To buy or not to buy

[Jon in Shropshire]

Hi
I am based in South Shropshire England.
I have visited a the Grange dealer Solihull near Birmingham and had a, fairly brief test drive of Grenadier.
I very much liked the car but have a few concerns:
1) the footrest issue- I did not drive for that long and did not notice particularly but have a feeling might be a problem on a long drive and I will be using for long motorway journeys. I am tall with big feet.
2)after sales -anyone had any direct experience with the above dealer - would be useful to have feedback before taking the plunge.
3) new or used? Any thoughts? Will the 2026 offer anything significantly better.
Any thoughts suggestions gratefully received!
Jon in Shropshire

 

[Jeremy996]

Ideally you need a day or so driving to see if you can fit/adjust/live with any car.

How tall/size feet/weight are you? (I'm fine at 1.82m, 101Kg, size 9). Looking at the moaning YouTube videos and the motor press, the complaints were mostly from the very tall, who then insisted on having the seat as low as possible and raked back. It is not an Audi SUV, set up the seating position more like a truck than a sports car, seat back straighter and the seat as high as is comfortable.

I regularly go Melton Mowbray to Newcastle upon Tyne and return in a day, so 370 miles, even my wife doesn't complain. (Having said that, she endured noisly a LR110CSW and a LR90, compared to those, the Grenadier is a limo!)

Not seen much complaint posted on the forum for Grange but FaceBook may differ.

Most pundits say the 2026 is better, but I'm happy with my 2023; a used one still with warranty is a big saving you can spend on toys or fuel. There is an infotainment software dead end in 2024, with a change in headunit, so I'd suggest one from the middle of 2024.

 

[Jon in Shropshire]

Thanks Jeremy
I am bit taller approx 190cm and size 11 feet. Good tip re putting seat as high as possible as plenty of headroom and also re the software update.
I guess it would make sense to ask the Grange to borrow a Grenadier for a couple of days and have a long drive and see - one would hope they would agree as l am looking to drop £62k plus for this!
Does anyone know if UK dealers will extend the warranty after 5 years? I am looking at long term ownership and coming from a 2020 new defender and one of the issues is JLR will not provide a warranty once you get to 100k miles.

 

[Tommo]

Sorry hit wrong button
I am in NORTH Shropshire. Grange in my experience are no good as far as service is concerned. Waited months for a reply about door button upgrade, to date no correspondence .
Where they are located determines, to a certain extent, their Labour rates, which are exoprbitant.

The best service agent around here is McKinnons at Uttoxeter, I know a way to go but they provide a loan car and are very good.

Hope this helps

 

[Jeremy996]

At the moment no one is offering a warranty after 5 years; it is not currently commercial, (Ineos has all the risk), and there is not enough data for underwriters to study.

After a 2020 new Defender, the Grenadier is going to feel a little 'spartan'; suits me, but I can think of plenty of people it won't.

 

[OkGo]

There is no extension on warranty, there are know major issues ( eg. Front drive shaft falling off randomly ), the after sales network is sparse and when available, inconsistent ( bargain basement experience?) the vehicle is overbuilt and under whelming, lots of stories are made up ( eg there is a key barrel that triggers a push button start, the ADAS system is borderline incompetent, the mechanical buttons are a proxy to a electric PCB that can only be fixed by replacing the entire front console, power steering is of dubious quality, AirCon and heating may work on alternate days, between 2am and 8am etc ).

Then there is the driving position. The car is made for people who are either less than 5'9" or have asymmetric legs. The left and right legs posture difference will give you lower back stress. The steering is something to get used to. The second row seats are for people very highly motivated to be in there. No one thinks they are comfortable unless you pay for the opinion.

So, if you want to buy this car you should drive it. A fair bit. It's got a lovely engine, the transmission feels great, the power delivery is responsible and the suspension is spot on. The braking performance is great. Try the petrol and diesel, buy the diesel.

And don't forget at any point in time that you are buying a offbeat non mainstream vehicle with a very very limited and mostly absent after sales support setup. Be prepared to swing you own spanner.

 

[Jon in Shropshire]

But you still love it right?
Interested to know if this is the general experience re UK dealers. If I wanted to mend it myself I will get an old 90/110 not spend £60k plus!
Also re petrol/diesel - from my research unless you are doing serious towing not much in it from a reliability standpoint and petrol more refined if a bit heavier consumption ok.

 

[CRH]

Love my 2023, bought 10 months old 4,500 miles now just short of 30,000. Had the usual issues, got fixed and when not, contact IA directly for a little nudge.

 

[OkGo]

But you still love it right?
Interested to know if this is the general experience re UK dealers. If I wanted to mend it myself I will get an old 90/110 not spend £60k plus!

There is simple stuff like the warmer it gets the lesser likely the Aircon will work, and the colder it gets lesser likely the heating will work! You need to just come to an agreement with yourself that there is a lot of other things going for this car to just lump it when it comes to things that don't.

Also re petrol/diesel - from my research unless you are doing serious towing not much in it from a reliability standpoint and petrol more refined if a bit heavier consumption ok.

Drive them both, the diesel (to me) feels right. Jumping off the line at a round about the diesel needs a bit more time, but there isn't a lot in it when you look at 20 to 60 acceleration. Btw, the difference in economy is huge, 16mpg petrol to 24mpg diesel - and this is reflected in residual value.

 

[Jon in Shropshire]

Thanks very much and good point re residuals and just whether diesel “feels” right. I am just impressed they offer a straight petrol engine!

 

[OkGo]

Drive them both!

 

[Gryphon]

My fully loaded (lockers all round, winch, roof rack, roof electrics, tow bar etc etc) Fieldmaster, shale blue white roof, May 23, under 30k miles is returning to Denton Cars of Skipton in April. Age and infirmity force me to part with the most fun vehicle ever. Everything works. No issues. Read “Vera the Grenadier” and then perhaps give them a call.

 

[CRH]

Get a throttle controller to help with getting off th line at a roundabout.
Diesel suits it best in my opinion after driving petrol versions.as courtesy vehicles.

Heating can be fixed, eventually, it will just never be like a normal car in its response.

 

[DoubleDoom]

1) the footrest issue- I did not drive for that long and did not notice particularly but have a feeling might be a problem on a long drive and I will be using for long motorway journeys. I am tall with big feet.

Seating position and height are the main reasons some can handle it and others cannot. So, its a personal thing. However, if you sit high and more upright, the foot rest is less of an issue than in a low and stretched out leg position. The steering wheel doesnt have much range for the telescopic point of view. So, a low and lounging position is often restricted by that rather than the footrest and forces you to sit closer to the dash and make the footrest more of an issue. If you have driven the old defender or similar 4v4 (not SUV) , then the Grenadier should be seated in a similar way. Think dining room chair style position.

3) new or used? Any thoughts? Will the 2026 offer anything significantly bette

I went for MY24 as I didnt want the early build issues that any new car has. In some respects, I did avoid a lot of the issues that MY22/23 had, but it wasn't much different to the 23.5. With hindsight, I should have either gone with an MY23.5 which would have been much cheaper (big discounts on those at the time). Or waited until the MY26 which has fixed most of the most common issues by having new parts (HVAC, Steering pump, improved insulation - something that has improved over multple model years).
The MY24 (there wasnt really an MY25) still has minor issues, such as inconsistent and noisy HVAC, dentist drill noise steering pump, door rubber glue giving up, rear sensors prone to moving and giving false alerts, and condensation from the HVAC or overflow dropping in the passenger footwell. The first two are not going to be fixed, the others can be. I don't care about the dentist drill noise. Its not too bad on mine. The HVAC is whistly than others I have heard. I rarely have the hot/cold issue, but it did appear last year, and it was a levels issue that sorted it.

So, if you go with a used, low-mileage model then an MY23.5 (no ADAS on those), it is probably the best pre-ADAS version. Avoid MY22/23. MY24 is much the same as a 23.5 but with ADAS. But if money is no object, go with an MY26.

 

[Tomdoc]

Hi Jon, I am 6'2" and size 11 - have not had any problem with the footrest. Mine is an early diesel (no ADAS etc) and I absolutely love it - having had many many Defenders previously. Much more comfortable including long drives from Scotland down to England many times. I use a dealer in Skipton Yorkshire as it is sort of on the way down south for me and they have been brilliant. So far just the lack of OBD reader is my main bugbear. That is supposedly being sorted. Good luck.

 

[Happyoldgit]

Try to swing a loan of both diesel and petrol versions. If your journeys are mostly shortish go petrol, if long journeys go diesel.