The snow has been flying fast and furious up here in the Midwest, and fortunately I was able to test the 2025 Jeep Wagoneer S multiple times in the thick stuff. Is an all-electric just as capable in the snow as the gas-engine model that looks bigger and heavier? I was about to find out.
An easy-to-access drive mode switch, located just to your right near the gear shift, proved to be more useful than normal considering we’ve had multiple days with accumulation.
My snowblower has been getting a workout, but it also means an opportunity to see how a large SUV like the Wagoneer S does in multiple driving scenarios.
To activate snow mode, you just click up on the drive mode switch to the Snow setting. It will say Snow in the dashboard as well and, as usual, this means the vehicle won’t lurch forward when you hit the gas and will control traction to make sure there isn’t a lot of tire slip.
The proof is in the pudding — or in this case, multiple inches of snow. I gunned it a little around a hill by my house and that was my first clue that Snow mode actually works. No tire slip, no issues getting up the hill, and no fishtailing. My BMW 3 likes to pretend it’s a sled on that same hill, even though it technically has AWD, but can slide out on occasion.
One point for the Wagoneer S, but I knew it would drive better in that condition than my own car. Next, I tried driving to a major metro area during a snowstorm. With a vehicle like this, the weight and the fact that it has snow tires helps a ton, but as I reported recently in a piece for Men’s Journal, the truth is that even the best winter vehicles will slip on slick roads.
I never had any issues or even felt like the Wagoneer was going to slide around. I watched as other vehicles did look like they were having a little trouble with tire slip at times. Nothing too major, but the next test was where I was really curious about the Wagoneer S.
I live in the country, and there’s a road that does not get enough attention from the plows. I decided to drive the Wagoneer S before the plows came in, and once again the vehicle hugged the road perfectly. That is a testament to the ground clearance for sure.
There wasn’t enough snow to make the vehicle blink or cause any build up under the carriage to cause any slowdowns. I’m now a big fan of the Snow mode setting. I can imagine families with a bunch of kids all packed into the passenger seats feeling more assured about the handling.
Bonus that the settings are so easy to find. On some vehicles, I have noticed that the drive mode dial is situated right next to other settings and it can be confusing, especially when you are suddenly driving on slick roads, to activate the mode and not press a button that controls your music or maybe activates something else on the vehicle in a slight panic.
All told, the Jeep Wagoneer S drives like a tank (in a good way) on snow and outclassed some other recent SUV tests where the traction was not exactly perfect, even in light snow.