The 2022 Jeep Grand Wagoneer makes almost no reference to the original SUV

Article content

If there’s an automaker out there that understands the highs and lows of catering to nostalgia, it’s Stellantis. Over the past 25 years, the corporate overlord controlling heritage-steeped brands like Dodge, Jeep, Alfa Romeo, and Fiat, has seen both success with retro-designs (the Challenger, the Wrangler, the PT Cruiser), middling results (the Fiat 500), and abject failures (the Plymouth Prowler).

Article content

It’s perhaps surprising, then, that its latest foray into digging up bones has been restricted almost entirely to the resurrection of a name. That’s the only real link that the 2022 Jeep Grand Wagoneer maintains to the original model that plied back roads and Nantucket beaches from 1963 until 1991.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Try refreshing your browser, or
tap here to see other videos from our team.

The 2022 Jeep Grand Wagoneer makes almost no reference to the original SUV Back to video

How do I know? Because I own an example of the wood-sided, Brooks Stevens-designed truck that kicked off the luxury SUV surge that the 2022 model has been conceived to profit from. After having driven them both back-to-back, I can confidently say that the decision to not zombify the original full-size Jeep was the best possible path that the all-new Grand Wagoneer could have taken towards maximizing its success in an incredibly competitive slice of the market.

Article content

Not even in the bone structure

Toggle full screen mode Previous Gallery Image

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

Next Gallery Image Toggle gallery captions

View All 4 Photos

1 of 4

All 4 Photos for Gallery

1. 
2. 
3. 
4. 

Function Not Available

Full Screen is not supported on this browser version.

You may use a different browser or device to view this in full screen.

OK

Article content

Park the 2022 Jeep Grand Wagoneer beside the first edition and it’s immediately clear how little the two vehicles share in terms of visual design. In fact, the lack of family resemblance is so obvious as to suggest a deliberate distancing between Stevens’ large-greenhouse, thin-pillar, classically upright sheet metal and the less-defined slab sides of the revived sport-utility vehicle.

There are plenty of technical reasons as to why the new Grand Wagoneer couldn’t look like the old one. Rollover regulations forbid the twig-like pillars of the previous truck, and the increase from two-rows to three-rows has significantly extended the length of the vehicle. Of course, there’s also the fact that modern buyers have little interest in vinylized wood siding or 15-inch wheels, especially when plunking down more than $100k.

Article content

Still, the 2022 Grand Wagoneer goes out of its way to cut all ties with what is one of the most celebrated automotive designs in history. Aside from the briefest of tributes in the shape of the rear hatch glass — the two vehicles share a vaguely-similar pagoda — there are no call-backs whatsoever to be found either inside or out. For a company well-versed in how to incorporate classic elements into a modern shape (witness the 21st century interpretation of the Challenger), and at a time when the Ford Bronco is milking its own ’70s styling roots in another slice of the SUV segment, there’s no way this is accidental.

Article content

Focused on the interior

Clearly, Jeep felt that the look of modern luxury lies in a different direction. Make that multiple directions, because the truck’s looks resemble a pastiche of the current high end trends found in vehicles like the Cadillac Escalade, the Lincoln Navigator, and even the Hyundai Palisade and Kia Telluride. Change your viewing angle and you’ll encounter yet another element borrowed from, or inspired by, an already-familiar design.

That all changes inside the 2022 Grand Wagoneer, where it separates itself not just from its past but also many of its contemporaries. It’s an astoundingly opulent offering, and while there might be a few too many LCD screens sprinkled throughout the cabin, the welcome woodgrain warmth and leather detail of the spacious (even in the third row) passenger environment elevate the Jeep into the luxury stratosphere it’s seeking with the all-new model.

Article content

There’s really no yardstick by which you could compare a modern vehicle’s interior to that of one that was originally designed nearly 70 years ago. Suffice it to say that the new Grand Wagoneer is quiet and isolated in ways that the original could never dream, and that the chasm between a vehicle whose seats are air conditioned and one whose air conditioning vents point exclusively at the knees of the front passengers is immeasurable.

Making big moves

Despite its extra heft (nearly 6,000 lbs), the 2022 Jeep Grand Wagoneer also runs rings around its predecessor, boasting 471 horsepower from its 6.4-litre V8 engine versus the anaemic 140 ponies found in my truck’s (since-replaced) 5.9-litre eight-cylinder mill. Despite both sharing the same body-on-frame design, the 2022 edition also offers much-improved handling with its fully-independent suspension at each corner, which is orders of magnitude more advanced than the leaf-sprung twin-sticks found in the older SUV.

Article content

In terms of ride, however, the two vehicles are remarkably close. Relying on its 1,500 lb weight advantage and the forgiving four-wheel leafs rather than the complex, height-adjustable air shocks offered by the Grand Wagoneer redux, the smaller Jeep is remarkably composed over almost any terrain save washboard gravel (where it side-steps with typical live-axle fury).

The one area where the full-size Jeep of old outclasses its successor is off-road. With a shorter wheelbase and tougher construction, the Grand Wagoneer’s go-anywhere credentials give it an advantage over the larger, more ponderous version of the truck that relies on electronic aides to haul itself over hill and dale (a request that will seldom, if ever, be made of it by its well-heeled owners).

Article content

Looking forward

Nostalgia is a hell of a drug, but a quick survey of the current crop of large luxury SUVs reveals it doesn’t play much of a role in selling land yachts. Jeep chose the Grand Wagoneer name as a beachhead, rather than a design starting point, and no doubt memories of the traditionally-styled full-size Commander’s failure loomed large among the company’s executives when choosing which decade to draw inspiration from for the Wagoneer redux.

With the Wagoneer sub-brand intended to build out a high end business that is a first for Jeep, it’s helpful to think of its link to the o.g. woody as one that taps into its upscale vibe, instead of its nuts-and-bolts execution. Dickensian rather than Romero-esque, the 2022 Jeep Grand Wagoneer relies on ghosts, not zombies, in its bid to take over the six-figure SUV space.