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

Originally Posted by Captain_Rightfoot

There was a lot I was nodding to in this video. One of those things.. the grenadier "is not a spiritual successor to the Defender.. it's too expensive".

I agree with that 100%

Neither is an L663 and it isn't any cheaper and no tray back version.

Originally Posted by loanrangie

Neither is an L663 and it isn't any cheaper and no tray back version.

The new defender is a modern interpration of the old defender designed and optimised for on road use. Preferably within a few hours drive (tow truck) of a dealer.

Originally Posted by Captain_Rightfoot

The new defender is a modern interpration of the old defender designed and optimised for on road use. Preferably within a few hours drive (tow truck) of a dealer.

Nah…. They said that when the TD5 was introduced too.

There are several hard working current model defenders around this part of Aus, no dealers for hundreds of kilometres.

I speak to several of the owners regularly, they’re doing big trips in deserts, regular beach work, towing heavy, all the usual things.

Have they had a few niggles, sure.

One has owned from new a County, All the TDI models, a TD5, the Puma version and now the new one. Guess which one has caused the least grief! And it’s gotten well into the +100k odometer zone

Originally Posted by Tombie

Nah…. They said that when the TD5 was introduced too.

There are several hard working current model defenders around this part of Aus, no dealers for hundreds of kilometres.

I speak to several of the owners regularly, they’re doing big trips in deserts, regular beach work, towing heavy, all the usual things.

Have they had a few niggles, sure.

One has owned from new a County, All the TDI models, a TD5, the Puma version and now the new one. Guess which one has caused the least grief! And it’s gotten well into the +100k odometer zone

The oldest one is barely five. I've no doubt when everything is new a remote trip would be worth a roll.

I'm quite confident time will prove me right. I'm not alone on this.

Originally Posted by Captain_Rightfoot

The oldest one is barely five. I've no doubt when everything is new a remote trip would be worth a roll.

I'm quite confident time will prove me right. I'm not alone on this.

A new Defender is literally a beefed up, now OTA updated Discovery 4 with some design cues to the old.

D4s are proving incredibly resilient (ok some 3.0l aren’t) but the body, suspension and basic electro/mechanical are holding together just fine.

I can remember when I purchased my Tomb Raider TD5 seeing multitudes of them in the workshop having niggles and problems rectified. Now nobody thinks twice about a few maintenance items and off they go.

My D4 as an example is about to roll 230k, its total maintenance bill would be sub $15k for its entire life.

Originally Posted by Captain_Rightfoot

There was a lot I was nodding to in this video. One of those things.. the grenadier "is not a spiritual successor to the Defender.. it's too expensive".

I agree with that 100%

I did a quick calculation using the Reserve Bank's inflation calculator to determine what my now departed 2008 Defender cost in today's dollars.

It cost me $50000 new and I added stuff (as you do) like a bull bar lets say another $15000 so $65000. if I was to add rear locker add say another $5000. so a total cost to me of $70000 in 2008 dollars.

The Defender cost me close to $106.000 in today's money.

Makes the Grenadier and the L663 Defender look like better value considering what you get for your extra dollars.

Originally Posted by Tombie

A new Defender is literally a beefed up, now OTA updated Discovery 4 with some design cues to the old.

D4s are proving incredibly resilient (ok some 3.0l aren’t) but the body, suspension and basic electro/mechanical are holding together just fine.

I can remember when I purchased my Tomb Raider TD5 seeing multitudes of them in the workshop having niggles and problems rectified. Now nobody thinks twice about a few maintenance items and off they go.

My D4 as an example is about to roll 230k, its total maintenance bill would be sub $15k for its entire life.

The D3's and D4's I've seen in the wild haven't been at all good with remote travel. Engine failures, air suspension, even major suspension failures. Oh and a comical amount of electrical gremlins some of which cause fail to proceeds. Every time I do a trip with one it ends badly. Lets see.. last three trips. First one was a D3 which destroyed it's engine. Next one the same car decided that it wouldn't ask the alternator to charge although the alternator itself was fine. Next one was a D4 had a complete strut failure. And the year before I did the ride (2021) they had a D3 which went onto the bump stops and had to be recovered.

It's hard because no one knows as the cars are all very new, but I haven't seen any evidence myself that the "Defender" won't do the same. I'm not saying they aren't nice rural area/city cars and I'm sure people have a great experience with them.

Originally Posted by one_iota

I did a quick calculation using the Reserve Bank's inflation calculator to determine what my now departed 2008 Defender cost in today's dollars.

It cost me $50000 new and I added stuff (as you do) like a bull bar lets say another $15000 so $65000. if I was to add rear locker add say another $5000. so a total cost to me of $70000 in 2008 dollars.

The Defender cost me close to $106.000 in today's money.

Makes the Grenadier and the L663 Defender look like better value considering what you get for your extra dollars.

I wish I was there in 2008, selling Bull bar and diff lock packages for todays equivalent of $30 000+.
For those prices I would've been able to retire by 2010.