Build Thread Angus’ build thread

[AngusMacG]

I had originally spec’d a Scottish White Trialmaster w/tow hitch, privacy glass, aux battery, utility trim, and steelies.

I ended up purchasing an Eldoret Blue w/Black contrast roof, grey ladder frame, integrated winch, utility trim, aux battery, tow hitch, and steelies.

Current to do add-ons: (not in order of priority)
1) window tint (MA legal limit is 35%) one quote is $635 for all windows except windshield)
2) Bison Gear cargo shelf
3) Wolf Box G900 dash cam
4) pet ramp (looking for suggestions); dogs sit in back seat not cargo area
5) drawer boxes for cargo area to allow level surface with rear seats folded down
6) tow behind camper
7) ppf wrap/ceramic coating

 

[anand]

I see it is already trying to turn itself into Scottish White.... Glad to see you were able to pick one up

 

[AngusMacG]

1st WEEK REVIEW

So after driving mostly sedans and small SUVs I went in a different direction and purchased my Grenadier. It definitely has a different driving style in many ways. I now sit up high with a much better view of the road and my surroundings than I have ever had. Overall I love the vehicle and friends and family (other than my 80 year old Mom) love the vehicle especially the Eldoret Blue. My Mom said she wishes me the best with the vehicle but doesn’t like it. It is too far off the ground for her to get in and out of (I need to get side steps/rocksliders installed).

Steering: Only took a few minutes to get used to it and by the end of my drive home (~120 miles from the dealer) I felt like I had been driving it for years. I will say that I absolutely love the steering now.

Turning radius: I equate it to the turning radius of a school bus (and not the short bus). Joking aside it really isn’t that bad but I am conscious enough of it that I do try to avoid tight turns.

ADAS: Yes it is annoying and using the Favorite feature to turn it off is useful. Thought I have found that at time when I use the favorite button while driving (because I forgot to turn of ADAS when I started driving) will occasionally disconnect the wireless Carpplay. This is more annoying.

Car Play: I like the wireless feature but have had to ”forget the drive” and reset my iPhone in order to get it to sync up again. An annoying “feature“ I have found in using Waze for navigation is trying to view alternate routes. On device you can view the overall route and view alternate routes but the device says to check the vehicle screen. Of course nothing appears on the vehicle screen for options. In my old vehicle I had to plug in to use Car Play and this same issue would happen but if I unplugged I could then view alerante routes and change if I wished. Not sure if this is a Car Play issue or a Waze issue.

Noise: I have not noticed any noises that others have had (thankfully) and road noise is minimal along and the same with wind noise.

Radio: I find the audio system is sufficient but nothing fantastic. I think it is just because they did not design the audio for such a cavernous vehicle and there is basically no sound deadening material. This just make the audio a bit hollow. As far as the volume control I have found, as others have mentioned, that the volume levels are not a standard incremental increase. Luckily it’s not quite like a logarithmic scale but is is a bit odd.

Heat/AC: I have found that the heating system is a bit weird. I tend to have the temperature control set about halfway or a little less with Auto turned off and fan control at 1. It does take a little while to get to a good state but holds it fairly well. The defroster worked well though I did keep the fan on 1 just to be safe by not having it on full blast in case there is a temperature/stress issue for the windshield crack issue.

Visibility: Best visibility I have ever had in a vehicle. Obviously the drawback is the rear visibility but it really isn’t that bad. All I care about regarding who is behind me would be emergency vehicles. The side mirrors are very good. My only issue is stopped at traffic lights being the first one at the light. It is difficult to see the lights if you pull up beyond the stop line. Of course this is a nice feature of safari windows by allowing you to see the lights thru them.

Gas gauge/usage/readouts: This is a bit annoying. I know the gas gauge and “remaining” take time to “adjust” but it is a bit ridiculous. I got in yesterday with 1/2 tank showing and “86 miles remaining”. I drove about 120 miles and the remaining showed 60 miles left. When I got in the this morning I had — remaining and the gauge was in the red with maybe 2 lines. I filled up and put in just over 18 gallons. I am so happy that I bought the vehicle when I did because my upcoming travel to Canada, at the end of the month, the gas gauge wouldn’t have been “dialed in” and I wouldn’t have any idea where I stood on gas other than the odometer reading. That is the other issue. Why is it that I can’t get a trip meter on the main screen? This should be an option on the idiot light screen in front of the steering wheel. Mileage is about 15 MPG overall and 17 MPG with around town driving.

”Offroad”: I really haven’t gone off road per se but did take a short trip off a side street onto power line road. It had roughly 2-3” of slushy snow but underneath was very muddy. I did get myself caught in an 8” or so rut. I was unable to get it into Low or engage any lockers nor off road mode. I did finally get out and had mud all over the vehicle so it was somewhat “christened”. Needless to say I will be taking advantage of an off-road class(es) offered by@anand‘s employer!

In summary, I absolutely love the vehicle! I have a lot to learn about offroading, accessories, etc. and am so looking forward to this new adventure!

 

[AngusMacG]

Update…

Forgot to add the infotainment section

Infotainment: overall it is functional but not ideal. The screen needs to be angled a bit more toward the driver. Glare is an issue at most times during the day. The evenings it is fine. Of course having the speedometer and other “gauges” in the left portion then that makes the rest of the screen that much further for the driver to interact with especially navigation. The controls by the parking brake, etc. aren’t that great. I had a Lexus with the touchpad down in that area and that actually worked pretty well. The knob and buttons aren’t as responsive.

 

[Roadking01]

Tinted windows on front?

 

[AngusMacG]

Tinted windows on front?

Not yet...Massachusetts legal limit is 35 so I will get that for the front windows the rears will be a bit darker.

 

[AngusMacG]

Windows were tinted today…pics tomorrow when there is more light.

 

[AngusMacG]

Window tint complete…35 on the front windows 20 on the rest.

Jar of Fluff for whoever can guess location in the background.

 

[Dso715]

Quaban res

 

[DaBull]

Window tint complete…35 on the front windows 20 on the rest.

Jar of Fluff for whoever can guess location in the background.

That tint looks nice. I like the contrast with the Eldoret Blue.
DaBull

 

[AngusMacG]

Quaban res

Yes but not specific enough

 

[Dso715]

Yes but not specific enough

The Dam. I haven’t worked that area in 20 years but can see in my backroads travel. Gotta cut me some slack.

 

[Loc Nar]

Dang, Angus, or should I say Dangus, and I say this as a happily married man, if I were not married (happily) I would say, "Please leave some chicks for the rest of us!" Blue tint windshield with Eldoret blue (*ga-ling ga-ling ga-ling*) with classy black Beret and tinted sides (for the utmost privacy when you need it) - *sploosh*.

 

[AngusMacG]

The Dam. I haven’t worked that area in 20 years but can see in my backroads travel. Gotta cut me some slack.

Pretty close. I’ll still send u some Fluff . PM me and i can send regular or strawberry flavor

Old Stone Church (West Boylston, Massachusetts) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Rupert]

1st WEEK REVIEW

So after driving mostly sedans and small SUVs I went in a different direction and purchased my Grenadier. It definitely has a different driving style in many ways. I now sit up high with a much better view of the road and my surroundings than I have ever had. Overall I love the vehicle and friends and family (other than my 80 year old Mom) love the vehicle especially the Eldoret Blue. My Mom said she wishes me the best with the vehicle but doesn’t like it. It is too far off the ground for her to get in and out of (I need to get side steps/rocksliders installed).

Steering: Only took a few minutes to get used to it and by the end of my drive home (~120 miles from the dealer) I felt like I had been driving it for years. I will say that I absolutely love the steering now.

Turning radius: I equate it to the turning radius of a school bus (and not the short bus). Joking aside it really isn’t that bad but I am conscious enough of it that I do try to avoid tight turns.

ADAS: Yes it is annoying and using the Favorite feature to turn it off is useful. Thought I have found that at time when I use the favorite button while driving (because I forgot to turn of ADAS when I started driving) will occasionally disconnect the wireless Carpplay. This is more annoying.

Car Play: I like the wireless feature but have had to ”forget the drive” and reset my iPhone in order to get it to sync up again. An annoying “feature“ I have found in using Waze for navigation is trying to view alternate routes. On device you can view the overall route and view alternate routes but the device says to check the vehicle screen. Of course nothing appears on the vehicle screen for options. In my old vehicle I had to plug in to use Car Play and this same issue would happen but if I unplugged I could then view alerante routes and change if I wished. Not sure if this is a Car Play issue or a Waze issue.

Noise: I have not noticed any noises that others have had (thankfully) and road noise is minimal along and the same with wind noise.

Radio: I find the audio system is sufficient but nothing fantastic. I think it is just because they did not design the audio for such a cavernous vehicle and there is basically no sound deadening material. This just make the audio a bit hollow. As far as the volume control I have found, as others have mentioned, that the volume levels are not a standard incremental increase. Luckily it’s not quite like a logarithmic scale but is is a bit odd.

Heat/AC: I have found that the heating system is a bit weird. I tend to have the temperature control set about halfway or a little less with Auto turned off and fan control at 1. It does take a little while to get to a good state but holds it fairly well. The defroster worked well though I did keep the fan on 1 just to be safe by not having it on full blast in case there is a temperature/stress issue for the windshield crack issue.

Visibility: Best visibility I have ever had in a vehicle. Obviously the drawback is the rear visibility but it really isn’t that bad. All I care about regarding who is behind me would be emergency vehicles. The side mirrors are very good. My only issue is stopped at traffic lights being the first one at the light. It is difficult to see the lights if you pull up beyond the stop line. Of course this is a nice feature of safari windows by allowing you to see the lights thru them.

Gas gauge/usage/readouts: This is a bit annoying. I know the gas gauge and “remaining” take time to “adjust” but it is a bit ridiculous. I got in yesterday with 1/2 tank showing and “86 miles remaining”. I drove about 120 miles and the remaining showed 60 miles left. When I got in the this morning I had — remaining and the gauge was in the red with maybe 2 lines. I filled up and put in just over 18 gallons. I am so happy that I bought the vehicle when I did because my upcoming travel to Canada, at the end of the month, the gas gauge wouldn’t have been “dialed in” and I wouldn’t have any idea where I stood on gas other than the odometer reading. That is the other issue. Why is it that I can’t get a trip meter on the main screen? This should be an option on the idiot light screen in front of the steering wheel. Mileage is about 15 MPG overall and 17 MPG with around town driving.

”Offroad”: I really haven’t gone off road per se but did take a short trip off a side street onto power line road. It had roughly 2-3” of slushy snow but underneath was very muddy. I did get myself caught in an 8” or so rut. I was unable to get it into Low or engage any lockers nor off road mode. I did finally get out and had mud all over the vehicle so it was somewhat “christened”. Needless to say I will be taking advantage of an off-road class(es) offered by@anand‘s employer!

In summary, I absolutely love the vehicle! I have a lot to learn about offroading, accessories, etc. and am so looking forward to this new adventure!

Holy crap your one week review totally shames me. Help, where is my edit button?

 

[AngusMacG]

Update on the gas gauge…was in CT just south of Hartford and the refuel soon indicator on the screen comes on. Says I have 74 miles left. It was roughly 60ish miles home and I figured I would stop when I get into MA, a few miles over the state line, as it would be about 40ish miles. I get to the gas station and gas gauge says I have 62 miles left to empty…I put in just over 19 gallons.

I’m beginning to think the gauge itself is the more accurate as opposed to the miles “remaining”

 

[AngusMacG]

Another gas gauge update: filled up today after making an impromptu trip near the Seacoat of NH. Gauge was about 3 bars in the “red”, nothing on the remaining miles. Pump stopped at 16 gallons.

I’m so confused on how much gas is left…

 

[hoohoohama]

Mine was showing gas tank half full, but I was able to pump in 20 gallons. I could also hear some liquid moving around when I make a sharp turn.

 

[AngusMacG]

That happened to me today as Well…not the liquid moving around anyway.

 

[MidnightCamper]

Window tint complete…35 on the front windows 20 on the rest.

Jar of Fluff for whoever can guess location in the background.

That's the hill off Rt 62 the south side of Wachusett Reservoir in Clinton. Is it fair for MAholes to enter contest? I was up there photographing sunsets a few years ago. Oops - I just realized you already told where it was. Never mind. Plus I was on the other side of the reservoir.