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In the spirit of Defender-loving cordiality, I'm going to step back from this debate. However, I would recommend you rethink where you get your news on the UK as you are not being well-served at the moment.
So...I did a thing...the Ineos Grenadier started me on a path of getting a new winter car...I am coming out of a 2006 Land Cruiser that just had all of the baseline work done...I just wanted more tech. I mentioned said desire to acquire a new vehicle to my wife...AND then we saw some Grenadiers in the mall before Christmas...she hated it...visually (and much like GavinC, she holds the veto pen). There were a lot of accusations about me being a "try-hard, not in the best shape, older dude that would NEVER use such a vehicle as intended..." Well, I REALLY like the boxy style (I have had and build my share of Early Broncos & Jeeps)...needless to say, I am not buying a Grenadier.
So on Sunday, we are at the Toyota dealership to drive the new LC...it was meh, and the cargo space wasn't flat. I convinced her that we should drive the I6 (P400) Defender...and she liked it...like she was surprised she liked it...AND we found this...
I bought it on Sunday and we promptly loaded it up on Monday for the holiday roadtrip...almost 900 miles later and I love it...Now the reason for the post.
I scheduled a test drive with Ineos 2 weeks ago, and have this week off as well...so I did the SUPER dangerous thing of going to test drive something I wanted but didn't get. I was upfront with the salesman and he understood...I just wanted to see if all the bad rumors were true (and they weren't really) and how good the good was...Well, it is as good as I thought...but I would have paid for it in more than one way. The Defender checks all the boxes and is REALLY good on long drives.
The Grenadier felt like my EBs with an update...it wanted to go wheeling and get muddy. It was cool...it has good road manners, but it is no way as refined as the Defender (nor did I expect it to be).
There won't be an IG in my driveway anytime soon, but it is a neat rig...
Looks awesome! Such a rare color. Defender looks good in every color - amazing design. Small thing but I really like the green oval on the signature graphic from the older model years. Easy addition I guess if one were so inclined.
I've driven a Grenadier and I've driven a new Defender. For me I prefer the Grenadier. If you look under the thing it's overbuilt. For a vehicle with solid axles, and carrying the classic lines from the classic D110 it is a fantastic updated version. Yes the steering is funky off the factory floor, but that can be fixed, besides that zero complaints. I've been to one of their dealerships, and I even was a trail leader at their first ever Ineos Grenadier TX Rally/Event at Hidden Falls Adventure Park. Yes the current owners were all but a few retired folks that simply bought the Grenadier and paid it off, and yes they were newbies at wheeling, and me and my friends that did the trail guiding were in Land Rover's. However it reminded me of how Land Rover was back in 1987 to the early 04 days. It's currently an open book and if Ineos of America plays their cards right they could really be onto something. Also the interior of the Grenadier is like a commercial airliner which is cool especially with the pop up roofs. Defender dash is ehh to me.
Here in Australia Chinese offroaders are starting to proliferate.
A GWM (great wall motors) TANK 300, can be purchased new with a petro or diesel for about $47K on-the-road AUD aussie dollars, or $51K for the Hybrid.
They all come with heaps of clearance, gumpy little retro looks (a bit like an inneos), Very nice interiors, as well as the centre dif lock, they also come with factory front and rear dif locks as standard for the aussie market.
That's about 25 Grand in UK money. Sure they aren't built well, sure they aren't prestigious, but the dealerships here honour their warranties and they are a nice place to sit on the road, and importantly, they are serious about going offroad. The Tanks come with 5 Years warranty (8 years on the hybrids battery). It's almost a disposable car for what you are getting. And it's going to be a difficult car to bog off road when you have triple lockers on them all. Most other high cost offroaders like Patrols, Land Cruisers, Range rovers, Gran Cherokees are going to feel slightly intimidating if a GWM worth less than half as much is following them up a trail.
I'm not saying I bought one, I ended up getting a 1978 Range Rover Classic to toy around with, but I have to admit, when I'm up to my elbows in engine bay working on the old rangie, although it's an easy car to work on, there is a part of me that wishes I had just bought a GWM tank and enjoyed taking that offroad now and again.
If I want to showboat, I would get a second hand G Wagon. If I want to showboat in a new vehicle, because a new G Wagon costs too much, I would get the LR Defender.
So any way I would try to justify an Inneos purchase.... doesn't make a lot of sense. They are up against tough competion from the bottom of the market, and very tough competition from it's direct competitor the land rover.
On balance, in this country (Australia) the Land Cruiser wins.
Here in Australia Chinese offroaders are starting to proliferate.
A GWM (great wall motors) TANK 300, can be purchased new with a petro or diesel for about $47K on-the-road AUD aussie dollars, or $51K for the Hybrid.
They all come with heaps of clearance, gumpy little retro looks (a bit like an inneos), Very nice interiors, as well as the centre dif lock, they also come with factory front and rear dif locks as standard for the aussie market.
That's about 25 Grand in UK money. Sure they aren't built well, sure they aren't prestigious, but the dealerships here honour their warranties and they are a nice place to sit on the road, and importantly, they are serious about going offroad. The Tanks come with 5 Years warranty (8 years on the hybrids battery). It's almost a disposable car for what you are getting. And it's going to be a difficult car to bog off road when you have triple lockers on them all. Most other high cost offroaders like Patrols, Land Cruisers, Range rovers, Gran Cherokees are going to feel slightly intimidating if a GWM worth less than half as much is following them up a trail.
I'm not saying I bought one, I ended up getting a 1978 Range Rover Classic to toy around with, but I have to admit, when I'm up to my elbows in engine bay working on the old rangie, although it's an easy car to work on, there is a part of me that wishes I had just bought a GWM tank and enjoyed taking that offroad now and again.
If I want to showboat, I would get a second hand G Wagon. If I want to showboat in a new vehicle, because a new G Wagon costs too much, I would get the LR Defender.
So any way I would try to justify an Inneos purchase.... doesn't make a lot of sense. They are up against tough competion from the bottom of the market, and very tough competition from it's direct competitor the land rover.
On balance, in this country (Australia) the Land Cruiser wins.
Very interesting post! Never seen the TANK around Los Angeles. Your last line of the post you mention Land Cruiser, did you mean Toyota Land Cruiser? Those are everywhere here in LA they look fantastic, but Toyota is having issues with their turbos recently, and they are very expensive with cheaped out interiors.
Land Rovers were popular once upon a time in australia for actual outback work, but we are talking about 1970's. The most aussiest of offroaders here is the Toyota Land Cruiser and the Nissan Patrol. They have pretty much been adopted from japan. And they are both expensive vehicles, especially the Land Cruiser.
Range rovers these days are more of the school run vehicle *which is what most people use them for now unfortunately let's be honest. That is not a comment on their offroad capability though. It's just you will find a Toyota dealer anywhere, whereas land rover dealers tend to be city based.
Compared to say Europe, the lads in Australia are pretty clued up on what makes a good 4WD. They know the difference between something equipped with a body-on-frame, or a unibody, or solid axle vs independent, or coils vs leafs. A little chinese tonka toy equipped with triple lockers, body on frame and a solid front and rear axle earns itself some street cred even if it is cheap and probably badly made. Very good marketing for them to equip it like that even though most of them only get as far as the occasional dirt track offroad.
me rocking up in a 1978 Rangie has quite a lot of street cred offroad. Rover V8, LT95 gearbox etc, couple of battle scars. Yeah, I get the nod's of acknowledgment for what the rangie represented in it's day.
