The Ineos Grenadier Just Got Even More Serious About Off-Roading
The Ineos Grenadier is rather good off-road. Not surprising, really, considering that powering its way through the rough stuff is precisely what it’s been built for. Evidently, though, it wasn’t quite good enough for some people, because Ineos has teamed up with German off-road specialist LeTech to create this, the Grenadier Trialmaster x LeTech.
The production-ready version of a couple of prototypes unveiled at last year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, the big change for the LeTech Grenadier comes by way of portal axles. These, in short, see the axle tube lifted up above the centreline of the wheels and connected to the hubs by a series of gears, giving the already lofty Grenadier even more towering ground clearance.
That clearance goes from 186 to a massive 400mm, while wading depth increases from 800 to 1050mm. Yeah, you can drive this thing through a metre of water.
That’s not the only change, though. The LeTech also gets new heavy-duty multilink suspension at both ends, and a set of Hutchinson Industries 18-inch forged beadlock wheels wrapped in monster truck-ish 37-inch BFGoodrich Mud Terrain tyres.
Beefed-up wheelarches and redesigned running boards help accommodate all this extra bigness, and you also get all the accessories you could possibly need for an expedition through the Arctic Circle. Or a day’s green laning in Oxfordshire, for that matter. That includes a 4.5-tonne capacity Warn winch, a rear ladder with jerry can mounting points, an expedition roof rack and a brace of six LED spotlights.
Optional extras, meanwhile, include a remote tyre pressure control system, a pair of secure lockable drawers in the boot and a sand ladder kit in case you get stranded in the desert.
The Grenadier x LeTech is offered with the same choice of BMW straight-six petrol or diesel engines and ZF eight-speed auto as the regular car, and you can get it as a Station Wagon or a Quartermaster pickup. And when we say ‘you’, we mean only if you live in Germany or certain other European markets, because that’s where it’s available for now. Before VAT, it’ll cost you from €170,000 (around £146,800) for the Station Wagon, and €171,000 (around £147,700) for the Quartermaster.
The first full sentence spoken by an infant Mike was a review of the ride quality of a Volvo 850. It was “Daddy’s car goes bumpy-bump on a bumpy road,” so would probably need proofreading a bit, but it was a start.
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