Tested: 2025 Jeep Wagoneer Carries the Eight-Seater Torch
Jeep’s latest three-row SUV keeps the focus on family friendliness but won’t shy away from a corner or two.
Michael Simari|Car and Driver
The latest Jeep Wagoneer is the fourth go-around for Jeep’s domestic three-row franchise. The 1946–1964 Willys Station Wagon was first in the series, available with a side-facing single seat in the cargo area behind two three-person benches. The Station Wagon wowed U.S. audiences with the wagon segment’s first all-steel construction, and given the option of four-wheel drive in 1949 it also became what some consider the market’s first SUV. The following year, it swapped the Go Devil four-cylinder for the brand’s first Hurricane engine.
The sequel didn’t arrive until the 2006 model year, a box office bust called the Jeep Commander. This one at least had an entire third row that faced the direction of travel. However, it hit the market needing to overcome so many questionable decisions made during its development that our review compared it to General Custer at Little Big Horn.
The 2021 Jeep Grand Cherokee L marked the third installment, a side plot to the real blockbuster, the 2022 Wagoneer, which rebooted a historic nameplate and soon after welcomed the return of a standard Hurricane engine.
2025 jeep wagoneer series iiiview exterior photos
Michael Simari|Car and Driver
The story of any third row begins with access—the literal climb up and through the back doors. The Wagoneer’s running boards seem unduly wide when getting in the driver’s seat, but steps get more important the farther back one sits. The Wagoneer’s large rear door openings and ample footing make third-row access unexpectedly easy and reassuring. And kudos to the exterior designers who integrated the available retracting running boards into the clean, if overly boxy, design; when stowed, they look like contrasting-color rocker panels.
HIGHS: Solid third-row space, functional boxy design, tech that’s easy to use.
In the underground labs where automakers devise ways to move the second-row seating, Jeep threw one button and one lever at the issue. Press the button on the second-row seatback shoulder, and the entire seat leans forward and slides. You can do this even with a baby seat secured to the chair. Pull the lever on the side of the base, and the seatback folds flat. Pull the lever again, and the folded seat flips up against the first-row seatbacks. Pick your method, then step on to a running board wide enough to do a musical number from Wicked and make your entry.
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2025 jeep wagoneer series iiiview interior Photos
Michael Simari|Car and Driver
A third row, like football and prostate exams, is a game of inches. Jeep designers arranged the hash marks to give adults the desired outcomes. You won’t be swinging cats back here, but the average adult won’t bang their knees or head on the architecture either. At 83.6 inches wide and up to 79.3 inches high with its air springs fully raised, the Wagoneer is 2.5 inches wider than a Chevrolet Suburban and up to 3.7 inches taller. Those specs and smart design choices explain why the Wagoneer’s third-row headroom beats the Suburban by 0.8 inch, shoulder room outdoes the Chevy by 1.6 inches, and the Jeep cedes just 0.1 inch of legroom to the much longer ‘Burb. Compared to the Chevy Tahoe, the Wagoneer’s 180 cubic feet of passenger space and 27 cubic feet of cargo space behind the third row eke out two more fractional wins. Oddly, though, the Wagoneer’s 117 cubic feet of cargo room behind the first row gives up just under six cubes to the Tahoe.
LOWS: Eight-passenger arrangement requires small sacrifices, some low-rent cabin materials, light body-on-frame jiggle.
Adults will be comfy in the gallery too. Bottoms slide naturally into the pocket of the canted bench with bolsters long enough to feel natural under the leg. The pads are flat, but the seats are comfortable. Stadium seating puts eyelines above the second-row headrests, allaying carsickness. A glass panel overhead and large side windows let light into a cabin otherwise designed for mammals that see better with their ears than their eyes. And, oh, the amenities! Cupholders and USB ports galore for the third row, even two coat hangers.
2025 jeep wagoneer series iiiview interior Photos
Michael Simari|Car and Driver
Wagoneer engineers aced the hardest part of the test of any full-size SUV, which is the third row. They fumbled some of the easy answers farther forward. The second-row bench in our tester, plenty wide for three adults, is a $595 option as part of the 8-Passenger Seating package; two captain’s chairs come standard. This bench, a larger version of the third row—elevated, canted, and flat—could use more cushioning in the backrests, and the bolsters could stand to be longer. Choosing the bench eliminates two small cupholders at the back of the front-row console, leaving only two door pockets for beverages. And the containers better be sealed because the molded door pockets are angled.
