Test drove one yesterday. In retrospect, I wish I had spent more time on the highway, and less time on the off-road portion, as the off-road portion was just a smooth dirt road. In contrast, the off-road test drive I did in April 2023 was on a much more challenging course (an off-road park in Colorado Springs).
Steering: it took about 20 minutes to get used to the steering, as I have not been driving a solid front axle vehicle with recirculating ball steering for the last five years. The steering is fine; actually, its really good for a vehicle of this design. No single vehicle can do everything well, so choose your priority. If you want a vehicle that can carve up the corners, and that handles like a sporty SUV, then no vehicle with a solid front axle and recirculating ball steering is going to be a match for you. But that sporty SUV will give you fits off road - with lots of kick back to the steering wheel. I am 100% satisfied with the front-end design of the Grenadier, and with how it steers.
Forward visibility: Awesome! Only the Jeep Wrangler gives you similar visibility looking over the hood (at least in the American market). This is the way an off-roader should be designed. You will be able to place your tires exactly where you want them. This bucks the tall-hood trend here in the American market. Great job Ineos!
Engine (B58 - petrol): the torque comes in at low rpms, which is exactly what you want. The Gren is not a rocket ship, but it can get up and go, and the transmission downshifts quickly to respond to your gas-pedal inputs. I was happy with the acceleration for a vehicle of this weight and purpose. But you do notice that you are driving a small forced induction engine (I say the engine is "small" in relation to the vehicle weight). You will not mistake the experience for driving a large naturally aspirated V8. I have no idea how to predict long-term reliability of the BMW engine in this application, but I would be happy to daily drive this vehicle in the Rocky Mountains.
Transmission shifter: Subjectively, its not right for me. Objectively, I would argue that a true off-roader should have a transmission lever that (a) moves, and (b) provides more tactile feedback to the driver. The button you press for "Park" is - to me - the opposite of analogue and the Grenadier mission. But this has been debated elsewhere, so I don't want to beat a dead horse. In the end: some folks will like the transmission shifter, some will tolerate it, and some won't buy it.
Transfer case shifter: solid and easy to use. In a perfect world, it would be an inch taller, but that is really nitpicking. I like the transfer case shifter a lot. All the shifts were simple, and tactile, and its mechanical. Now if only the transmission... oops - dead horse.
Axle lockers: The rear locker would not engage. It would blink, and then just stop blinking and both the light on the dash and the light on the overhead console would go out. This was on level terrain. After multiple attempts - both by me and by the salesman - and a fair bit of driving - we finally got it to lock-up. Don't know what else to say. I don't own a Gren, so I can't try 100 different times to see if this was a fluke. This is another example of a mechanical or analogue option being overlooked by the team at Ineos. Maybe there are no mechanical, cable actuated lockers made in Europe; in which case, the decision to go with an Italian axle forced the e-locker choice. I wonder if they even considered reaching out to Ox Lockers - for example - who make a mechanical, cable-actuated locker. I had one in the front axle of my Jeep, and it was bomb proof. Its like the difference between the transfer case lever and the transmission shifter.
Underbody Protection: I've written about this elsewhere, and won't re-hash that stuff here. In summary, if you mostly drive in the rocks, you will find some things are a bit too low, and some things need more skid-plate protection.
Seats and position: Comfort is subjective, but for me, these are the best seats available in an off-road vehicle. It was also easy for me to get into a good driving position. I love the manual adjustments, and the seat-lift lever works great. Jeep allows you to lift your butt up in the same way, but the Grenadier seats are much, much more comfortable (for me).
Side mirrors: a little too small for my liking, given the poor visibility out the rear window, but something you probably get used to fairly quickly.
Backup camera: An unnecessary self-inflicted error. Poor visibility out the back, and then a really small screen for the backup camera. The car needs a software update that gives the camera more of the screen. Also, the backup camera should not be disabled in off-road mode. Visibility out the back window is just as bad when you are off-road as it is when you are on-road, and the likelihood of backing up over or into something is probably much higher. This may sound inconsistent with my approach to other things in the vehicle, where I prefer analogue over electronic, but having a camera in the vehicle, and then not being able to use it in off-road mode is just dumb.
Dashboard controls: the buttons on the ceiling feel good, but switches on the ceiling feel less solid. I love the fact that the climate control knobs are simple, and make sense. The fan dial goes from: off, to low, to medium, to full - the way any sensible person would design it. To shut off the fan, you just turn all the way to the left. This is the way controls worked for decades. So many vehicles today require multiple touches for something that should only be one touch. Well done Ineos! On the other hand, I want the switch-gear on the main dash to feel solid - the way the doors feel when you close them. They do not. This is the same mismatch of principle that bugs me with the transmission lever vs the transfer case lever. I get that this is very subjective and personal - but to me - parts of the Grenadier are built like a tank, and other parts feel almost fragile, and like they belong in some other vehicle.
Foot Well Intrusion: first, we obviously have LHD in North America, so the intrusion is in the passenger foot well. The prototype I drove in April had a big hump in the passenger footwell. That has changed. The production vehicle I drove yesterday had a very small intrusion. This is now a non-issue for me.
In the end, I think its a great vehicle, and I think a lot of people will be really happy with it. But it is certainly not the right vehicle for everyone - and it was never supposed to be. Unless you are 100% committed to the concept, and you don't care about anything other than the concept, I strongly encourage a test drive.
![[ Adam ]](https://ineosforum-data.community.forum/avatars/s/9046/9046040.jpg?1705937698){kind=avatar}
