The Jeep Wagoneer S EV is Scary… (Not in a Good way)
All right, so I just want to start off this video by saying that I actually do have a bit of a soft spot in my heart for Jeep. The first car I ever drove and actually learned to drive with and got my driver’s license test with was a Jeep Grand Cherokee. It was a hand-me-down for my dad from his dad. Uh, and it was special. It was a little bit modified because my grandfather liked to modify cars a bit, but like that was what I learned to drive with. That was what my the beginning of my car journey sort of came from. But then I didn’t really drive too many Jeeps since then. I’m not really in their target demographic. But now fast forward to 2025 and I feel like I’ve seen that there’s an electric Jeep somewhere, right? Like I never see it on the road. I don’t know why people don’t buy them, but I I feel like they have an electric one. So I looked it up and they do. And we got it here to test. And well, now I know why we don’t see it very much. Because this is it. This is the electric Jeep. It’s the Jeep Wagon Ear, which is a little bit confusing because if you know anything about Jeep’s lineup, the Wagon Ear is like much bigger and this kind of feels like a Grand Cherokee again. But nonetheless, this is a fully electric dual motor all-wheel drive EV. It has around 600 horsepower and plenty of torque. It also has roughly 300 mi of range and starts at about $70,000. And you would think that a Jeep is another one of those perfect candidates of a car to go electric, right? I talk about this all the time. Oh, there’s a car that’s heavy already and expensive already and quick already and you just want to make it heavier and more expensive and quicker and make the best version possible. Okay, a Jeep with the best traction control from being electric, with the best all-wheel drive and the most torque from being electric, this should be the best Jeep ever. But it feels like when they made this, they just they just weren’t into it. They just didn’t care about the idea of making the best Jeep ever. Let’s get into it. Now, when you start on the outside, it is actually pretty promising, right? They they actually take a lot of the classic Jeep lines and shapes and did modernize them and made them look like they’re still a Jeep, but the electric version, right? Like this grew up front that they always do these these slots in. There is no real air flow through these because it’s electric, so it’s a lot smoother and it cuts through the air more aerodynamically, but you’ve got a light bar and it’s that’s still very much a Jeep, so that’s nice. Uh the sides here, you’ve got these arrow covers on these wheels. Somebody curbed it. It wasn’t me, the person before me maybe. Uh, but then from the side, it’s got this sort of a fastback sporty look, which I actually kind of like. And the reason you have that is this big spoiler up at the back here. This is kind of nice. This little arrow wing feature with this fin at the top. And then it still has plenty of trunk space. So, the shape and the outside look very much still EV. Charge port is back left. So, if you ever want to know if it’s the Wagon Ear S, bam, that’s the logo. And oh, it’s locked. Okay, good opportunity to show you the keys. This is the key. This is how you unlock it. And this is how you pop open. Not an NACS port, but a CCS port still. Maybe some I kind of doubt they’re going to make an NACS version, but that’s the charge port. So, okay, the sporty Jeep thing on the outside still lives on. Thumbs up. The designers cooked. Let’s see if uh the interior people cooked as well. So, we’ve got these aerodynamic lack of a door handle here. You just pull open. They are not soft closed, but that’s okay. We’ll pop inside. And this is a nice interior. Look at all this this red leather and all these nice surfaces. Let’s fire it up. It’s still a Jeep with a power button. So, we fire that up here. Launch edition. And now we’re in the driver’s seat experience. Okay. So, I actually did recently drive an actual Jeep Wagon Ear. And this is nothing like that. Like I I don’t know why this is called the Wagon Ear. really feels like a Grand Cherokee. It’s much smaller around and it drives totally different. But yeah, this interior I think is the nicest thing about this car. These ambient lights get really bright and if you leave them on at night, they’re actually a little distractingly bright and I have to turn them down, but they go all the way around the cabin. You’ve got this red leather and this is a nice comfortable massaging heated andor ventilated seat. Then in the middle here, well, first of all, there’s a screen up here that does wireless CarPlay. You’ve got the screen behind the steering wheel, which is nice and big and round, but then there’s also a little bit of extra storage space in here with charge ports. You’ve got that HDMI port. There’s a second screen for the passenger, which you can turn on or off with this button right here, but that’s also polarized, so you can only see it if you’re actually sitting in that seat, which is good. Doesn’t distract me. I like that this isn’t piano black. It’s got this sort of texture here. And this is how you change. I don’t like the gear change being like a a rotating thing. That’s kind of I’d rather have something a little more solid. Uh, but there’s your mode changer. So, your auto, your sport mode, two cup holders, your wireless charger, and some more storage in there. So, this is this is a nice place to sit. It’s got these Macintosh speakers, and this is the first time I’ve tested a car with Macintosh speakers, and they’re nice. They are definitely nice. They’re like a minus tier, really, really good. You can tune them with the software of the car itself. Very impressed with the speakers. And it is a quiet place to sit. Oh, and uh this is a camera. So, if you don’t want to use this actual mirror here because you got people behind you, you can use the camera for your rearview mirror. And a nice big sunroof above me. Like, this is this is a nice place to be. But it keeps going cuz these interior designers were actually cooking. So, I’m going to get in the back seat. Again, this is behind a 63 driving position. And there’s a really good amount of storage here. So, I mean, I say storage, but this is just where I put my feet under the seat. Seats are nice and high up. These are ventilated and heated rear seats. Again, a ton of this red leather and this speaker system and all the ambient lights back here. This is a nice place to be. I mean, road tripping, I would be very comfortable in the back of the Jeep. And even with all this size and all this extra room for the passengers, there is still Where’s the button? There it is. There’s still a good amount of trunk space, like a lot of trunk space. It’s not a three row, so all of this room is uh cavernous, I would say. Uh there is actually even a little bit of extra. I don’t think they want you to use this, but there’s a little bit of extra sort of sneaky hidden storage down here. But even without that, like tons of tons of groceries, tons of golf clubs, tons of equipment, whatever you want. Put those seats down and put bicycles in the back if you want to. There’s tie downs. This is nice. Oh, and I forgot to mention, I guess I’ll just put this up here. Uh, fullsize outlet down there as well. I don’t know why I’m going out of order, but I think you can tell I’m pretty impressed uh with the interior of the Jeep Wagon Ear in terms of quality and build and materials. This is a nice trim, obviously, and it’s 70s something,000, so it should be nice. But then you have to drive it and you have to live with it. And that’s where I feel like it falls apart a little bit. I don’t think I don’t think those engineers cooked very much on this car. So, here’s why I say that. I think that the electric version of the Jeep, like I said at the beginning of this video, should be the best version of this Jeep. It should have the most power. It should have the smoothest ride, the best instant torque, the best traction control. It should be the quietest. It should be the nicest. The one thing it does do is it is very smooth, right? Like the suspension, it rides really nicely. This is something they they’re not super sporty. They ride extremely comfortably and the seats are nice. So, I’m comfortable riding in this car. That’s no problem. Uh, but what I’ve noticed is they’re missing a lot of the other upside of going electric. And I I don’t actually know what platform this is built on. It feels like there’s no way it’s a groundup EV, but also I think it is. I think it’s maybe based on the charger, the electric charger, but like so many things are remaining from gas cars. Like, okay, I think some of it’s on purpose. The power button. EVs don’t need a power button. You could just put your foot on the brake and start driving, but they’ve left the power button to make it feel like you’re turning it on. Okay, fine. That’s allowed. But this huge center console with with no storage inside, is this really necessary in a in a groundup EV? Surely you could save that space. Even let me show you something else. In the back seat, did you notice there’s still a hump through the middle? like as if there’s a a drive shaft going through here. This is just electric motor at the back, electric motor at the front. Why Why is that still there? And I know not every EV has a front trunk, but you know, maybe if it was a groundup EV, they would have a nice big space at the front, which would make it the best Jeep ever. Um, but that’s that’s the front trunk. I mean, it’s it’s like a backpack and a half, maybe. So, they they weren’t really too focused on a usable front trunk. I don’t think people are going to use that very much. But then on top of all that, you start to drive the thing and even the drivetrain. There’s there’s a programmed in. So again, some of this is on purpose. They want it to feel like a gas car and it’s nice and familiar, but there is a noticeable lag when hitting the accelerator pedal. In auto mode, I’ll hit the you could flatten the accelerator pedal for a split second and experience zero acceleration. That’s true. That’s how much lag there is in this car in auto mode. Now, you can get rid of some of that by going to sport mode, and then it’s a little bit more responsive with the torque, but it doesn’t fully remove the lag. So, there is always lag, believe it or not, even with a car that could have instant torque. Uh, and then the traction control is also, I guess it’s lacking in this car. You can break traction in a straight line in auto mode from a low speed in this car. You flatten the accelerator and it it it lights up the tires. And I think part of that is because it has 600 horsepower and it’s also riding on these nice thin efficient tires to try to get a lot of range. These are only 235 section tires. They’re not very wide. So this big thing with 600 horsepower on 235s, yeah, it breaks traction in a straight line, which maybe maybe that’s fun, but I don’t think most people are actually looking for that in their their Jeep carrying their family around. And then this is one of only two vehicles I’ve ever really noticed this in where if I’m going over a big enough pothole or a manhole cover or a hump in the road or something like that and I am in the middle of a braking event, it thinks it’s lost traction or lost connection with the ground and it pulls braking and then reapplies brakes when it thinks it has connection again. So I’m I’m breaking. This can feel dangerous. I’m breaking. I go over a big bump and the car lurches forward and then stops again even though my foot has been on the brakes the whole time. The only other car I’ve experienced that in is the Fisker Ocean. So obviously that’s not a good precedent. I don’t feel safe all the time when I’m breaking in this family hauler. That’s that’s very strange. And again, this electric one should have the best traction control. But I think because they put it on 235s and because they’re trying to make it feel like a gas car with this built-in lag, it’s really not feeling very comfortable. Also, it doesn’t have that much range. I know it’s 235s and and really efficient tires to try to get a ton of range, but I’ve never seen a number that starts with a three for the range on this car. In November in New Jersey, I’m getting 270 mi of range. I think it might touch 290 on a good day driving in a chill way in eco mode. mission not really accomplished there, I don’t think. So then you combine that with the $70 plus,000 price tag and it starts to feel like it’s not worth it. Like there are lots of other EVs you could get, Mustang Mach E for example, right, that do all the same stuff, have all the same space, but just are more comfortable and feel like a more complete EV, more storage, better range, and and just a better packaging overall. So, yeah, as much as I wanted to love this Jeep because of the soft spot that I have for a Jeep and what I finally remember from Jeeps of the past, uh, this this is not the one to get, I don’t think. I mean, they’re going to put incredible lease deals on it and maybe it’ll feel reasonable then. But if you’re going to buy this for $75,000, don’t do that. Just don’t do that. But yeah, maybe in a in a second attempt they’ll get more of the pure EV experience stuff right. Until then, we’ll see what they get up to. Thanks for watching. Catch you guys in the next one. Peace.
Some engineers cooked… some didn’t..
Shot on iPhone 17 Pro Max
Rode Wireless Micro: https://geni.us/FBnQh
