Yukon vs Wagoneer Comparison

My wife drives a black 2023 Wagoneer Series III, while I got a dark gray 2024 Yukon XL AT4. This is not a perfect comparison, but I thought I'd throw my thoughts into the void in case anyone is curious.

General:
Overall both are great vehicles so far. As I noted, it's not a perfect comparison. The Wagoneer Series III is really more comparable to a Yukon Denali. It's hard for me to choose a favorite, there are things I like about each and things I dislike about each, so neither has the perfect combination of features. Both are around 10k miles so far, so we haven't gotten into any reliability issues with either one yet. In full disclosure, the Wagoneer also has every single option available, including the air ride suspension, panoramic sunroof, the works. The Yukon does not have every option because my wife is fancier than me lol. Both have second row captains chairs.

Exterior:
This is a matter of personal taste. I think both look good, but I personally lean towards the Yukon, especially with it being an AT4. Having said that, a black Wagoneer with black rims looks pretty slick. The Wagoneer has the retractable side steps, which is a particularly good looking feature on the Wagoneer. Things I dislike about the Wagoneer: (1) the side mirrors are not power folding. A $90k vehicle of this size with manual folding mirrors is asinine. You have to go up to the Grand Wagoneer to get power folding mirrors. I hate it. (2) the touch-unlock feature on the door handles is fancier in that it's a touch with no button; however, it only has that feature on the front doors. So when you go to put your kids in the car, you have to touch the front door handle to unlock before opening the rear doors. And when you unload kids, you have to walk towards the front to lock the doors via touch. I hate that they didn't just add the touch lock/unlock feature to the rear door handles.

Interior:
The interior is nicer on the Wagoneer than on the AT4 (whose interior is functional and nice but the dash is a pretty dated look in my opinion), though I think it would be more competitive to a Denali. The Wagoneer has the front passenger TV screen, which is nice, but it only works by plugging in something with an HDMI port. So you need a lot of cords and adapters to get it to play anything from an iPhone (and if you have an iPad you might as well just use the iPad). I will say that the Wagoneer has a lot of piano black on the center console and front entertainment system, which notoriously shows every single smudge and dust particle. So it's a little harder to keep looking extremely clean. I have some trouble with the Apple CarPlay maps in the Wagoneer, turn-by-turn directions are supposed to pop up on the driver's screen and the heads up display. It does do that, but intermittently kind of pops in and out, and sometimes it just stops showing the directions on those screens altogether. I seem to have better luck on with the Apple CarPlay on the Yukon. The other annoying thing is that when you can see the directions on the HUD in the Wagoneer, the font is tiny and hard to read. The HUD on the Yukon is much, much better in my opinion. On the other hand, the Wagoneer's speed limit displays are a lot more reliable than I get with the Yukon. I feel like the Yukon's use of Google Maps causes constant map updates that delay the speed limits from being displayed. I will also say that the Wagoneer's infotainment system design just seems a lot nicer and more modern. The AT4's is a lot more utilitarian - it does the job, but it doesn't look super modern. Sound system on the Wagoneer is better, but again that's not really surprising when comparing to an AT4. I would assume a Denali's sound system is more similar to the Wagoneer Series III.

Wagoneer seats are really comfortable, as are the Yukon seats. The ventilated front seats are pretty damn weak on the Wagoneer. The Yukon's ventilated seat system works a lot better. We have the rear entertainment system in both vehicles. The screens sit pretty low on the Wagoneer, which may be nice for viewing, but makes it harder to fit rear facing car seats. It's a pretty tight fit to get my rear facing car seat in when the driver's seat is set for my longer legs, but there's plenty of space when it's on my wife's settings and it's her car so this is more of a quibble I guess. But those lower rear screens also make it a little harder for kids to climb in and out, especially when they have backpacks on. I do really like that the Wagoneer has second row tilt to exit seats - that is incredibly helpful when you're using the 3rd row but have kids car seats in both captains chairs in the second row. By contrast, the Yukon's tumble seat feature in the second row is completely useless when you have car seats installed. I really wish the Yukon had slide and tilt seats in the second row instead, that is one of my biggest dislikes. Another thing to note is that the Wagoneer has second row sunscreens built in to the doors, which are great. The fact that it's not even an option on the Yukon is a miss, in my opinion. I do prefer that the Yukon has 2 cupholders at the back of the center console on top, that's helpful when you want to give kids their water bottles. The Wagoneer's cupholders are on the floor behind the front center console, so it's kind of annoying to use them from the front seat to help your kids who are strapped into car seats.

Obviously the trunk space on the Yukon XL dwarfs the space in the Wagoneer. However, I would note that the Wagoneer has a decent sized and usable trunk even with the third row up. The standard length Wagoneer is longer than a standard length Yukon, and it really shows up in the truck space.

Driving:
Both cars have really nice, comfortable rides, obviously. Since the Yukon is an AT4 XL, the longer wheelbase and larger sidewall tires makes it drive really nice and smooth. The Wagoneer is also extremely smooth though, and the magnetic ride with air suspension works really well. They're both very quiet on the interior. The Wagoneer has a ton more power with its Hurricane motor vs the Yukon's standard 5.3L. I knew that would be the case given the horsepower difference. You can feel the difference, the Wagoneer is just a lot quicker, and the motor is really smooth. Doesn't have that V8 growl though! The steering on the Wagoneer seems to be a little lighter to me, which is a nice premium feel. Not that the Yukon's steering is heavy, but when I drive them back to back, I can definitely feel the difference. I've towed a travel trailer with the Wagoneer, and it pulled it like a champ. I haven't towed anything with the Yukon yet - we are not doing any glamping trips with a newborn.

Well there are my rambling thoughts. I hope someone finds a few nuggets that helps them if they're looking to choose between these two vehicles!

Thank you for a very detailed comparison of the two trucks. I enjoyed the read. Very much appreciated, and will be helpful to folks.

Nice honest, and unbiased comparison. I enjoyed reading as well.

Can you please share some comparisons on the transmissions? I believe the Wagoneer is an 8 speed, right? 10 speed for the Yukon XL? Do they shift nice and smooth? I'm guessing not a huge difference with that many gears? I've never driven anything this new, so that's why I'm asking if you don't mind.

Both beautiful vehicles!

strutaeng said:

Nice honest, and unbiased comparison. I enjoyed reading as well.

Can you please share some comparisons on the transmissions? I believe the Wagoneer is an 8 speed, right? 10 speed for the Yukon XL? Do they shift nice and smooth? I'm guessing not a huge difference with that many gears? I've never driven anything this new, so that's why I'm asking if you don't mind.

Both beautiful vehicles!

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Thanks! Honestly I've never noticed any major differences between the two transmissions and the 8 vs 10 speeds. Both seem to shift well and at appropriate times and the shifts are smooth. No complaints with either one.

Very nice write-up. Thanks for sharing.

I had a wagoneer rental for a week this summer. I was impressed with the driving characteristics and the smooth power of the motor. The 8 speed trans was butter. I personally hated the center stack that controls everything via a touch screen.....just give me climate control knobs, the radio can be touch screen if need be. I will concur on the seats being quite comfortable, but the ventilation did suck, pathetic at best.

I personally don't see the justifiable price they ask for them, or any new SUV, for that matter. As for longevity, it will have to wait to be seen. I hope you have good luck with yours.....at least you shouldn't have to worry about lifters or main bearings like GM seems to skimp out on.

Very interesting read. Seen a few wagoneers rolling around big bear but only a few. Caught my attention because one of my long time clients had one for the last two years. I believe hers was a mark III as well. Pretty low mileage on it as she didn’t beat the heck out of it. Ironically she just traded it in. Apparently it kept having a major issue in the rear end, something to do with it constantly loosing bolts and hardware at the wheel/axle, and causing the rear wheels to always be loose. The dealer fixed it three times and it happened again and almost caused her to have a serious accident. And apparently the dealer had told her that this was a big issue they were seeing happen a lot with other customers not just hers, and couldn’t figure out how to stop it from happening. She was tired of it and dumped it for an Escalade. Curious to see how the wagoneer models hold up going forward.

Another interesting thing I noticed with the wagoneer, the window trim seal pieces under the third row windows on both sides, as well as the tailgate window trim trapped a crap ton of dirt and water and every time I detailed it, it would take FOREVER to get the tail gate properly cleaned up because it would constantly be dripping out dirty water everywhere. Now I’ve noticed the latest gen GM SUVs trap a fair bit of dirt and water in the tail gate area, right below the glass hatch, and it drops out at the panel seams just above the license plate setup. Annoying but much easier on the GMs to get all the water and dirt cleaned up proper.

In fifteen years the Yukon will still be on the road somewhere and the Wagoneer would have been recycled already.

Thanks for the great report. I test drove the first Wagoneer, with the V8. I did like it. At that time, back in 2022, we purchased the Denali. The Wagoneer was more money, the Grand Wagoneer much more money, and we liked the Denali interior better. I have been wondering about the Newer Hurricane Motor. It sounds like a good motor.

This is a great comparison and we recently just traded in our 2021 Yukon for a Fully loaded Grand Wagoneer III.

*note* the Yukon was a great vehicle and very reliable, I just get bored with cars and needed a tax write off for this upcoming year.

So for me, it's not fair to compare our SLT to a GWIII, as the GW is very much like an Escalade and the SLT was more like a Wagoneer I or II.

A few things I have noted.

The controls are less distracting on the Yukon, the GW has a lot of tech and capacitive touch buttons.

The Ride is much better on the GW, but then again not fair as our Yukon has the base suspension.

The A/C is much quicker to cool in the Yukon vs the GW

The Seat comfort (for me) is much better in W & GW

The adaptive Crusie and Active Drive Assist is pretty damn good though I have not compared to Super Crusie

3rd row access is much better in the GW the tilt slid function is a much better execution than GMs.

The Hurrican is pretty impressive, but GM's V8 offerings are very reliable. So I call it wash.

Interior quality is amazing in the GW, then again not a fair comparison to our SLT.

Overall storage nooks, Yukon all the way! the GW failed in the department, the center console should have more storage and the door panels could use some additional space.

Styling, overall the current Yukon looks good regardless of the trim level, the W & GW need to have the right trim package to look best.

The rear tailgate glass does not open on the GW, vs the Yukon though we never opened it much unless I was washing it.

Headlight performance is amazing on the GW, the Yukon headlights were a disappointment if I am honest

One other thing, the insurance cost for GW is almost double in comparison to the Yukon.

So the plan is to keep it a few years and then look at the restyled Yukon Denali as a replacement.

Nice comparison!

I rented a Wagoneer and it was awesome, very plush and comfortable but handling was more “squishy” and car like. Controls through touch screen were way more complicated than GM but it was totally new to me and I only had it for a day. The heated seats were hard to figure out as it seemed to be only controlled through touch screen after several options.

Power was adequate but not as good as my 6.2l Tahoe. Engine sounded ok but not as good as GM V8.

Interior looked and felt luxurious but not solid kinfa like a Hundai - something about it felt like it would fall apart sooner even though it looked and felt good there was also a feeling of flimsy. The leather seats in later model GMs are firmer and have more of a durable feel from my limited experience.