Grenadier on the Highway

[bemax]

Summer in northern Australia is the rain season or the wet.
It is certainly raining up here at the moment

View attachment 7800859View attachment 7800860View attachment 7800861View attachment 7800862

Now I understand why there has do be a puddle light!

 

[Max]

The suspension tuning has been done by Eibach and ZF combined with Magna.
It is a modern design for solid axles not an evolution of 40+ year old design.
I pushed it reasonably hard on a twisty, wet, smooth tar road and was surprised at how well it handles.
A little bit of body roll and understeer but very impressive.
Hard braking from 90kmh and it stayed straight and stopped really well

It feels like an independent suspension system with coils as opposed to old fashioned leaf spring setup...as Dave said a little bit of body roll but we all suffer that with various degrees...

 

[grenadierboy]

I’m sure the Grenadier will be OK on the road.

On road performance is going to be subjective to each individual.

After all this is a solid axle machine purpose built for adventure/utility. Yes the g-wagen is driven on pavement, as is the Jeep Wrangler. Do they excel on pavement, not really. This is one of the reasons many previous solid axle vehicles have gone to independent front suspension, and rack & pinion steering. They realized that the customer was spending more time on road that off, and they could give better on road experience by doing so.

Bottom line is don’t expect this to be any better than a solid axle G-wagen on road.

Steve - broadly agree although it depends on the year/model of the G Wagen.

The only G wagen I have driven is my 1983 230GE and it drives like a tractor, heaps of body roll, shocking turning circle (after 1 drive wife refused to ever get in the drivers seat ever again!).

The current professional version G Wagen is heaps better and is probably on par with the Grenadier.

 

[SteveO90290]

The suspension tuning has been done by Eibach and ZF combined with Magna.
It is a modern design for solid axles not an evolution of 40+ year old design.
I pushed it reasonably hard on a twisty, wet, smooth tar road and was surprised at how well it handles.
A little bit of body roll and understeer but very impressive.
Hard braking from 90kmh and it stayed straight and stopped really well

Good to hear from first hand experience. How was the ride quality?

I daily drive a 2 lane canyon highway that climbs from sea level to 1500 feet in 5 miles.

I never had much of an issue with the ability to handle the twisties with a SA G-wagen, or my F350 4x4 for that matter; however, the ride quality was pretty poor with both.

 

[DaveB]

Good to hear from first hand experience. How was the ride quality?

I daily drive a 2 lane canyon highway that climbs from sea level to 1500 feet in 5 miles.

I never had much of an issue with the ability to handle the twisties with a SA G-wagen, or my F350 4x4 for that matter; however, the ride quality was pretty poor with both.

The ride quality was pretty close to a good SUV

 

[SteveO90290]

Steve - broadly agree although it depends on the year/model of the G Wagen.

The only G wagen I have driven is my 1983 230GE and it drives like a tractor, heaps of body roll, shocking turning circle (after 1 drive wife refused to ever get in the drivers seat ever again!).

The current professional version G Wagen is heaps better and is probably on par with the Grenadier.

I was referring to a 2017 G-wagen, rented for a week

Plenty of power, but I was surprised at the poor ride quality for such an expensive rig, especially after driving a Jeep with F&R independent suspension for awhile.

I have accepted that G-wagen level of ride quality to go with the Grenadier. If it ends up better with the 5 link coil spring set up I’m good with that!

 

[grenadierboy]

The ride quality was pretty close to a good SUV

Agree - very solid. It's hard to explain but to me it feels a heavy car but drives lighter

 

[Max]

Agree - very solid. It's hard to explain but to me it feels a heavy car but drives lighter


Floating but attached...like riding a thoroughbred flatout and have done many times...you are in flight and still connected to the ground...an amazing adrenaline rush...corrugations at speed can give you a similar feeling...great fun until cornering...whoops hang on

The Horse is a flight animal.

 

[caalm]

Has anyone seen a video of a Grenadier (or better still been in the car) driven at some speed on bitumen where we can see/assess the driving characteristics?

Back in October '21 I went to one of the prototype tours in the UK. A section of the test drive (I was a passenger) was on asphalt. It road very nicely, but it wasn't a long enough drive to properly feel it in corners, or at higher speeds than 45/50mph. Not sure if this helps or not.

 

[hustlehard285]

Any comments on road noise inside the cabin? I'm in a '16 Land Cruiser with K02s, and really appreciate how quiet it is compared to my 4Runner.

 

[ECrider]

Found the car very quiet in comparison to my D4 on Ko2,s. Having said that my D4 has done 40k miles on his so.....

Anyway I was surprised how quiet the tyres were on the little tarmac I drove on.

 

[DesertGecko]

Found the car very quiet in comparison to my D4 on Ko2,s. Having said that my D4 has done 40k miles on his so.....

Anyway I was surprised how quiet the tyres were on the little tarmac I drove on.

Cripes.. and here I am.. with everyone having to yell at 100k...