My brother and his lovely wife love their second Dodge Durango.
Their first beloved camper-hauling, boat-towing, canine-shuttling Dodge met its untimely demise after a highway collision with a 1,200-pound Elk a few years ago. Occupants were startled but uninjured, despite heavy damage to the vehicle. Impressed with its handling of this collision, they went on to buy a second Durango, which has just met its match.
With identical twin boys arriving at Christmas, their family will soon count five humans and four dogs among its members. Everyone’s thrilled except for the Durango, which is now unexpectedly due to be replaced by something larger.
Families like this are partly why machines like the Jeep Wagoneer L, Ford Expedition Max, and Chevrolet Suburban exist. They’re the biggest SUVs on the road, with extended wheelbases and three seating rows combining to offer bus-like levels of passenger and cargo volume. Truck-based construction and four-wheel drive join pickup-like towing capacities, catering to active families looking for a towing-capable rig with plenty of room to grow into.
Below, we’ll dig into the powertrains, fuel economy, and annual fuel costs of each of these machines, for a look at how your choice of model and engine affects longer-term operating costs and suitability to your locale and lifestyle.
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First, let’s size up these hulking road sofas.
The Ford Expedition Max comes in at 221.9 inches in length, a full foot longer than the standard Expedition on which it’s based. The Wagoneer L is even longer, measuring in at 226.7 inches long — also a full foot lengthier than the standard Wagoneer. The Suburban sits in the middle with an overall length of 225.7 inches, some 15 more than the Chevrolet Suburban.
What’s under the hood?
The Expedition Max comes with a sole engine option, Ford’s 3.5-litre EcoBoost V6, good for up to 400 horsepower and 470 lb-ft of torque at just 2,250 RPM on regular-grade gas. Towing capacity is rated at 9,200 lbs, and a 10-speed automatic transmission is included.
According to NRCan, this model drinks 14.1 litres of gas for every 100 kilometres of city driving, 10.6 litres per 100 kilometres on the highway, and 12.5 L/100 km combined.
Doing a roughly even split of city- and highway driving across 25,000 kilometres per year, the average Expedition Max shopper can expect to use about 3,125 litres of fuel per year. Assuming an average fuel cost of $1.60 per litre, that’s an annual fuel bill of $5,000. Your results will vary.
2022 Jeep Wagoneer at sunset at Old Woman Bay, Lake Superior, Ontario Photo by Jonathan Yarkony
The Wagoneer L is the lengthiest ute in this group. For model-year 2023, engine options include two variations of a new-this-year engine series dubbed Hurricane. Replacing the 6.4L V8 offered in the 2022 Wagoneer lineup, the advanced 3-litre Hurricane straight-six turbo engine generates 420 horsepower and 468 lb-ft of torque in its standard output configuration, while an available Hurricane High Output configuration bumps those figures to 510 and 500, respectively. Towing is rated at up to 9,850 lbs.
The standard-output engine requires regular grade fuel; the high-output version requires premium. Though Canadian fuel economy data wasn’t available at this writing, some extrapolation from available US data can give us a look at the annual fuel costs.
The Wagoneer L’s 17 MPG fuel consumption rating in the US works out to 14.7 L/100 km combined. The average Wagoneer L driver, covering 25,000 kilometres per year, will use about 3,675 litres of fuel. At $1.60 for a litre of regular unleaded, that’s an annual fuel cost of about $5,880. Running premium fuel for the High Output version? At $1.75/L for premium unleaded, annual fuel costs would climb to about $6,430. Your results will vary.
2021 Chevrolet Suburban
The Chevrolet Suburban offers three engine choices: two gasoline V8 engines of 5.3 and 6.2 litres’ displacement, and a 3-litre Duramax turbodiesel straight-six.
The 5.3-litre V8 spins up 355 horsepower and 383 lb-ft of torque, and requires regular-grade gasoline. The 6.2-litre unit bumps output to 420 horsepower and 460 lb-ft of torque, though premium fuel is required.
Note that these non-turbocharged engines deliver peak torque at higher revs than turbocharged options like the EcoBoost and Hurricane, meaning those engines put more torque output more easily within reach, more of the time, for a more responsive drive.
The diesel straight-six has plenty of low-end torque to spare—with 460 lb-ft available from just 1,500 revs, backed by 277 horsepower. Maximum towing capacity for four-wheel drive models clocks in at 8,100 lbs.
With the 5.3-litre V8 and four-wheel drive, the Suburban uses 15.9 L/100 km in the city, 12.4 L/100 km on the highway, and 14.3 L/100 km combined. That’s 3,575 litres of fuel to drive 25,000 kilometres per year, for an annual fuel cost of $5,720.
With the 6.2-litre V8, combined fuel economy jumps from 14.3 L/100 km to 14.7 L/100 km. That’s an additional 100 litres of fuel annually to feed the 6.2, or 3,675L in total. Remember that it drinks the pricey stuff, so assuming a cost of $1.75 per litre of premium unleaded, annual fuel costs climb to about $6,400. That’s about a $700 annual difference between the 5.3- and 6.2-litre gasoline engines.
2022 Ford Expedition Max Platinum Photo by Jil McIntosh
The diesel straight-six turns out as much torque as the 6.2-litre V8, from far lower revs. This engine drinks 11.7 L/100 km in the city, 9 L/100 km on the highway, and 10.5 L/100 km combined.
Covering our annual 25,000 kilometres of driving with this engine will require 2,625 litres of fuel. Assuming a diesel price of $1.80 per litre, that’s an annual fuel bill of $4,725.
Torque is the all-important measurement when it comes to moving a heavy vehicle like a monstrous SUV. In the case of torque output for the fuel dollar, Chevy’s Duramax straight-six and Ford’s EcoBoost lead this trio, with just a few hundred bucks a year between the two. Note that the Expedition Max is shorter than the Suburban, but tows 1,100 lbs more.
Chevy’s 5.3-litre V8 uses $700 more fuel per year than the EcoBoost, despite a considerably lower torque output. The Jeep Wagoneer L’s standard output engine uses about $880 more fuel per year than the EcoBoost, in exchange for 4.8 inches of additional length and the highest towing capacity on the page.
It’s always nice to have choices.
2021 Chevrolet Tahoe Photo by Renita Naraine
Keyword: Powertrain Comparison: Jeep Wagoneer L vs Chevrolet Suburban vs Ford Expedition Max