Ineos Grenadier Trialmaster Long-Term Review: What It Means for the LandCruiser 70 Series

The Ineos Grenadier has been on Australian roads for a while now, but a rolling long-term test published by 4X4 Australia is the first time we've had a sustained, real-world look at how the Trialmaster Station Wagon actually lives. The author, Cristian Brunelli, picked up a Scottish White example in late 2025 at a base price of $120,000, added $8,670 in factory options, and has been racking up kilometres across beach runs, suburban commutes and proper dirt tracks in Victoria. For anyone watching the heavy-duty 4x4 space, and particularly for anyone who runs a 70 Series and wonders how seriously they should take this thing, the early results are worth paying attention to.

The Grenadier was born because Sir Jim Ratcliffe, owner of Ineos and part of the Mercedes Formula 1 team, loved the old Land Rover Defender, watched it go lifestyle, and decided to build a replacement from scratch. The result is a solid-axle wagon powered by BMW's B57 diesel engine, producing 550Nm of torque, with front and rear differential locks standard on the Trialmaster grade, plus a raised air intake, NAS tow hitch, and a ladder to get onto the roof. It looks vaguely like a classic Defender, but Brunelli is clear that the driving experience has very little in common with one. The steering does not self-centre quickly, the speedo sits in the centre display rather than directly ahead, and the driver-side wiper misses a section of the windscreen near the A-pillar. These are not fatal flaws, but they are the kind of things that remind you this is a brand-new platform with one generation of development behind it rather than forty years.

Where the Grenadier genuinely wins

Be straight about it: 550Nm from a BMW diesel is a serious number, and the early fuel figure of 11.7 litres per 100km across nearly 4,800km of mixed use is competitive for a vehicle of this type. The Recaro seats, front and rear, are a genuine highlight. The rubber-floored interior with no carpet makes it easy to clean after a beach run or a muddy track. The ride quality on both sealed and unsealed roads has impressed the tester. And the standard equipment on the Trialmaster grade, including the diff locks, the raised air intake and the access ladder, means you are not buying a base vehicle and then spending another fifteen thousand dollars to make it trail-ready.

For job-site use, regular highway travel, or someone who wants a serious off-road vehicle that also does a reasonable school run, the Grenadier presents a coherent package. The commuter experience is clearly strong. The off-road capability, at least on the moderate terrain covered so far, is described as highly capable with axle articulation that outperforms a lot of independent-suspension competitors. That matters.

What the LandCruiser 70 Series brings to this argument

Here is where the conversation gets interesting for 70 Series owners. The LandCruiser 70 has been in production since 1984. In Australia, that means four decades of workshop knowledge, an aftermarket that is deep and genuinely competitive, and a parts supply chain that reaches into remote areas where a breakdown is not a minor inconvenience. You can put a four-inch lift and 35-inch tyres on a 70 Series using kits that have been refined over multiple generations. GVM upgrades are available from several suppliers with documented ADR compliance paths. Long-range fuel tanks, dual-battery systems, canopies, tray conversions, snorkels sized to the engine bay, and full interior rebuilds in leather or vinyl are all available off the shelf or within a short lead time. The used parts market is mature. If you break something on a remote track, another 70 Series owner within cooee has probably got the part or the knowledge to fabricate a fix.

The 4.5-litre V8 that powered the 70 Series for years is now out of production, and its departure still stings for a segment of the market that valued its tunability, its simplicity, and the sound of it under load. The current 2.8-litre four-cylinder with AdBlue is a capable engine, and it runs cleanly, but the emissions system does add a layer of maintenance complexity in remote use that some owners have had to plan around. Neither engine is a B57 BMW diesel in terms of refinement or on-road manners. That is a fair thing to say.

What the 70 Series has is a platform depth that no first-generation vehicle can match. The Grenadier is beginning to build its own aftermarket, and the long-term test is explicitly including non-factory accessories as it progresses. That is a sign Ineos and its supporters understand what serious buyers want. But beginning to build an aftermarket and having one are not the same thing. When you are weighing up a $120,000 plus purchase decision, the question of what you can actually do to the vehicle over its life, and who can help you do it in the bush, is not a small consideration.

The argument worth having

The Grenadier is not a toy, and it is not a Defender in a costume. It is a serious attempt to build a purpose-built heavy 4x4 for people who actually use one, and the early long-term evidence suggests it is succeeding at the fundamental job. The 70 Series faithful will point to the aftermarket depth, the resale curve, the parts availability and the raw familiarity of a platform that has been sorted over decades. The Grenadier camp will point to 550Nm, Recaro seats, a better on-road experience, and a clean-sheet design that does not carry the compromises of a platform designed in the 1980s.

Both of those positions are defensible. What is worth settling in your own mind before you write a cheque for either is this: how far from a parts supplier are you planning to go, and how long do you plan to keep it? The 70 Series answer to both of those questions is hard to argue with. Whether the Grenadier can get there over time is the question this long-term test is trying to answer, and it is a question worth following.