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

Originally Posted by scarry

One of my Sons has a LC76,and has used his extensively off road,often towing a Patriot camper,never had any issue with the track difference.Most of the off road is on Fraser and Moreton island,so a lot of beach and soft sand.And he had a Puma 110 for 9 yrs,before the LC came along.
His is lifted with 33s,offset and track is stock.

While it's certainly not ideal - I think the whole panic about it is probably overplayed. Unless you are going precisely straight the wheels aren't following the same track anyway.

Disclaimer - I haven't driven one.

Robmacca - mate I'm really sorry. Life got in the way big time. Including a 3000 km drive in my 300tdi interstate which was hell-on-wheels without air con during the Xmas heatwave. Bloody missed the Grenadier then (or any other vehicle for that matter).


What sort (if any) problems/issues you had in your 2yr ownership?
- Split radiator hose where it rubbed on the radiator fan shroud after a long-ish day of off-roading. Poor coolant pipework security was to blame. Very nearly left me stranded but limped out of the Brindies with the assistance of passers-by. Missed the Landy that day I can tell you. Also didn't take my toolkit that weekend which was poor judgement on my part.

- Adblue sensor constantly reading 100%. This was the source of an annoying fault whereby the engine light would come on every week or so, cutting off cruise control and requiring a hard reset by the agent. Many, many trips to and from dealer but was resolved after 18 months by the complete replacement of the Adblue tank(s). For context, last year the dealer was about 5-6 hours away. Of all faults, this was the most persistent and did not inspire remote travel.

- Condensation leaking onto the passenger footwell from behind the firewall, from the A/C system. Resolved with complete dash-off repair evidently.

- Damaged pick-up ring for wheel sensor. Occurred while driving no faster than 60 km/hr on a sealed road. Still mobile, but warning lights flashing like it's Xmas. Flat-bed'd under warranty, although INEOS would not accept this under warranty. Ensued weeks of attempted communications with INEOS Australia and UK. You CANNOT contact an Australian rep unless you stalk the Region Head on LinkedIn, which is not my style. UK head office kept 'escalating' to nowhere. By this stage we demanded that INEOS take the vehicle back. We ultimately decided that we wouldn't get anywhere and paid for the repairs and arranged return of the vehicle.

- Cannot manually check oil level easily, relies on digital gauge. Informed me to add 500ml for 'offroad' use. Added precisely 500 ml then 10 min of driving later starts blaring at me that I've overfilled and risk damage. Ignored this and drove to the dealer 5 hours away, where I was going anyway. Annoying.

- Oh, and door seals kept falling off and needed re-gluing by the dealer. Door locks also replaced under warranty (they would get sticky and be tricky to open after a bit of dust gets in)

Sure I'm missing something.

Was yours a Petrol or Diesel?

Diesel

Fuel Range (talking about remote travelling here) - How did u go with fuel Range where u need enough fuel to cover>800kms

Didn't really drive far enough, or get consistent enough data to value-add here beyond what others can provide I'm afraid. Longest trips were 5-6 hours and I was lead-footed to get around road trains and caravans. Man it can pick up and move when it wants to!

Still - needs the Brown Davis or LRA auxiliary fuel tank for remote travel, I believe. Not a whole lot of space for Jerries, depending on passenger numbers.

I believe when u drive off-road that u can end up burning more "AdBlue" then they quote in the Owner's manual - Did u ever have issues where u thought u might run out either by using too much or just unable to source more Adblue?

I understand that towing in particular chews the adblue, although it would stand to reason that off-road work, particularly sand, would do the same. Unfortunately I couldn't tell given my Adblue sensor woes!

Did your have Front & Rear Diff Locks - Any issues with engaging them? Can they be engage in High Range or only in Low Range?

No issues, although a little fiddly the first couple of times (as is engaging Low Range and CDL - you think you'll break the lever). Wriggling the wheel left and right helped to unlock them. Just need to remember the sequencing. Low range only (and CDL engaged).

Did your have a suspension Lift? If so, any issues with Prop-shaft angles, etc?

No suspension lift. I see lots of issues with prop-shaft angles for those with lifts, and I don't think any proposed solution has enough runs on the board to claim success. However, I do think it would benefit from a moderate lift (1.5-2 inches).

What sort of off-roading did u do? Anything that you would call hard?

Only twice - First occassion was typical Brindabellas. Not overly complex but low-range for hours on end just crawling up and down across the valleys. Was a first shake-out, but was really impressed with handling in-particular. You're not thrown about as much as in other vehicles. It's very planted.

Second occasion was 2 days at a Toyota LandCruiser club property. A number of technical tracks, including steep ascent/descent - It handled everything in its stride. Down-Hill-Assist was effective, as was wading mode. Diff-Locks enabled controlled climbs while a mate's hilux bounced all over the shop and had to reverse. Did bottom out on deep ruts, but powered through with the lockers. A little bit more clearance would have helped.

Any software Issues?

As above really. Quite a few gremlins at first, but a few software updates sorted everything out eventually.

Servicing costs - Are they experience to service or average?

Expensive by my books, although Toyota will sting you with a service every 6 months so it's probably on-par with many Land Cruisers. Anywhere between $1200-1500 per 12 month service, from memory (I only had two). Hopefully this is reduced as independant mechanics become more involved.

Sourcing Spare Parts - Filters & other mechanical parts (if req'd) - How easy is this?

Unsure. You hear various reports on the forums. Speaking of - the INEOS Forum is excellent. Facebook is useful, but you know... facebook.


How many kilometres did u put on your vehicle?

12500? Not many. During the same period of ownership I put 7000 km on a heavily modified LandCruiser for work, without a hiccup.

You might think I'm quite negative given my experience. I am frustrated for sure - but more so because I was dissappointed with communication from INEOS. I was a very forgiving customer - I knew it was first-of-type and that there would be teething issues. For most part the INEOS agents did an excellent job trying to resolve them, and I think from an engineering perspective the vehicle is remarkable. It's amazing that someone in this day and age has had the vision, drive and finance to deliver such a platform.

I sold the vehicle not so much because of the problems - once they were ironed out I had confidence that the respective issues had been dealt with. I honestly felt that the new owner would enjoy it hassle-free for the most part. Rather, I needed (and still need) a 6-7 seater. When the kids are older I would seriously consider getting back behind a Grenadier. I am not in a stage of life however where I can afford to take hours off to drive to and from a dealership. I don't think you will find a live-axle 4WD that handles as well as it does. The engine/gearbox combo is brilliant, brakes are top notch. Don't love the lump in the footwell, although I did the 'delete' modification that helped considerably. Seats need more lumbar support, feel a bit boy-racer. The latest MY has tweaks to the steering and has improved the AC (both would be welcome IMHO).

Is it worth the money? Highly subjective - it's no suprise that it costs what it does given the engineering and parts used. Yes if you have the money to spare - but in retrospect I could have bought a 105 Series Land Cruiser, put a 1HD-FTE into it and had a comfortable, economical, powerful and reliable tourer that can actually fit the whole family, for significantly less, and with a much wider support network. Although still debating what to do next.... (Oh and in the same period of ownership I bought and sold a lovely 2006 100 Series VX LandCruiser - meant to replace the Grenadier, but as it wasn't selling I put both up and the Cruiser sold within a week - the Grenadier took many more months to sell).

Please PM if you want to chat about - happy to provide more thoughts.

That's an excellent update.

As a prototype survivor, all that is what I would have expected. The thing with prototypes - there are a lot of componenets in a car and even after the early faults were fixed (where clearly they hadn't got it close to right) the faults kept coming. New and different faults as time progressed and new faulty components called for help.

I remain convinced that in a few years the V2 will probably be an excellent car. I am not convinced that they haven't priced themselves out of the market though, and I'm not sure they will last long enough to build V2.

interesting feedback:

Originally Posted by one_iota

interesting feedback:

Very positive review I think.

I don't agree with him on the price though. Yes the ineos has some things that the landcruiser wagon doesn't have. Some nice things. But the Landcruiser has some things that the ineos doesn't have. One of the big ones is a proper service network.

I do think that if they survive long enough to make a Mk2 they will be a good car.