• First sight
• Back to the desert
• It's a boy!
• 4000 miles later
• Time to get dirty

- Are you happy?

- Are you going to buy it?

- What vehicle will it replace if you buy it?

Oh the questions. These were on top of the "top two:" - when and how much.

On March 9, 2023, we had a chance to test-drive the brand new, unseen on the streets, INEOS Grenadier. Of course, these were pre-production vehicles, meaning lights on the dashboard and things we were not allowed to touch or fiddle with. The trucks weren't street-legal, lacking airbags or whatnot, so no hardtop tests were allowed.

In Southern California, INEOS organized the first test drives in very scenic Rowher Flat OHV recreation area, a few miles short of Palmdale off Sierra Highway (the original U.S.6). Kudos to them, many other venues in the 100-mile radius are buried under many feet of snow.

First, we had 3.5 hours to battle bumper-to-bumper traffic nearly along all of our 150-mile trek from San Diego. We were late by about 20 minutes, which came out handy: we skipped on the 20-minute introduction speech, and were handed the badges and allowed to jump in the cab of one of eight test mules Grenadiers and get rolling.

Impression 1: Gear shifter: a BMW signature joystick, right next to honest transfer case range lever. I hope the joystick is hardy enough to survive a fly-by of a tossed backpack or a 100-lb dog's paw.

Impression 2: Where are my instruments? Oh... in a current giant-flat-screen world, the instrument panel is in the center of the dashboard, instead of in front of the driver. All you have to look at besides the road is a collection of trouble or status lights in a small binnacle. Bizarre?

Considering that in my 380-thousand-mile Range Rover Classic the speedometer will not wake up from its coma unless given an angry finger flick, the tachometer is off by about 5%, and only the gas and engine temperature gauges are of any interest... and that I frequently use an 8-inch tablet in the same location as in a Grenadier as a navigation screen or instrument panel, it all makes sense.

Still, it is unconventional. On top of it, just like my 8" tablet, the information displayed on it fades with increase of the look angle - it really should be tuned to be better-seen from the driver seat.

Impression 3: Ergonomics. It will take me a while to get used to the Air Force-spec switches and buttons in the center console and on the roof. The short time behind the wheel only allowed me to remember where the Hill Descent Control button is (on the roof), so I could safely avoid it. For whatever it's worth, HDC in the Grenadier limits the speed to 3mph, much more palatable than early Discovery 2 HDC.

Impression 4: The test track chosen for the demo is not that adrenaline-heavy. It could have easily been driven in high range; in low range, the speeds of 12-18mph call for 2000-2200 rpm from the BMW 3-liter straight six, resulting in very twitchy gas pedal. A harder track with lower speeds would probably be better. This is all nitpicking, really.

Impression 5: Rear seats. There is just a little more space between the backs of the front seats and the bottoms of the rears than in a short wheelbase Discovery or Classic. A 6-foot person will fit, but just so. Not the shitter seats in an MD-80, but not Premium Economy, either. The bottoms and backs of the rear seats are pretty stiff, stiffer than in an LR4.

Impression 6: The truck is very, very solid. Nothing squeaks or rattles, and it confidently rolls over little rocks and dug-up hole in the dirt without any drama. Our tester came close to lifting a tire here and there, manifested by a sound of a short wheelspin; the memories of driving behind a Gelaendewagen suggest that the Grenadier's suspension is better at keeping the wheels planted.

Did I mention Gelaendewagen? Oh yes. The Gren is far more a G-wagen than it is a [classic] Defender 110 - in both composure, off-pavement habits, and interior space. There's no room for two rows of three seats on the sides of the Grenadier's cargo hold. This comes as a trade-off for very short overhangs and great approach and departure angles, at a 114-inch wheelbase.

The black interior, stiff and very supportive seats are also more Teutonic than British Leyland. Actually, I would prefer the seats from a 2016 110 to those in the Grenadier, but I could live with both - but I can't tell if I could spend 10 hours straight in either driver's seat as well as I do in the 1995 Range Rover Classic. Hopefully, time will tell.

Impression 7: Bottom's up.

After the test, we stopped for a while near the Grenadier perched at a steep ramp. Here are observations:

- Front suspension: four-link, with Panhard rod keeping the stuff from going sideways. All suspension and steering links appear very well built or overbuilt. The suspension links are longer than the JK Wrangler's but far shorter than the Range Rover Classic/Defender/Discovery radius arms - meaning that for the same amount of travel the bushings will be stressed a lot more. The bushings themselves are very close in size to those used on Land Rover radius arms mentioned - I would probably expect 100k-mile lifetime out of these. The tie rod and drag link both are in front of the axle, Jeep-style. Neither good nor bad. Both of those look on par with Ford Super Duty steering hardware.

- Driveline: both front and rear driveshafts use two proper CV joints. These should outlast the U-joints or Rotoflex donuts on the older Land Rovers. The driveshafts are made by Dana Spicer - should not be a problem to source the replacement parts.

- Swivels: it appears that Grenadier uses open knuckles, rather than fully enclosed ball swivels. The knuckles have a lot of steel webbing, however, which should protect the CV joint boots from any but the most-sneaky intrusions.

- Axles: The axles are Dana Spicer style, meaning centersection integrated with axle tubes, and stamped differential covers front and rear. It is neither good nor bad - just different from the third-member design employed by Land Rover, Toyota, and Ford, in the past. The axles are made in Italy by Carraro, which is just about beyond reproach.

Nothing protrudes at the bottom which may snag rocks or roots or branches - the design is very clean.
- Underside: there's a bash plate under the gas tank, and bolt holes for one under the transmission (but no plate). If it doesn't come with one from the factory, it will be a piece of cake to make out of 3/16" AL plate. There's an option for a bash plate extending from the bumper pretty much to the axle. The front axle's diff has two tapped holes in the bottom, just like Rover diffs - so you can fabricate and mount a front driveshaft protector.

- Wheels and tires: I did not like the design of the alloy wheels, but I never intended to order my Grenadier with them, anyway. Tires - some Bridgestone, some BFGoodrich All terrains - I'd rather have the latter than the former, but I don't care much for either.

- Rear doors: the 30%/70% split doors open to pretty much the entire perimeter of the rear cross-section, far wider than a Gelaendewagen's or an old Defender's. Just about the same as the upper/lower tailgate in a Range Rover Classic or LR3/4. The little door could be opened separately, allowing access to cargo compartment without having a pile of unrestrained cargo to spill or a dog to jump out into the mud. Very nifty.

- Body: 150kG load rating on the roof is stellar, considering the limited amount of cargo space. There are L-tracks everywhere, including the outside of the doors and rear quarter panels; fortunately, all are hidden behind some plastic covers. The U.S. of A. will get steel front bumpers, unlike pedestrian-obsessed Europe and the U.K. A winch tucks behind the steel bumper very nicely.

Finally, back to the questions asked earlier?

- yes, I am happy that I had a chance to test-drive a Grenadier. It was worth a long trip, and it was far more than your usual dealership round-the-block test drive.

- depends on price. I fully intend to order my Grenadier as cheaply as possible, but there are some things that just have to be there - stereo, sunroof, and leather seat covers not included. I really want it to happen, however.

- the last one's toughest of all. Lena is not ready to give up her LR4, I am not ready to give up my Classic. The Grenadier could replace either of them as a 4x4 family truckster, only losing to either of them in interior space - but so would a 4-door Wrangler, an L663 Defender 110, and a four-door Bronco.

Now, when and how much?

P.S. After the test drive, we decided to check out the California poppy bloom in Antelope Valley near Lancaster. Instead of going into the preserve, we took a random dirt two-track eventually leading to the top of Fairmont Butte - a 400-foot vertical climb over deep washed-out ruts and loose football-sized rocks. The "no slowing down, no stopping, and no turning around" kind of a climb. The old Classic performed admirably, with nary a hint of a wheelspin. That's where the test drive needed to be...

* * *

Back to the desert

INEOS people were really nice to us, and allowed another round behind the wheel of a Grenadier. So we took a morning trip to the desert - from San Diego to Superstition Mtn and back on one tank of gas (the first for me in a Land Rover).

By the time we stopped chatting with friendly bunch of driving instructors, there was a grand total of three people to enjoy the trucks - two of us included.

Impression 7: Washboard and soft sand.
The washboard was accompanied with quite a bit of booming noise in my truck - I suspect something was not fastened in the back, but it could just be the case. Driving along a soft sand berm with ~15 deg off-camber angle presented zero problems and zero drift.

Impression 8: Overlanding Extended camping utility.
I took another look at the rear cabin arrangement: the folded backs of rear seats don't make a flat floor with cargo compartment, so if one wanted to travel with those, it offers a great reason to have about 4" tall sliders in the cargo compartment. It can be locked really nicely to the L-tracks, and, given the roof height, may be made neatly into a sleeping area for a tall person - Disco-style, with front feet between the front seats.
If you take the rear seats out, the base will form the flat floor with the cargo compartment - so it's all good in my book.
The wide part of the rear door has a little compartment housing some useless crap useful things like safety triangle or vest or whatnot - it can be unbolted and a cooking table could be bolted on without any hacking of the rear door, and that compartment is probably good for a hiker-style stove and a couple of little fuel cans.

Finally, a meaningful update:
the U.S. prices will (may? should?) be announced on May 17, and people with reservations can pre-order their trucks for four weeks after that. The vehicles will be built in Sept-Oct and delivered to the customers before the end of the year. The price, of course, is a TS-SCI level secret, but they (unfortunately) aim halfway between the four-door Bronco and Wrangler and a G-wagen. That's a big gap, and it allows some wide latitude.

* * *

It's a boy!

The suspense came to a head in early December of 2023. I got a call from Mossy Ineos Grenadier, the San Diego Grenadier dealer, that I could just show up at the dealer and collect my vehicle - which I did next day at noon.

Mir and Trevor at Mossy Grenadier were already busy with other customers, but found time to show me my (!) Grenadier and start the paperwork. The hitch receiver is missing, but - most importantly - the diff lock switches are in place!

Addressing the "how much" issue: when I ordered my vehicle, I was given the total price for my configuration including axle diff locks and hitch receiver. The latter was removed (hopefully, temporarily) by the dealer due to some electrical/firmware configuration issues, but promised to return. The invoice price was the same, + $1600 destination fee + taxes and license. Ineos held to their word.

This is how the Grenadier looks next to a Land Rover LR4 (Discovery 4):

The Grenadier somehow looks larger, although the dimensions are very similar, except for the height. The 1995 Range Rover Classic LWB (LSE) is definitely smaller:

Vehicle	Length, in	Width, in	Height, in
Grenadier	191	76	81
2010 LR4	190	75	74
1995 RRC LWB	183	71.6	70.5

Now, after a decade, we are back up to three brands of vehicles:

A short summary of impressions after more than 200 highway/city miles:

• Engine: plenty of power for whatever - it keeps going up moderate inclines on I-15 within San Diego at 80mph in the 8th gear at 2200 rpm. However, turbo lag is very noticeable - you won't get anywhere just by stomping on the pedal. In normal driving (which is a little less temperamental than my normal driving) it is not an issue. The sound, inside and outside, is present - to a point where I miss the Classic's quiet RV8.
• Interior noise: road+wind noise is exactly like in a Classic. It starts up around 65-70, and becomes noticeable beyond 75.
• Front seats: stellar. On par with late Classic's front seats, far better than LR4's front seats.
• Rear passenger space: a little more than in a D1 or SWB Classic, a little less than LR4, a lot less than LWB Classic.
• Cargo space: a lot less than in an LR4, probably as much as in a D110 (old OR new) and a G-Wagen.
• Knobs and switches: it is better to familiarize yourself with those before you drive off for the first time. The interior lights are pretty dim, and if you don't know what the switches do, you'll be looking for a flashlight.
• Steering wheel: small but adequate. I haven't used any buttons on it yet. Steering effort is on a lighter side for me, I'd prefer a little more heft - but not as light as in an LR4.
• Steering radius: larger than a LWB Classic's and LR4's (with similar wheelbase), which already made for several unexpected multi-point turns.
• Lack of steering self-centering: I am glad I've been warned by NAS-ROW.com, but it becomes a non-issue after 10 miles in the city. It isn't an issue on the highway, but I haven't driven on any twisties yet.
• Gear shifter: I still crack up when I look at it. It looks more like a sex toy than a useful appendage. It does its job, when you get past the annoyance of it. It is made more hilarious by the transfer case shifter that's all business.
• Stereo: one of the best Bluetooth transceivers I've had in rental cars (since none of mine came with one from the factory). Connection with the phone was drama free, and it reconnects every time without my intervention. I had a parking citation adjudication hearing scheduled for yesterday (phone-in), forgot about it, and had no problem participating in it on the way from the dealer to work. Android Auto works very well, including GaiaGPS' off-pavement map and tracks displayed in the instrument panel.
• Instrument panel: After years of not trusting the instruments in the Range Rover Classic, I don't miss not having the instruments in front of me. The center-mounted flat-screen panel is adequate, but after a week of use heavily covered in fingerprints.
• Windshield: Unbelievably good. Today, three cars ahead of me on the freeway, there was a typical contractor/trash hauler truck. A piece of stucco fell off, broke into pieces, and one piece, the size of a half-finger, flew into the Grenadier's windshield. It exploded into a blob about 2" in diameter - I thought the windshield was done in, a week into Grenadier's life. It was the hardest windshield hit I have ever experienced in my life - all my past and current vehicles' windshields cracked from much lighter hits. After a wash and two sweeps of the wipers - there's a tiny pit, that was difficult to find when I came to work and looked from outside.
• Wheels and tires: I am happy with steel wheels - looks like they are close to Land Rover NATO/Wolf wheel design in strength, but eventually I'll paint them white. Tires - 265/70R17 Bridgestones - are 31.6" tall (same as my Classic's 7.5R16 XZLs); when they wear out, I hope to find some 255/75R16 (32") or 265/75R17 (32.6") all-terrains to replace them.
• Doors, hood, and cargo doors: go to town slamming them shut. They fit all right, but if any gap is detected, you will see the warning on the center console that will not go away.
• Ingress/egress: Despite the officially similar width to an LR4, I found it occasionally difficult to get out/in the vehicle in tight San Diego parking spaces. I suspect the width of both vehicles includes outside mirrors - which are about the same size, but stretched horizontally in an LR4 and vertically in the Grenadier. The body of the Grenadier must be at least 2-3" wider than an LR4's. Also, the Grenadier has an incredibly high threshold: I have to lift my foot above my knee level to get in. The front passenger is treated to two grab handles, which help - but it may be an issue for some. Keep in mind that threshold height while getting out - the ground may not be where you expect it.

This list will be continued and updated, so stay tuned.

4000 miles later

Well, we got ourselves a new people mover, haven't we? Winter is here, and off we are to Jackson, Wyoming. The Grenadier is loaded with stuff enough for five people (three of which punted on the road trip in an unknown vehicle and preferred a flight) and a large dog, who is also taking the road trip.

We have a chance to test the off-road mettle next morning - in Owens River Valley, near Big Pine, California.

• The transfer case lever is very stiff. I had to stop and RTFM for a couple of minutes, just to make sure that I wasn't doing anything stupid enough to break off the lever or whatever's connected to it.
• Low range: zero drama. Whatever I though was a steep hill only required 3rd gear in low range.

We made a stop in Goldfield, Nevada; besides the usual attraction, I had to take a "Cars" photo of the Grenadier next to some stately old-timers.

The gas gauge in Tonopah, Nevada, still indicated some 200 miles left - but we aren't trusting electronics before what is billed as the longest highway stretch in Continental U.S. without any services - 167 miles to Ely.

• Gas gauge and Remaining miles: I can't trust either. Most frequently, with the gas gauge exactly at a 3/4 mark, the remaining mileage may be anywhere between 120 and 200 miles; but now I know that it will take 10 gallons to the top of the tank (23.7 gal nominal). Half-tank by the gauge likely indicates that you're 15 gallons down, with realistically 1/3 remaining.

We take a short coffee break in the fringes of Toiyabe National Forest about 40 miles short of Ely.

• The turning radius of the Grenadier, as set from the factory, may force multiple-point turns in tight forest campsite turnouts.

• The seating position and slope of the Grenadier's windshield are fantastic for wildlife spotting.

• The cargo compartment of the Grenadier is enormous, especially if you were good at Tetris. Note the folded baby crib on the roof rack, which certainly affected highway gas mileage (later).
• The step-in height of the truck is also not for the faint of heart. It may or will pose problems for humans of small and dogs of large stature.

On our way back from Wyoming, Google Maps offered us the shortest route between Jackson, WY, and Logan, UT. However, about 70 miles of it weren't snow-plowed.

• Handling: the Grenadier exhibited flat and neutral handling in snow/snow on ice conditions. No squirrelly behavior that I'd expect from my old Discovery.
• Headlights: LED lights do not produce enough heat to melt snow and slush off the lenses. It becomes noticeable after driving a couple of hundred miles in a snowstorm.

• The front wheels tend to splatter dirt onto the outside rearview mirrors and front row windows. Don't know if there's a fix for it..

Instruments and "safety" features:

• TPMS: if you inflate tires to door-jamb-spec 43 psi front, 49 psi rear, in a few miles down the road the tire pressures will go up and you'll be greeted with a yellow icon in front of you, and a periodic (frequent) message "Tyre pressure high". It is annoying and frequently wrong - the message display may designate the highest-over-pressure tire not matching the display numbers. But then it gets cold, and every morning you'll be greeted with the same yellow icon and message "Tyre pressure low". Fortunately, the Grenadier offers the "reset" function that tells the TPMS brain to hold on to the current tire pressures as normal - but you need to know it's there and how to access it.
• ADAS: lane departure audible warnings are benign enough not to be a nuisance. The over-speed-limit warning is a series of five double clicks, pretty loud, anytime your speed goes over what Grenadier perceives as a speed limit. The speed limits come from the stored map, and also from the camera - which frequently interprets the yellow "recommended speed" signs as speed limit, and in California treats truck-trailer-specific 55 mph speed limit as such for everybody. The over-speed-limit warning can be turned OFF - which can be optimized to only take two finger pokes on the panel, but it will come back once the engine is restarted. I never found it annoying enough to bitch about, but many people do.

• Gas mileage. INEOS offers the same number for city and highway gas mileage - 15.5 mpg. Both are refreshingly close to truth, but ... your mileage may vary. At every gas station stop, I recorded the up-to-date odometer reading and amount of fuel went into the tank. The data, however inaccurate it may be, is helpful in tracking overall, real-world, gas mileage, as opposed to the optimistic suggestion by the Grenadier's internal accounting.
  The lowest mileage in this graph included fast - ~80mph - climb from sea level to 4100 ft above, in a span of ~110 miles.
  The highest mileage covered slower-than-speed limit tiptoeing on unplowed snow in Wyoming, Idaho, and Utah.
  The average mileage (for a 2600-mile round trip), total number of gallons divided by the total mileage, ended up around 14 mpg, or almost identical to what I observed with much more aerodynamic LR4. It included crazy-fast traffic on Interstate 15 - where, with the 80-mph speed limit, even big rigs are pushing 90 going downhill.

• Cool factor: being relatively rare, a Grenadier very frequently invokes positive comments and brings people together. I drove by an old defunct gas station in Goshen, Utah, several years ago. Behind the pumps there was an old Series II Land Rover; I took a picture and posted it on Facebook. It turned out to be a multi-generational family holding of Steven Staheli, Goshen's mayor, so I took my time for a detour to Goshen, and a chance to take a photo of the truck next to Steven and Jen's three Land Rovers of different generations.

Slightly after 4,000-mile mark on the odometer, the Grenadier's factory steel wheels received almost body-color-matched powdercoating. Somehow, the 32" tires now look small...

Time to get dirty.

At some point, the number of Grenadiers around San Diego reached a critical mass, and Trevor Mossy decided to take people out for a "dealer run." It's been nearly quarter a century since we've attended such an event - then hosted by Pioneer Centres Land Rover - so it felt refreshing. The event was supposed to happen in Anza-Borrego Desert - which we consider our lovely backyard, despite being two hours away.

And boom, here we are, with 11 other Grenadiers and their happy owners. The favorite part of the meet-up was this - the first people we met were Larry and Carol Samons, who we knew from the earliest days of Land Rover Club of San Diego.

I enjoyed the view with my clean truck in the forefront - until John comes in with his, bearing the telltale signs of what's to come.

The truck lineup reveals a bit about INEOS' clientele. Five of the trucks are pitch black (some with heavy window tint), one - dark green, two or three - gray ("Magic Mushroom" in INEOS' vocabulary), one - light blue with white roof (what I always wanted!), one - darker blue, and one - almost British Racing Green, just darker.

The photos of a convoy of black Grenadiers definitely bring up some "Transporter" connotations.