By dint of your using “caravan” I can assume you live in the United Kingdom. If I lived there I would see if they could build me a 50 horsepower version, as anything more would be unnecessary.

Cheers!

 

I too have sat in New Defender -it's top of the charts - 5 star category. If you want practical and useful interior, the ND is the standard you go compares other SUVs to. But, like you, I want room. I value space. I certainly don't want flashy (no thanks RR, Discovery, BMW, Mercedes, or Lexus). As for the buttons, those are a luxury feature to have and the rotary dial and screen is supposed to do everything the buttons do. What car companies did with the iPad controlling all car features was to cheap out on functionality. They sold it to folks as "control everything from the screen!" They wanted to save money and were selling a bag of rotten apples, thinking nobody would miss the slight of hand in removing buttons. So today, if you have a switch, dial, or button for something basic (heat, lights, etc), that's now a luxury feature. Mandating drivers work their features via an iPad interface is now what you get on a cheap car model; it implies you can't afford buttons, and I think luxury brands like Porsche are starting to add buttons back in. I give tremendous credit to Ineos for the buttons. I'm not sure the comfort is there, and for me, that would be a deal breaker. Not just driver comfort, but back seat passenger comfort too. It looks like Grenadier is three steps up in every direction from a Wrangler, but exactly how many steps down is the interior from a ND? Won't know until I can visit a roadshow..

 

This!! Totally agree with this! The move to having an iPad control the car is not something I think is a plus. It was cool for a while, but will get to a fad as tech always ages un-gracefully. Switches, *****, etc. that are sturdy will always be cool. Or retro cool. Everything style is a personal preference and for me, I am quite happy that the Ineos is going retro. None of that will ever need an upgrade or a subscription. You will always get what you got.

 

Ha! I too heard on the radio this crazy idea of car manufacturers selling drivers "subscriptions" to car functions. I'm not sure exactly what? Heated seats!? If car dealer discussed the concept of "renting" car features, I would leave immediately. I get it for folks leasing cars - it's not their car. But if you buy the car with a car loan, it's your vehicle. Manufacturers will eventually realize what we already know: if you have a button or ****, sure it looks cool. But it also represents a physical over ride to a tech feature that may not be working correctly through the iPad screen. "belts and suspenders" may seem like too much, until one of those doesn't work and then folks go ah! that was the benefit to also having a button for things!

 

Yeah, no kidding. I mean, if they ever put a Sirius/XM receiver in MY DAMN CAR and then tried to rent me a subbie to listen to music on MY RADIO... :burnedup:

All joking aside, I would be fine with the idea of building all models of a car with all features and then only activating that feature for the people who pay for activation IF it could be demonstrated that you aren't being charged for it anyway and the people who are subscribing are just being charged extra.

So for instance, it's conceivable that putting heated/cooled seat hardware and wiring in all trucks makes the build-cost actually cheaper than just installing it in the 60% of trucks that order it and having to build the other 40% differently (not saying that IS the case, just that there are many situations in the world that are that way, such as the wiring for power windows and locks being in my Jeep's doors when I don't have those features.) So if that were the case and I could opt out and still pay a non-heated-seat price for the truck, as would everybody else, but then the people who wanted them would pay monthly or annually to turn that feature on, and could opt out if they find they don't need it, I have no problem with that.

I'm also not saying the manufacturers could be trusted to act in good faith there, but at least you could compare the same truck build year-over-year from the year before subs to the first year of subs and have an idea if they're playing fast and loose with the math.

 

I don’t believe that your defender has to worry about anybody. The jeep the new bronco are miles below the quality of the new defender. You can actually have a conversation while you drive in the jeep or the bronco you have to yell, or at least talk very loud. As to the Offroad part, I have not been able to get mine stuck yet, but I am getting it ready to take to Alaska from South Florida. I am replacing the 19 inch rims with 18 inch steelies.

 

I'm sure everyone on this forum who has a reservation for the Grenadier received the same email as I did re: Pre Orders.... given the feedback from this thread, I'm on the fence whether or not I'll keep the vehicle long term, but I've submitted my pre order nonetheless. Since most of my driving is on pavement, I'm not thrilled to give up the additional horsepower or torque. Also, I love my Defender, it's been bulletproof.

I may just buy the Grenadier, drive it for a few months alongside my D110, and then sell whichever truck I like the least. Either way, I won't get dinged too bad on either sale.

Has anyone submitted their pre order? Mine prices out just a hair over $80k. Starting with a blank canvas:

Adding:

1. 18" steel wheels
2. BFG KO2's
3. access ladder
4. privacy glass
5. Magic Mushroom
6. premium sound system (just a sub and amp; better to get this or the power take off?)
7. rubber floor mats
8. checker plates
9. rocker sliders (I won't need these, and it's probably more practical to get the side runners, but for the purpose of after market desirability I think most serious off roaders will prefer the sliders 🤷&#127995
10. tow hitch and electronics
11. Aux switch panel
12. smokers pack

I'm not sure if going full leather on the interior is worth the 'pop'... thoughts on this? It's really only around a $1500 upgrade since adding heated seats to the 'utility' interior is a $535 option. Still, I've lived w/o leather in the Defender and haven't missed it at all.

I decided against the Safari windows; they're cool but I never open the roof of my Defender and I'm planning on putting a Frontrunner Slimline II 3/4 rack atop the vehicle (way more expensive than the slimline for the Defender!).

Any feedback is appreciated! I missed the opportunity to test drive the truck, on paper it remains compelling.

BM

 

I wouldn’t get bank on Grenadier resale. One already went in the U.K. for below MSRP.

 

If you have the P400 Steelies not only need a caliper change but an offset as well. Be careful with spacers.

 

Maybe an opportunity to flip if you're one of the very first to take delivery but then I feel like enough buyers are going to regret-sell it during the first few thousand miles to keep resale value down.
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​​​​​​They only had 5k orders in the US when people expected a $60k sticker How many actually convert? Half?

Think about it, "a modern take on a tough retro truck with best-in-class components including one of the best engines available, all with a second-to-none customer service story". Isn't this what everyone walks around saying they want? And the best Ineos could do is 5000 refundable $450 reservations with a pricing expectation that got blown by 30%? Either their marketing sucks, their design is undesirable, or people really just don't want what they say they do.