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!
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!
