So I had my phone interview this morning at 10:38 lasting 27 minutes. I'd suggest that those of you expecting the pleasure next week spend a little time putting your thoughts on paper, so nothing gets lost in the conversation.
The key questions are what do you like about the Grenadier; what has service been like, what has gone wrong; would you recommend it to a friend/family member; what improvements would you make; what development should be done in the future?
This being me, my key issues are the lack of manual and service tools, lousy spares backup, lack of dealer capacity, no packaged upgrades, like adding a towbar to an early built vehicle, poor support to the dealers from IA.
What has gone wrong, water pooling between the seals, leaks from HVAC, water in the chassis, locks, HVAC inconsistency. It has always started on the key.
I would not recommend it to friends and family as they don't have the use-case; I have recommended it to a client/land agent and to the fleet manager of a utility company. It is always going to be a niche vehicle in the UK.
Making it more luxury does not mean adding a cashmere headliner; improve the useability, like key entry/central locking release from both front doors and the rear doors.
Improvements, use a camera as a rear view mirror, (like Wolfbox, but with the OE touches), use 360 degree camera views for vehicle placement, move the reversing camera to the centre-line and use the hitch assistance system, (as per LR). Heated steering wheel as an option, active cruise control, avoid ADAS as far as possible.
Put together upgrade kits to move from 2023 model year towards the latest iteration, (expecting that the body in white bits will be the last to change). I intend keeping the vehicle for decades, so you can sell me upgrades, but not a new vehicle.
