Grenadier fills tyre tracks of Defender
INEOS 4X4 IS AS GOOD AS RIVALS – BUT AT A HIGH PRICE
IT has taken us a while to get behind the wheel of the Ineos Grenadier – but it has been worth the wait.
The car came about after one of Britain’s richest men, Jim Ratcliffe, tried to buy the tooling for the original Land Rover Defender when it went out of production so he could build a replacement for his replace his own Defender.
But JLR refused to sell it to him. And so, in a great display of ‘screw you’ philosophy, Ratcliffe – owner of Ineos, one of the world’s largest chemical producers – decided to develop, build and sell a rugged 4x4 vehicle of his own. The result is the Grenadier, a back to basics off-road vehicle powered by BMW petrol or diesel powertrains and developed by Austrian automotive engineering giant Magna Steyr.
We’re driving a Grenadier Trialmaster, one of two trim levels available for the station wagon body style of the Grenadier (a Quartermaster pick-up is also available), which is powered by BMW’S 3.0-litre diesel engine.
This seems a logical choice of plant, but the petrol version outsells the diesel two to one.
However, the fact that the petrol does about 18mpg compared to the diesel’s 26.9mpg would seal the deal for me. We
attended several early Ineos Grenadier media events and the talk was of the vehicle being particularly attractive to customers in Africa who need a very rugged machine. I thought at the time that the Toyota Hilux pick-up already fulfilled that need. But the Grenadier Trialmaster rather prices it out of that market. While the current Land Rover Defender has an aluminium
monocoque chassis, the Grenadier sticks with an old school ladder chassis with beam axles sprung by coil springs.
The body is steel with aluminium doors and bonnet. The Grenadier looks like the original Defender but you’ll see the bonnet is longer and more sloping and that the car is longer too with larger rear door apertures.
The Grenadier is a cool looking vehicle but it gets even better inside. Especially for those of us who love aircraft, and in particular old stuff like the Douglas DC3 airliner. The Grenadier’s designers have put the climate controls on the conventional centre console but all the switch gear that controls off-road activity lives in an overhead panel like in an aircraft.
Those who hate modern cars’ lack of proper switches and buttons will love this, with everything designed to be chunky enough to be operated by gloved hands.
When it comes to feet, carpets are optional so you can aim a hose to blast out mud. We drove the Grenadier on an off-road course in Sussex that had received a recent drenching and had lots of slippery chalk. The eight-speed automatic gearbox drives through a two-speed transfer case with a centre differential to axles that each have a locking differential (they lock electrically as standard but manually in the more off-road focused Trialmaster we’re driving).
Off-road the Grenadier is almost unstoppable, easily as competent as rivals the Defender, Jeep Wrangler and Mercedes G-class. You sit high up in the Grenadier with an excellent view. Despite the old fashioned chassis and suspension the car is comfortable on the road, far more so than the Jeep but not as relaxing or sophisticated as the Defender.
The Grenadier has recirculating-ball steering to make it more rugged when off-road.
The car is brisk but you’ll not feel relaxed driving quickly. Go slower and admire the view you get. The split tailgate opens to reveal a luggage area that holds 1,152 litres with the seats up and 2,035 litres folded flat.
The Ineos Grenadier is an impressive machine that more than adequately fills the tyre tracks of the old Defender.
Pity it’s so expensive though.
You won’t feel relaxed driving briskly so go slower and admire view you get