Ineos Grenadier, do you reckon it'll take off?

Ok so I went to one of their drive days yesterday. Drove around Mt Cotton. Not really very far.

Overall impressions.. I got in it and drove it. The overwhelming reaction is just relief. The cabin is so spacious. After so long putting up with literally 1947 ergonomics. It's comfortable and would comfortable for a multi day trip even for my giant family. It was comfortable in the back seat, and you can see out the windows without ducking. Passenger comfort is one of the biggest downfalls of our current car. How it drives on the highway is still and unknown for me.

Driving wise .. look it's a pretty tiny little course there. Probably didn't get it over 20kph LOL. It's fairly steep in sections and has lot's of big holes and ruts. The prototype had no working TC and the only traction aid it had was the centre diff lock so could see how the car behaved. It clambered up and over stuff without problem. Seemed to have good traction and wheel articulation. It had good visibility for a modern car although it's a lot wider than the Defender. Turning circle is no worse. The automatic worked fine and the manual selction of gears gave excellent engine braking. This surprised me. The instructor explained that when you manual select it locks the torque converter. Things would be pretty grim for you to use the hill descent.

But the big one is much to my surprise the wife wanted to have a drive.. and that she did. My Defender is just soo much for her.. the whole gear thing in what she considers to be stressful conditions. She drove it easily making off road driving wifes-play. :D This might seem silly but this is a big thing for our family. As I'm want to ride bikes and leave her to drive the car this would be a big help!

I lined both cars up and you can really see the differences in how they are layed out. The grenadier squeezes both the engine bay and the luggage compartment for space. I think these are reasonable things too. I didn't take a photo of this but the Grenadier is a good headlight wider too. The old defender sits a bit higher with the lift. I'm sure most people will do that for the grenadier.

Spent a while with one of the Ineos guys. They are in for the long game and know they need to build their brand. They seemed pretty committed.

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That shot of the two together is interesting. It sure looks like the rear passenger door is bigger, so access to the rear seats should be easier. Hmm, on further inspection it looks like that's the case for the front as well....

Departure angle "looks" better. I don't have the specs handy but the whole car "looks" bigger overall, but that could be a product of the curvature of the panels and the wheels.

Reckon that's the most interesting pic of the car that I've seen so far.

EDIT: I mean the one taken from the passenger side. The one from the driver's side almost reverses that size impression, but that's perspective.

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Originally Posted by Tins

That shot of the two together is interesting. It sure looks like the rear passenger door is bigger, so access to the rear seats should be easier. Hmm, on further inspection it looks like that's the case for the front as well....

Departure angle "looks" better. I don't have the specs handy but the whole car "looks" bigger overall, but that could be a product of the curvature of the panels and the wheels.

Reckon that's the most interesting pic of the car that I've seen so far.

EDIT: I mean the one taken from the passenger side. The one from the driver's side almost reverses that size impression, but that's perspective.

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The drivers side one I was cramped by poles in the shed so I used it to show the height difference.

The shot from the passenger side was further away from a normal height.

In thinking about it. If I had to summarise this. It's exactly what I wanted LR to build as a defender replacement. It's like the people who designed it really got it - and weren't corrupted by the business.

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Originally Posted by Captain_Rightfoot

The drivers side one I was cramped by poles in the shed so I used it to show the height difference.
The shot from the passenger side was further away from a normal height.

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Yeah, I got that. From the "normal" height shot it seems to me that the height difference is mostly the roof, hard to be sure. I'm going to blow that shot up to fill my screen.

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Originally Posted by Captain_Rightfoot

In thinking about it. If I had to summarise this. It's exactly what I wanted LR to build as a defender replacement. It's like the people who designed it really got it - and weren't corrupted by the business.

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I'm looking forward to seeing one at the 4x4 show. Without having seen one it's hard to judge, but maybe it's not just a replacement for the Deefer, but the Disco as well.

As a now single bloke it doesn't suit me, but a single cab ute, if they build one, that's a whole other story.

The other thing the guy from ineos said.. if you want the diesel buy the diesel. The issues that we're seeing are other manufacturers that haven't got their stuff together.

There certainly doesn't seem to be much if anything on the web about it.

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Originally Posted by Captain_Rightfoot

The other thing the guy from ineos said.. if you want the diesel buy the diesel. The issues that we're seeing are other manufacturers that haven't got their stuff together.

There certainly doesn't seem to be much if anything on the web about it.

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If he means what I think he means, that's a bold statement.

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Originally Posted by Tins

If he means what I think he means, that's a bold statement.

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Ineos have included as standard a large water trap. He also claims BMW doesn't have DPF problems like other manufacturers. Certainly there is little evidence of the web of it.

Interesting as I was leaning to the petrol before that.

Looking at the photo taken with the woman driving, I understand why the speed is not registering infront of the driver as per the traditional Defender. The steering wheel is smaller and chunkier than that fitted to the old Defender and would obscure any info infront of it. The use of manually selecting gears is interesting.

Good point. What's the HUD like Steve?

Rather than spamming everyone.. Today the embargo ends on the grenadier.

There is LOTS of press incoming both in video and print.