Hi from North West England

[Lexie067]

Hi All,
We currently drive a 2023 Defender which will be coming out of warrenty next July, whilst we absolutley love it, the thought of having no warrenty is a huge concern, hence we've been looking at a Grenadier. We do sometimes go over roading, so front and rear lockers are a must, we've done loads of research and even tried to get an extended test drive, but that seems impossible as all the dealers are not interested.
We went over to our nearest dealer in Skipton, as they had a couple we were interested in, however they only let us test drive their demo model which had the assisted sterring centre damper thingy. It drove fine, but it was only for 30 mins which didn't give us anyway near the time needed to really test the humb in the drivers footwell.

I guess I've joined here to get a real life view warts and all, before we make a move, so if you have any views I'd really appriciate them.

Thanks

 

[Logsplitter]

Welcome aboard. I was an early adopter and love it. Have had a few issues as a few early adopters did, but this is the real thing if you want to seriously offroad or travel the world.

 

[landmannnn]

I never noticed the foot well hump until mentioned on here (mostly by the same people).
My experience has been positive so far.

 

[Lexie067]

Thanks @Logsplitter and @landmannnn for your replies.

We are finding the dealerships really strange to work with, they are not like normal car sales people as I mentioned we went for a test drive and they wouldn't let us test drive the ineos we went to see, because it didn't have the steering assist damper. We then asked them for figures on part ex on our Defender and after a week of being ghosted I had to chase them twice, and even then they didn't provide any sort of finance figures, it all just seems odd, it's almost like they don't want to sell anything lol...we've bought loads of cars and are normally loyal to Land Rover and BMW, so this feels really odd to us.

We really want to get an extended test drive but it's looking impossible to secure.

 

[CRH]

Thanks @Logsplitter and @landmannnn for your replies.

We are finding the dealerships really strange to work with, they are not like normal car sales people as I mentioned we went for a test drive and they wouldn't let us test drive the ineos we went to see, because it didn't have the steering assist damper. We then asked them for figures on part ex on our Defender and after a week of being ghosted I had to chase them twice, and even then they didn't provide any sort of finance figures, it all just seems odd, it's almost like they don't want to sell anything lol...we've bought loads of cars and are normally loyal to Land Rover and BMW, so this feels really odd to us.

We really want to get an extended test drive but it's looking impossible to secure.

If Skipton are near, would Chester or Carlisle be too far, might be worth a call as it is a large sum of money to spend without being sure.

 

[DoubleDoom]

We currently drive a 2023 Defender which will be coming out of warrenty next July, whilst we absolutley love it, the thought of having no warrenty is a huge concern, hence we've been looking at a Grenadier.

Dont they do an extended warrenty like many of the other brands?

we've done loads of research and even tried to get an extended test drive, but that seems impossible as all the dealers are not interested.

My dealer (which is a dealer and not an agent) gave me one for the weekend. I had previously gone to an agent in Colchester who were useless (and no longer there) and didn't offer any test drive.

We went over to our nearest dealer in Skipton, as they had a couple we were interested in, however they only let us test drive their demo model which had the assisted sterring centre damper thingy. It drove fine, but it was only for 30 mins which didn't give us anyway near the time needed to really test the humb in the drivers footwell.

The damper isn't necessary in UK models. Its a 4WD utility vehicle. Not an SUV. It drives and handles like a 4WD. Not an SUV.

The lump is not at all a problem for me but I am 5'7. If you are taller, it may be. I have sit higher in the car than I normally would do as the steering wheel telescope doesnt come out as far as I would like. The higher you sit, the more it moves you towards the steering wheel and it does hit a sweet spot for me.