Ineos Grenadier Is Too Old-Fashioned For Its Own Good

It’s hard not to be charmed by the Ineos Grenadier’s old-school persona at first glance. That’s intentional; When Ineos chairman Sir Jim Ratcliffe Unable to buy the rights to produce the original Defender after Land Rover stopped production of the model in 2016, it decided to replace it. That explains the Landie-like two-box styling, square wheel arches and full-time four-wheel drive system. The car looks like a 1990s Defender 110 with a little Cyberpunk 2077 thrown in, and it attracts attention.

Inside, the retro inspiration becomes even more apparent. There’s a 12.3-inch touchscreen perched atop the center console that doubles as a gauge cluster and infotainment system. Beyond that, every feature is controlled via knobs and switches. Even the ceiling is covered in switches for factory features and aftermarket add-ons—adding a set of roof-mounted lights controlled by OEM switches is essentially plug-and-play in the Grenadier. This is more Boeing flight deck than modern vehicle, and for those weary of haptic feedback and capacitive touchpoints, the Grenadier’s interior will be a rare respite from modernity.

Thankfully, the interior is far more comfortable than the original Defender, thanks in large part to the comfortable Recaro seats. It’s also much roomier. Unlike the modern Rover, there’s no luxury to be found in the Grenadier. The truck’s interior is made of hard, easy-to-clean plastics and vinyl. Fortunately, the Grenadier’s taste for utility means it also retains the excellent sightlines of the old Defender, which makes for easy wheel placement and tight parking.

Unfortunately, the Grenadier’s unobtrusive single center screen serves three purposes at once—vehicle tilt/tilt, infotainment, and instrument cluster are all on it. Only the Christmas tree lights are directly in front of the driver. The screen’s relatively low and close placement in the cabin means the driver can’t constantly glance to the right at the speedometer while driving.

The speedometer climbs quickly; the American-spec Grenadier uses a 3.0-liter turbocharged straight-six from BMW (the exact same one found under the hood of the Toyota Supra). The Bimmer engine produces 286 horsepower and 330 pound-feet of torque, and is tuned for extra power at low rpm. Power is routed through a ZF-built eight-speed automatic transmission and a Tremec all-wheel-drive transfer case with a 2.5:1 low-range gearing. While the 5,875-pound SUV isn’t quick, it’s got plenty of power, and the proven components go a long way toward allaying the new manufacturer’s fears.

Pros: Superbly Built, Comfortable & Spacious Cabin, Powerful Drive System

Once up to speed, though, I found the Grenadier uncomfortable to drive. The Ineos’s disdain for modernity is palpable. It uses recirculating ball steering, rather than the more modern rack-and-pinion system, which means it doesn’t transfer force as abruptly through the wheels (making it easier to handle tricky off-roading). Unfortunately, it also means it’s very vague on-center and in corners, and the 3.85 turns it takes to go from locked to locked—combined with the fact that the steering wheel doesn’t naturally return to center—makes it very difficult to stay centered at speeds above 35 mph.

The steering feel is inferior to that of a modern Jeep Wrangler (which also uses a recirculating ball mechanism), and it’s not a good fit for a truck with a base price above $70,000. There’s no added maneuverability benefit to the clunky steering: The Grenadier still has a huge turning circle of 44 feet 3 inches, nearly five feet wider than a four-door Wrangler.

The Grenadier is supported by a ladder-frame construction and a pair of solid axles. While this isn’t necessarily a negative—it’s a great boon for off-roading, after all—the shocks and springs tend to be stiffer, exacerbating the traditional—and uncomfortable—truck feel when hitting bumps. Combined with the harsh wind noise, the Grenadier is about as tiring to drive as an old-school 4×4.

I drove the Grenadier back-to-back with a Lexus GX550, and while on paper they’re competitors—the Grenadier I tested costs $85,455, $4,000 more than a fully loaded GX Overtrail+—the Ineos felt like a truck made three decades before the Lexus.

Cons: Wide turning radius, weird instrument cluster, and terrible on the road.

The comparison isn’t entirely fair. Despite its stepped chassis and solid axles, the Grenadier offers significant improvements over its Defender inspiration—a much stiffer body construction, five-link suspension, kingpin knuckle axles—and is theoretically far more durable than the Lexus I’m comparing it to, but none of these improvements are visible on the road.

But as Ratcliffe says shown at the launch of the GrenadierThe truck’s development “began by identifying a gap in the market, left vacant by a number of manufacturers, for a useful off-road vehicle,” rather than trying to build a fancy mall crawler. Admittedly, the truck felt comfortable off-road—though the test course I ran was too flat to take full advantage of its capabilities.

The Grenadier has the spec sheet to support serious overlanding performance, with full-time all-wheel drive and lockable center, front, and rear diffs, in addition to the aforementioned Tremec low-range box. Approach and departure angles suggest it can handle more than its fair share of the hills and mud I slogged through, with 36.2 degrees up front and 36.1 degrees out back. Ground clearance is also excellent at 10.4 inches, and its maximum depth is 31.5 inches—all numbers that can compete with, or beat, some of the most rugged off-roaders you can buy, including the new Defender and the Mercedes G-Wagen.

Many potential Grenadier buyers will also be pleased to know that Ineos helps rural mechanics learning how to put a wrench on his new truck, and volunteering to invite aftermarket companies to develop spare parts for him. This is a vital part that can make the Grenadier usable as a long-distance vehicle, because even classic Defender owners can struggle due to the lack of knowledgeable mechanics in rural areas of Africa and Asia.

There’s no denying that Ineos makes unique and interesting trucks. Sure, the Grenadier is a big improvement over the original Land Rover Defender, and for those looking to explore the remote roads of Tanzania for months on end, it might be the perfect truck. But for American buyers looking for a fun weekend vehicle to hit the trails, there’s a reason we don’t make them like we used to.