Ineos Grenadier in Perth, WA... 4/6th Nov

DaveB said:

I discussed the forum with them and they have been bitten by the facebook groups acting like dicks. One of the other customers googled the group and asked me if he had found the right one.

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Spjnr said:

Whereas a forum whittles down to the core audience of enthusiast.

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DaveB said:

I discussed the forum with them and they have been bitten by the facebook groups acting like dicks. One of the other customers googled the group and asked me if he had found the right one.

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Davman said:

More details Sammy.

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Sam said:

Is very easy to drive. No fuss.
Point it at anything, it goes over, as if trivial.
Defender owners will find the drivers view very familiar.
The lack of cockpit tasks, less so.
It really was very easy to drive. One-handed 4wd-ing.
Large, solid, stable - not characterised by 0-100 times, torques, powery things. It can cope.
It'll trample nature - or winery carparks. Supermarket car parks... unclear. There wasn't a lot of tarmac.
You'll feel like a boss.
It made me wish for Lions to spot... gin and tonic to go with
A great blend of modern push-buttons and mechanical controls, where apt.
Low/high range needs LOTS of force - engaging will be a minor special occasion, each time
My +1, and the wife (yes she was my +2) couldn't help but be impressed
Justin Hocevar was interesting and lovely, as was everyone from Ineos

I think Ineos have done a superb job and they'll be super-popular in WA

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Keato said:

Very impressed seeing it in Perth, as I missed the first visit. Like the tall load space and the overall look and feel is solid.

Seats are very comfortable even in fabric - so much so that I might drop the leather from my order.

Only downsides from my perspective were paint quality (a bit orange-peel - if they had the painting quality of the colour samples, I'd be really impressed); bull bar capacity (spec'd at 80kg strike at 100kmh / vehicle damaged but drivable - would prefer vehicle undamaged) and the driver's left foot rest.

Apparently the inside of the right rear door is to be redesigned with the fold-down table, and the "long-awaited accessory catalog" will be out in December with a drawer system to create a fully flat floor with rear seats folded. Just hope that includes a pull-out ladder for access as the floor will be about 4' AGL.

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Keato said:

So, just finished my test drive and, to be honest, I didn’t notice the footrest as an issue at all. Surprised myself when I got out and realised that I had forgotten to worry about it.

The car handles really nicely. The track circuit was in use by others when I went out, so on road was limited to a bit of hooning through some witches hats, but the car was impressive in its flat stance through sharp high-speed turns, and accelerated pretty quick off the line.

As others have commented, the view out the front window when off-road is very Defender-like. That means you do have to duck your head to look up when approaching a steep climb ahead as the top of the windscreen is quite a distance in front of you, and you have to edge the nose over at the top of a crest to see the track on the downhill, but that is no real problem.

Soft sand in H4 with CDL was no issue, even with tyres at road pressure.

Interesting feature is that the centre display gives you a gear shift recommendation when in manual mode, but it holds the selected gear rather than changing for you. So, for instance, when I was in L4 and 4th gear, it was recommending that I change down to 3rd when revs dropped, but it held 4th.

Overall, very nice to drive.

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Keato said:

Interesting feature is that the centre display gives you a gear shift recommendation when in manual mode, but it holds the selected gear rather than changing for you. So, for instance, when I was in L4 and 4th gear, it was recommending that I change down to 3rd when revs dropped, but it held 4th.

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DaveB said:

They were a couple of tricky hills to go over
Particularly the one with the pipe which changed direction a bit just over the top.
Couldn't see anything but bonnet and sky
The big right hander with fairly deep sand was also impressive considering it was in 4 H

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Sam said:

Reading @Keato ‘s great write-up reminded me to mention one other thing: body roll … or lack of it

On-road cornering at speed very much less roll than my fender

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DCPU said:

What model Defender have you got?

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Sam said:

2010 110 Puma, standard setup

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Zacman110 said:

I’ve posted this review on the IG Oz FB page but this might be of interest to the forum audience:View attachment 7796151 Went for a drive in Perth in the grey PT02. About 15-20mins with a mix of tarmac and off-road. Tarmac was winding with a max of about 80kmh, and a hard stop on the brakes at the end. Off-road section had a bit of soft sand, hill climbs and crests, rough tracks and we used low and high range both with centre diff lock, and high unlocked. I normally drive an ‘02 Defender 110 with a lift and adjustable suspension etc etc, and I think the Grenadier was as good or better. I would certainly have been very cautious over the obstacles in my own car. It was very composed on the off-road sections, and the auto was very good. You could tell when it was shifting under load but coasting on the tarmac it was very smooth. Tried the manual mode off-road and that was good and easy to use. It hangs onto the gears more in low as well. The footrest is a non issue in my opinion - as soon as you’re driving and pressing pedals it feels very natural and comfortable - I’m probably biased from the terrible Defender seating position though! The steering wheel was more strange being two spoke - I had to really think about where it was pointing when doing big steering angles on the off road sections. The turning circle is alright, and the diesel has a nice huff and whistle to it under boost but isn’t rattly at all (did the whole course with the windows down). Power wise it felt similar to my Dads stock 200 series when you put the boot in . The centre screen is good and I was surprised as how good the visibility is from the drivers seat over the corners (similar to a Defender/Disco 4), and you sit nice and high vice sitting down in it like a Cruiser with just lots of bonnet. Lots of steering wheel adjustment, but the seat just went forward/back *edit: seat also goes up and down - I just didn’t realise*. No rattles and it seems really well built, all the switch gear and panels are solid and it feels right especially on the suspension side. The paint already had some pinstriping which is making me reconsider my Donny Grey order, and maybe getting a lighter colour. It is a very handsome car in the grey though and it looks very nice in the sun - maybe I’ll just get a wrap. Watching it on the track it reminds me of a G Wagon from the front and a Defender when it’s driving away, but certainly has a unique look as it drives around. The DRLs look very good too. I wasn’t 100% sure up to this point but am now very confident in the vehicle and also Justin Hocevar and the team. They were excellent today and answered all of my naff questions, especially re dealers, after sales support, contracts, etc. Looking forward to getting mine!

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DaveB said:

I did a couple of circuits in the back seat and was tossed around a fair bit.

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