The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Ineos 4x4 ready to take crown as off-road king
I’m pretty sure I don’t have a drop of royal blood, but I reckon I would have got on well with Queen Victoria. In the mid-1800s, she fell in love with Deeside and, along with Prince Albert, established a permanent home in the area when they bought Balmoral Castle, starting a royal connection that continues to this day.
She was drawn by the stunning landscape but also the clean and healthy climate, prompting her to write in her diary: “All seemed to breathe freedom and peace and to make one forget the world and its sad turmoils.”
Almost 200 years on, I know exactly what she meant and while I’m not sure it can completely put aside the problems of our troubled world, its natural beauty does calm the mind.
While the immediate area of Royal Deeside between Braemar and Aberdeen is stunning in itself, there is even more wild and dramatic territory if you venture off the beaten track. Thousands of acres of it, in fact, much of which can be tackled only on foot or horseback.
Unless, of course, you have something designed for the task.
For most of the past three-quarters of a century, Land Rover has been the byword for wild adventures.
And even now, as the brand has moved into the expensive, luxury end of the market, the Range Rover, Discovery and Defender are still recognised as far more capable than many of their owners will ever demand of them.
Far Eastern brands such as Toyota and Isuzu have tough pick-ups that will take you with confidence through the terrain, but there is one homegrown 4x4 – even if it is built in France – aimed at the serious mud-plugger.
Yes, at first glance the Ineos Grenadier bears more than a passing resemblance to the classic Land Rover that has been consigned to automotive history, but it is a completely different beast, putting right some of the Landy’s inadequacies while introducing a pack of innovations allowing it to tackle inhospitable terrain with barely a whimper.
I had already driven it on road and found it a bit unsettled, but tarmac is not the environment for which it has been designed.
Take it into the rough stuff – in my case, over some of the 25,000 acres of the Glen Tanar estate in the Cairngorms National Park – and it transforms into a superbly capable machine that takes everything in its stride.
To understand what is going on you have to look at the story of its creation.
It was inspired by petrochemicals billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe, whose Ineos multinational empire has been running the Grangemouth complex and 36 other individual businesses, including parts of the Mercedes Formula One team, Manchester United, clubs in France and Switzerland, and cycling and sailing teams.
Ratcliffe is an adventurer and petrolhead, and he tried to buy the rights to the Defender when Land Rover pulled the plug.
When that failed, he dug deep and invested the best part of £2 billion developing his own version.
Apparently, he and some pals drew up the plans on a napkin in his favourite London pub – called the Grenadier, which he now also owns – and took the best of what was available from specialists, linking with development partner Magna Steyr in Austria, BMW for the proven 3.0litre, straight-six, twinturbo diesel engine that
has been specially tuned, tractor-maker Carraro for axles, ZF for gearboxes, Recaro for seats and Bosch for components, and built in all the elements that a serious off-roader needs to tackle difficult terrain wherever that may be.
The plan was to build it in Wales, but that was ditched when an old Smart production plant in eastern France became available.
They also brought fresh ideas. Every switch is labelled with writing rather than icons for immediate recognition and is chunky so can be operated while wearing gloves; toggle switches are on the headlining like an aircraft cockpit with pre-wiring for roof lights or a winch; heavy-duty roof rails provide substantial anchorage; and along the side is a racking system to hold a work bench, tool store or mobile operating table for a vet, literally working in the field.
Another quirky touch is the red “toot” button on the steering wheel that gives a subdued warning, rather than a full-blown horn, to alert cyclists and riders.
While not being distracted by the stunning landscape in Glen Tanar, I tried out the Grenadier’s Pathfinder navigation programme which, unlike on-road satnav, uses map references as a guide.
Rather than show a road, where often one won’t exist, it has a compass-like display to indicate the general direction to take, regardless of whether or not there’s a track. It takes a while to get used to but, along with the vast array of other toys in the cockpit, it is very clever.
The off-road technology, including differential locks centre, front and rear, is complex but straightforward and an owner venturing into the wilds regularly would get the hang of it.
We tackled deep, claggy mud and brutal rocky tracks with some disturbing bangs and grinds underneath, but the 2.8tonne Trialmaster Edition Grenadier carried on regardless thanks to the chunky BF Goodrich allterrain tyres.
The raised air intake snorkel and wading depth of 800mm allowed confident crossing of several fast-flowing rivers.
There’s a huge list of options, including a £3,500 winch, on top of the not-insubstantial £76,000 list price. As well as the Station Wagon, it comes as a Utility van, a Quartermaster pick-up or an electric Fusilier. You can configure your own Grenadier online or through the sales centre in Edinburgh, and there are four service centres in Dingwall, Huntly, Kilmarnock and Stirling.
The Grenadier is designed to appeal to serious outdoor types, farmers and adventurers who want something that won’t just go from A to B but venture off-road as far as X, Y and all the way to Z.
It might not have amused the old Queen, but I’m sure she would have loved the expedition opportunities opened up by this extremely capable horseless carriage.