Ineos Grenadier

[Lefty]

There’s a service agent in the little town about 15 miles from here and I popped in this morning just to say hello really.

Lovely folk, enthusiastic. Look after 7 or 8 locally, young fella checked all the recall stuff on the computer, making sure everything’s been done - which it has. They can do any warranty work and software updates etc etc. they haven’t had any major problems with any so far, just routine servicing and software updates.

Pretty happy with that. He was saying he was at a big service place “down South”* for a week doing training on them. Seems a pretty slick setup. They’re one of those Bosch diesel centres, just a small family business but I’m getting a decent feeling from them.

• could really be anywhere South of Aberdeen

Edited by Lefty on Saturday 9th December 11:47

[ferret50]

Lefty said:

Pretty happy with that. He was saying he was at a big service place “down South”* for a week doing training on them. Seems a pretty slick setup. They’re one of those Bosch diesel centres, just a small family business but I’m getting a decent feeling from them.

• could really be anywhere South of Aberdeen

Edited by Lefty on Saturday 9th December 11:47

Did he take an armed guard with him?

[Lefty]

Maybe a translator

[josh00mac]

Lefty said:

In the spirit of a balanced review and recording the downsides as well the things I like, here’s one.

An £80k utility vehicle really ought to have a heated front screen.

I actually thought it did have a heated screen until I went to use it and it just put the blowers on max aimed at the screen. My wife’s 20yo Defender has a heated screen!!

My 2019 Transit has and so useful in really cold weather.

We were away this weekend but the weather station shows -11 low last night.

Edited by Lefty on Sunday 3rd December 19:32

I thought this is a Ford patent issue? Do any other models, not owned by Ford, have this? Transit obv, older defenders will have them from when LR was owned by Ford… could be wrong.

[paddycam]

josh00mac said:

Lefty said:

In the spirit of a balanced review and recording the downsides as well the things I like, here’s one.

An £80k utility vehicle really ought to have a heated front screen.

I actually thought it did have a heated screen until I went to use it and it just put the blowers on max aimed at the screen. My wife’s 20yo Defender has a heated screen!!

My 2019 Transit has and so useful in really cold weather.

We were away this weekend but the weather station shows -11 low last night.

Edited by Lefty on Sunday 3rd December 19:32

I thought this is a Ford patent issue? Do any other models, not owned by Ford, have this? Transit obv, older defenders will have them from when LR was owned by Ford… could be wrong.

I think the exclusivity of the patent has expired. My wife's MINI has a heated screen.

[Lefty]

Yeah loads of cars have heated front screens these days.

Speaking of screens…mine cracked today. Maybe a 4” crack, middle of the screen at the bottom. I wasn’t aware of a stone hitting it at any time.

Bugger.

[RicksAlfas]

josh00mac said:

I thought this is a Ford patent issue? Do any other models, not owned by Ford, have this? Transit obv, older defenders will have them from when LR was owned by Ford… could be wrong.

My 2021 Volvo has one.

I remember for a period of time some cars had a partially heated front screen which just keep the area where the wipers parked clear. I wonder if that was a way round the Ford patent?

[Lefty]

3 weeks in, driven about 1000 miles.

Here’s my list of gripes.

1. Not much cabin storage space
2. Tiny glovebox
3. No rear cupholders. Kids spilling drinks, just as well the floor is easily cleaned, no carpets y’see
4. Start/stop has to be switched off every journey (it doesn’t remember your selection and there’s no way I’ve found in the menus to default it to off)
5. Dog guard rattle a bit. Maybe need to wrap the top mounts in tape to stop them from moving.

That’s it.

Footwell bump is complete non-issue
Steering is complete non-issue
Turning circle is complete non-issue

[bolidemichael]

Lefty: I found an owner in a car park and he was really enthusiastic and even offered to let me drive it, which was really nice.

also Lefty: I’m 6’4” which really isn’t that tall by the standards of WWF wrestlers

[DirktheDaring]

No4 is by design I suspect to appease climate loons, I had it coded out on my VW for £50.

I really like these, I’d take one over a new Defender all day long, enjoy

[Lefty]

bolidemichael said:

Lefty: I found an owner in a car park and he was really enthusiastic and even offered to let me drive it, which was really nice.

also Lefty: I’m 6’4” which really isn’t that tall by the standards of WWF wrestlers

[Lefty]

DirktheDaring said:

No4 is by design I suspect to appease climate loons, I had it coded out on my VW for £50.

I really like these, I’d take one over a new Defender all day long, enjoy

Ahhh that’s interesting, thanks. Hopefully somebody will work out how to do it on a Grenadier soon.

[Lefty]

sunnyb13 said:

really really want one of these in the B58 guise, when they hit the £30k mark. could be waiting many a years

Maybe 2-3 years.

I am still two minds about petrol v diesel. Torque of the b57 is amazing and it’s mid-high 20’s mpg. B58 a bit quicker, definitely simpler but re-sale probably not as good. High teens or low 20’s expected mpg. Diesel great for towing. Going forwards I can see diesel being taxed a lot more than petrol but who knows?

[Pflanzgarten]

From owners I’ve spoke to, petrol average mpg is low teens.

It is what it is.

[ChocolateFrog]

Pflanzgarten said:

From owners I’ve spoke to, petrol average mpg is low teens.

It is what it is.

Probably not a huge issue for the first and maybe second buyers but that's going to bite further down the line.

And even then a 350 mile range before you start towing something must be a pain.

The 400 miles I get out of my tank often feels less than sufficient.

[duncancallum]

Check the front brake flexis

I'm on a few mechanic boards and seen a post about flexi hitting the tyres

[Lefty]

Thanks, I had the wheels off this week fitting winter tyres and they’re ok.

The Ineos service dealer mentioned it, it’s a known thing.

Speaking of winter tyres, I went to lift it up on my scissor lift and I couldn’t, due to shape and position of the rear 4 link brackets I can’t get the blocks into the chassis legs at a safe place. Think I might be up getting my local Smithie to make a frame of some sort to sit between the lift and the grenadier.

[Lefty]

Pflanzgarten said:

From owners I’ve spoke to, petrol average mpg is low teens.

It is what it is.

Yeah absolutely. A lot of people using them in Africa seem to prefer petrol because of concerns over availability of decent quality diesel. And then if course, range becomes an issue.

I’ve seen an image of a much smaller exhaust silencer which allows a bigger bespoke tank.

[Lefty]

Like the new Defender, these seem to have a problem with tension cracks in the windscreens. Quite a few owners have suffered cracks appearing in the centre bottom edge of the screen and mine was no exception.

Started as a 3” crack that grew quickly.



Autoglass swapped it through insurance, cost me £100 windscreen excess. Quite impressed they managed to get a screen in a couple of days to be honest.

If this one goes again I think I’ll be talking to Ineos about a warranty claim.

[bob1179]

Great to see how you are getting on with your car, shame about the cracked windscreen though.

They are getting more and more common now, drove back up to Aberdeenshire from the North West of England on the 1st and saw quite a few out on the motorway.