Ineos Grenadier Trialmaster long-term test: characterful 4x4 is a guilty pleasure

Verdict

By most metrics, the Ineos Grenadier isn’t a great car, but it’s one that gets under your skin. Much like the Land Rover Defender that inspired it, the quirks and foibles were frustrating at times, but there’s enough character about the 4x4 that I found it easy to forgive. Considering Ineos’s aim with it, I’d say that’s mission accomplished.

• Mileage: 13,023
• Efficiency: 22.1mpg

We’ve explored the Ineos Grenadier’s off-road potential, and it left us wondering – if you ventured as far off the beaten track as possible, how could this 4x4 support you? Fortunately, Ineos provides a number of accessories to help, and we decked our car to make it even more off-road ready.

The most obvious addition is on the roof: the iKamper two-man tent (£3,350), but before that could be attached, the hefty Rhino Rack (£1,750) had to be bolted into place. This 60kg steel platform clamps into the rain gutters and lets you fit dozens of optional accessories. We added a tent, but you can also securely attach tyres, jerry cans, cycles, tools and even surfboards when using the right mount.

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The tent opens up quickly and easily once two latches are released and the clamshell case pops open on its gas struts. The extendable aluminium steps are part of the tent, and once set up there’s a decent amount of room on board. It’s trickier to close it all back up again, ensuring all the fabric and straps are safely tucked away before driving off, and it’s made especially difficult because of the Grenadier’s height. I’ve mentioned before that side steps are a must-have addition for shorter passengers to help them get into the car, but the steps will be equally useful when trying to reach the roof rack.

Used - available now

2026 Ineos

Grenadier

16,923 milesAutomaticPetrol3.0L

Cash £45,800

View Grenadier

2026 Ineos

Grenadier

20,992 milesAutomaticPetrol3.0L

Cash £43,490

View Grenadier

You’ll stay dry at night in the tent, while the vast Batwing Side Awning (£675) will offer plenty of shelter from the elements. This large fabric sheet is mounted in a canvas bag on the nearside of the Rhino Rack and opens to 270 degrees around the back of the car. It offers around 12 square metres of shade/shelter, while the poles can be pegged into the ground to keep it in place. It’s a pretty impressive piece of kit, yet just like the tent, you need practice to get it all tucked away neatly again.

Other add-ons included an £800 Laser lightbar above the windscreen. This plugged directly into the overhead switches, and the beam was so bright you could see it in daylight. And at the back, as well as a boot divider (£350), the rear door included a fold-out tailgate table (£350), which was ideal for setting a stove up and out of the way.

Adding all of this kit not only bumps up the price, but also the Grenadier’s weight, while the already brick-like aerodynamics were only made worse. As a result, economy of 22.1mpg was about as good as it got, so maybe a jerry can or two would be a better add-on than some of the items we attached.

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There wasn’t much difference in the way that the Grenadier drove; maybe the centre of gravity felt a little higher, but as we’ve said before, this isn’t a vehicle that you’d want to push to the limit, even without all of the extra equipment we were carrying on board.

Sadly, I didn’t get time to go and do some proper camping in the back of beyond with all the extra kit, because it wasn’t long before Ineos took the Grenadier back. It was a sad day, too, because – as anybody in the office will attest – I’d become a fan of our Station Wagon. 

There’s no doubt that this big 4x4 is a fantastic piece of kit off road, but I also liked driving it on tarmac. With its heavy steering and raucous diesel, there was an old-school charm about it that’s missing from the vast majority of new cars for sale in the UK today, and as a result it felt more rewarding to drive. 

With plenty of space on board, the Grenadier was great for family life, even if access was tricky, while long-distance treks to Scotland, Wales, Kent and Norfolk were all taken in their stride, despite the penalty we had to pay with fuel economy.

I’m going to miss the Grenadier, and whenever I see one on the road (which isn’t very often, to be fair) I can’t help but be a little bit jealous of whoever is driving.

Ineos Grenadier Trialmaster: second fleetwatch

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Screen fracture brings the Grenadier off the front line

Our Grenadier’s windscreen has cracked. I wouldn’t have minded, but I wasn’t even following anything that closely – maybe the flat glass is at greater risk of chipping, although I haven’t noticed more stones hitting the screen than in any other car. What started out as a two-inch line on the passenger side soon grew into a large, distracting U-shaped fracture, so Ineos took the 4x4 away to sort it.

Ineos Grenadier Trialmaster: second fleetwatch

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Our Ineos Grenadier has returned from a service, and now has some useful additions

I’ve been racking up the miles in the Ineos Grenadier fairly quickly, and given that I was approaching the 12,000-mile mark, Ineos took the Trialmaster away for a week to give it a scheduled service, as well as a bit of a makeover.

After a few days with a Quartermaster pick-up (more on that in my next report), the Station Wagon was returned with what looked like the whole Grenadier accessories catalogue thrown at it. Inside, a handy boot divider now stops items sliding around, while a fold-down table has been added to the inside of the rear door. Up front, a roof-mounted LED light bar that’s brighter than the sun has been added; it’s wired into one of the overhead switches inside. Ineos also set up the secondary lights in the grille so that they now light up when I switch to main beam.

But the real highlight is the Rhino Rack on the roof. The large steel add-on makes space for a roomy iKamper two-man pop-up tent, while bolted to the side is the ‘Bat Wing’ – a huge awning that unfurls through 270 degrees around the side and rear of the car. The updates have made the Grenadier even more appealing as 
a get-away-from-it-all machine.

Ineos Grenadier Trialmaster: second report

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We get down and dirty to find out if our Grenadier is the best four-wheel-drive you can buy today

• Mileage: 11,943
• Efficiency: 22.4mpg

If there’s one thing that the Ineos Grenadier does really well – and some would say it’s at the expense of all else – it’s off-road driving. So when Ineos offered me the chance to take our Grenadier off the beaten track on one of the most spectacular off-road routes in the UK, the Strata Florida in mid-Wales, they didn’t have to ask me twice. Even driving the 260 or so miles to Wales didn’t put me off. 

Having already taken it on a mammoth motorway trek to Scotland over Christmas, I know that the second-best thing the Grenadier is good at is long-distance cruising. It’s where it manages its best fuel economy, too, although a return of around 24mpg isn’t anything to write home about.

The Strata Florida (Latin for the Valley of Flowers) is a byway that runs through stunning Ceredigion countryside and features challenging terrain. It’s a popular spot for off-roading, but given that the lanes are shared with walkers and farmers – not to mention sheep – it’s no off-road Dakar challenge, and you need to tread as lightly as possible to minimise the impact. How lightly you can tread in a 2.7-tonne 4x4 is open to debate, but we stuck to the tracks of past visitors, and made sure our convoy of half a dozen Grenadiers and Quartermaster pick-ups stuck together through every ford, along every rutted path and over every rocky step. 

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One particular highlight of the route is the Bomb Hole. The deep crater is marked by a pine tree, and features a drop into a pool below, which is a lot steeper than it looks in pictures. The Grenadier took the slope in its stride. Using low-range gears and the off-road ESP settings, it crept down without slipping a wheel or catching any bodywork, even when levelling out at the bottom of the slope. And that was despite the fact that I couldn’t see where the path went because the car’s roof was blocking my view on the way down.

You can show off-road information, such as your angle of attack when you’re coming down such a steep slope, or how much lean there is when you’re traversing a side slope, on the Grenadier’s central screen. But if you’re driving, the concentration it takes to keep the Ineos pointing in the right direction means you’re not going to be seeing the big numbers that the Grenadier is capable of.

It took everything in its stride, although there was a slight issue with the heater not functioning for some of the route – not ideal on a freezing cold day. It turned out that the angles it had taken managed to create an air lock, but a massage of the hoses under the bonnet was all it took to release the pressure, demonstrating the Grenadier’s ‘fixability’ when you’re out in the wilds. 

The sticky lock issue reported previously has also been resolved. More grease was added to the mechanism to ensure the buttons pop out when the door handles are used, and other affected cars will get the same treatment.

Ineos Grenadier Trialmaster long-term test: first fleetwatch

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Shorter passengers need help getting into the Ineos Grenadier due to its 264mm of ground clearance

One thing the Ineos Grenadier does well is off-roading, and it has 264mm of ground clearance to help that. But it means access is tricky for shorter passengers. Ineos offers side runners as a £958 option, but our car has sturdy £1,119 rock sliders fitted instead. I’ve added my own accessory to help, with a folding step becoming an addition to the boot. When it’s needed, I act as footman to my mother-in-law, ensuring that the step comes with us to our destination.

Ineos Grenadier Trialmaster: first report

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Rugged off-roader shows its strengths on trip to Scotland

• Mileage: 7,434
• Efficiency: 23.2mpg

I don’t normally make a New Year’s resolution, but since I’m running an Ineos Grenadier for a few months, I’ve taken up weights by default, courtesy of the car’s steering. In an age where excessive power assistance means that even the largest models can be manoeuvred without using much more than a finger, the Grenadier’s hefty wheel takes some getting used to.

It’s still power assisted, but like the rest of the car, there’s a chunkiness to the wheel that you simply don’t get in any other vehicle on the road. Throw in the recirculating-ball set-up, and there’s a unique feel to the steering with hardly any self-centring. It means you have to wind off any lock you’ve added, plus driving while distracted is all but impossible, because it’s best to keep both hands on the wheel at all times to point the nose in the right direction.

The steering has come in for some criticism for its vagueness, but after spending more time with the car, including driving from Essex to Oban in Scotland and back over Christmas, I can verify that it’s something you become accustomed to, allowing you to focus on more positive elements of the Ineos.

Chief among those is the BMW-sourced powertrain. Our car has a 245bhp six-cylinder diesel, but of more importance is the 450Nm of torque on tap. It means the Grenadier is a gutsy performer, and the six-cylinder soundtrack adds to its appeal. Less impressive is its fuel economy, which averaged around 23.5mpg on my long Scottish excursion, and barely breaks 20mpg on urban trips. The fuel gauge is also pretty pessimistic about how far you’ll be able to travel on a tankful, with the low-fuel warning activating when there’s still a quarter of a tank remaining.

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One plus point of the Grenadier that seems to appeal to many people is the way that it looks. I think it blends the best bits of the old Land Rover Defender and the Mercedes G-Class quite effectively, and so do most other drivers – I’ve even had waves from Defender drivers, although they might have been confused by what it was as I passed by...

One thing’s for certain, the Grenadier is made for winter. Our Trialmaster model has all-terrain tyres as standard for improved off-road grip, although it doesn’t suffer from the tyre roar that’s so often an issue on other cars fitted with this type of rubber.

Another highlight that we’re grateful for are the optional heated front seats (£365). I don’t think I’ve sat on anything hotter; clearly they’re designed to warm through multiple layers of winter clothing, further emphasising the car’s adventurous character.

Cabin space is good, with lots of room for my three-person family and luggage, although we recommend adding the optional side steps to help shorter and less able passengers climb up into the seats. Another niggle is that two of the push-button door handles have jammed open twice, making it impossible to latch the door shut – we’ll see if anything can be done to fix that. The doors need a good slam to close, too, again emphasising the car’s tough nature.

*Insurance quote from AA (0800 107 0680) for a 42-year-old in Banbury, Oxon, with three points.