Future classic: Ineos Grenadier

By Charlie Calderwood

| 14 Aug 2023

Classic & Sports Car – Future classic: Ineos Grenadier

Let’s tackle the elephant in the room first: yes, it looks quite a bit like a Defender – enough that when it drives towards you, from a distance you’ll think it is one.

But the Grenadier isn’t a straight copy of the Land Rover that went off sale in 2016; it’s a modernised interpretation of that car, compared to the more luxurious direction the Solihull legend went in, and it strikes us as the ultimate adventure vehicle.

The utilitarian interior features easy-to-read buttons, clear graphics and durable materials

It doesn’t drive like an old-school Defender on Tarmac, which even diehard Landie fans would admit is a good thing.

The ride is supple and comfortable, it doesn’t rattle around, and the engine we tested, a turbodiesel BMW 3-litre ‘six’, pulls with modern performance and refinement.

The focus of this machine is resolutely off-road, but it is still a perfectly acceptable way of getting from A to B on-road.

But the off-road focus isn’t just marketing spiel.

Attachment rails on the doors will appeal to off-road enthusiasts (left); chunky tyres reaffirm the Ineos Grenadier’s go-anywhere appeal

The first thing you notice when driving the Grenadier is its slow steering – it must be one of the lowest-geared set-ups on sale today.

It takes some getting used to, and can be cumbersome around town, but combined with the recirculating-ball steering box it reduces kickback on rough ground.

Even over a rocky surface there’s only slight movement at the wheel.

Despite being an off-roader, the Grenadier is competent on Tarmac, too

The Ineos ticks all the major boxes on the serious off-roader wishlist, too: separate chassis, low-range ’box, permanent four-wheel drive and a centre diff lock.

Along a forest course on a damp day it shrugged off muddy craters with astounding ease, while resisting roll-over up to frankly terrifying angles.

So far, so new Defender.

The Grenadier, however, makes use of beam axles front and rear, with steel springs for ease of maintenance.

‘The engine we tested, a turbodiesel BMW 3-litre ‘six’, pulls with modern performance and refinement’

The interior, too, has a more utilitarian focus, with large pushbuttons designed to be used while wearing gloves, rugged plastics and drain plugs in the floors.

Great for sluicing out mud, but it doesn’t give the luxury feel you might expect from a car starting at £69k.

The money in this car is spent on old-fashioned off-road engineering, rather than soft-touch plastics.

This modernised interpretation of the Land Rover Defender has the makings of a future classic

What will really get adventurous drivers excited, however, are all the options to turn it into a true overlander: neat touches such as attachment rails down the flanks, external power sockets, light bars, big off-road tyres, a rear-mounted ladder, rock sliders and even front and rear locking diffs.

The list goes on.

Only time will tell if the Grenadier has the reliability that determines the ultimate success of this kind of car, but in taking the functionality and utility of the old Defender and bringing it into the modern day, Ineos boss and Landie fan Sir Jim Ratcliffe has made a vehicle that cross-country types will seek out for years to come.

Images: John Bradshaw