Brisbane Drive Day

[Sam]

View attachment 7802442

I've ordered Mushroom, so I don’t have this problem again.

My 110 was white... pin striping was still visible. What paint/colour can put up with this treatment and still look OK? Just my view.

Personally I dislike a shiny 4WD (and also, conversely, an abused 4WD), so i'm happy occupying the middle-ground and with my selection of a dark colour (Brittania Blue). It'll stay outside, unwashed, with a nice light dusting of dirt and grit to round off the shininess.

 

[MrMike]

View attachment 7802442

I've ordered Mushroom, so I don’t have this problem again.

Looks like my 200 series..............couldn't agree more

 

[Sam]

Exhibit A:

 

[Wayneos]

It was nice that the Mt Cotton testing centre was uninhabited except for the Grenadier event. Also not that many people there at the same time so we were able to properly nose around the vehicles. I opened and closed EVERYTHING.

The only thing that really concerns me is that there is no ability to completely fold down the rear seats. They clearly expect there will be heavy items that need to be placed on the folded seat backs as evidenced by the hard plastic backing. Original Defenders have just a felt lined cardboard seat back, and the W463 G-Wagens also only have a vinyl coated card backing. You can get the Grenadier's folded back seats a bit flatter by nudging the headrests up a bit, but it's still far from properly flat.

People putting in drawer systems won't be too bothered as they will naturally come up level with the folded seats. But we've occasionally stacked large boxes of stuff in our previous Defenders and current G and having a full flat floor helps enormously. The electronics & battery box under the rear seat prohibits folding the whole seat forward however years ago we had an XJ Jeep Cherokee which you could simply pull the whole rear seat base out to let the back fold flat for load carrying. I couldn't see any option to do this in the Grenadier though. Sure, it's been designed for a Euro palette, but it would have been nice if it could take a whole long chest freezer or 6 burner BBQ. Moving these types of oversized items can now only be done with a trailer.

View attachment 7802502

You pull the lower sitting part of the seat up first and then you fold the upright part down. It will sit flatter then. You do loose some of that interior space front to back however.

 

[MrMike]

Owch, hope you could buff a bit of that out!

My 200 is going in for a respray, gone too far unfortunately

 

[Wayneos]

Saw these shots elsewhere. Credit: Conway BestView attachment 7802505

Doh, beat me to it!

 

[DesertGecko]

My 200 is going in for a respray, gone too far unfortunately

Wrap it! you know you want to!

 

[MrMike]

Wrap it! you know you want to!

Its already sold to my son, he can do what he likes with it, but insurance has taken care of the $7k bill fortunately, care of an incident on the Holland Track

 

[DesertGecko]

It was nice that the Mt Cotton testing centre was uninhabited except for the Grenadier event. Also not that many people there at the same time so we were able to properly nose around the vehicles. I opened and closed EVERYTHING.

The only thing that really concerns me is that there is no ability to completely fold down the rear seats. They clearly expect there will be heavy items that need to be placed on the folded seat backs as evidenced by the hard plastic backing. Original Defenders have just a felt lined cardboard seat back, and the W463 G-Wagens also only have a vinyl coated card backing. You can get the Grenadier's folded back seats a bit flatter by nudging the headrests up a bit, but it's still far from properly flat.

People putting in drawer systems won't be too bothered as they will naturally come up level with the folded seats. But we've occasionally stacked large boxes of stuff in our previous Defenders and current G and having a full flat floor helps enormously. The electronics & battery box under the rear seat prohibits folding the whole seat forward however years ago we had an XJ Jeep Cherokee which you could simply pull the whole rear seat base out to let the back fold flat for load carrying. I couldn't see any option to do this in the Grenadier though. Sure, it's been designed for a Euro palette, but it would have been nice if it could take a whole long chest freezer or 6 burner BBQ. Moving these types of oversized items can now only be done with a trailer.

View attachment 7802502

I'm glad you got out there. Probably the biggest shortcoming for me is the lack of cargo length. Have a look at how much longer the rear window is on the defender. It's pretty close to the same length.. they have traded it into the cabin. I guess you can't have both.

Perhaps you could get the roof rack and leave it on? I understand it's difficult for big heavy stuff to hoy up there.

 

[MrMike]

Saw these shots elsewhere. Credit: Conway BestView attachment 7802505View attachment 7802506

That looks perfect for what I need with the seats folding flat and the tie down rings almost central on the lower C pillar, great for my extra fridge etc, better than removing seats like I have to in the LC

 

[ECrider]

Like the look of lifting the bench(s) up and laying the rear seats flat. That will prove useful with a drawer system/dog cage and a single airbed for when I've lunched too long and having to kip overnight mid-winter in the middle of nowhere.

 

[OzyGrenie]

Australian Off Road in Caloundra, 20+ years of experience, usually dearer than the Grenie. You get what you pay for. You won't get to those many extreme places pulling a van, particularly a caravan. This is just down to experience. To utilse Grenies capabilities you'll need a swag or roof tent.

 

[OzyGrenie]

Ok, my take on a second drive.
No tarmac . Spoke to a couple of the boys who had driven them to Townsville and back on the highway (2,700km return) and they were really happy with the road driving. One stretch from Melbourne to Brisbane non stop of 19 hours in the seat (shared driving) and the seats are great. They also mentioned you can push them a bit into the corners and they hold stability surprisingly well given what they are. Again assured me we’d be happy with their capability as long distance tourers.

Australian cars will come with rear nato plug and 13pin Euro trailer connectors.

The 4wd track at Mt Cotton was much better than Mt Tambourine. Not particularly difficult really although a little slip and slide, but more representative of the offroading most would do here.
One great steep down hill decent with a bend mid way that was done in centre locked 1st low range. Done with no acceleration and no brake it decended at about 5-6km/hr and whilst it wasn’t as good as a good manual 1st gear it was pretty close. Impressive and better than my 200 auto in terms of holding speed.

In low auto uphill and flat I was surprised at how well it held the lower gears and didn’t try to hunt up and down all the time. When driving with minimal acceleration (which was great by the way and not jerky at all) it maintained 1st and 2nd well without getting into a higher gear prematurely. But at the same time it didn’t rev itself unnecessarily either.

In low range traction control etc is disconnected .

Overall a much better test to get a feel for how it goes offroad. I didn’t get any wheels off the ground at any stage (that I recall) but it felt tight everywhere I pointed it despite intentionally getting off line as often as I could.

Tyres. Pic below- I’m doubtful you could put a 33” tyre on the spare and open the door - there’s probably only an inch of leeway to work with. So adjusting the location of the spare somehow would be needed.

Colour. In overcast skies the silver seems very blue. And whilst the Scottish white is very creamy, I really like it in the flesh and will change colour from Silver to White if I’m able to.

Will add more as I remember. Off to play putt putt with my granddaughter now. View attachment 7802371View attachment 7802372

Move the tyre carrier to centre of the door more you'd fit a 35"

 

[Flewks]

You pull the lower sitting part of the seat up first and then you fold the upright part down. It will sit flatter then. You do loose some of that interior space front to back however.

View attachment 7802514
Rear seat head restraints need to be removed and stored.

 

[Swinks]

I notice there was no Brisbane drive day for last pre-Xmas run around. I'll throw a few comments and photos in.

All in all - I am looking forward to receiving my Grenadier! I added a few accessories after drive (bar, rear gate table for kids!!! etc).

In person, this vehicle looks better than the photos - it's actually a little less imposing than I thought it would be (size/width?) but I am so used to seeing/sitting in Y62/LC200/300/Prado etc, as a comparison. It is going to be an eye turner for the sheer fact that none many will have it and it looks like a better cross of a Def+GWagon - different, and in a good way.

This vehicle sits high, without a step (or rail) to get in, our wives might hate us!!! The test vehicle was 2050mm (?) which is fine, add a roof rack and many basements are out of the question (care!).


The internal cabin is general quite comfortable. Side Rear seats seem to have good leg room for a 177cm fella (will be tight with 3 - center rear has cramped leg space and minimal to NO foot room in front) and so will have to put feet into the side foot zone).
Driver's / Passenger's seat is very comfortable for sure, but as many know the RHD footrest is the elephant in the room (admitted or not) - simply too big, eats up all your leg space and raises the back of your leg from squab which creates a hip-pinch and a minor hip rotation that angles you off centre to the steering wheel... adjusting your seat might find a comfortable spot but I found only (1) seating position during the test drive that made the left leg comfortable, however, the position left me right foot having to stretch slightly to rest on the pedal properly as the pedal sits about 100mm forward of the LH footrest, which is odd and reeks of a Euro design error. This will be something for discussion when final versions are able to be reviewed!
Driver viewability is excellent all around really... can't complain at all. I had no issues with the visibility through driver's window, and the roof arch height over the top of door - plenty of viewing angle left from my seated position.
Arm Rests on doors are a bit high in my opinion as they create an odd elevation for your arm/shoulder, and this made it a hard stretch to steering wheel (im 177cm). It felt like this would be ok for a 6'+ person... more than likely.
Steering column tilt is ok, but reach is short... too short. Tech/Eng didnt know if the final was being changed. It needs to extend another 50mm in my opinion to bring it to a comfortable arm position. Again, for a person my size.
Cockpit look - love it. Looking forward to seeing the final build and how this area presents.
BMW shifter looks completely out of place and does not fit the theme of the interior at all - if they can do an AM on that I will 100% change it!!!

Up and down the rock track was simply eaten up by the Gren. No issues at all. Engine was very smooth as and quite as can be... little noise generated even under throttle pressure and a hill climb. Just a little stab of the throttle on the flat and response was there, seemed quick for a heavy piece of machinery too...
LR and HR was fine, easy to use shifter. Not much more to say on that.
Steering felt a little slow on the turn, but the test agent did say it was being adjusted slightly in final build? - very smooth though and doesn't suffer much if any negative feedback.
One thing I noticed most was very little body roll even in the ruts. This car sits seemingly flat over rock / in rut to 200mm (by eye).

So, all in all the vehicle was excellent in my view, and I am looking forward to this hitting the real market and my own one landing! Some photos from the day of the Gren, with a colour swatch also for all paint options. I got as many angles as I could for the colours.

Nice and honest review I am just south of you in ocean shores I was one of the very first to make an order about 2 and a half years ago so mine is due maybe in the next 2 months. so looking forwad to it it has already gone up 13 k. It has been an uphill battle with the wife she hates it and will use any excuse like we cant afford it and you never go offroad anyway which does have some merit. But I am 70 y.o just retired that is all the reason I need. This car will become a classic and my kids will benifit. I am a big guy 6'3" I did have some driver-seat issues that I think can be modified to suit for a small cost the pedal position for me was fine just lack of leg support Recaro got it wrong by not adding tilting of the seat people under 6' will not have a problem. It will be interesting to watch what other people do to modify their own grenadier as these vehicles will be so much fun to customise. Let me know when you are expecting. cheers

 

[bigleonski]

Move the tyre carrier to centre of the door more you'd fit a 35"

@OzyGrenie Yep - I didn't look to see how it was attached, and whether you could actually alter the fitting. Anyway, given its current ground clearance I'll probably run the 31's until they're close to buggered and then sort it from there. Lot's of people would have had it sorted by then.

 

[ECrider]

the wife she hates it and will use any excuse like we cant afford it

my wife sticks the '....and you've ordered a bespoke car for yourself...' whenever she can. I keep saying it's not bespoke just optioned a bit like most new cars, she's not having it.

I think it's time to change my computer password!

Also she is not happy today because I bought her a pair of kitchen scissors for her birthday - I hasten to add that these are Sheffield's finest and have her name engraved on them. I've told her that they and the Grenny will be around still when we are long gone, this did not have the desired affect.

Marriage, and also drinking seem to be the only things I get worse at the more I practice.

Oh well.....

 

[emax]

What paint/colour can put up with this treatment and still look OK?

Camouflage might be the only solution.

 

[emax]

my wife sticks the '....and you've ordered a bespoke car for yourself...' whenever she can

A "me too" effect? I want a new car too?

I had such an experience when I was getting my pilot's license. My wife wanted to "get her license too."

But I just agreed.

With the first learning books about navigation and legal things, the matter was then off the table.

 

[Eric]

my wife sticks the '....and you've ordered a bespoke car for yourself...' whenever she can. I keep saying it's not bespoke just optioned a bit like most new cars, she's not having it.

I think it's time to change my computer password!

Also she is not happy today because I bought her a pair of kitchen scissors for her birthday - I hasten to add that these are Sheffield's finest and have her name engraved on them. I've told her that they and the Grenny will be around still when we are long gone, this did not have the desired affect.

Marriage, and also drinking seem to be the only things I get worse at the more I practice.

Oh well.....

The one advantage of the IG is you can sleep in it - even outside of your own house when needs be !!!