Hi Jean,
Sorry to hear about the error codes, but more so, the
failure of the vehicle to move.
@Logsplitter described something similar back on page 12 of this thread.
The bones of the Grenadier are absolutely amazing, and are exactly what all the enthusiasts wanted. These issues with modern vehicles though, are so frustrating. Your scenario of "stuck on a railroad" is exactly what has made me uncomfortable about buying a new car. There is a gut feeling I have that just prevents me from pulling the trigger; when I tell a vehicle to go, I damn well want it to go. It is an obvious safety issue - for many more scenarios other than being stuck on a railroad track.
To make matters worse, the gear selector just doesn't provide the feedback necessary to know exactly what is going on in those moments of urgency. I drove the Grenadier twice off-road. The first drive went great, and the vehicle did exactly what I wanted, and felt fantastic off road.
On the second drive, I crested a hill, and was about to start descending down a fairly steep grade. I clicked the gear selector over to the left, into manual mode. Of course, there is no good indicator that you are in manual mode with this gear selector - and my eyes were on the trail (which was narrow, involved a turn, and then a steep descent) - not on the dash (where an indicator light comes on). In a Jeep Wrangler, or Gladiator (both using the ZF 8-speed), and in a Toyota 4-Runner, the gear selector physically moves over to the left, with a very positive and tactile engagement. You can see it in its new position, but more importantly, you can feel it move and lock into the new spot (so you do not actually have to look at anything to confirm). It turned out, when I shifted the Grenadier selector to the left, it did
not engage manual mode - most likely my mistake in not pushing it far enough to the left. But I
thought I was in manual mode. So I start going down the hill, and I click the gear selector forward. In manual mode, this would have dropped the vehicle down a gear (to give me better engine braking on the steep descent). Instead - because the vehicle was still in drive - clicking forward put the truck into neutral - and I took off down the hill like a bat out of hell. I quickly regained control of the car, using the brakes, and by putting the gear selector back into drive, but things could have gone quite badly. This is a very poor design. Yes - the mistake was certainly mine - but that is not a mistake you can make with a manual transmission, or with automatic transmissions that use a gear selector with a different design; in particular, a gear selector that moves, and provides positive engagement - not one that pivots, and then returns to it original location.
I really wanted a Grenadier, and would buy one despite the fact that I believe it is now overpriced here in the U.S. But I won't buy a vehicle that I believe to be overpriced, that
also has what - to me - are significant shortcomings. Its been hard wrapping my head around not buying a Grenadier, but I believe I am now there.
Anyway - I am really glad to hear that you are otherwise loving the truck - I know that you have been looking forward to it as long as I was. I hope the little glitches, and this bigger one, get resolved for you!
