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

Each to their own for sure. My boss had a 7x, whatever the dual cab one is, and by the time he had the rear axle widened, an auto fitted plus a few other "little things" it would have been around the $120K mark in adjusted dollars, and it still drove like a 1965 Bedford, only harder over the bumps. However, he also spent $$$$$ on performance upgrades, so the thing was a hoot for brief periods. I was always glad to get back into my D2 though.... or the R730 Scania. Both were far more civilized.

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Originally Posted by Tins

Each to their own for sure. My boss had a 7x, whatever the dual cab one is, and by the time he had the rear axle widened, an auto fitted plus a few other "little things" it would have been around the $120K mark in adjusted dollars, and it still drove like a 1965 Bedford, only harder over the bumps. However, he also spent $$$$$ on performance upgrades, so the thing was a hoot for brief periods. I was always glad to get back into my D2 though.... or the R730 Scania. Both were far more civilized.

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I looked at them with full intention of buying one and setting it up as my dream tourer, diff correction with coil conversion , auto, needed power upgrade so it could hold top gear as in standard form they will not hold top with the auto, new seats new stereo, better sound proofing, brake booster upgrade, suspension upgrade, tire upgrade, then bar work, lights, UHF and a roof rack.
All up about 130-140k before I did the canopy, all good over a 2 year build, test drove a second hand one and thought na this one is knackered, test drove another one, it was exactly the same, back to the drawing board, test drove a D4 , decided to tempt fate with another LR, found what I wanted already modded near new, half the Toyota cost, 110,000 km and 6 years later no regrets and still love the D4

So our defender.. which we bought in 05 has been a great car. At the time we looked at the Troopy but it was two doors only, had IFS at the front and leaf springs at the back. It was a substantially newer design though - but the 2 door thing was the end of it. On many levels though not ideal.

The car people are talking about here is the same car we cross shopped against our defender. Granted it has a new engine and available as a wagon now but essentially the same thing. And that V8 is not Toyotas best work. Drinks fuel, and the injector rebuild after a whiff of water is eye watering. I'm really reluctant to go there while I've got the Defender.. It's not that much better.

So along comes the ineos. It's basically a no expense spared modern interpretation of our defender. Great auto.. coils all round.. live axles. Great engine (your choice of economical petrol or diesel). Having sat in it now.. it's a very comfortable family car. It seats five in pretty good comfort. Compared to the defender which is between 0-2 in comfort, and another three in agony.

But the biggest problem with the defender is I'm the only one in the family that will drive it. The wife will only drive it in a dire emergency, and my daughter ... so I offered her to take the car camping to NSW (maybe 5h return) and she said "That's a really long way driving that car". The defender is the Ferrari of the desert .. but it's the thousands of K's to get there that's killing us.

So people (and my family) just won't accept a 1947 design. It's comically uncomfortable to be in, and a pain to drive. Who would have thought.. and along comes the grenadier. I think it's possible it will be the last ground up new 4x4.

If it drives well, looks like they are supporting it ok, and they don't increase the price again I'll likely order one.

Originally Posted by Captain_Rightfoot

But the biggest problem with the defender is I'm the only one in the family that will drive it. The wife will only drive it in a dire emergency,

Lol. Mine wouldn't drive the D2 ( too big she said, no bigger than your Ford I said, I lost) but she was happy to be driven in it, even more than the Ford. Refused point blank to get into the D1, although I admit it's a little rough around the edges. She would walk away when I looked at Deefers. I can't imagine what she'd make of the OKA.

When I'm done with the OKA, if the Ineos is as capable as a Deefer and drives like a Disco, and as you say has decent support ( wouldn't take much to beat LR there ) then I'll likely get one as well, especially if they do a 2 Dr ute. There's just me, so that'd be fine with something like a trayon.

It ticks a lot of boxes.

Originally Posted by Tins

Lol. Mine wouldn't drive the D2 ( too big she said, no bigger than your Ford I said, I lost) but she was happy to be driven in it, even more than the Ford. Refused point blank to get into the D1, although I admit it's a little rough around the edges. She would walk away when I looked at Deefers. I can't imagine what she'd make of the OKA.

When I'm done with the OKA, if the Ineos is as capable as a Deefer and drives like a Disco, and as you say has decent support ( wouldn't take much to beat LR there ) then I'll likely get one as well, especially if they do a 2 Dr ute. There's just me, so that'd be fine with something like a trayon.

It ticks a lot of boxes.

The only negatives I've got on the grenadier at the moment.

- It's a little smaller in the boot than the 110 (still big though and far better shape and access).
- It's heavy. But safety.
- It's not cheap But what is?
- How well the brand will move forward is unclear.

Now they have production cars.. they are having international media events as we speak.

When these come off embargo which I think is early next month.. we'll get a good idea on the international reception. I suspect (from snippets given) it's going to be pretty positive which will really get them going.

Unfortunately when these reviews get out the waiting list will grow. But I'm ok with that.

My drive event is Feb the 5th. Should know more after that.

Has anyone else found the small door of the split rear doors on the Grenadier a bit too narrow to be of any use?
By itself it's not a very wide opening and I thought I'd have trouble loading anything much through it. Therefore for loading most stuff into the rear both doors would need to be opened.

Originally Posted by Xtreme;[URL="tel:3180336"

3180336[/URL]]Has anyone else found the small door of the split rear doors on the Grenadier a bit too narrow to be of any use?
By itself it's not a very wide opening and I thought I'd have trouble loading anything much through it. Therefore for loading most stuff into the rear both doors would need to be opened.

I haven’t seen one in the metal. Is it very different to a Patrol?

EDIT: I mean the split rear doors.... Son has a GU wagon. Left door is adequate at best, it really depends on how you load it. It certainly helps if there's a trailer involved.