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

Originally Posted by Tins

That was a pretty fair review i thought.

fI really do think the product is worthwhile, and with development could become excellent. The biggest problem is the price.

Captain, the Grenadier is the car for you if you'd like to refresh your Defender with a new BMW engine and auto gearbox, plus you get all the other new bits attached.

Originally Posted by RANDLOVER

Captain, the Grenadier is the car for you if you'd like to refresh your Defender with a new BMW engine and auto gearbox, plus you get all the other new bits attached.

After I gave up on the Grenadier due to them setting the price at 140k, I've been "investing" in the defender heavily over the last couple of years. I don't want to think how much.

We will reassess in 5 years. By then it should be clearer on the long term fate of the Grenadier. I really don't think that IF they still exist in Australia that they will be in the current form. Probably they will be bought by another manufacturer like BMW.

Having said that - there are some things I don't like about the grenadier. It's heavy - really heavy. When I'm in the desert being so light is a real advantage. On the last trip I was able to stop near the crest of a dune. And then restart when the coast was clear. No backing down for me!. My mate who is the Toyota club of NSW driver trainer, and Toyota tragic said to me later "That was seriously impressive".

Then there is all the stupid electronic interlocks. I know what I'm doing - leave me alone! Don't make me say three hail mary's and turn around twice if I want the diff locks. In the defender I can operate all the 4wd systems at my will which has worked fine for the last 20 years.

Plus even though the grenadier might have somewhat less electronics than a new defender, it's still and order of magnitude more than my car. There are plenty of reports on forums of them not starting and people saying "lock the car and try again in five minutes". FFS.

And then.. there is the packaging. Have a look at this photo.. with my car and a grenadier. You can see how they have just moved the rear cargo area back to get more room for the occupants. Which is fine and all.. but on the last trip I could fit everything in the back leaving the back seat open. With the grenadier I literally lose half a metre of cargo space. I would have to fold the back seats to get even close. And don't start me on the little fuel tank. And modern common rail diesels..

My defender is a rare thing. We've owned it since new and it's had "whatever it needs" maintenance. It's literally the best defender it's ever been. Only 180k from new.

EDIT: The other thing about my car. It just sits in the garage on charge and gets taken out for trips. I don't use it as a daily. I think if I had to do that it would be a different equation. But it's soooo good off road I'm prepared to live with the lack of comforts on road. Now if I can just get the AC working really well I'll be stoked.

I also just got the email reminding me of the Quartermaster drive weekend and the 99K drive away deal. Still can't put a pallet of super or sheep nuts on the back with a payload (without driver) of 832kg diesel or 907kg petrol. Might as well go and buy a Jeep Gladiator, I'd save bout 30k and only lose about 150KG of payload and have an equally capable offroad vehicle with all the fruit. I couldn't face up to SWMBO and eldest daughter who both own Rubicons though, if I was to replace the 130 with a Jeep.
I'm still waiting for Ford to make the ranger super duty XLT available, only the povo pack available at the moment.

Regards,
Tote

Can I say again how stupid all those procedures to operate 4wd systems are? They are fine if you're driving over one obstacle occasionally. But if you're driving through the desert back and forth for a couple of weeks. Serious PITA. I want to roll up to a dune and just select what I need for the dune in front of me. How hard can it be?

Imagine having to summon the spirit of Jim Ratcliffe to change out of low range and engage a couple of diff locks by 1000 sand dunes. Stupidity.

I wonder what sort of discounts law enforcement were offered.

Originally Posted by V8Ian

I wonder what sort of discounts law enforcement were offered.

Imagine if they discounted them - and they became the dominant mine truck in Australia. So much lost potential..