2023 Jeep Grand Wagoneer L & 2022 Audi A8L

Hi, I'm John Davis and this is MotorWeek !

We're sizing up the lavishly capable Jeep Grand Wagoneer L... We'll kick back for a "Your Drive" lesson on seat reupholstery... Then, take a look at how parts are renewed for a second life... And we'll end with a classy closer: the Audi A8L...

So, come drive with us, next!

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JOHN: Jeep has been going big lately, whether you're talking about adding a 3rd row to the Grand Cherokee or reviving the Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer as highly capable full-size 3-row utilities.

Well, that obviously wasn't enough.

Now, they're going even bigger with this Grand Wagoneer L. So, let's see how it shakes up America's suburban lifestyle.

♪ ♪ The Jeep Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer burst onto the scene last year, giving Jeep owners with growing families a whole new 3-row option to grow into.

Now, Jeep delivers a stretched alternative, the 2023 Wagoneer L and Grand Wagoneer L. Wagoneer is of course, the reintroduced premium extension of the Jeep brand, and the Grand Wagoneer takes it to extremes with standard air suspension, cargo management rail system, full LED lighting, running boards, black accent roof; plus, unique hood, front fascia, grille, and fender flares.

Not to mention a whole suite of interior niceties; a unique dash design, walnut and aluminum trim, leather aplenty, and even massaging seats.

But both Wagoneer Ls share an elongated 130 inch wheelbase, seven more than the standard Wagoneer, and an overall length that's a foot more.

And while the added length certainly makes it look large and in charge, it doesn't appear too ungainly with things out of proportion.

Designed to haul up to eight people, plus, plenty of gear as comfortably as possible; both 2nd and 3rd row legroom stay the same.

The benefit comes strictly in cargo space behind the 3rd row, which here in the Grand Wagoneer L grows from 28.4 cubic-feet to 44.2.

That climbs to 88.8 with the 3rd row folded, and to a max of 112.9.

The Wagoneer L's less bulky seats allow for an even greater max total of 130.9 cubic-feet.

All seats folding with a push of a button, of course.

Towing capacity stays the same at 10,000 pounds.

But doing the pulling is an all-new 3.0 liter twin-turbo inline-6 engine; designed to deliver more power, more torque, and better efficiency than the standard Wagoneer's V8.

Dubbed "Hurricane," two versions are available.

The Wagoneer Ls with 420 horsepower and 468 pound-feet of torque; while this Grand Wagoneer L gets a high output version with 510 horsepower and 500 pound-feet of torque.

So, even with a bigger vehicle, you'll be getting better fuel economy than the Grand Wagoneer's 6.4 liter V8, as the turbo-6 with 8-speed automatic transmission and all-wheel-drive, both standard, achieves Government Fuel Economy Ratings of 14-City, 19-Highway, and 16-Combined, all numbers one better.

We managed to average a fine 18.9 miles per gallon of Premium.

Depending on which trim is selected, you'll get either Quadra-Trac I, Quadra-Trac II, or Quadra-Drive II 4-wheel-drive.

For our Series II tester, that means Quadra-Drive II along with Quadra-Lift Air Suspension and 22 inch polished aluminum wheels which we steered towards Mason Dixon Dragway... ...where it was clear, this engine delivers an impressive amount of torque, considering how easily it dealt with the well over 3-tons of weight here.

The Grand Wagoneer L launches hard, hitting 60 in just 4.9 seconds.

Smooth and consistent power delivery from there, with almost every run, we did coming in at 13.5 seconds at 104 miles per hour.

There's not much you can do about the close to 19 feet of length however, as it requires keeping inputs smooth; but we were able to get through our handling course carrying quite a bit of speed.

The interior is just as amazing as the regular Grand Wagoneer; with up to 75 inches of screen space and a McIntosh reference audio system pumping 1,375 watts of sound through 23 speakers.

Front seats in Series II are 24-way adjustable with controls on the door just like Mercedes-Benz.

If you opt for 2nd row captain's chairs, a big center console houses a 10 inch comfort display screen for making adjustments, and of course, other screens are available on the backs of the front seat headrests to keep you entertained and informed.

If all this space and luxury sound too good to be true; well, we can assure it's real, but it will cost you, as the Grand Wagoneer L starts at a whopping $93,495.

But, if you just need the space, and can get by with a lot less luxury and without 4-wheel-drive, you can get into a Wagoneer L for as little as $64,495.

In a few short years, Jeep has gone from having no 3-row offerings at all in their lineup, to having a multitude to choose from.

The 2023 Grand Wagoneer L is an impressive luxurious beast of an SUV that takes the brand to even loftier heights.

♪ ♪ Recycling auto parts is a great way to reduce the automobile's environmental footprint.

But which recycled parts do you choose?

Salvaged, rebuilt, or remanufactured?

When available, a remanufactured part is the preferable choice-- just like new, both in form and function.

Stephanie Hart shows us how one company makes it happen.

♪ ♪ STEPHANIE HART: I'm here at CRP Industries in Conway, South Carolina, where we're going behind the scenes to see exactly what goes on here at the plant.

CRP Industries remanufactures electric power steering racks and pumps.

The process is friendly to the planet and gives the parts a second life, keeping them out of scrap yards.

But a lot of work goes into remanufacturing parts to as new condition.

And it all starts with disassembly.

SCOTT SHEA: Once, the tie rod and boot is removed the part will come through a pre-wash station to get-- to do the initial cleaning.

You can see a lot of the dirt and grime that was on the part before has now been removed.

STEPHANIE: From here, the part goes through a sandblaster.

SCOTT: These units have already been sandblasted, so you can see the nice new finish that you get from this process.

STEPHANIE: Yeah, it looks great.

It really does.

SCOTT: Now, that the rack has been cleaned and sanded we go through the disassembly process.

So, we tear the part down completely.

The parts stay together in a-- in a basket that travels down throughout the production line.

STEPHANIE: Next, everything starts to get reassembled just like a new part.

SCOTT: In this station, we're doing additional assembly component replacement.

Seal kits are being replaced.

The belt, if it's a unit that's driven by a belt, the belt gets replaced.

The belt gets tensioned to original specifications.

STEPHANIE: Parts like this do fall off the production line due to mechanical problems.

...then they're taken over here where techs use their expertise to repair them so they can be put back into production.

For even more complex electronic power steering racks, the unit is disassembled and restored from A to Z.

The final step is fully testing the part.

SCOTT: We actually simulate the can-bus of the vehicle and, and simulate the driving of the vehicle.

As we test the part.

STEPHANIE: That's cool.

Yeah, that's pretty neat.

PT MULDOON: Remanufacturing-- the raw material changes every day, so it requires a lot of engineering and a lot of technology to understand what those changes mean.

It also, gives us a really nice glimpse into the quality of engineering that's done by the OEMs.

So, we get to see the product all-- through all the stages of its life cycle and then we can feed that back and understand how to recreate it in a better state.

STEPHANIE: But, why are you lowering the chances of repeating the repair with a remanufactured part as compared to a rebuilt part?

SCOTT: A rebuilt can be all over the spectrum in terms of the quality of the repair.

So, you might get anything from a repair that simply fixes the minimum to make the part usable, to a more extensive repair.

STEPHANIE: Remanufactured components typically cost about half as much as the same new parts.

There's also significant energy savings.

SCOTT: A remanufactured part uses 80-90 percent of the energy that would be required to make the part new.

And in fact, in this plant, we save enough energy over the course of the year to power over 100 homes for a full year.

STEPHANIE: That's pretty amazing.

Wow!

Plus, where possible, all of the microchips that are in the damaged part are reused; a huge benefit given the ongoing chip shortage.

With the emergence of electric and autonomous vehicles, remanufacturing is more important than ever before.

PT: What we don't want to see is new technology comes in and it's hard to get a service part.

This is the back stop.

We are-- we are part of the emergence of this technology as an industry.

STEPHANIE: It's an exciting time for the remanufacturing industry.

It's demonstrated its commitment to preserving our planet for future generations, while keeping our vehicles up and running safely.

And if we can save some money in the process even better!

JOHN: Seats.

They can make or break a long haul.

Wear them out and even short commutes can be unbearable.

So, let's join Dan Maffett in the garage for some seat of the pants advice in this week's "Your Drive."

♪ ♪ DAN MAFFETT: If you have a work truck or a work SUV or a van, something that requires you to step up in or out of the vehicle, you've probably noticed that your seats are starting to get some wear.

The first thing that goes is going to be your seat cover, followed by the cushion inside.

And once those start going, there's only one way to fix it, and that's replacing it.

It used to be you had to find an upholstery shop and they would re-do the entire seat for you, and you're talking thousands of dollars.

But we've found you can order seat skins and even replace the foam inside your seat, and it's a simple DIY procedure that you can do in your own garage, in your driveway... and a seat like this that's basic with no electronic options is a breeze.

If you have something that has a little more electronics in it, like adjustability, and the lumbar or anything, you're going to have to remove those electronics first to get to the frame, but it's a great DIY option.

The first step is you want to take apart all these clips that are holding the skin on.

So, you just want to go through, break these loose... just like this.

Just like that, you've got your clips off... flip it back over, and your seat cover comes off just like that.

The foam comes with it, you take this, you don't need that anymore.

Take our new foam, line it up on your seat frame.

Give the seat foam a good press, make sure that it's seated into the frame, take your seat cover, line that up, and there is a Velcro strip right through here.

You want to make sure those are as lined up as you can possibly get them before you start stretching the seat... Just like that.

Give them a good tug, all the way around the edges... Alright, now it's a nice, plump, filled with the new foam, so you want to flip it over... You're going to need a lot of leverage to compress this foam to get these clips to go back in.

So now, we've got all of our clips back on, flip it back over, if you see any wrinkles or anything, you can just give them a good press or if you have a big wrinkle, you just give it a slap.

You want to press right here where that Velcro is, make sure it's nice and seated in there.

And once your wrinkles are all out, you've got yourself a brand-new seat.

Any questions or comments, hit us up right here at MotorWeek .

JOHN: It's time for another QuickSpin, and we've saved a front seat just for you!

♪ ♪ JESSICA RAY: Where some brands don't see much of a future for big sedans, Toyota sees an opportunity to launch an all-new one, the 2023 Toyota Crown.

Though, the Crown is far from new.

Existing in Japan since 1955, it was the first Toyota sold here in the US; though out of our market since 1972, the Lexus GS shared its platform for many years.

Now, in its 16th generation, the Crown returns to the US as a replacement of the Toyota Avalon, bridging the gap between Toyota and Lexus.

And we're just back from some QuickSpin seat time in Nashville, Tennessee.

And this Crown appears to be designed to compete with crossovers more than other sedans, having a higher than typical ride height and standard all-wheel-drive.

All are hybrids as well.

XLE and Limited pair their front and rear electric motors with a naturally aspirated 2.5 liter I4 to the tune of 236 horsepower.

While top Platinum gets a new Hybrid MAX setup that pairs the electric motors with a 2.4 liter turbo-4 for a combined output of 340 horsepower and 400 pound-feet of torque.

Platinum also gets an Adaptive Variable Suspension, true 6-speed automatic transmission, 21 inch wheels, and the ability to add a heavy dose of black accents.

BRIAN ROBINSON: With that taller stance and the variable suspension set to Comfort, it does have a very plush ride, giving you that premium feel which you can always dial to Sport or Sport+ for the corners to get rid of some of that body roll, it does pretty well there.

The Hybrid MAX powertrain, good torque, plenty of power for any of your typical driving situations.

JESSICA: Pricing for the 2023 Toyota Crown starts right around $40,000 for an XLE, with top Platinum around $52,000.

And they're scheduled to arrive at dealers in early 2023.

And we'll have more QuickSpins, soon!

♪ ♪ GREG CARLOSS: We're just getting into the holiday season, but we've already unwrapped our first present, this 2022 Kia EV6.

It's the personal prize of one of our associates, who is allowing us to share in a year-long ownership experience.

While, not Kia's first EV, it is their first one based on a dedicated EV platform, and easily their best looking.

Wind trim means 19 inch wheels, gloss black trim, vegan-friendly artificial leather seats, and a host of safety and active driving features.

An optional tech package adds surround view monitor and remote parking assist.

With dual-motor all-wheel-drive, output is 320 horsepower with 274 miles of range.

The two-motor setup knocks off a few miles of range, but the extra power it returns more than makes up for it.

Switching the drive mode to "sport" sharpens the throttle and adds a little extra oomph when accelerating, but there is no adaptive suspension, so the handling characteristics remain the same regardless of drive mode.

Fortunately, it handles just fine as-is.

We're just getting to know this little crossover; but so far, ride is solid, with no squeaks or rattles; and the interior is both lovely to look at and highly functional.

Stay tuned for more from the fleet, on our next MotorWeek Long-Term Road Test Update!

JOHN: Audi has been on the EV scene as long if not longer than its German rivals.

And, up to now they've focused on small cars, performance machines, and utility vehicles.

That means larger sedans like this A8L continue to soldier on with traditional petrol power, and that's just fine with us!

♪ ♪ While, many brands have shifted their flagship focus to Sport Utility Vehicles, and Audi certainly sells plenty of them, including the very flagship worthy Q8, there's just something about a big luxurious 4-door sedan that says you've arrived like no SUV can do.

And that's where this 2022 Audi A8 comes in.

Three years into its 4th generation, this big sedan has a few small changes that both keep the look fresh and ensure that technology is up to date.

We're certainly glad this big sedan is still a big part of Audi's plans, but they have pared down choices considerably.

No more V8 or plug-in hybrid available; strictly V6 now, as you'll have to step up to the S8 if you want a V8.

And just one trim to choose from, L, which denotes the long wheelbase version of the A8, the only one we get here in the US.

Also, S-line trim is now standard which means a sportier-looking front fascia with black grille.

You can take that black theme even further with a Black Optic package which applies the darkness to the side mirrors, badges, and logos, as well as adds unique 21 inch wheels.

Never among the flashiest in the segment, the blackout treatment makes the unassuming A8 even more of a sleeper.

Careful observers will notice for '22, Audi's signature single frame grille has gotten a bit wider.

Much like the outside, nothing inside the A8 is overly showy or ostentatious, but incredibly well-crafted as always.

And tech is not only up to date with competitors but integrated into the cabin much better in most cases.

Ambient lighting is included, as are twin sunroofs.

Seats are firm, but in the all-day comfortable way, and there's lots of legroom in the back seat to stretch out.

Plus, individual climate controls and vanity mirrors; though not as much trunk space as you might expect, just 12.5 cubic-feet.

The lone available engine in this A8 is the 3.0 liter turbocharged V6 which rates 335 horsepower and 369 pound-feet of torque.

Those numbers may be relatively moderate by today's standards, but aided by standard quattro all-wheel-drive, and an extremely smooth 8-speed automatic transmission, it felt plenty lively to us.

After a somewhat soft launch, we could really feel the power pouring out of this turbo V6, and working its way to the wheels quite effectively; enabling a 5.5 second sprint to 60.

It's a great sounding engine too, and it never really let up on the power delivery the whole way down the track.

The overall feel was incredibly smooth and refined, like it wasn't really working at all, just plugging away without effort to deliver 14.2 second quarter-miles at 99 miles per hour.

The A8's weight comes in at more than 4,700 pounds, and while we could certainly sense that through our handling course, it didn't come through as sloppiness or cumbersomeness; rather, feeling incredibly solid and stable, with surprisingly little body roll.

Steering is light, but with just enough feel to get a good sense of what's happening up front.

And there was great overall balance that allowed us to carry quite a bit of speed through the cones without encountering much in the way of understeer or oversteer.

In braking runs, there was quite a bit of nosedive, and a very soft feel through the pedal; but overall, results were quite good, as stops were straight and smooth, averaging just 110 feet from 60 miles per hour.

As mentioned, Audi has made the decision making process much easier on you with a single model available, starting at a more than reasonable $87,595; though there are a few packages you can add from there.

Whereas, Mercedes-Benz tends to border on tech overload, and BMW attempts to over deliver when it comes to performance, the current A8L continues to offer a near perfect compromise.

Exceptional luxury for the discerning buyer with enough confidence in themselves that they don't need to be first in line or be the most flamboyantly dressed at the party.

That's the 2022 Audi A8L.

Well, that's our show, I hope you enjoyed it.

Now, for more MotorWeek , including daily news updates, podcasts, and even complete episodes, cruise on over to PBS.ORG/MOTORWEEK.

And I hope you'll join us next time for the off-road luxury that is the new Land Rover Range Rover.

Then, we plug into compact, all-electric utility, the Chevrolet Bolt EUV.

Until next time, I'm John Davis.

We'll see you right here on MotorWeek !

ANNOUNCER: To learn more about MotorWeek , television's original automotive magazine, visit... To order a DVD of this program, call... MotorWeek has been brought to you by... ANNOUNCER: For more than 30 years Lucas Oil products has helped people tackle mechanical problems in the automotive, marine, and industrial fields.

From our original four core products... Lucas Oil has developed over 400 custom products to help both professionals and do it yourselfers.

To learn more visit Lucasoil.com.

Lucas oil, keep that engine alive!

MotorWeek is proudly sponsored by Auto Value and Bumper To Bumper, featuring major brand auto and truck parts, and service from coast to coast.

Learn more at AutoValue.com and BumperToBumper.com.

TireRack.Com is proud to support MotorWeek .

First, there was the wheel.

Then, the tire.

"We'll call it Tire Rack."

Forty years later, we're not slowing down.

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