As you may know I have made contact with the NorCal (Bay Area) Ineos dealer and service center….Kuhn Ineos. Dave is frantically getting things ready and has been great to work with. This week he took delivery of two test drive vehicles and he reached out to me to see if I wanted to be one of the first people to test drive the Grenadier on the street. I immediately dropped everything and ran over to Redwood City to take him up on his offer.
I have driven the Grenadier at Hollister Hills months ago and was very impressed on the fit and finish, feel, drivability, and off-road capabilities…..but I was not able to drive it on the street as those vehicles were prototypes and not street legal. I have read online from Grenadier owners outside of the US about the software issues they have faced as well as some of the oddities of the Grenadier on the street. There is a software update out this month that is meant to address the glitches many have experienced and I am told that update will be installed on all US Grenadiers day one. In modern cars regular software updates are becoming the norm, unfortunately.
The driving oddities people have pointed out are mostly related to the feel of the steering. The feedback I have read is that the steering feels delayed on the turn in which requires the driver to adjust their steering input. This is not an error, it is actually part of the design. The Grenadier’s design is so focused on off-roading capabilities that they designed the steering to be optimized for rugged terrain such as when the wheels are pinned between some rocks or stuck in ruts. When you are off-roading you are generally crawling at low speed with a lot of force applied to the front wheels due to the terrain, so having the steering too forceful or too precise can be a disadvantage. Ineos addressed this by designing a steering system that is forgiving, yet the byproduct of that is a delay in the turn in when on the street.
Back to my experience…..So Kuhn Ineos is in Redwood City at a building I know all too well. At 380 Convention Way Redwood City there is a building I have visited as a kid. At one point it was a Peugeot dealer but then it was converted into a Chuck E. Cheese which I had some birthday parties at. Then it shifted to a Harley Davidson dealership until it was converted to a high-end boxing gym. Dave and Ineos are converting it back to a dealership yet keeping some of the lounge elements that the boxing gym built out. It's a great space that wont feel like a dealer but more of a club house.
He has a mushroom white and a shale blue Grenadier ready for test drives. They are equipped differently so that you can experience the various options. I drove the mushroom white one. I can confirm that the steering is “odd” but easy to get use to. I adjusted to the steering within 15 minutes so I don’t view this as a deal breaker. It does require turning in a bit early, the lock to lock is rather long (another off-road specific steering design) and you need to adjust your steering input on the turn out. It’s really not that big of a deal. Another observation is that the Grenadier does not exactly jump off the line. On take off it almost feels under powered but as you go through the gears the power seems to fold in. My guess is that this is due to the mapping of the drive by wire pedals. This too is an advantage when off-roading as it prevents hopping on take off when your wheels are pinned which can cause damage to the drivetrain or axles. But when street driving it might feel a bit delayed on take off. I am not concerned as this is not a sports car or sedan. It’s a truck and it feels and drives like one (in a good way). I did experience a glitch in the infotainment system where the screen turned off for a few seconds while I was driving but it came right back. Another example of a software issue that will likely be resolved with an update.
On the plus it looks fantastic, the doors are heavy and solid, the seat are very comfortable, the visibility is great, and the fit and finish seemed well put together. There is a lot of plastic (like most cars under $100k) but it felt higher end than many other cars. I did not notice any squeaks or cracking sounds on this test drive or when I drove it off-road at Hollister Hills. I had my wife in the passenger seat and my son in the back seat, both of which are tall. There seems to be plenty of room in the rear seat for adults. The rubber flooring (an option which you can replace with carpet) is surprisingly nice and will make washing out the Grenadier a breeze. This is the option I picked.
All in all I think it’s a great car for what it is. If you want a do everything, go anywhere SUV that has enough creature comforts without all the waste, then I think the Grenadier should be considered. If you are looking for a mall crawler then you might not love the Grenadier because of the steering, delayed acceleration, and use of plastic. As for me….I am excited to take delivery of the Grenadier and feel it will be a great daily driver, tow vehicle and adventure SUV for the family. My order is for a shale blue version but I have to admit the mushroom white is pretty awesome.