McIntosh is now inside a Jeep luxury car.

Jeeps are horribly unreliable.  Just check the Consumer Reports reliability stats. Second, there’s hardly a worse environment for audio given the external noise and the internal room/acoustics.  Oh yeah, and then you’re sitting right in front of the far right or far left speakers, which is absolutely absurd.  I mean, would you sit right in front of your left or right speaker in your home system?  So what’s really the point of paying up for a higher-level audio system in a car?  It’s extremely compromised on many levels, so why even bother?

They put that nice stereo in there so you can enjoy it while waiting for the tow truck.

The biggest problem with Jeep and other US vehicles that they contain 90% parts built in PRC and it really doesn't matter how much the junk worth. It's still a junk.

I spend a lot of hours driving vehicles.  Why wouldn’t I want to enjoy music while I drive?  I’m grateful some manufacturers offer the option for upgraded audio systems in vehicles.  I’ve had several opportunities to drive the Grand Wagoneer and hear the Mac system, and I found it quite enjoyable.  Certainly, an auto is a challenging environment for music…it ain’t a concert hall.  But, In fairness, I’ve heard a lot of crappy sound at concerts, too.  I find the biggest challenge for good sound in a car is the amount of noise, it sucks constantly turning up soft passages and turning down loud passages (I wish car audio systems had a compression knob).  The Grand Wagoneer is pretty quiet, which improves the experience.  I won’t be trading my Subaru for a Grand Wagoneer, but if I was, I’d want the Mac upgrade.