I'm also not finding this map terribly re-assuring. Toyota has five dealerships in the NT, and 40 in WA. I just spent two weeks in rural QLD, NT and SA. Basically the whole time 1000-1500k from an Ineos dealer. Ineos need to sort this. At the very least they need dealers or at least service agents in Alice and somewhere like Broome.
Then the Grenadier is not for you.
Know several people who have had serious problems with Toyotas in remote areas, they can still end up waiting weeks for a slot and or parts, or flatbedding it to a major centre. The dealerships in many remote areas are often very busy with farming and mining work which is their highest priority and even Toyota has issues with supply chain for parts. A friend who drives a Prado was traveling with a mate with a Discovery and they both had issues in regional WA. The Prado spent six weeks there off the road waiting for parts and repairs. The Disco went on a truck to Perth and was back on the road in a few days. The Totota legend can end up being more of a myth than the actual legend. INEOS is still light on in terms of network there is no doubt but we all knew that.
sounds like you need to get an older vehicle and custom build to what you want.
I think there is no point comparing different vehicles like this against each other, only against a list of individuals needs and wants.
And I think I'm cool with that. I'm just going to keep driving the defender. But I remain convinced - that if I was going to buy a new 4x4 that there are a lot of solid alternatives now the Grenadier price has escalated so much. Yes they all offer slightly different takes on things but that's how it goes.
I think they will sell as as many as they need to sell, it was never going to he a mass market car, many won’t be able to afford one, that is the way of the world, many won’t want one or prefer something different that is also the way of the world. Enough people will like it enough and have enough money to buy as many as INEOS olan to sell.
I can recount an incident pre-covid in 2019 after taking out a brake line on the GRR, -Toyota says- not one in Australia, 4 week wait- I thought, its a bloody 200 series there's a million of them and they don't have a brake line??
So what happened then?
had to get one made in Perth, flown up 2 days later
At least it's not rocket science!
Definitely! but that aside, you'd think they'd have one in stock
It wouldn't give me faith in buying a modern Toyota...
IMHO they went too hard too early with the price increases. I'm sure they have their commercial reasons. They have priced the car for a well proven weapon and with a proven and effective support system. Frankly it's going to be years before anyone can honestly say that's the case. It's still a big unknown unknown. I expect it's going to take years until we find out the long term durability of the vehicle. If you only drive around populated places I'm sure it's fine but where I go you can be a looong way from anyone or anything.
I travel remote a lot. So I am often not near a dealer. You find a solution, because whinging about it will not get your car fixed. It is not INEOS' job to have dealers or service agents in all the remote parts of Australia - most other brands don't.
Yep.. 20 years of not needing to be recovered.
Never say never and all. I haven't ruled them out. Maybe in the future their price will match their promise and I'll buy.
One thing , they'll never be cheaper , except 2nd hand, and given how in Australia old Defender prices went silly (way beyond what I thought they were worth), maybe not!Maybe in the future their price will match their promise and I'll buy.
I think what I was implying.. that maybe in a few years they will have reliable proven cars with no bugs, and a functional remote service model. Hopefully they won't keep putting the prices up at the rate they have been, but we will see. That's my argument - the new prices represent what they have promised and are yet to deliver.
