Ineos Grenadier review | Spiritual Land Rover Defender successor driven off-road | Autocar

Conceived in a London pub, inspired by the old Land Rover Defender, and built in an old Smart-car factory in France: that's the colorful background of new Ineos Grenadier, made more colourful still by the fact that Jaguar Land Rover tried appreciably hard to ensure this car never saw the light of day.

Join Road Tester Richard Lane as he samples a prototype version of this rugged new off-roader, which is made by the recently formed Ineos Automotive to function as a spiritual successor to the old Defender. It uses a body-on-frame construction and robust, six-cylinder BMW engines, the petrol version of which – tested here – makes 281bhp and 332lb ft, channeled to all four wheels via ZF's eight-speed automatic gearbox and electronically controlled differentials in each axle.

Prices are set to start at around £48,000 when the Grenadier goes on sale later this year, and at that point we'll also try it on the road. For now, we have at our disposal a disused quarry, plenty of mud, and a short stint at the wheel of the latest arrival in the hardcore off-roader class.

New videos are uploaded to Autocar each week. Don't miss a single one. Subscribe now: http://smarturl.it/autocar

Visit our website at http://www.autocar.co.uk

Autocar, the world's leading motoring magazine and website, delivers industry-leading news, the most in-depth car reviews and opinion from our team of experts. Our presenters include some of the world's top motoring journalists who have unrivalled access to the world's fastest, rarest, most exotic and most exciting cars on some of the world's best roads and race tracks.

Follow AUTOCAR here:
LIKE Autocar on Facebook: https://bit.ly/2Jzyvh1
FOLLOW Autocar on Twitter: https://bit.ly/2JzABgT
FOLLOW Autocar on Instagram: https://bit.ly/2TIgvFI

Check out our full video catalog: https://bit.ly/1UfAOCH

For car reviews you can trust, subscribe to Autocar: http://smarturl.it/autocar