Ineos Grenadier Commercial (2025) Review

THERE’S a farmer’s wife on a quadbike. She glances at the car then locks eyes with me and smiles – I’m might be in there, but not in the way you might think.

She’s impressed and the wry smile on my face is one of acceptance. Ironically, I couldn’t be more inappropriately attired – suit, shirt, tie and shiny shoes – but it matters little because I’m in an Ineos Grenadier Commercial and am a fully-fledged country boy.

This is a vehicle built for the countryside by a man whose mate was bending his ear in the pub lamenting the loss of the old Land Rover Defender.

Now I’m not going to get embroiled in the debate about whether the most recent Land Rover Defender is a ‘real Defender’. Obviously, billionaire chemical engineer Jim Ratcliffe isn’t convinced as he agreed to build his mate another one and share that with the world.

So here it is, the Ineos (named after his global chemical company) Grenadier (after his favourite pub) Commercial (after its ‘stripped back’ workman-like credentials).

Do you see the inverted commas around ‘stripped back’? That’s because it isn’t. Granted there are no rear seats, though there are rear doors. There is just a huge load bay, extra room and even more space on top of that. The void goes full-height too and there’s a cage to stop your livestock chewing on your ear as you drive.

The boot measures a gargantuan 1,512mm x 1,268mm x 1,047mm and has a load height of 899mm. That creates an abyss of 2,088 litres which is more than enough for stock, bales, tools, bikes, outdoor gear, or even gold bullion should you use Grenadier as a getaway car. The space is dead square too with few intrusions – just the job – and a double back door split asymmetrically one third/two thirds. The fatter side is home to a full size spare – yes a spare!

The interior is fitted out for the management of muck, so rubber floorings abound and are easily washable, while the seats are wipe-clean leather.

But don’t be thinking that this vehicle is utilitarian because it’s not. The interior shares the displays and controls of the non-Commercial variants – Station Wagon and Quartermaster pick-up – and they are fabulous.

Think a mix of a Chinook helicopter and a boat and you won’t go far wrong. The interior has the military feel of a fighting vehicle and touchy-feely gubbins are restricted in the extreme – hurrah.

Switches on the dash and the roofline are big chunky affairs that you can operate with thickly gloved hands. They are also clearly marked so you don’t have to trawl through multiple sweepy screens that now dominate modern cars to find the function you are looking for. There’s very little touchscreen to irritate the driver and the Ineos’ alternative is just plain cool and functional. Fabulous.

There’s nothing stripped back about the mechanics either. Under the bonnet is a sophisticated BMW six cylinder turbo diesel. Ooh, it’s lusty with 245HP of power, 500Nm of creamy torque and startling performance for the behemoth it is. It will hit 62mph in 9.8 seconds, not bad for something weighing more than 2.5 tonnes, yet it will return 26MPG somehow.

The automatic gearbox is eight speed, the suspension is by Bilstein and the body is made by the same Austrian coachbuilders who fabricate G Class for Mercedes. All good then? Well, nearly.

If you have driven an Ineos before you will know the steering is, how should we say, idiosyncratic. If you are driving it for the first time then the lack of self-centring and initial vagueness may seem weird, but if you are used to driving the old Defender you will feel instantly at home. It is surprising how quickly you adjust and off road you will be thankful for it.

That’s something else that occurs to me, as I drive through the countryside peering easily above hedges and drystone walls, we seem to be obsessed nowadays with the necessity to stick to the roads lads, stick to the roads.

It strikes me that I could, if I wanted, take to that field over there, go down that rough track to the right, or even ford that stream, as long as it’s no deeper than 800mm. Commercial even has a high-rise snorkel exhaust so plumbing the depths is no problem.

To venture off-piste Ineos boasts a low ratio crawler gearbox, all-wheel-drive, of course, and not one but three locking differentials. Add a set of 17in steel wheels shod with BF Goodrich all-terrain tyres and this Ineos is virtually unstoppable, I know, I’ve tried it.

It scales gradients a packhorse would balk at, it scoffs at slippery and rocky conditions thanks to 264mm of ground clearance and it easily descends steep inclines that you would struggle to walk down. It is astounding off road.

With a braked towing capacity of 3.5 tonnes, it even has 5.5 tonnes of winching power to help others and yourself out of trouble when conditions become too extreme.

In sum, Grenadier is a defender of the faith. I’m not surprised I’ve caught the eye of the farmer’s wife and I’m sure she’ll be spreading the word about what she has seen.

‍