Ward’s Automotive is one of the older journals covering automotive news. Its Ten Best Engines awards have been eagerly followed each year, and there is usually at least one Mopar engine on it. A newer award is the ten best interiors and user experiences; Stellantis has one winner, a Jeep, which would likely astound a time traveler coming in anywhere from 1941 to 1990.
The winner was the long wheelbase version of Jeep’s luxury wagon, the Wagoneer L / Grand Wagoneer L. With a full foot of extra length over the already quite large Wagoneer, these models have best in class passenger volume, total volume, and “all seats up” cargo volume.
Across the entire vehicle are over 50 diagonal inches of screens, a head-up display projected onto the windshield (new to Jeep though long a fixture for Mazda), frameless digital cluster, digital rear-view mirror, and 19-speaker, 950-watt McIntosh MX950 entertainment. While the Wagoneer/Grand Wagoneer has a massive amount of screen space, it also has physical buttons for key functions—something lacking in some screen-heavy vehicles.
The 2023 list included six BEVs and only four gasoline cars; the other winners were the BMW i7, Cadillac Lyriq, Ford Lightning, Genesis GV60, GMC Hummer, Hyundai Palisade, Kia Sportage Hybrid, Range Rover, and Nissan Ariya (pictured below, with physical buttons in gray-on-gray below the center screen).
The Grand Wagoneer was the only Stellantis nominee. Nominees from other companies which failed to make the cut included the Acura Integra, Bentley Bentayga, Lexus RX 500h, Toyota Prius, and Volvo C40.
The Grand Wagoneer was included in the Top 10 list last year.
