Tough love
Our motoring press colleague’s approach came unstuck. We were deep in the woods at Carton House estate, the forest showroom of Orangeworks Automotive in Ireland, which must rate as one of the most charming OEM importers’ showrooms you’ll visit. What passes for a quaint house nestled in a wooded area is picture perfect. Orangeworks Automotive is INEOS – the sole name in Ireland for commercial and passenger 4x4s – and it’s wonderful down here. Rolling green fields with rivers so fresh the water sparkles with light and offers some of the steepest hills you’ll find anywhere nearby.
Which is exactly where my press colleague, halfway up, was marooned. Behind him, waiting in a few Grenadier 4x4s, were us. Tapping our steering wheels, we dared not mutter anything out of professional respect. Leaning into our press vehicle through the driver’s side window, the instructor was clear: “The only way to get up to the top is full acceleration, and remember to ease off when you reach the summit.” After a bit, our red-faced colleague decided that indeed was the best idea and gunned it. Up he went at full bore and disappeared out of sight over the crest of the summit in a display that was pure Tom Cruise.
Next, it was my turn. Using the mantra of selecting first gear and almost standing on the accelerator, we lurched off. Bouncing up over deep ruts, the Grenadier thundered up the slope with thuds and crashes so loud I was worried we’d snap the suspension right in half. Moments later, we reached the summit, with no track in sight due to the angle of our approach, and eased off. My passenger, looking straight ahead and a little worse for wear, wryly quipped, “That might be the way to do that, then.” And the Grenadier? It barely caught a breath.
Lesson learned. The Grenadier 4×4 needs to be taken by the absolute scruff of the neck and subjected to the harshest treatment you’ll ever give to a press vehicle without being dragged out and blacklisted for good.
The story goes that Orangeworks, an Irish team building outdoor events company, needed to replace its 4×4 fleet, citing the INEOS Grenadier as a good replacement for the long-departed Land Rover Defender. Only the dogged persistence of the founders saw the Irish business form INEOS Automotive – a sole Irish importer and distributor since 2021 of the 4×4 a only new interpretation of the deceased Land Rover Defender. Prices in Ireland range from €68,995 (plus VAT) for the 2-seat Utility Wagon and the Quartermaster up to €124,495 for the Fieldmaster Edition.
Our press experience was in pre-production vehicles that have racked up to 20,000 km. According to managing director David Bassett, some have done “eighteen, nineteen, twenty thousand kilometres and have only been driven in the harshest environments.” Basset adds, “They don’t squeak, don’t rattle – it’s very impressive.” Sitting around a table at the press briefing, I put that down to pure slick marketing talk. It turns out I was wrong. I’ve driven brand-new press cars that creak when they shouldn’t. The Grenadier – this being a pre-production vehicle – was as tight as a drum.
Two engine variants are offered in Ireland: a BMW 3.0-litre turbo petrol or a straight-six BMW 3.0-litre twin-turbo diesel. The range extends from commercial, passenger, Chassis Cab, and the Irish Pick-Up of the Year 2025, the Quartermaster. Ground clearance is 264mm and wading depth 800mm.
INEOS eschews big virtual touchscreens. Every conceivable switch or button extends out of the central part of the dashboard – switches everywhere, including the roof. It may look confusing at first, but it’s a tactile delight, so people can operate primary controls with gloves when dealing with frigid conditions. Apart from the tell-tale gear selector from the BMW parts bin, this is a wonderful cabin environment.
The steering takes getting used to. You could turn the steering wheel a few inches right or left, and it hardly makes an impact on the direction of travel. Great for off-road, it makes it a tiring 4×4 to drive on road. This is a vehicle engineered firstly for harsh terrain and not school runs. Although, a Grenadier covered in mud driving through a city centre out-poses a luxury BMW or Mercedes SUV.
We had a short time in the Grenadier variant, but it made a solid impression. No other 4×4 on sale is so fit for the most inhospitable environments. Every nut and bolt of this 4×4 feels like granite and is well-constructed. Accepting that you might be a country folk with land to maintain, then this is your next new 4×4 heirloom.
What delighted me as well was the intimate nature of the Irish Orangeworks team that offers bespoke supply and maintenance for all customers. The Grenadier is a 4×4 engineered for mammoth tasks, and in a climate that increasingly rages with red-warning storms across northern Europe, having one tucked away when needed seems not such an heirloom extravagance after all.
Verdict: 5 stars off road, 3 stars on road
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Mark Gallivan, Motoring Journalist