Infotainment Screen & KEY INDICATOR Panel
- Key Indicator panel - good cause it will do what it needs to do - shows lots of things and hopefully not many of these lights up red for us!
- INFOTAINMENT is generally ok. Bit laggy on Audio modes. Map on LEFT side of screen... yeah that is not ideal - someone said it can be swapped?
- Speedo - on info screen - not a fan still after 1200+kms. Just an abstract location for the most important thing in SEQLD. Fines here are like buying candy for the unsuspecting and looking that far down and left is a hinderance. But I will install a HUD to fix that issue!
- The other info screen tabs are good and show information in generally good and easy to use manner.
- No outside Air Temp? - not a deal breaker but is useful.
THIS CAN BE SWITCHED ON IN CONTROL PANEL
- Android auto works perfectly fine for me - no issues at all (WISH I HAD SOMEWHERE TO PUT MY PHONE).
BAD
- the entirety of the map area can be effectively become non-viewable due to the direct reflection of the left rear passenger window. On a bright day, all I can see is the window reflecting back at me... yeah that is my no.1 gripe with the control and panel layout and orientation of the physical unit which cannot be adjusted.
- Fuel gauge is cooked and not even close to accurate. At 'half way' mark, I have actually used nearly 60 litres based on fuel top up... that is not reliable!
SOFTWARE FIX?
- Remaining fuel range is also cooked - with apparently 35 litres in the tank, range was 129kms. With a full tank, 560kms??? No. It is all wrong.
- I will just top up at the half mark.
- DAB radio is plain and simply BAD, even when I can see the tower just over there - see you turn the word around and that is exactly what it is. The DAB in this GREN is either faulty or the towers are under attack. It kicks in, can gear the radio, then silences out to nearly 0, then rises again - rinse and repeat. Yeah, not good. So, FM it is for now.
DEALER FIX
On Road & General Driving
- Off the mark response is a bit lagged and so you need to plan about .3 - .4 seconds ahead if you wanna dash off the mark, but once moving it feels alive & menacing enough for its size!
- Exhaust note is a nice touch.
- Twin turbos spooling up under gentle but increasing throttle pressure - also a nice touch.
- Per my early post of a long up hill drive to Lamington National Park, the engine matchup is excellent, power is excellent, responsiveness is excellent. It does not feel strained one bit whilst luging this piece of machinery up a hill.
- I have not towed as yet so no comment on drawn weight and handling.
- Corner handling for a proper sized and weighty 4X4 is excellent. Body roll... honestly less than the wife's CX5.
- K02 tyres have given me no grief as yet in dry and wet conditions. Road noise is comparable to most other off-road tyre set ups that I have had in my lifetime.
- Cruise control works very and the diesel holds true to the speed effortlessly. Up a hill, barely notice a 1km drop in speed before the engine easily regains to set speed. I like it.
- Using manual gear mode for decline speed control works for a little bit (i.e. trying to sit at 70 or 80 down Tamborine-Oxenford Drive), but once you start the decline of these types of mountain road Tamborine/Springbrook roads set in - engine braking is not so effective as that nearly 3T becomes a locomotive. But the brakes make up for that, they are excellent in my opinion.
- Did I say the brakes on the Gren are good - they are. For standard on road brakes, they perform very well. Tested in wet also, still perform as expected - very well.
ONLY A MINOR THING:
- At idle there is a noticeable feel and loudness full vehicle vibration - however after about 4-5 seconds at idle (say lights) the vibration noticeably drops to a 'half' level of vibration. I get no other vibrations in this vehicle in any gear or RPM so far that I can notice - just at idle. Ill confirm with agent but for me not an issue really but almost enough to wake sleeping children, so a non-issue for now?
DEALER CHECK
- Other than that, I have no on road issues or concerns at present, nothing to complain about. Vehicle is doing exactly what it should do and quite well at that.
Fuel Consumption
- I managed to keep an eye on about 800kms of general road travel (my daily work route). Combination of:
(30%) minor rural bitumen roads (all sub 80km),
(60%) the highway stint never over 110km but varies from 60-110km with quite a bit of start and stop for the first 10-15kms of the nearly 35kms highway run. Average is probably 80km on a normal day (so many people moving here stuffing our roads up).
(10%) shorter stint to the city outskirt/work area all sub 80kms.
- I have managed on my daily 90km-110km rounds trips to sit between 10.2L to 10.5L / 100km according to read out, and based on actual fuel fill up measure, that seems to be about right.
- I find when my daily work trip is allowing me to run the full highway speed of 110kms, that fuel econ drops quite a bit and that same trip at the higher speeds yields roughly 10.6 - 10.9L/100km.
- Setting cruise control at 100kms and having a free run on reasonably flat highway for roughly 30kms saw a read out of 10.1L/100km. That to me seems quite reaonsable.
- Setting cruise control at 110kms and having a free run on reasonably flat highway for roughly 30kms saw a read out of 11.1L/100km (same route as above). For a two-storey brick at 110, that seems pretty good. There seems to be a fairly heavy penalty for ever 1km over 100km/hr.
- All in all, this is fine for me, sub 11L was my goal for the general commuting and it exceeds that, and my last two daily runs for work saw an average 10.3L and 10.5L / 100km (funnily as good as claimed on the IA spec doc!).
- A stock 135L tank would have been nice...
Electrical Gremlins
- The 1st morning after collecting the Gren, the TPMS beeped at me! Tyre pressure system read as malfunctioned. All good, tyres look good to me - so I drove it two more times and it disappeared and has not come back as yet.
- The 2nd morning after ownership, the TCS and ESC both read as malfunctioned. No problems I thought, drive another 90kms and start it up later that arvo and errors gone. So far, has not come back.
- Currently front right of centre parking sensor is faulty. It reads round about traffic and beeps at me, beeps at me when stopping behind another car at lights (but at 4 meters!). Will notify agent.
- And that is it - to be fair the electronics on this vehicle so far have been effectively AOK, which seems to be a big departure from some of our current members! Sorry
@Jean Mercier @Tazzieman
Short-term Summary:
- Great vehicle in my opinion when simply looking at the standard day to day on road use. It is great to drive, can be fun when needed (just watch your fuel gauge!).
- Fuel econ is good for nearly 3T on the road, in my view engine and handling performance on the road is excellent, ease of drivability and general non-footrest related comfort is excellent.
- Lack of storage is annoying, cup holders shoot me now - I do like coffee and the Gren obviously does not want to get stained!
- Footrest RHD version is what it is - just a design stuff up as LHD was designed 1st, but I will personally manage the solution for comfort.
- Water ingress due to rain via front doors and tailgates. Right now, water flowing into the cabin/on to door control panels/into cargo bay area - all annoying and will require a long-term solution. Wonder what happens after a wash, tell you on weekend when I wash it!
DEALER FIX
- I do not miss ANY of the 'SAFETY' assist functions from other modern cars. Thankyou Ineos for removing these annoying features.
- Long term ownership it will be - I have no doubt. Wife and I are loving this truck.
- People stare at you - a lot. I find it amusing and giving people a half coy wink gets a chuckle from some.
- probably a few sighs here from some forum members! I will get to it: - in the end it does become pretty unsatisfying trying to find a truly comfortable position and I can 100% feel how others that have issues with this actually feel. It is ok for some, but not all. This was my no1 issue after driving the PT03 several times, and for me personally is the primary comfort gremlin for the as built vehicle (however not a sellable issue I have decided!). My $40K Single Cab ute has a better leg and comfort position than my GREN - but I will deal with it. I did about 800km of travel on the highway this week within the 1200+km total, and I got to testing as many possible seating arrangements as the seat allowed. I broke the three adjustments in to 9 separable zones (imagine a grid of 3x3) and sat in these zones for various trips. Most are pretty ordinary with the footrest in that position, however, I found two zones where at least my leg and center of balance as a close to 'good' as it can be. However, in both my left knee is forced to rest directly against the forward center console with pressure greater than is comfortable, because neither allows my leg to rest on the squab of the seat (I am a skinny bugger). So, I am looking at installing a 4mm thick boat foam rubber pad to the side of the plastic console which I can then rest the bone of my knee against... not ideal but it is a good solution for me and that is just how is it... still causes the left side of my foot to get achy because it's hard to sit with my foot FLAT on the rest, and, hip is still off center a little to right leg alignment and causes minor numbness at about 1hr of driving but thats where I then adjust from my personal preference of Tolerable Position 1 to Tolerable Position 2, and weekly Chiro will take care of the rest! Failing all that, the little, tiny glove box will still fit Rose-Tinted Glasses!!!
