I was in Seattle today too. I missed the one in my backyard so had to fly there. Some of my thoughts are as follows (and I realize these may have already been discussed elsewhere):
Everything about the outside is great. The doors shut with a thud, the ladder feels sturdy, the frame has a great coating on it and the whole damn thing just looks fantastic.
I was shifting away from the Britannia Blue to the Shale Blue, but Britannia looks so good in person! It is really sharp. One observation from one of the guys there is that on the darker colors the black trim will blend in, where it will pop on the lighter colors. It's personal preference.
Inside it is definitely more truck than SUV. I know most people here know that but it does not have the higher end feel and finishes of other options. Could elicit some side-eye from my wife.
I was a little disappointed by the screen over the control panel; it has a lot of data but is hard to read from the driver's seat. The backup camera (only in reverse) is pretty small.
The screen in the drivers wheel had a whole bunch of error messages. My driver said it was still a software problem.
I am not a big guy, but I found it hard to get into. You definitely need the grab bars. I thought the rock sliders might help with this but they don't. It made me decide to go with the step, but I am more a Fieldmaster type anyway. I am going to use this to drive on sand.
And nobody is sitting in the middle of the back row; there is no place to put your feet!
The seats are all manual. There is a pump that can raise or lower what you are sitting on; higher is better! Both driver and front passenger.
The is not a lot you can see through the rear view mirror; the doors and the spare block the view. My driver said he would mount his spares on the roof!
Driving the car (which after all is what it's all about) is a total blast, especially once you get the seat dialed in. The track was nothing crazy, but the Grenadier ate up the ruts, bumps, huge puddles, etc. like candy. As noted everything is in low gear, center diff.
I see what people mean about the steering. My guy had me turning into the curves really early. Nothing you can't get used to though.
I did not find the gas/brake pedals to be so close as to mistake one for the other. But I did not have bulky shoes on.
The toot button and horn are a bit weird. The horn has a double tone and the toot really isn't that gentle. My driver said the toot sounds like
"I'm angry and want to pass" and the horn sounds like "two people are angry and want to pass".
A couple of their comments about the process:
20 dealers so far nationwide.
Dealers won't be announced until August AFTER you have placed your order. But they say you can change your dealer right up till close to taking delivery. If you don't like your dealer you can change. (But there's only 20.)
As for MSRP, they said that in the US they will try to hold the line against dealer markups, but if a dealer "wants to charge your $2K to put nitrogen in your tires" there's not much Ineos can do. But, as noted above, you can change dealers.
There is a limit of ~5500 Grenadiers that will be sold in the US per year, so as to avoid US regulations on emissions, etc.
They currently have about 8500 reservations.
If you have an early reservation expect the car by December; if you don't expect it by April, 2024.
I have an early reservation and have been following along expecting to buy one. I have to say was a little let down today given some of the things noted above. Will I still get one? Most likely.
I also met some really nice people, like Scott and Susan and their sweet dog Willie.
I think that's everything. I am not as technical a car guy as many on here are, so these are just my observations. I hope they help.
