Modifying or keeping your Grenadier mostly stock?

[C-Mack]

The Grenadier is proving to be a fun vehicle to modify and adapt to your personal preferences and needs. There is no shortage of threads on the forum where folks are sharing their great ideas, upgrades while asking questions on what to modify next and how. That said, I’m curious as to how many owners have found the stock vehicle more or less fits their everyday needs “as is” and prefer to keep it unmodified or “very near” to stock configuration?

Curious if folks would be willing to share their perspectives or usage scenarios so we can benefit from their insights and general approach to the Grenadier in stock form? As just one example, suspension/tire upgrades are all the rage and everyone has a point of view but I’m sure there are many who find the Grenadier is competent enough in base form?

For sure there will be plenty of differing philosophies on stock versus modify and hope some will be willing to share there general approach to their Grenadier. I don’t feel there are right or wrong answers to this question but certainly interested in others perspectives.

 

[Tenac]

Well here is maybe a different POV. So I recently added the 2.5" and Kings shocks with 35" tires. The wife really loves it and is having fun with me offroad BUT she also missed driving it stock around town and thinks the new mods might be a bit much for her. So we are talking about picking up another one maybe Fieldmaster with on road tires etc.... So for ease she loved it stock driving around but modded she is on the fence.

 

[Clark Kent]

Good thread.

5 seat MY23 diesel station wagon. Optioned with FM and TM features.
Unmodified.
Daily driver.
Touring (overlanding).
Towing.


My wife and I like to go solo off-grid camping. We tow a hybrid single axle off-road camper. We typically travel and camp alone so wanted a vehicle that was over-specced so the vehicle and camper shouldn't be our limitation. It's my job to not overcommit us off-road so I'm the liveware limitation.

Of the vehicles I was cross shopping in 2022 the Grenadier was best fit on paper. I have done enough towing with four cylinder turbo diesels to know I wanted six cylinders so that shortened the field. The Grenadier was still in prototype in 2022 so it was a leap of faith to put my money down. The first time I drove a Grenadier on the street was the day I took delivery of our vehicle. No regrets.

The Grenadier is wider and taller and has less ground clearance than my camper so if the Grenadier fits down a track or through a space then the camper will fit. A go no-go gauge of sorts. In my use-case I don't need to modify the Grenadier for increased capability because that is more likely to push me into a situation that might get us stranded. My goal was buy a vehicle that exceeded our needs out of the box.

The only capability modification I am contemplating is to fit airbags or higher rating standard height springs on the rear to offset some of the weight on the towbar from our camper and keep more weight over the front axle. I currently get about 35mm (1.5") of rear suspension sag when I hook up the camper. On long downhills the camper leans hard on the towbar and the front end of the Grenadier becomes lighter than I like.

Anything else I do is accessorising for our particular use case.

 

[Rok_Dr]

@Clark Kent's use case pretty well mirrors my own.

I have a MY23 trial master with a few factory options, but aside of fitting a UHF radio, electric trailer brakes and anderson power lead, Henry is bog standard. Bedsides daily driving I use him for remote area touring and towing including my offroad camper trailer. Having worked for over 40 years in remote area mineral exploration around Australia, Africa and SE Asia I have a good idea of what is necessary in a 4wd to meet my needs. While not perfect Ineos have done a good job with offering as standard or options the features I need, for example cargo barrier, tow hitch, barwork, dual battery, accessory wiring prep, etc along with a couple of nice to have ones like locking diffs and front tow hitch.

Cheers
Steve

 

[CrazyOldMan]

Seems to me most of us are accessorizing, not modifying. A fair number of people swapped the steering damper, a lot of people went bigger on tires, some people did the Eibach lift, even fewer people swapped out the shocks, very few have done a front bumper/winch swap - most the activity seems really to be building it out, and since it’s so open and accessible, that’s kind of the point. You can do what you want based on your needs.

 

[Tazzieman]

Daily use , touring, towing, offroad use - short of rock crawling and bogholes.
I've fitted our petrol TM with factory bar/ winch/sliders/towbar/cargo barrier. Aftermarket 3/4 roof rack , and rear airbags for towing purposes. Elecbrakes for towing (no internal wiring)
Plus throttle controller , UHF radio, inverter, dual rear vision camera (mostly for the rear of the van), dashcam and extra USB outlets - and a side PPF wrap.
Needed the pros to fit airbags and PPF but otherwise did the rest myself.
I'm completely happy with engine, steering, suspension, wheels and tyres.

 

[C-Mack]

Great feedback everyone and like hearing how capable the Grenadier is for most out-of-the-box. Hard pressed to find another new vehicle on the market generally as capable without throwing considerable money at it improving things. The Grenadier is hardly fault free and could be better in certain areas but it’s encouraging to hear for many it is fits the bill so-to-speak.