2024 INEOS Grenadier / Quartermaster Test Drive - The Car I want To Like But Just Can't...

INEOS invited me to have a test drive in the latest 2024 Ineo Grenadier Quartermaster. Although good looking and rugged I really could not accept the poor ride quality / steering / glitchy software / too many buttons to press / non functioning hill assist etc.. And why does the hill assist not work when you have the diff locked ? why does carplay keep coming up on the screen when you are in OFF ROAD mode....

[grahamp]

That appears to be compromise after compromise. The constant button pressing is irksome. I can't help but feel my old L494 would have done all of that on road tyres with the only contribution from me being how high to turn up the cooled seats.

[farmer]

Admittedly, not had a go in one, but neither has anyone in the military, which tells me all I need to know really! Still, each to their own and all that, but it puts me in mind when as a kid growing up in the 70s, anyone on our estate who drove an Italian, French, Swedish or some other brand of car that was not Leyland, Ford or Vauxhall etc was viewed by the other dads as being a tad eccentric!

[richardrobinson]

I test drove the Grenadier at a corporate event near Windermere. I have to say that if I was looking for a very capable outright off roader, I would look no further. It is very capable off road and very easy to drive over very rough terrain. Of course the tradeoff is a bumpy ride. I didn't like the dash being in the middle of the car having to constantly check to the left to check your speed, I also didn't like the bump in the floor for your left foot, I found it far to high and uncomfortable, I understand the reason it is there is to make room for the exhaust, they need to find some other way. The switch gear is fabulous, lovely big switches and knobs, very easy to use in thick gloves with a multitude of spare wiring and switches for all your add on accessory's, the only down fall is the airplane style overhead switches, which I love, but with varifocal glasses its impossible to read the legends :) I guess if you use them enough you learn which switch is for what, I have a similar setup in my old Defender. I have decided to go for the new Defender as it is far more road friendly and a more comfortable place to be, I wont be using it for extreme off roading, well not at first ;)

[davidforbes]

The sign on the hill is most impressive!

[Zaph]

re: CarPlay interruptions - its just poor programming by Ineos. Your instructor was getting Whatsapp messages which "pings" CarPlay's notification API. Most cars ignore this if CarPlay isn't in focus, but for some reason Ineos have decided it should bring CarPlay back into focus.

[moobaz]

I have a D250 110 at the moment but have a test drive with Ineos next week. Lots of food for thought....

[ALL__WHEELS]

It’s good but question is could it last a camel trophy test???

[gordonwedman]

What is the turning circle? Same as Queen Mary? The LR3 has one of the tightest turning circles of all Land Rovers. Try and match that Ineos.

[GregsMowing]

Drove one few months ago, was a beast. Shame about all the faffing pressing buttons multiple times to engage or disengage something and the damn footwell lump! CarPlay only coming on as your instructor is popular! But seems odd as normally you choose carplay to be the main screen or not.

[stevegreen]

What were all the red warning messages popping up? I thought blue or amber were OK to ignore but red messages were a more serious issue?

[garethdavies]

Looks like you need one person to drive and another to operate the switches

[tomflaushe]

The new Defender appears to have spoiled perceptions. Whilst it’s a cracking car and piece of engineering, this Ineos is doing what it set out to do, appeal to the person who still wants that level of involvement and feedback, like the opposite of a porpoising F1 car!

[tomflaushe]

Why didn’t the instructor just disconnect his phone to prevent CarPlay from popping up? Obviously it’s an issue with the software within the car. Or his Bluetooth was having a fit.

[scotttaylor]

How annoying is it to have all the buttons overhead for the off road stuff?

[firex]

Love to follow round with my 1989 110 petrol 47k see how it does

[haydne]

I love the main menu keeps being turned off by the passenger. Quite frankly I wouldn't touch one of these with a barge pole!

[hedydd]

They will sell a couple of dozen of these to small company buyers in the UK. The issue being that it does not qualify for VAT or 100 to 130% tax relief due to its uncompetitive carrying capacity which is several hundred kilos short of qualifying. As a result, for a reasonable spec to compare with a Ford Ranger, the net price after VAT is just about double that of a nicely specified Ranger Wildtrak or VW Amarok that will perform better and actually legally carry a ton, such as a near full IBC of liquid or 20 times 50kg bags etc. Don’t be deceived by the marketing bull, the steering on Grenadier is substandard and so is the safety equipment. The carrying capacity is insufficient, as explained above, due to the vehicles high unladen weight which, if it were rated to carry an Imperial ton, its gross loaded weight would break the 3.5 ton gross limit above which all kinds of onerous extra rules and costs apply.

[SaltShack]

Why doesn’t hill hold work when diffs are locked? If you fail climbing a steep grade with limited traction the front end can start to come around requiring downhill movement to steer the car and prevent it going sideways and possibly rolling over. Funny how many reviewers complain about the Grenadier for not having nannies for lane departure and more autonomous accident avoidance stuff but then complain about safety feature necessary for off reading when it’s a vehicle for……..off-roading. Please do buy it for getting groceries, I want Ineos to succeed massively, but I pray Ineos never compromises and starts building cars for getting groceries.

[scotiajinker]

From what I understand the the car is too heavy the max train weight for towing is 3500kg, this car can’t practically tow or carry a heavy pallet

[baxtersfarm]

From my 6 month experience of owning I was disappointed. My new pickup can do more for a lot less. It can carry more weight, allow VAT claim and has signicantly less problems and complexity. I havnt compared to the LR but to me as a british driver/user it just doesnt do anything better. It may last longer as it is well engineered but there arnt many badly made competitors.