dismiss that chance to make an invaluable first impression.
Down the sides the Wagoneer S depends on badges to define it; the profile could come from Jeep or Kia or a host of other brands. Launch Editions wear black above the shoulder line and below on the sills, which cuts down on the mass of the shape. Jeep crows over the Wagoneer S’s drag coefficient of 0.29. It gets there, in part, thanks to a big basket-handle spoiler that directs air off the back end of the vehicle and squares off the roofline. The spoiler sits above a slim LED taillight that pushes the Jeep name up and angled inward to the body, where it’s lost in translation.
The Wagoneer S cockpit bears more striking details. A two-spoke steering wheel embossed with “Wagoneer” (but no “Jeep”) sets the horizontal theme, which picks up wings of metallic trim at the juncture of dash and door panel. Digital displays can tuck in the entire width: a 12.3-inch gauge cluster twins with the 12.3-inch central touchscreen, while a 10.3-inch screen below that houses climate controls; a fourth screen, another 10.3-incher, can be fitted for front-passenger distraction.
There’s less glossy black trim here to amplify the shine from the screens, thankfully. In my test vehicle, lipstick-red leather hinted at all the Wagoneer S had in mind once we peeled out of the parking lot, in search of empty winding roads.
2024 Jeep Wagoneer S
Jeep Wagoneer S: Trackhawk thrust and moves
With a set of talons that claw the road while its electric motors spin out heroic torque, the Wagoneer S drives unlike almost any other Jeep—save for the former Grand Cherokee Trackhawk. At heart, it’s that vehicle, all day, all the time, only with a more compliant ride.
In pure quickness, it overpowers the Trackhawk out of the gate. With a 250-kw (335-hp) motor at each end, and a 100.5-kwh battery beneath the floor, the Launch Edition Wagoneer S can launch itself to 60 mph in 3.4 seconds—a startling talent that’s clear when it’s tugged into the drivetrain’s Sport mode and floored from a stoplight or sign. The dual-motor, all-wheel-drive setup flares out 600 hp and 617 lb-ft of torque, which helps it to that better-than-Tesla acceleration time, while it also makes the Wagoneer S quicker than the former Trackhawk by a tenth of a second.
Those drive modes move around the Wagoneer S’s power, while a toggle behind a couple of screen taps enables different levels of regenerative braking. Auto mode suits the Wagoneer S’s suburban-shuttle duties best, by design, and engages motors to split power 40:60 front to rear. Other modes rejigger power delivery to burn down through snow to the pavement, or paddle through sand; Eco disengages the front axle unless it encounters wheel slip, for a more frugal 100% bias to the rear. It’s Sport mode where the Wagoneer feels least confident—if only because it’s so powerful. It leaps ahead even with a limo-driver’s gentle toe on the throttle, with a 20:80 power split and despite the Wagoneer S’s curb weight of 5,667 pounds. Within those drive modes Jeep programs in Max and Min regenerative braking—maximum set at 0.2 to 0.3g, minimum from just 0.04 to 0.08g. I drove most of the hundred-mile day in Auto, with maximum regen, and didn’t experience the driveline judder that my co-driver witnessed, but Jeep did swap vehicles at a stopover, noting some axle-locking abnormality.
With 6.4 inches of ground clearance, the Wagoneer S falls behind vehicles like the Subaru Outback at 8.7 inches or more—and with its street-ready Falken or Pirelli tires, it’s clearly not yet tuned for trail-cutting chores. A Wagoneer S Trailhawk Concept seems likely for production, with its electronic rear locking differential and all-terrain tires.
Optimized for on-road driving, the Wagoneer S I drove with 20-inch wheels shod with Falken tires came with an EPA rating of 303 miles, which falls to 270 miles on the stickier Pirellis. Jeep promises peak charge rates of about 200 kw, which would math out to a recharge from 20-80% in 23 minutes.
The fancy ZIP codes where the Wagoneer S finds homes won’t likely press its cornering abilities too much, but aside from its very abrupt throttle tip-in, the Wagoneer S comports itself in a genteel way, thanks to a very well-tuned multi-link front and integral-link rear suspension. Like the Lyriq, it doesn’t need an air suspension and adaptive damping to soothe bouts of road rash; it depends on sheer weight and smartly chosen shocks and springs. Jeep weights the steering to lighten up at lower speeds but not too much; in Auto mode, it snaps to attention and keeps focus as it tracks down the highway.
2024 Jeep Wagoneer S
Jeep Wagoneer S: Smaller than it looks
Roughly the size of the current Jeep Grand Cherokee, the Wagoneer S sits 192.4 inches long and rides on a 113.0-inch wheelbase. It has two rows of seats, with no option for a third.
Over the course of a hundred miles behind the wheel and in both rows of seats, I found those front leather-clad buckets to have all the great support of the most plushly padded Grand Cherokees. But oddly, the Wagoneer S pinches front passenger feet with a wheel house that intrudes well into the foot space. Legroom itself is fine, and so is small-item storage, whether it’s in the door pockets or the center console.
In the back seat, I could barely slip in below the panoramic roof’s frame. At just under 6 feet, with a long torso, I fit OK nonetheless. I fit better under the roof of a Lyriq, but the Wagoneer S has better under-seat foot space and amply sized door openings.
What it doesn’t have is an abundance of cargo space. Jeep rates it at 30.6 cubic feet behind the back seats, and 61.0 cubic feet behind the front seats; there’s a front trunk of about three cubic feet, too. The Honda CR-V skips the frunk, but sports 39.3 cubic feet and 76.5 cubic feet, in comparison.
All sorts of safety tech finds its way into the Wagoneer S, from adaptive cruise control to automatic emergency braking—and it all works in all drive modes, Jeep engineers underscore. Neither the NHTSA nor the IIHS has tested one yet, though.
2024 Jeep Wagoneer S
How much does the 2024 Jeep Wagoneer S cost?
The $71,995 2024 Jeep Wagoneer S Launch Edition piles on the standard equipment—everything from heated and cooled power front seats, all the digital displays, wireless smartphone charging, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and delicious sound that emanates from a 1,200-watt McIntosh sound system with 19 speakers and a 12-inch subwoofer.
Within a couple of weeks, Jeep will announce the 2025 model-year Wagoneer S, likely with cheaper models with lower power output and perhaps even better EV range.
Soon enough, the Wagoneer S will be joined by the battery-powered, Wrangler-sized Recon. After that, the picture grows a little more blurry, in terms of efficiency: Jeep will backtrack with a midsize hybrid SUV (possibly dubbed Cherokee, again) while it updates the current Grand Cherokee—possibly with a new inline-6 engine or even hybrid power of its own.
The Wagoneer S might even get its own plug-in powertrain one day soon, as it shares its STLA Large platform with the Dodge Charger and other forthcoming “multi-energy” vehicles. Jeep says it’s committed to fielding the powertrains people want to buy.
Does that water down the appeal of the first Jeep BEV for America? Hardly. But it doesn’t clarify it, either. Will Jeep lean forward into carlike battery-powered vehicles that blunt off-road ability in the name of emissions—or will it find a way to walk that line between gas and electric, a way that marks some progress while preserving its traditions?
It’s a trail that’s hard to distinguish, with what lies ahead for us all. The Wagoneer S pioneers one path forward for Jeep—but it’s keeping ready to change course if it must.
Stellantis provided airfare, lodging, and meals so that Motor Authority could bring you this test drive review.