ln the U.K. you can get the Defender Commercial which is a lot cheaper than the cheapest Grenadier

This makes a difference to business owners like me, l can put a Defender on my drive for around U.K£15,000 less than the cheapest 2-seat Grenadier with a similar specification.

The Defender Commercial comes on 18" steels

Also being a Commercial Vehicle l can put the Defender through my books and reclaim the tax on both the purchase and the operating costs.
The tax saving alone is around U.K.£14,000.

Also the VAT can be reclaimed (if your business is VAT registered) and that's a further 20% off the price of the Defender.

The Grenadier isn't classed as Commercial for tax purposes by the U.K. tax laws. So none of the above can be done. All you can claim is an operating cost of U.K. £0.40 per mile which barely covers fuel expenses.

So for me it's a no brainier....the Defender wins. lf the costs were the same l would definitely take the Grenadier.

 

I understand where you are coming from. Where I live there is a yearly excise tax based on the weight. This works out to be around 500 a year for the Defender. If the vehicle is over 6k pounds no tax. This means my Grenadier which should tip the scales at 6k will get me out of the tax.

 

I don't share your pricing breakdown. When I spec'd comparable builds out it was over 15k difference.

18"s have not been removed from JLRs spec despite repeated claims to the contrary. The P300 (similar in HP to the Grenadier) can come on 18"s. Steel. Alloy option is canned. Still not as good as 17" on Grenadier. But no brake mod needed etc.

Raised air intake is similarly useless on both so that's a wash. I'd not be speccing that but was included in Trialmaster I had built out. (RIP my red ladder frame).

A 1.5" coil lift will get you to a comparable clearance to the Defender so you could argue that either way on pricing.

If you're comparing suspension lifts, rods would be a closer apples for apples than a subframe-lift . A non-starter given the cost. ~$80 for lift rods. Not quite the same thing of course. Far more disadvantages with rods. 2" Coil lift is available on P300. Rods offer too many downsides. I mention them here solely for pricing comparison.

Much bigger wheel wells on the Grenadier. That with the coil lift means a much better and easier to mod platform on the tire and suspension front. 34" looks to be straight forward with coils. Defender sucks in that regard.

Again, pricing is just one factor buyers look at. Its importance is subjective. But on a purely objective standpoint, my maths is very different.

 

@GavinC I still have no clue what you bult or if you are looking at in rawand pricing. The trailmaster is 79k. If you want the base it's 71k That provides you with 17inch ko2 e rated tires, locking front and rear lockers, rear ladder, RAI(might not be a big deal in PNW but ask some one in AZ if they would like to keep the air cleaner sand free), hose out interior, dual battery system, 2k watt inverter and pre wired switches. A P300 S is 60k and p400 is 67k. So let's work off the p300 S at 60k. I skipped all the packs like adventure and explorer because you are paying 2k to 4k for cosmetic treatments. I did find after digging into the exterior segment, you can get an 18 but you need to pay 100 dollars for change. The reason the locking wheel nut. So I guess the 19 locking wheel nut won't work on the 18. Left the roof alone. Off road pack is 1550, tow pack is 1850. Air suspension is 1600. The p300s comes with coils but then I have to buy a coils lift kit. Sarek lift kit is 1500 for coils. Let's keep it fresh with coils. Mud flaps are 375, standard on Grenadier. Emergency kit is 75, standard on Grenadier, undershield is 2500, standard on grenadier. Now your at 70k. Ladder from lucky 8 is 1388. A quality dual battery system would be about 700. Dont forget to upgrade your tires to k02 e rated. They are 310 each or 1550. So all in your at 73.5k plus labor. So there is a 6k difference between coil L663 and Grenadier Trialmaster. You are still missing switches. A switch pod from switch pros is 650 so now you outdoor price is 74k and it's 5k difference in price. I'll take that 5k in price in form of labor, your time or dealership. Time is money. I didn't even price in the rear tow hooks.

To many ppl are pointing at the price without looking at what you need to add to get a similar product. I would expect Grenadier to cost more, lower volume. The trade off is many of existing parts off the shelf already work for Grenadier.

Lift rods trick the suspension to sit higher and you loose the full range of the airr suspension. Sub frame gives you a real lift allowing full range of suspension. The 2 inch lift for l663 coils brings up to the same Ground clearance of standard Grenadier. The Grenadier lift with 34, no need to cut or change anything brings me up to same height as the Defender in off road mode and I benefit from full range of the coils and shocks in terms of comfort.

 

Been a while but I had built a p300 on steels with off-road pack and tow + air. Big difference in price. No shiny bling or anything like that. RAI if your commuting across Moab daily might have some benefits. Otherwise it's useless. Same on both platforms.

I agree, rods are not for me but was using them just for comparison. I think they're a terrible idea. Can't see the appeal.

I think the Grenadier is a fine platform but for less coin I could build a similar rig from a different base. It's great seeing how much aftermarket stuff is already coming on stream for them.

Yeah it's real nickel and dime on the steels. $100 extra for some locking nuts. So dumb.

Anyway. It's probably just green-eyed monster in disguise here. I can't wait to see your mushroom-hued, 34"-shod, lifted, winch-clad beast on the trails.

 

The costs and arguments for each vehicle depend on which country you are in.
And whether you are in business or not.

Here in the U.K. the Defender has effectively cost me £40,000
That's including around £4,000 of options that l specified.

A similar Grenadier would be £65,000.

l love the look of the Grenadier but that is just too much of a price difference.

lf l was not in business the price difference would be much smaller. Although still around £10,000.

 

The only reason I gave up my order slot on the Grenadier was it could not tow as much as the Defender could. And we tow a 7700 pound trailer when we travel. I could live with the ugly looks and pray to God that the BMW engine holds “I have not had good experience with BMW “. That’s it. My Defender has been bulletproof so far “knock on wood “ the real test will start in February when we leave for Alaska.

 

Yea the grenadier is 7716 while p400 is 8200. No way you would expect the IG to tow a trailer that us empty at 7700 pounds.

 

Yeah I don't get the towing concerns. Both platforms are comparable. P400 a hair more than P300 (near identical to Grenadier) but no corresponding increase in tongue weight max.

Grenadier hauls fantastically well by all accounts. Seen some very impressive trailers being lugged about with them. I think it looks great too.

I assume the 7700lbs is fully laden. I'd not be hauling that with my Defender around here with all the mountain passes. Far too close to for comfort. Also I use a hitch that's a bit longer than the 7" to clear the spare reducing my maximums by some unknown amount. I'd be slimming my rig or buying a Tundra.

 

I don’t plan on going stuffed but if I had to I could and the defender has no problems towing that much. I was planning on adding an extra water tank to my trailer. So we can boondock for close to a week and a half.