Grenadier fills tyre tracks of Defender
| Published date | 14 April 2024 |
| Publication title | Sunday Sun |
£62,785
Mercedes-Benz G350d AMG Line A classic that's modern and capable but at a ridiculous price.
£131,430
Land Rover Defender D250 SE Brilliant off-road and on.
Deservedly popular.
£63,670
IT HAS taken us a while to get behind the wheel of the Ineos Grenadier - but it has been worth the wait.
The car came about after one of Britain's richest men, Jim Ratcliffe, tried to buy the tooling for the original Land Rover Defender when it went out of production so he could build a replacement for his own Defender.
But JLR refused to sell it to him. So, Ratcliffe - owner of Ineos, one of the world's largest chemical producers - decided to develop, build and sell a rugged 4x4 vehicle of his own.
The result is the Grenadier, a back to basics off-road vehicle powered by BMW petrol or diesel powertrains and developed by Austrian automotive engineering giant Magna Steyr.
We're driving a Grenadier Trialmaster, one of two trim levels available for the station wagon body style of the Grenadier (a Quartermaster pick-up is also available), which is powered by BMW's 3.0-litre diesel engine.
This seems a logical choice of plant, but the petrol version outsells the diesel two to one.
However, the fact that the petrol does about 18mpg compared to the diesel's 26.9mpg would seal the deal for me.
We attended several early Ineos Grenadier media events and the talk was of the vehicle being particularly attractive to customers in Africa who need a very rugged machine.
I thought at the time that the Toyota Hilux pick-up already fulfilled that need. That the Grenadier Trialmaster we're testing costs £76,000 without options rather prices it out of that market.
While the current Land Rover Defender has an aluminium monocoque chassis, the Grenadier sticks with an old school ladder chassis with beam axles sprung by coil springs.
You feel driving..go and view
The body is steel with aluminium doors and bonnet. The Grenadier looks like the original
Defender but you'll see the bonnet is longer and more sloping and that the car is longer too with larger rear door apertures. The Grenadier is a cool-looking vehicle but it gets even better inside - especially for those of us who love aircraft, and in particular old stuff like the Douglas DC3 airliner.
relaxed briskly slower admire get
The Grenadier's designers have put...
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