Its a pickup and frequently has a load. That combined mileage also includes towing a bass boat all over PA every summer. 500 pounds does NOT make a 28% difference, especially on the highway where I'm always above 20 unloaded and Ineos is reporting 15. I assumed that highway number was a misprint, but it hasn't gone away, nor been proven inaccurate. Oh, and the weight differnce is 200 pounds, not 500. The size of the average american wife.Curb weight on a Grenadier easily meets and may exceed a comparably spec'd Crew Cab F150. 500lbs can make a huge difference in fuel mileage.
Also, modern pickups suffer little aerodynamic loss due to their beds. Nowadays everything is worked out in a wind tunnel to minimize any deleterious effects. Most manufacturers even advise keeping the tailgate closed for best efficiency.
What would it possibly do better? Drive the interstate? Or cross the Simpson over and over and over again? What are the parameters of this comparison wherein the Grenadier comes in second?
The truth is there's no way to be certain of either vehicle at this point. At least we know that Ineos' aim was to deliver a hard working vehicle with a 25 year lifespan. That's certainly not what the LC250/GX550 is aimed at. They're really just a slightly beefed up 4Runner with a hybrid drive train targeted at the easy market Toyota has discovered (or developed) for high end TRD Offroad Pro models. Have they been run hard for decades on the African continent or in other third world countries? Do we know for certain that the Grenadier can survive such use? The answer to both questions is "No". It remains to be seen.
Going forward Ineos may be forced to kowtow to Joe Average in the U.S. market and dish up horsepower numbers which the B58 can deliver if needed. I hope not because it's antithetical to their stated aim. (The B57 already outperforms the Toyota 2.8T diesel in real Land Cruisers and does well enough on the mileage front.) Maybe petrol Fieldmasters will get a hybrid option at some point to satisfy the stoplight-to-stoplight crowd. The ZF 8HP51s are already designed for it as part of the torque converter system. Again, that's really all Toyota has done with the new 250 in my opinion and it's a better option for some without a doubt - round headlights or no.
Both vehicles spent time in a wind tunnel and minimizing isn't the same as eliminating.
I'm not bitching about the Hp. 250hp/300tq has always been what I personally consider the golden zone for power and mileage in an suv. But for instance, this gets 5 fewer mpg than a defender weighting 6450lbs but with 400hp. What gives?
As to WHERE the LC will do better? The answer is yes. My statement was intended as all encompassing as it sounded. Really just pick it. I've driven locked trucks and Atrac for decades now, and atrac was that good in 2001, let alone today. Yes, you will have some surface conditions where the ease of passing favors a front locker, but neither of these trucks are rock crawlers that can really take serious advantage of front lockers, and nothing the Gren will do will be impassible for the LC, whereas, on road, and especially on washboard, the gren wont hold a candle. If Toyota provided the new LC with the same rear tire clearance as my 100 and the 200, the gren will actually lose an RTI challenge.
The Gren? It'll do what I want it to do, so it's not like I'm buying a painting to hang on the wall, and.... It's cool. Really cool. All the knobs and buttons would have fit on dash and center, and been much much better ergonomically and safer, but... It's cool. It's too heavy for it's payload, and tows LESS than the new Lexus, which also has a magic disappearing third row, but,... the gren's cool. Really cool. I won't pretend it's something it isnt. But it's cool. And it's OK to want something because it's cool.
Note: I'm only comparing to the new US spec LC's. The new ROW 7x series is a whole nother animal but more apples to apples I suspect. I take this over the 4 door, but if one needed an outback van for space, I don't know why you'd get the van version of this over a troopy.