Written by Keith Adams Published: 27 August 2024

Overview

The Ineos Grenadier is what you get when a billionaire decides he can’t even the best modern SUVs and really misses the old Land Rover Defender. No, really – it’s the brainchild of chemicals magnate Jim Ratcliffe, and it’s intended to be an uncompromisingly utilitarian vehicle that puts the greatest established off-roaders to shame on the rough stuff.

Its focus on this, plus its chunky price tag, puts the Grenadier in natural contention with some of our favourite 4x4 vehicles. The latest Land Rover Defender is, of course, the one to beat, despite being rather softer round the edges than its long-lived predecessor. Then there’s the brilliant Mercedes G-Glass. Or, for those who don’t want to spend as much, the Jeep Wrangler and Ford Ranger Raptor both have serious chops both on and off the tarmac.

It’s an impressive set of rivals. Fortunately, we have stacks of experience driving all of them, allowing us to put this Ineos Grenadier properly in its place, contextually speaking. And if you need to know more about how we test cars at Parkers, check out our explainer page.

Originally pegged to be built in Wales, those plans were shelved in favour of an ex-Mercedes facility in France. And with BMW-sourced engines, this perhaps isn’t the full-bore British assault on the market that people with flags in their social media handles might wish it was. But putting aside the origin story, over the rest of this page we’ll explore whether the Grenadier is actually any good.

What’s it like inside?

The Grenadier’s interior is like nothing else on the road – which has good and bad points. The whole centre console is festooned with switchgear, rising right into a panel on the roof, and it’s all chunky enough to be operated by people wearing gloves.

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Those who dislike touchscreen-driven car interiors will enjoy the Grenadier’s approach; it even features a rotary controller for the widescreen infotainment system. The gear selector borrowed from BMW does look rather out of place here, especially next to the chunky knob that chooses between the high and low-range gear ratios, but this comes as part of the package with the engine – just like it does in the Morgan Plus Six.

Ergonomically, we have some complaints. Right-hand-drive Grenadiers have a very tight pedal box due to the way the exhaust is routed. While your right foot gets plenty of space to operate the accelerator and brake, your left foot sits on an uncomfortably high platform that, in our case, led to a rather achy leg after a long drive.

Combined with the slight off-centre approach your head takes to view the speedometer and other driving data on the centre screen, even the Grenadier’s comfortable seat can’t help here. It is, at least, more spacious than a classic Defender or a Jeep Wrangler. Visibility is rubbish, though, with the off-centre rear doors and massive spare wheel completely nixing any view out of the rear window.

Then there are the smaller niggles. The key feels dreadful – certainly not a premium component. The climate control only goes down to 19 degrees before switching to ‘LO’, so anyone who runs hot will need to adjust the fan manually or be deafened by it going great guns all the time. And the stereo only has 14 steps in its volume control, which means each one is is a massive leap from the previous. These minor complaints all became quite annoying to us after an extended drive.

Practicality and boot space

We mentioned it was spacious. We sat three full-size adults in the back behind two full-size occupants of the front seats without anyone feeling cramped. The front seats are carefully shaped to give those in the back as much knee room as possible. The Grenadier Station Wagon is a five-seater, all five seats being from Recaro. There are storage boxes and batteries under the seats.

Luggage capacity is excellent when you pit the Grenadier against other cars along the lines of Land Cruisers, Defenders and G-Wagons. The two-seater Ineos offers 2,088 litres of boot space and can take a Euro pallet; it even has a van-comparable payload of 856kg. Even the five-seater model has 1,152 litres of luggage room.

The details vary with each version, but the boot has a wealth of tie-down hooks and the option of interior fixing rails, making it easy to secure your luggage – or tools. The same philosophy extends to the outside, where various attachments are available for accessories, from Ineos and aftermarket suppliers.

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What’s it like to drive?

There are two engines, a petrol and a diesel, both 3.0-litre straight-sixes from BMW. Smartly, Ineos has a deal that covers the next generation of engines as well. Transmissions are from ZF, axles from tractor-makers Carraro, and a lot of the development work has been done by Magna, the same people who make the G-Class for Mercedes-Benz.

The diesel engine seems to be poorly calibrated with the eight-speed ZF automatic transmission. It’s quite a contrast with the petrol, which is responsive, smooth and feels like it has more power and torque than you’d ever need. The figures don’t really tell the story: 0-62mph in 8.6sec for the petrol rather than 9.9sec for the diesel, and a top speed of 99mph in both cases. On the road, the petrol feels far quicker and more enjoyable.

If your idea of what an SUV should be like is shaped by the BMW X5 or current Defender, you’re likely to find the Grenadier a bit basic on road, and a bit slow. Whatever your expectation, you probably won’t get on very well with the steering – even compared to the likes of the old Defender or fairly awful Suzuki Jimny, which uses a similar recirculating ball setup instead of the now vastly more sophisticated rack and pinion arrangement of almost every modern other car, it’s over-light, imprecise and not at all reassuring.

It’s tuned this way for superior off-road handling – recirculating ball setups don’t ‘kick’ back like regular rack and pinion systems, and can handle shocks better. But it’s a compromise too far for us to recommend this for on-road use.

However, the long-travel suspension is impressive on and off the road: soaking up bumps, and keeping the wheels on the ground. The ground clearance is good, so deep ruts don’t halt your progress.

Off-road, both engines make an excellent job of pulling us up steep hills, ploughing along rutted tracks and generally taking care of business, helped by judicious combinations of diff locks, low gear sets and electronic stability control switched to off. It can take you to some pretty remarkable places. It’s thirsty while it does it, though. We averaged just 21mpg driving the petrol (on-road!) to a photography location around 100 miles away. When we started shooting the off-road portions, this dropped to the low teens.

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What models and trims are available?

The Grenadier comes as a station wagon, a commercial vehicle (read our separate Grenadier CV review) and a pickup truck (see our Ineos Quatermaster review).

There aren’t conventional trim levels, as such, but Grenadier always seems to be offering new special editions. There are also lots of options and accessories, and Ineos is working with aftermarket specialists to ensure they can offer good-quality bolt-ons.

The Arcane Works department introduced in 2024 caters to more extensive personalisation.

What else should I know?

There isn’t a traditional dealer network as such, but there is a lot of online-first thinking, as you can do pretty much everything at home on the Grenadier configurator. This does mean that the price is fixed and you can’t go in and expect a discount off the asking price.

Read on for our verdict on the Ineos Grenadier – should you choose this upstart over its more established rivals?