New-school INEOS aims directly at Toyota’s hard-core off-road dominance with all-new, old-school 4×4 off-roader
Land Rover abandoned the no-nonsense off-road 4×4 segment, leaving it to (mostly) Toyota, and that was the market gap INEOS needed to push ahead with its Grenadier. The INEOS Grenadier is an all-new off-road wagon from an all-new company and a mostly new factory, but the engineering theory seems mostly traditional. An overdone ladder-frame chassis carries the wagon body, powered by a pair of BMW six-cylinder engines, an old-fashioned transfer case and three diff locks. And it’s mightily impressive off road.
What it costs
Indicative pricing for the commercial version of the 2022 INEOS Grenadier, with the rear seats pushed 7cm forward for both legal and cargo reasons, has been announced at $84,500 plus on-road costs, with the five-seat passenger version priced about $1000 higher.
Diesel variants will cost more than that, but INEOS hasn’t confirmed the size of the step before deliveries begin here in September or October.
It will arrive with a 1000kg payload, 3500kg of braked towing capacity (and 750kg of unbraked capacity) and a 150kg roof-load rating, all while carrying five people.
The INEOS automotive brand answers to a global chemical giant run by Jim Ratcliffe, who is Britain’s richest man – or, at least, he was before he started making cars.
And while we don’t know how much those BMW inline turbo sixes will cost to service yet, we do know that INEOS will lean on the Bosch service and spares network when its own runs out – and that’s important.
There will be an online sales model for Australia and it will be sold in New Zealand via the Armstrong’s Group, and Australia is expected to be the Grenadier’s fourth-biggest global market.
Big, strong and detailed
For the sake of whatever you hit, you don’t want to crash in a 2022 INEOS Grenadier, nor do you want to be crashed into by a Grenadier, because its lightest version weighs somewhere between 2600kg and 2700kg.
So it’s not conceived for the school run, then, which the 13.5-metre turning circle and the 3.5 turns of steering lock-to-lock only confirm.
That’s just as well. Digital niceties aren’t needed because INEOS wants people to live with its Grenadier out where the scrape of flora tells you when you’ve changed lanes.
The Grenadier is a throwback, its body bolted to its ladder-frame chassis in just eight places. It uses an entirely steel chassis and body, but aluminium panels for simplicity.
INEOS does a contactless laser check on 600 points on every car down its production line, with tolerances as tight as 0.3mm, and each car uses 126 metres of PVC sealant to keep the dust and water out of the body.
While each of the 5000 spot welds is logged, with random ultrasound scanning to test their integrity, even the tools for tightening nuts and bolts record the torque used on every bolt, providing the ability to trace any errors back to the line worker and the tool’s serial number.
Engine and chassis
The world is abandoning both passenger cars and 4×4 off-roaders and rushing to meet somewhere in the middle, but the 2022 INEOS Grenadier is charging the other way with the surety that only comes from permanent all-wheel drive.
The Grenadier begins life with an oversized ladder-frame chassis, built by the same German company that does the Volkswagen Amarok chassis.
It adds a choice of BMW petrol or diesel engines, tuned for off-road torque with a long, soft throttle travel, and the Grenadier is limited to 160km/h.
The petrol version delivers 210kW of power and 450Nm of torque, while the turbo-diesel delivers 180kW and 550Nm and is the pick of the two, but not by the margin you might imagine.
Both engines twist through a gorgeous ZF eight-speed automatic transmission, and the pairing instantly puts the driver at ease with sophistication.
The wheelbase of the standard version is 2922mm, for an overall 4927mm length, though next year’s double-cab pick-up and seven-seat wagon versions will stretch the wheelbase to 3175mm.
Both ends carry some of the thickest suspension pieces outside of military applications, plus damper tubes that look like bazookas, all attached to solid beam axles designed by Italian agricultural machinery maker, Carraro.
Mechanical diff locks sit inside the solid axles, to match up with the mechanical centre diff lock and the Tremec two-speed transfer case. The centre diff lock engages via a mechanical lever in the cabin, while the axle-bound locks engage with buttons on the dash.
The Grenadier’s six-stud wheels are wrapped in Bridgestone Dueler H/T off road tyres to give it 264mm of clearance on both the standard 265/70 R17 version and the optional 255/70 R18 tyres.
The Grenadier can also wade through 800mm of water and has a 35.5-degree approach angle, a 36.1-degree departure angle and a 28.2-degree ramp-over angle.
Driving and comfort
It’s a long way up into the 2022 INEOS Grenadier’s cabin, and it’s a surprisingly comfortable place to be once you get there.
The dashboard is refreshingly short, and INEOS has saved itself money by fitting the full instrumentation into the central multimedia display and leaving just warning lights ahead of the driver.
The two-spoke steering wheel is an odd thing to get used to, especially in referencing where the front wheels are when it’s off road, but it doesn’t take long to get used to it.
The driving position is brilliant, with a big seat, a big, flat surface on the door trim to rest your arm on, and a huge central console. The vision is generous, and you can see the front corners from every position on the seat’s track, allowing you to easily and safely aim the front of the car.
The initial impression is one of surprising refinement, particularly in the powertrain, but also in the interior noise levels and the ride quality.
The Grenadier is a sure-footed thing, with soft springs allowing the tyres to remain gripping the ground for as long as possible.
There was almost no whine from any of its cogs (though our test cars were not fitted with the diff locks), and its mechanical engineering feels decades ahead of any old-school Defender I’ve ever driven.
With our international launch drive limited to a couple hours in a muddy mine, at speeds of up to about 80km/h, the Grenadier felt unstoppable even without its locking diffs.
It rides beautifully, with those enormous dampers doing mighty work to keep the springs under control, and the body rolls a lot less than we’d expected.
The diesel is the powertrain of choice, with its extra torque moving the enormous body and chassis more immediately, and while INEOS hasn’t confirmed any fuel economy data, the diesel will doubtlessly travel further between drinks.
The Grenadier isn’t a handler in the same sense as monocoque 4x4s, but it is refreshingly stable and honest about how relaxed it likes you to be around corners and it always prefers measured, rather than aggressive inputs.
Editor’s opinion
There’s simply no monocoque 4×4 that can deliver the same wheel travel, effortless rigidity and calm robustness that the 2022 INEOS Grenadier has as its default position.
Designed to fill the yawning chasm between the Jeep Wrangler and the Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen, the Grenadier is refreshingly honest and it feels a lot stronger, with far better integrity, than the Defender that clearly inspired it.
It feels more at home off road than on it, away from town than in it, and climbing mountains rather than driving around them.
It’s practical, large, looks and feels cut from solid chunks of metal and it’s all backed by silken powertrains that defy the Grenadier’s simplicity at every turn.
The only thing that could really hold it back is its unproven reliability in real-time service, its unproven support network and the 70 Series Toyota LandCruiser’s position as the default option in the class.
It’s that good.
How much does the 2022 INEOS Grenadier cost?Price: $84,500 (indicative, plus on-road costs)Available: October 2022Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo petrol or dieselOutput: 210kW/450Nm (petrol)Output: 180kW/550Nm (diesel)Transmission: Eight-speed automaticFuel: TBCCO2: TBC
Safety rating: TBC
Keyword: INEOS Grenadier 2022 Review – International