Second test drive for me. Did the offroad course a couple months ago, which was loads of fun. Amazing. Did the road and highway test today, and it was...fine. No major complaints, but I didn't leave the dealership giddy. I'm very conflicted. It's an amazing offroad tool, arguably the best 'off the shelf' offroader built today. But it's expensive. All of the money is below the floorboard with best-in-class axles, suspension, lockers, etc. etc. etc. Incredibly well thought out and designed.
Above the floorboard, it's just OK. Quieter than my Jeep, but louder than my Land Cruiser and LR3. Driving experience was good. Power is good. It's tighter inside than I'd like but seats are comfortably snug in a good way. Rear seating area is entirely too tight - limited knee room and three adults across isn't practical. Rear seating position is too upright and not adjustable. I'd be miserable on a road trip back there. Premium radio is far from premium. I didn't hear the regular radio, but if this is the upgrade...yikes. Cargo area is smaller than I'd like with or without seats folded. I wish they'd been able to get the rear seats to fold flat to cargo bed, which would give you at least the impression of a bigger cargo area. Having to remove the headrest to lay rear seat flat is disappointing and doesn't feel like you're really adding much space. In fact, you have to tilt the seat forward first, then remove the headrest. Only then can you lay it flat. Before that, the middle rear seatbelt buckle has to be manhandled and aligned to get the seat to flip up. Just skip that whole process and push the seatback onto the seat. It's not quite flat, but close enough and avoids the gymnastics. Seems like an odd design decision. Yeah, I know all about the fuse box and wading thing. Still, seem like there had to be an option that wouldn't take away key cargo space.
New safety measures are being added for the 2024's, like emergency braking and a camera system that detects speed and driver drowsiness. That's great! Would it be a big leap to add adaptive cruise since 90% of the hardware is now there? I know simplicity is king here, but there is a lot of tech that is battle proven, would add to the experience and not going to leave you stranded. I think we'll see some of those added next go 'round.
The Grenny is a unique head-turner that would serve you well for decades. There's just a few misses that might be enough to make me pass on my reserved Fieldmaster until owner feedback is incorporated into improvements. A million miles tested isn't the same as a million miles of daily owner use. If the Grenny was $10-20,000 less, I wouldn't blink. With a few more conveniences and design improvements, I wouldn't blink. But as-is, as-priced, I think it's so-very-close but probably a miss for me, which I HATE as I've been anticipating this day for years. YEARS! I so badly wanted to love it. It's a lot of dough for a badass offroader with few driver conveniences in what needs to be a daily driver for a lot of folks. We all want to offroad, but the truth is that most of us will drive it to work, too. Just make that part a little better. I'm not asking for Lexus, just beat Jeep.
Fun fact: my dealership will lease them to you. In order for a lease to be priced, a residual must be established. The three year residual is currently set at 51-58%, with the Trialmaster being the quickest depreciating model (51%), and the regular stationwagon being the slowest (58%). That means that your 2024 Trialmaster will be worth about $40,000 in 2027. This surprises me greatly. With such a small annual production run, I would expect just the opposite. With such a small run (6000-7000/year Stateside), high margins are necessary for it to make sense for the dealers to build facilities, hire staff, training, etc. so I get the premium pricing. I just hope the value holds.
Above the floorboard, it's just OK. Quieter than my Jeep, but louder than my Land Cruiser and LR3. Driving experience was good. Power is good. It's tighter inside than I'd like but seats are comfortably snug in a good way. Rear seating area is entirely too tight - limited knee room and three adults across isn't practical. Rear seating position is too upright and not adjustable. I'd be miserable on a road trip back there. Premium radio is far from premium. I didn't hear the regular radio, but if this is the upgrade...yikes. Cargo area is smaller than I'd like with or without seats folded. I wish they'd been able to get the rear seats to fold flat to cargo bed, which would give you at least the impression of a bigger cargo area. Having to remove the headrest to lay rear seat flat is disappointing and doesn't feel like you're really adding much space. In fact, you have to tilt the seat forward first, then remove the headrest. Only then can you lay it flat. Before that, the middle rear seatbelt buckle has to be manhandled and aligned to get the seat to flip up. Just skip that whole process and push the seatback onto the seat. It's not quite flat, but close enough and avoids the gymnastics. Seems like an odd design decision. Yeah, I know all about the fuse box and wading thing. Still, seem like there had to be an option that wouldn't take away key cargo space.
New safety measures are being added for the 2024's, like emergency braking and a camera system that detects speed and driver drowsiness. That's great! Would it be a big leap to add adaptive cruise since 90% of the hardware is now there? I know simplicity is king here, but there is a lot of tech that is battle proven, would add to the experience and not going to leave you stranded. I think we'll see some of those added next go 'round.
The Grenny is a unique head-turner that would serve you well for decades. There's just a few misses that might be enough to make me pass on my reserved Fieldmaster until owner feedback is incorporated into improvements. A million miles tested isn't the same as a million miles of daily owner use. If the Grenny was $10-20,000 less, I wouldn't blink. With a few more conveniences and design improvements, I wouldn't blink. But as-is, as-priced, I think it's so-very-close but probably a miss for me, which I HATE as I've been anticipating this day for years. YEARS! I so badly wanted to love it. It's a lot of dough for a badass offroader with few driver conveniences in what needs to be a daily driver for a lot of folks. We all want to offroad, but the truth is that most of us will drive it to work, too. Just make that part a little better. I'm not asking for Lexus, just beat Jeep.
Fun fact: my dealership will lease them to you. In order for a lease to be priced, a residual must be established. The three year residual is currently set at 51-58%, with the Trialmaster being the quickest depreciating model (51%), and the regular stationwagon being the slowest (58%). That means that your 2024 Trialmaster will be worth about $40,000 in 2027. This surprises me greatly. With such a small annual production run, I would expect just the opposite. With such a small run (6000-7000/year Stateside), high margins are necessary for it to make sense for the dealers to build facilities, hire staff, training, etc. so I get the premium pricing. I just hope the value holds.
