Homing in on a Grenadier

[Shortwave]

I currently drive a Range Rover Evoque for comfort, and a Mitzi L200 for working.
I need to consolidate down to a single vehicle and there are very few options that satisfy both requirements.
The nearest compromise would be a Defender - but my experience of JLR quality leaves me unenthusiastic… hence my interest in the Grenadier.

The production delays (in response to several slipped delivery promises) are making me nervous about being an early adopter…
But I love the visionary philosophy of satisfying demand for a better version of a much loved design… I’m still in, but a bit nervous!

 

[ECrider]

Good post. I think we are all feeling a little nervous, who wouldn't- brand new company, product etc.

There's nothing that comes close to the brief that I want apart from this.

That's why I'm balls deep and hoping for the best!

 

[emax]

Siddartha says: sit and wait.

 

[Chris]

Welcome aboard
Hang on in there, can’t be long now
You mustn’t be far from me, I’m near the airport

 

[Earthwatcher]

I've been living a long time with the Grenadier story, ever since I got wind of Jim Ratcliffe being serious about going in to production of a Land Rover Defender lookalike, so followed it all the way through, beyond my dismay that he was no longer going to make it in the UK. The more I heard about it, the more I thought it's the one for me because I didn't like what I was seeing and hearing about the new Defender. So I got my deposit in nice n'early. Then one or two friends got new Defenders and started telling me how much they liked them. The upshot is that I took one out for a test drive and liked it a lot, so ordered one, a '23 model finally arrived in October and I love it. I hate all the prejudice and scathing comments made about it in this and other forums although respect those who've had bad experiences with JLR. I've had two JLR cars in the past and both ran fine, no issues, never any faults with servicing. Maybe I've been lucky. So I'm driving and loving my Defender 110. In the meantime we've finally had movement on the Grenadier. It's been long and drawn out but I've had the opportunity to drive a production spec model off road and, whoopee, I like that too. The mpg is a bit yuk but what can we expect from a big heavy off-roader? I've never bought in to the first run of a new model, reflecting your well-founded fears, but I have confidence in INEOS getting this car as right as they can from the start. Yes, there'll be a few modifications, no doubt for 2024, so you might be wise to wait, but I wouldn't hold off too long because I think these cars will be in demand from a niche of the market that's evident in this forum. This car has cult status already. All I would say, no matter what others say here, the new Defender is no compromise. It's a brilliant off-roader, it's just not a rufty tufty bash-about, but neither is the Grenadier. They're both expensive cars. So if you want something to lug fence posts around maybe stick with the L200. The thing about the Grenadier is that it looks the part and does the business. The new Defender? I've seen it described here as "too nice" which goes to prove you can't please all of the people all of the time.

 

[emax]

There is a letter missing in my posting above. But I can't edit it any more.

So here it is: "h".

For those who don't know where it should be inserted, it doesn't play a roll.