Rare Rides Icons: The Jeep Wagoneer, The First Luxury SUV Ever (Part XVII)

Last week, we took a look at the exterior of the new Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer models that finally debuted in 2022 after years of delays. As it turned out, the forced homages and mixed simultaneous missions of model commemoration, luxury SUV, and largest vehicle in its class did not play well together. Whether in standard or long-wheelbase L version, the new Wagoneer fell down on both proportions and styling. Let’s take a look at the interior to see if it fared any better.

First, a word on trimming. Because the Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer were available across multiple trims, Stellantis made sure to gatekeep on colors and features. Wagoneer had four trims in 2022: Series I, Series II, Carbide and Series III. The Grand Wagoneer replaced Carbide with Obsidian and added the top Series III Obsidian trim.

The trims greatly affected the interior vibe of the vehicle. Lower trims offered black or light gray interior colors, with more colors available at the top end Series III, doubly so for Grand Wagoneer, which had exclusive colors reserved for Series III. Customers were required to purchase the Grand Wagoneer in Series III trim to get the traditionally colored wood trim. Lesser trims received different wood, or plastic masquerading as wood. 

Strangely, the top Series III Obsidian trim (our subject car last week) also replaced the warm look of wood with some black manufactured material. The pinstriped trim is glossy but the material was unclear. It seems an odd choice to make the most expensive trim less representative of the model you’d intended to invoke. 

Included here are some photos of lesser trims to show the difference in colors and materials. As mentioned, the Series III interior of the Grand Wagoneer was available in the most colors, and included American Walnut trim with leather in black, stone, honey (Tupelo), and dark blue (Agate). It’s difficult to find a full listing of colors per trim, as brochures no longer contain a chart at the end, nor do they list the available color options.

Our subject vehicle is a 2022 Grand Wagoneer Series III, in regular wheelbase format with a charcoal interior. The door opened to a thoroughly modern interior with throwback walnut trim to remind of the Grand Wagoneer’s lineage. In front of the driver was a simple two-spoke steering wheel covered with various actual buttons with a Grand Wagoneer logo. 

Flat at the bottom like a sports car, the lower section of the wheel featured an inset chromed trim spear for visual interest. Above it in the wheel center was a bit of wood trim that mimicked the shape of the wood on the dash. A nice touch. 

The buttons and dials surrounding the wheel were a mix of Ram 1500, Jeep, and Maserati components. In front of the driver was an oval digital gauge cluster with limited information. Status info like temperature and fuel were supplemented by the posted speed limit, a compass, speedometer, and optional navigation map. The shallow surround on the gauges meant sunlight light caused reflection issues, made worse by the slightly glossy finish of the gauge screen.

Also glossy was the central trim strip that ran across the dash above the natural looking wood. The factory surely emptied out many piano black mines in the creation of the Wagoneer’s interior. It continued around the front vents and the central screen. Borrowed from Maserati products of the time, the screen had an added bezel around it with volume and tuning controls, as well as seat temperature controls. A row of buttons for basic climate controls supplemented the main infotainment screen.

Beneath the main screen was a smaller screen with dedicated seat controls for the front and rear seats. Massage functions were found here, as well as controls to adjust the seat shape during off-road activities. Why such rarely used controls needed a dedicated and permanent screen in the middle of the dash was unclear.

Another row of capacitive buttons below the secondary screen controlled the various sensors, auto stop-start, traction control, towing mode, and the emergency flasher button. Heading up the large center console was the gear selector dial shared with many Chrysler products, surrounded by a piano black bezel. Past it was the cup holder and center console storage, which aside from two armrest areas was trimmed in a large swath of open pore walnut. 

Wood brought warmth to the cabin, and was made more upscale by some thickly padded captain’s chairs. With a trim level badge below the headrest, the seats had both contrast stitching (orange here, to match the wood presumably), perforations on the seatback and bottom, and diamond stitching. Some of the detail and warmth was lost in the darker interior colors as shown here. Lesser trims received no such stitching or perforation.

Front doors were trimmed with a mix of padded materials, leather with stitching, metal, and wood trim to match the dash. Additional seat movement controls were here, apparently not covered by the central seat control screen. The overall look was a bit fussy, and it was clear an effort at cohesion was difficult because of the sheer vertical surface of each squared-off door. On high trims rear passengers received manual window shades integrated into the door.

Every passenger in the first and second rows of the Grand Wagoneer had multiple screens available to them at all times. The rear of the front seats had large integrated screens for passenger enjoyment. And an additional screen between the middle row seats offered rear climate control options and seat ventilation and heating.

Third row passengers made do with only power seat recline and USB ports to charge their devices, and were a few feet away from the nearest mounted screen. There was room for three people in the rear, though it came with a cost: Any centrally seated passenger would suffer very little foot room as the grand console for the second row intruded into their space.

Jeep’s brochure went after a particular customer, the super yacht owner and violin enthusiast. Making multiple comparisons to the craftsmanship and stately presence of a yacht, the gushing brochure prattled on about all the details the artisans used in the interior of the Grand Wagoneer. And to their credit, they certainly ended up with a boat. 

[Images: Stellantis, Bring-A-Trailer, seller, seller, seller]

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