The Jeep Wagoneer S Is an Electric Muscle Car Disguised as a Luxury SUV

Jeep has pulled the plug on an electrified truck. The brand has decided not to move forward with a plug-in hybrid version of a Gladiator pickup truck that it announced last year, as it begins refocusing on internal combustion engine models.The move wasn’t entirely surprising. In the months since the passage of the “One Big Beautiful Bill” ended the federal electric vehicle tax credit program, and the Trump administration eliminated fuel economy fines, automakers have delayed and outright canceled many electric vehicle programs to align their lineups better with the realities of the American market.The Wagoneer S has a hidden sloping roof to reduce aerodynamic drag. JeepThe Gladiator once seemed like a sure thing, as it is based on the Jeep Wrangler SUV, which has been available as a 4xe plug-in hybrid since 2021, but electric pickups have been in particularly low demand.That’s not to say Jeep is giving up on vehicles with plugs. The Wrangler 4xe and the Grand Cherokee 4xe, with which it shares a powertrain, are both staying around, and a Grand Wagoneer 4xe is slated to join them in showrooms next year.It also has the Wagoneer S, which launched this year as its first all-electric vehicle. The midsize SUV is anything but rugged. It is very urbane and competes more directly with the Cadillac Lyriq than any off-road vehicles. The sleek styling would look right at home in a Range Rover dealership, however, as would its $67,195 starting price.The Wagoneer S Launch Edition has four screens on the dashboard and leather upholstery. JeepThat price buys an entry-level Wagoneer S Limited with a 500-horsepower all-wheel drivetrain and a 100.5-kilowatt-hour battery pack that provides 294 miles of driving range. The slightly fancier Launch Edition that I tested is $72,195 and gets a boost to 600 horsepower.Despite sharing no resemblance, the Wagoneer S is built on a platform related to the Dodge Charger Daytona’s and it will keep up with it in a drag race, accelerating to 60 mph in 3.4 seconds. That is just a tenth of a second slower than the electric muscle car. While most customers won’t be looking to use the Wagoneer S to do that, the abundant power also helps overcome its nearly three-ton weight in everyday driving with ease.The interior is decked out in finery, with leather swathed across the seats, dashboard, and doors, along with real metal brightwork. The Launch Edition has four digital displays: one for the instrument cluster, one for the infotainment system, one for the climate controls, and one for the front passenger, which can be used to watch videos while the vehicle is in motion. The passenger screen is filtered so that it can’t be seen from the driver’s seat, but everyone can listen along to what’s playing on the 19-speaker McIntosh audio system. Unless passengers would rather wear headphones and keep to themselves.The Jeep Recon is a more traditionally styled electric SUV. JeepSecond-row passengers are provided with ample legroom, thanks to a long wheelbase that frames the battery pack. The cargo area has a deep floor, but is more vertically challenged than it would appear to be from the vehicle’s profile. Jeep’s designers extended the sides of the roofline to give it more of a squared-off look, but the center of the roof slopes downward like a coupe to reduce aerodynamic drag. It is a neat illusion that does help the Wagoneer S achieve an efficiency equivalent to 93 mpg, which is among the highest in its segment.The Wagoneer S is smooth and quiet on the road, even when the pavement isn’t perfect. It clearly has been fine-tuned with comfort in mind. Nevertheless, it is a Jeep and can handle the occasional trip down a gravel road without much complaint, as long as it is a flat one. It only has 6.5 inches of ground clearance, which hardly qualifies it as an SUV, let alone a typical Jeep.Jeep does have an electric one of those on the way. It is called the Recon and also shares this platform, but features an almost perfectly boxy body and removable doors, like a Wrangler. Jeep has not yet confirmed the Recon’s driving range, but it appears to be more suitable than the Wagoneer S for driving out on the range.

The Jeep Wagoneer S Is an Electric Muscle Car Disguised as a Luxury SUV

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