1st Impressions of my Trialmaster. BLUF love it even with some quirks.
To calibrate my comments I also drive a 1995 Defender 110 (regularly), Kia EV6 and a 911.
I have a total of 2200 miles in two weeks on the Grenadier with some off road, 1400 mile road trip and daily in the city.
1. The ride is about equivalent to my D110 in the city (D110 has new Koni and springs). The D110 hasn't been on a trip longer than 100 miles at once. WRT driving the Grenadier on the road trip it was a tad harrowing at times with a 60 mph crosswind and crappy I-40 roads on the way to NM. The way back winds were less and drive much better. I did add the fox steering stabilizer yesterday and my quick impression on the fwy was much improved, time will tell.
2. Interior Noise: Quieter than both the D110 and 911 on the road at any speed.
3. Power: places 3 of 4 only above the D110. EV has a ton a we all know and not even close to the 911. Plenty of it for me though and no issues passing, merging or jumping on the freeway. Easily maintained TX highway speeds.
4. Features: I like the switches and buttons a lot. Especially the overhead panel. The Kia is too busy for me, the D110 is about perfect just lacking CarPlay
and equivalent to 911 for my needs.
5. Looks: Have been mistaken for a G Wagon, I assume it's the lights, but I love the look. Out of my four the Kia is dead last. It evokes different emotions compared to the 911 and about equal to the D110 though the right hand drive on the defender puts it a tad ahead. Standard K02 are nice. Wanted more rubber so put 285 70 17 KO3 on and it's perfect for me.
6. Good visibility except for rear view mirror. Replaced with wolfbox and now happy.
7. Pre-wired switches. Awesome feature and already used two of them.
8. Heat/Cool: have to fiddle with a lot to maintain comfort. The auto temp is weak at best. Will be interesting to see in hot summer. In 9 deg temps had some issues below. Once working plenty of heat.
Quirks - More time needed.
1. Same as everyone with the overspeed thing. Hitting favorites and turning it off are now part of the start routine.
2. Had a heater / flap issue in NM. resolved itself but watching for it. Seemed the flaps would not operate well in the cold and on high speed fan a "flapping" sound on heat. Again went away, have read something about cracking a window??? Will monitor and play around with it to see if I can reproduce.
3. Height: Good and bad. Before tire swap 1" extra to get in the garage. After not so much. Also at the garage, Comerica Center, for Stars games I can get under the height indicators up the 1st ramp which is where I park, coming down they have them hanging lower and I caught the roof just barely on stock tires. So new ones will hit and a roof rack would be no go.
4. Rear doors have to be slammed in order not to show open on the dash
5. Body roll in city driving - seems binary as in it flops over and just stays there vice a smooth transition. I'm sure that's a me thing but it has gotten more normal to me.
Wants
1. Heated windshield. My D110 has it. Best thing ever.
2. Bigger garage
