Automakers Plan, God Laughs: The 2025 Jeep Wagoneer S Limited 4XE

An essential fact about the automotive business: You don't bound out of bed one morning, rally the troops and say "Hey, kids! Let's put on a show this afternoon!" Getting a vehicle to market takes years, and assumptions must be made along the way that may bear little resemblance to the realities of the world when that vehicle finally lands in dealer showrooms.

Case in point: The Jeep Wagoneer S Limited 4XE.

Back around the beginning of the decade, Stellantis, Jeep's parent company, hatched a plan to spin Wagoneer into its own sub-brand. A big-buck luxury sub-brand, with the flagship Grand Wagoneer arriving in the fall of 2021 as a '22 model.

A six-figure price tag was considered a feature, not a bug. All the better to go up against Cadillac's Escalade, Lincoln's Navigator and more. Taking the Jeep label off the Wagoneer would free it up to focus less on the Rubicon Trail and more on Rodeo Drive.

There'd also be a slightly less luxe Wagoneer (minus the "Grand"). And, with the world believing that we were on the path to electrification of entire vehicle lineups by 2035, an electric Wagoneer---the Wagoneer S---debuted as a 2024 model. The world the Wagoneer S enters for the 2026 model year bears little resemblance to the one in which it was conceived. EV tax credits have been repealed, EV sales figures are declining, there are....let's just say uncertainties...about the economy. And Wagoneer as its own upscale brand?

Yeah, no.

For 2026, the Jeep name and logo are back, the Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer have become one Grand Wagoneer with a base price in the $60,000s rather than the $90,000s, and Jeep is going so far as to re-launch that luxury SUV five model years after introduction as a rugged family SUV, in a very funny longform commercial with comedian Iliza Schlesinger:

So...what does this mean for the Jeep Wagoneer S?

That's complicated.

Break out the spec sheet to figure out the Wagoneer S's place in the newly-enlarged family and things get murky.

The Wagoneer S is actually smaller than the mid-size Grand Cherokee...an inch shorter, 2.7 inches narrower and its roof is six inches lower to the ground.

It offers less cargo space, a fraction of an inch less rear-seat legroom and significantly less headroom in both the front and rear than the Grand Cherokee.

More to the point---and a big issue for the Jeep brand---its undercarriage is two inches lower to the ground than the Grand Cherokee's. The Wagoneer S has only 6.4 inches of ground clearance---lower than even the humble subcompact Jeep Compass. Anything beyond well-groomed dirt or gravel roads is not on the menu (the generally-agreed upon minimum ground clearance for off-roading is eight inches).

Then what's the selling point here?

Power.

Truth be told, the Jeep Wagoneer S has more in common with the electric Dodge Charger than it does any other Jeep. The mad scientists in charge of this project gave it 500 horsepower and 524 lb-ft of torque (600 horsepower and 617 lb-ft of torque with the extra-cost Power Upgrade Group).

Jeep says Wagoneer S Launch Editions are capable of 0-60 in 3.4 seconds, while Limiteds like our tester can do it in "less than 4 seconds". Top speed is an electronically-limited 124 mph.

Is it a hoot to bury your right foot in the throttle while muttering one-one-thousand-two-one-thousand-three-one-thousand or shouting whoo-hoo? Sure. But in normal driving the throttle is a touch oversensitive, usually at the wrong moments, and the Wagoneer S never feels buttoned-up enough for all that power to be put to any good use other than amusement.

And, as with any EV, whenever you give in to the urge to feel that instant torque, it means you'll be charging sooner. Credit to Jeep for giving the Wagoneer S above average range per charge (294 miles) and quick DC fast charging---a Jeep-estimated 22 minutes from 20% to 80%.

The base price of the 2025 Jeep Wagoneer S Limited 4XE is $65,200---$67,195 including destination (see the window sticker at the end of this review for standard equipment).

The test vehicle had extra-cost options---the Baltic Gray Metallic Clear-Coat paint was $595, and Customer Preferred Package 25D (ventilated front seats, a cargo cover, digital auto-dimming rear-view mirror, 115-volt auxilary power outlet, head-up display, a 19-speaker McIntosh MX920 audio system with illuminated speaker badges, a memory steering column, 10.25-inch front passenger touchscreen display, a power tilt/telescoping steering column, key fob window control, a hands-free power liftgate, titanium exterior accents, titanium rear fascia applique, titanium upper grille applique and dark daylight opening moldings) was $4,000.

The as-tested price: $71,790.

Given its focus on luxury (if you're seeing some Range Rover Velar influences in the side profile, you're not alone) and its lack of off-road chops, maybe this should have been an electric midsize Chrysler SUV. Stellantis swears that brand has a future, but right now, it's selling three flavors of Pacifica minivans and that's it.

Given its massive power and rapid acceleration, maybe it should have been a Dodge---a Charger EV 5-door to go with the 2-and-4-door models, or an electric Durango.

But, because the car business isn't made up off the tops of executives' and engineers' heads on short notice, the Jeep Wagoneer S is very much its own different kind of Jeep. A low-rider among rock-crawlers, an EV in a world (well, a country, anyway) suddenly cooling to them.

2025 Jeep Wagoneer S Limited 4XE at a Glance

Price: $65,200 base/$71,790 as tested

Battery: 100kWh

Horsepower: 500

Torque: 524 lb-ft

Transmission: Single-speed

Curb Weight: 5.667 lbs

0-60 Acceleration (manufacturer data): Less than 4.0 seconds

EPA Fuel Economy Estimate: 93 MPGe

Charging time (manufacturer estimate): 20%-80% in 22 minutes (DC fast)

EPA Range Estimate: 294 miles

Click on the arrows in the upper right corner to expand the window sticker to fullscreen.