Modern Thrills: INEOS Grenadier

Without wishing to be struck from the 4x4 bar and stripped of the keys to the Staff Car, the fact that the INEOS Grenadier is an automatic is a boon.

You get to focus solely on the terrain ahead, without having to think about the correct gear choice. The versatile ZF ‘box has been lifted out of BMWs, along with the engine, so it is also bulletproof and another thing you don't have to worry about.

Not that automatic off-roaders are anything new: the plush Jeep Wagoneer could be bought with an automatic transmission in the 1960s and, more relevant here, so could the rugged Jeep CJ-7 of the 1970s. In the same vein and same decade, Land Rover's  Range Rover went auto but it wasn’t until the 1990s that a true Landie was available with a (ZF) auto.

The Grenadier has meanwhile come in as auto-only and, as you bound over bump and mound, that quickly makes a lot of sense.

The transmission hasn’t been the focal point of what must be one of the most eagerly awaited and most talked-about new cars for a long time, though. It has been controversial, with litigation filed against its creator, but generally welcomed at a time when Land Rover has dropped off the top of the list of those looking for an all-terrain workhorse.

The Grenadier is a thinly-veiled direct replacement, devised in a pub in 2017. It was in The Grenadier in Knightsbridge, where innumerable new Defenders would soon cruise by lording over their new natural environment, that Sir Jim Ratcliffe struck upon the concept of a new old 4x4. INEOS now owns that pub.

At a glance, the Grenadier looks just like the Defenders so well known and once so well loved; from the rear it looks like a G-Wagen, Mercedes’ boxy equivalent. Inside the spacious, Discovery 1-like cabin – safari windows and all – it’s a curious mix of BMW and Recaro. All of which can be hosed down and drained out.

It is a sea of agricultural-looking switches and plates, exposed hex screw heads and even bicycle klaxon to celebrate its pro team. The layout is initially overwhelming but it is oddly endearing and appealing.

Whatever way you look at it as a whole, though, the Grenadier has been pitched just right. And so far, the Grenadier has attracted a mix of intrigued enthusiasts and those looking to replace their decade-old Defenders.

It helped that when it was first released you could spec it to the hilt and pay a similar price to the lowest, delete-spec Defender. Supply and demand means that’s no longer the case – prices soon rose and today prices start at £64,500 for work-focused models and £76,000 for the Station Wagon passenger vehicle. INEOS simply can’t make them fast enough, to the point where some buyers are flipping them – selling them instantly for a tidy profit.

Four have been sold on Collecting Cars already, having covering 750 miles between them and all above the original base ticket price of £49,000.

The manufacturer recently told Autocar that it has cancelled orders of cars sold on before that first owner had even taken delivery.

In many ways those moves to limit flipping are admirable; in other, more cynical, ways it’s INEOS protecting its own margins. Take it on face value and it is the maker trying to keep the Grenadier true to its original ethos as a utilitarian 4x4 throwback that is to be used and abused by the right owners.

By all accounts it can take it. INEOS insists test drives incorporate a good mix of on- and off-road driving – sadly little of the latter was possible here except for hoiking right across some of the airfield’s fringes. But aiming at the biggest, most awkward stretches were of no nuisance and apparently little can upset the Grenadier. It will even mask the deficiencies of a driver trying to go farther than their off-road abilities would usually take them.

Progressive springs by Eibach offer 600mm of travel and the heavy-duty beam axles have been created with tractor specialist Carraro. In off-road mode, the safety alerts are paused and the screen becomes your display of vital information. Another neat touch that makes life even easier and should reduce the likelihood of getting stranded.

Compromises will be required, because knobbly tyres and ladder chassis are not famed for on-road finesse. But that’s nothing new to those who have been lumbering around in Land Rovers for the past 75 years.

It’s part of the charm and INEOS has gone a long way to leverage it. The Grenadier is enigmatic, and right on the money. If you have the patience to wait for one.