As I sit down to write this, which will be the last test drive I post for the foreseeable future, two headlines come to mind that catch my attention. First, AI-written articles have surpassed those published by hand … Humans behind. The need to publish the text as quickly as possible, without questioning the quality of its prose, has brought us here.
I know there are communications agencies and car brands that use Chat GPT to prepare their press releases, which are then passed through their filter again by journalists to create articles that are not read, but take up petabytes of storage space on servers buried in the mountains. Not to mention the liters of water that are consumed with every question asked to the artificial intelligence.
The second amazing title was that of Nano Banana, an image creator that in its professional version created images in which it is impossible to distinguish whether it is something generated by a machine or not – in the basic version you can still distinguish an artificial whiff. 2025, the year the human race no longer trusts photographic evidence.
I swear this is a review about an all-terrain vehicle. Basically one of the last of its kind. Due to environmental regulations, this sector is disappearing. Dacia, for example, now offers all-wheel drive using a hybrid system: a combustion engine in the front and an electric motor in the rear. There is no differential or differential lock, but it is labeled Eco.
The Grenadier is, in fact, the product of the whims of Jim Ratcliffe, founder and chief executive of Ineos Group, one of the UK’s largest petrochemical companies. In 2023, he was the second richest man in the country, and after the Corona virus, he changed his residence from London to Monaco, a move that saved him £ 4 billion in taxes.
When Land Rover decided to revamp the legendary Defender, Ratcliffe flatly refused and bought the plant in Hambach (France) from Mercedes-Benz to produce what he considered the ideal off-road vehicle.
The interior of the Grenadier is designed to be used with gloves
It’s got the following: body-on-frame construction, differential lock, reduction gears, truck-like steering, easy-to-replace parts if broken, 80cm wading capacity or cabin drain valves in case water gets in when crossing the river.
The engines come from BMW and Ratcliffe spared no expense: he chose the emblematic six-cylinder for the Bavarians. Powerful and powerful, it is available in diesel or petrol with 250 and 280 hp respectively. Like all good models from the German brand, it is mated to a ZF gearbox.
The doors are heavy and the opening mechanism is satisfactory, as is the sound they make when closed. As in the Mercedes G-Class, you feel like slamming the door when you get out just to hear it. Inside, the climate control system is designed to be operated with gloves but the buttons could be firmer to blend in with the rest of the car.
Almost everything on the Grenadier is analogue, and in fact, some things, like lane departure warning or speed limit warning, only seem to exist because the EU forced the brand to implement ADAS in all vehicles. Industrial aids that “make the work easier” and make their use more convenient.
In the Grenadier’s development years, Ineos was considering the possibility of marketing it for less than €50,000, which would have made it indisputably valuable in the off-road sector, but changes in regulation and market demand mean that the current starting price, in Spain, is €84,500.
Everything seems to indicate that in a world where digital takes precedence over analog, mechanical and craftsmanship are increasingly becoming a luxury. But if you’re looking for a sturdy, reliable tool for crossing the desert, there are still options.