I have been on the fast track to ownership of a Grenadier for just a few weeks now.
This all began a few weeks ago when friends of ours stopped by a dealer and purchased their own Grenadier.
I’d seen some online chatter about the vehicle and as always, I was interested but… not too interested.
Then I saw pictures of theirs. I listened to their description of the vehicle and thought to myself, “Ok, maybe they are on to something here…
This lead me to a pile of YouTube videos and online reviews. My appetite stimulated, I took an afternoon and drove to the nearest dealer, Ko Ineos Grenadier in Framingham MA to see what I could learn. The people there answered all of my questions, tolerated my crawling through vehicles, let me drive several fo under varying conditions and made me feel welcome! I quickly began to understood why our buddies had purchased theirs the day they first looked!
I am a bit of a car junkie and I love something about most cars. It is a problem sometimes, ask my wife
. When it comes to choosing my personal vehicle I have one prerequisite and that is any vehicle I own must be capable of towing our 25’ Airstream. I have towed with 2500 series Diesels, Ford F-150’s and even an Audi Q7 although that car only pulled a smaller 16’ Airstream Bambi. After some 250,000 plus miles in pickup trucks and more than 100,000 miles of towing, I am tired of the pickup thing. I have been looking for something else for years… One thing that stood out anbout the Grenadier was the fact that it actually had better spec’s than my current F-150 when it came to towing. Not by much but better nonetheless.
This Grenadier thing so interested me that I decided to take another ride to Framingham to do a little more research. This time, I was looking at options and deciding on colors. While there, I mentioned that it would help if I could actually see something like our Airstream hooked up to a Grenadier with a proper weight distribution hitch just to see how it “looked”… I couldn’t have been more thrilled when the guys at Ko, handed me a set of keys to an older “pre production” workhorse and said “take it home and hook it up, send us pictures!”…
There is simply nothing like having the opportunity to drive a vehicle for some miles to get a feel for it.
I took those keys annd put on about 300 miles. I drove on highways, dirt roads and all around town. Just like I do regularly.
I showed my buddies, checked the fuel mileage, studied the vehicle and hooked it up to our Airstream.
I recorded the heights of the four corners of the vehicle before hitching and I recorded the heights after hooking up. I even towed the trailer a few miles (without trailer brakes or lights…) on back roads, just to get a sense of how it behaved.
Let me tell you, the combination of 25’ Airstream, ProPride pivot point projection, anti sway hitch and this Grenadier was wayyyy nice! I won’t bore you with the details but it passed with flying colors! It felt better in the brief tow I gave it than anything I have ever towed with. That includes the 3/4 ton 2500’s by the way.
Anyway, I was so impressed that I drove the loaner back to Ko Ineos and promptly ordered my own!
Today was a big day and I can’t articulate how excited I am! This is about as heavy a trailer as someone would tow with this vehicle and again… all I can say is wow! Can’t wait until next spring!!!
View attachment IMG_0060.jpeg3
This all began a few weeks ago when friends of ours stopped by a dealer and purchased their own Grenadier.
I’d seen some online chatter about the vehicle and as always, I was interested but… not too interested.
Then I saw pictures of theirs. I listened to their description of the vehicle and thought to myself, “Ok, maybe they are on to something here…
This lead me to a pile of YouTube videos and online reviews. My appetite stimulated, I took an afternoon and drove to the nearest dealer, Ko Ineos Grenadier in Framingham MA to see what I could learn. The people there answered all of my questions, tolerated my crawling through vehicles, let me drive several fo under varying conditions and made me feel welcome! I quickly began to understood why our buddies had purchased theirs the day they first looked!
I am a bit of a car junkie and I love something about most cars. It is a problem sometimes, ask my wife
. When it comes to choosing my personal vehicle I have one prerequisite and that is any vehicle I own must be capable of towing our 25’ Airstream. I have towed with 2500 series Diesels, Ford F-150’s and even an Audi Q7 although that car only pulled a smaller 16’ Airstream Bambi. After some 250,000 plus miles in pickup trucks and more than 100,000 miles of towing, I am tired of the pickup thing. I have been looking for something else for years… One thing that stood out anbout the Grenadier was the fact that it actually had better spec’s than my current F-150 when it came to towing. Not by much but better nonetheless.This Grenadier thing so interested me that I decided to take another ride to Framingham to do a little more research. This time, I was looking at options and deciding on colors. While there, I mentioned that it would help if I could actually see something like our Airstream hooked up to a Grenadier with a proper weight distribution hitch just to see how it “looked”… I couldn’t have been more thrilled when the guys at Ko, handed me a set of keys to an older “pre production” workhorse and said “take it home and hook it up, send us pictures!”…
There is simply nothing like having the opportunity to drive a vehicle for some miles to get a feel for it.
I took those keys annd put on about 300 miles. I drove on highways, dirt roads and all around town. Just like I do regularly.
I showed my buddies, checked the fuel mileage, studied the vehicle and hooked it up to our Airstream.
I recorded the heights of the four corners of the vehicle before hitching and I recorded the heights after hooking up. I even towed the trailer a few miles (without trailer brakes or lights…) on back roads, just to get a sense of how it behaved.
Let me tell you, the combination of 25’ Airstream, ProPride pivot point projection, anti sway hitch and this Grenadier was wayyyy nice! I won’t bore you with the details but it passed with flying colors! It felt better in the brief tow I gave it than anything I have ever towed with. That includes the 3/4 ton 2500’s by the way.
Anyway, I was so impressed that I drove the loaner back to Ko Ineos and promptly ordered my own!
Today was a big day and I can’t articulate how excited I am! This is about as heavy a trailer as someone would tow with this vehicle and again… all I can say is wow! Can’t wait until next spring!!!
View attachment IMG_0060.jpeg3
