This week we drive the 2026 Ineos Grenadier on pavement, dirt roads, and CR's challenging Rock Hill to see whether this purpose-built, BMW-powered SUV is worth nearly $90,000. We discuss the driving experience, its unusual steering, noisy cabin, quirky controls, where it excels, and whether we'd actually buy one. Plus, we answer an audience question about what to do with an older BMW whose necessary repairs cost more than the car is worth.
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SHOW NOTES
-----------------------------------
0:00 - Intro
00:37 Overview: 2026 Ineos Grenadier
02:22 The Story Behind the Grenadier
04:00 Why it SUV Stands Out
07:28 Off-Road Test
10:12 Locking Differentials and Low-Range Gear
12:28 Built to Be Repaired in the Middle of Nowhere
13:40 BMW Power in a Serious Off-Roader
15:33 The Grenadier's Quirky Interior
17:20 Compromises
19:06 The Steering
22:31 Buttons, Switches, and an Airplane-Style Cockpit
27:31 Driving Position and Seat Comfort
30:32 Cabin Noise
32:05 On-Road Handling
33:45 Would We Spend $90,000 on One?
36:22 What It's Really Like to Live With
38:44 How Would the Grenadier Score in CR Testing?
39:36 Audience Question: Should I sell a car that costs more to repair than it's worth?
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00:00:00
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00:00:04
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00:00:05
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00:00:09
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00:00:12
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00:00:14
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00:00:18
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00:00:23
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00:00:36
Hi, everybody.
00:00:37
Welcome to another episode
on Mike Monticello.
00:00:39
I'm Stef Schrader
and I'm Ryan Pszczolkowski
00:00:42
So we have a really interesting vehicle
to talk about this week.
00:00:45
And that is the 2026 Ineos Grenadier.
00:00:49
So three things to know about this vehicle
right off the bat.
00:00:52
First, it's only been on sale
globally since 2023.
00:00:56
So this is still very much a new company
and a new vehicle.
00:01:00
The second thing is Ineos
says it was designed
00:01:03
to be the best vehicle in the world
at under five miles per hour.
00:01:07
So that means off roading
is what this vehicle is all about, right?
00:01:12
So we're and we're going to get into that.
00:01:13
And the third thing is
it uses a BMW powertrain
00:01:16
which is kind of unique,
you know, for an off road vehicle.
00:01:19
So it's a three liter
turbocharged inline six.
00:01:21
BMW is a very famous engine right?
00:01:23
280 horsepower, 332 pound feet of torque.
00:01:26
It's speed.
00:01:27
Automatic transmission, permanent
four wheel drive.
00:01:30
So, we borrowed one from any else.
00:01:33
At this point, we're not.
00:01:34
We don't have any plans to buy one,
so this is going to be our only time to.
00:01:37
This was our only time to drive
this vehicle.
00:01:39
We'll see what happens down the road.
00:01:41
But so the one we borrowed.
00:01:43
So they have.
This one's called a station wagon.
00:01:45
They also have what they call
a quartermaster.
00:01:48
It's more like a pickup truck.
00:01:49
Kind of looks like a gladiator,
but does kind of look like a Jeep.
00:01:52
Gladiator? Yeah.
00:01:53
So we borrowed the station wagon,
which starts at $71,
00:01:58
but the field master trim or version,
whatever that we borrowed with
00:02:02
a fair amount of options, plus the $1
00:02:05
destination charge costs $89.
00:02:09
So not not a cheap vehicle
by any stretch of the imagination.
00:02:13
But before we get into
what this thing is like to drive
00:02:16
and we're going to get all
get all, into that stuff,
00:02:20
tell us a little bit about the backstory
on this vehicle, because the backstory
00:02:23
is almost as interesting
as the vehicle itself wouldn't you say?
00:02:27
It might be the most British
thing of all time.
00:02:29
It came out of a conversation in a pub,
00:02:33
the head of Ineos
00:02:34
Petrochemical Company,
Jim Ratcliffe, decided
00:02:39
that the new Land Rover Defender
just had gone soft.
00:02:43
It was too posh. It was.
00:02:44
It was not hardcore, utilitarian enough
for kind of what he wanted.
00:02:49
And so he wanted to get a new Land Rover
Defender.
00:02:54
He tried to talk to Jaguar
Land Rover about,
00:02:57
you know, maybe licensing the tooling,
maybe partnering with them
00:03:00
on kind of a continuation
of the original defender.
00:03:03
They said no.
00:03:04
And he was just like, well,
then I'll make my own.
00:03:08
I'm super rich. I'll make my own deal.
00:03:10
If you've got billionaire bucks,
this is probably the nicest way to spend.
00:03:14
That would be on,
like giving it to charity
00:03:17
or giving it to Consumer Reports. Yeah.
00:03:19
Hey. There's over.
00:03:20
Yeah. We're members supported.
00:03:22
So they sketched out in the pub.
00:03:23
The pub was called The Grenadier
and so that's what they named the model.
00:03:27
And then they bought the pub.
00:03:29
Yeah. I'm pretty sure
it's like their home office. Yeah.
00:03:31
Why not?
00:03:32
I mean, yeah, obviously.
00:03:33
So that's it. Yeah.
00:03:34
I mean, and it's, it was like I said,
it's designed they're, they're fully open
00:03:38
and honest that this was designed
to be a true off road vehicle.
00:03:42
Yeah. Obviously it's, it's, you know,
00:03:45
street legal and everything like that.
00:03:46
But Ryan, you know, producer Dave told me
that you were champing at the bit.
00:03:51
Is it champing at the bit
or chomping on the bit?
00:03:53
I think it's chomping at the bit
is a horse thing.
00:03:56
I think it's actually champion.
And I will look that up.
00:03:58
I'll ask artificial intelligence later
for the answer to that.
00:04:01
No, I know horse people.
00:04:02
I know,
I know I was chomping at the bit. Yes.
00:04:05
Okay.
00:04:06
You you really wanted to talk about this
vehicle?
00:04:08
I think you actually asked to be
on this podcast.
00:04:11
I have never asked to be on this podcast.
Not once.
00:04:13
A lot of people ask me
to not be on this podcast.
00:04:15
So tell us what it is about this
type of vehicle that you love so much.
00:04:19
Because that's kind of a thing
with you, right?
00:04:21
Well it's. Yeah.
00:04:22
And it
I do have a love for square, boxy SUVs.
00:04:26
British.
It doesn't matter where I'm from, but,
00:04:32
it has a personality and I've.
00:04:33
We talked to other podcasts.
00:04:34
We talk about something fun car
when it has a personality.
00:04:36
I don't care how impractical
00:04:38
it might be or what, because today
all the cars are the same.
00:04:41
And, like, this is something different.
00:04:42
And they were brutally honest
with us from the minute they got here,
00:04:47
when they brought us to, you know,
they brought us this car check out,
00:04:50
like, this thing is not it's for off road.
00:04:53
And when you have
00:04:54
when you do design something for off road
or one thing specifically,
00:04:57
it does that one thing well, it does
going to give up other things for me
00:04:59
very severely.
And we're going to talk about that.
00:05:01
But that being said, I love it. I mean,
00:05:04
years ago I got to drive a g-wagon
for the first time.
00:05:07
I used to go to a Mercedes
Benz G-wagon, you know,
00:05:09
International Motor Press Association
days, got to drive all these fun cars.
00:05:13
And I always loved the look of
I never drove, I drove like this thing.
00:05:15
It's actually borderline
hold on the road, but it's so capable
00:05:18
you get to drive it off
road is is amazing.
00:05:19
Range Rovers,
00:05:21
you know, some of these overlanding,
00:05:22
like, boxy, vehicles
that have now become status symbols.
00:05:26
Unfortunately, I look at,
00:05:27
you know, thing has three
locking differentials on the dashboard
00:05:29
and nobody drives it on its own asphalt
its entire life.
00:05:32
Right.
00:05:32
So, this is cool
because this isn't as posh.
00:05:37
It it's not as fancy inside.
00:05:39
It's a little more utilitarian.
00:05:40
But it has all that same stuff
and even a little more extreme outside.
00:05:44
And they just put a lot,
00:05:45
you know, we'll get into
00:05:46
where they put a lot of effort
into just a decent off road vehicle
00:05:49
that people
00:05:49
might have somewhere in the world
where, like,
00:05:52
you don't have the parts to fix it
or something, but they kept it simple.
00:05:55
They use an engine
that's popular in common around the world.
00:05:59
Just all kinds of little design things.
00:06:01
Like I said, we'll
get into a little more, but,
00:06:03
yeah, I just
I love honestly getting and getting in
00:06:06
and out of this thing
is like some, for me, almost a nightmare
00:06:08
because it's like not easy
to get an output.
00:06:10
But I still every time I got in it, once
I got in, I was so excited to drive it,
00:06:12
you know?
00:06:13
But yeah, it's just one of those things
I like off road vehicles that are,
00:06:19
boxy and different.
00:06:20
And this is,
I think, the story behind that.
00:06:21
Like, you're
just finding the whole pub thing and,
00:06:24
basically went to
no one would help them out today.
00:06:26
Said the. How would the other
we're going to do it ourselves.
00:06:28
That's kind of a funny story, right?
00:06:30
Absolutely. And yeah, I don't know.
00:06:32
I think well, we'll
talk about and you kind of,
00:06:36
gravitate
00:06:36
toward, off the beaten path vehicles
to write stuff.
00:06:40
Is that is that fair to say?
00:06:41
Oh, absolutely.
00:06:42
And so this
this vehicle spoke to you as well?
00:06:44
I never grew out of playing in the dirt.
00:06:47
So I all of these off roaders,
you know, and
00:06:50
especially when they're so purpose built,
I was excited.
00:06:54
I was like, and there's buttons.
00:06:57
I know I always talk about why,
and there's buttons, but,
00:07:01
yeah, I was just like, you finally
00:07:03
let me drive something I like, right?
00:07:07
Yeah, yeah.
00:07:08
You bet.
00:07:08
It's been tough to keep her happy here
since she started.
00:07:11
She hasn't.
00:07:12
Because what I said before we drive
the same is everything's like a Rav4 or
00:07:15
a Highlander, and, like, they're all just
slightly different than that, right?
00:07:18
But they they'll drive
the same. It's very like.
00:07:21
And I say the same.
00:07:21
They're not exactly the same,
which is why we do what we do.
00:07:23
But yeah, compared to this
radically different.
00:07:25
Like this thing is like it's, it's
it's like driving a farm equipment.
00:07:29
So let's start with it's
what it's best that which is off road.
00:07:32
Now we all drove it up our famous
Consumer Reports, Rock Hill.
00:07:36
And I know, Stef took it on some dirt
roads and I took it on some dirt road.
00:07:40
So let's talk about that. Ryan,
do you want to start with. Yeah.
00:07:43
So how did it go up the Rock hill?
00:07:45
You just did a pretty big test.
00:07:46
Regardless, I've been up the Rock
hill many times in my time here.
00:07:52
Lots of good vehicles, like some struggle.
00:07:55
This was probably one of the best,
maybe the best.
00:07:58
And I'm talking, like, even, like we had
I think we had
00:08:00
we had an H1 Hummer at one point.
00:08:01
We had, like, all the crazy stuff.
00:08:04
G-wagen. Yeah.
00:08:06
This has all terrain tires on it,
aggressive all terrain tires on it.
00:08:08
So I think that helped.
00:08:09
But it went up it like effortlessly,
like it was kind of a joke.
00:08:12
I mean, there's some people
probably watching the footage right now.
00:08:13
Totally put it up.
00:08:14
I totally I filmed, but, yeah, like
00:08:18
with ease.
00:08:19
I would have a couple dirt
roads around here.
00:08:21
Nothing too crazy. Yeah.
00:08:22
Even though they did
00:08:23
tell us when they were here, like,
take this thing, like, take it off road.
00:08:26
Don't be afraid.
00:08:27
And I was kind of joking.
00:08:28
I'm like, well, don't tell us that
because, you know, yeah,
00:08:30
we don't need to break this thing.
But he's being encouraged.
00:08:33
Taking this thing on.
00:08:33
It is funny, though,
because it being $90,
00:08:37
you do think about
00:08:38
even though it's for off
road, you still in your mind
00:08:40
you're like, I don't really want to hurt
a $90 vehicle.
00:08:42
And that actually happened to you, right?
00:08:43
Like you were on
one of our local dirt roads
00:08:46
and you turned around because you worried
about scratching it, right?
00:08:48
Well, because it it's not.
I just plowed through. Right.
00:08:51
Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah.
00:08:52
If it was mine,
I would have been like, add pinstripes.
00:08:55
Perfect.
00:08:56
If it doesn't have trails pinstripes
then you're doing it wrong.
00:08:59
But since it wasn't our car, I'm.
00:09:02
I'm a lot newer here than y'all,
so I don't want to be that person.
00:09:07
So I took it on.
00:09:08
We have 2 or 3
really kind of aggressive dirt
00:09:12
roads, that have a lot of embedded rock.
00:09:15
And, I, I took it at night
just because I was coming back
00:09:19
from dinner, and my girlfriend was with
me, and I entered one of them at such
00:09:23
a high rate of speed and being dark,
she didn't know where I was going or what
00:09:26
because I just turned off the paved road
all of a sudden,
00:09:28
and just now you're on dirt road
like 40, 45 miles an hour.
00:09:32
And the thing doesn't care.
00:09:33
It does not care.
00:09:34
Like embedded
rocks, potholes does not faze it.
00:09:38
I've never driven a vehicle on these roads
00:09:41
that, cared so little about what it was.
00:09:44
Now, again,
they say it's for under five miles
00:09:46
an hour, but it does great on on,
you know, rough stuff at any speed.
00:09:50
I was just really impressed
with how little you felt like in any,
00:09:54
most cars for sure,
but even most off road vehicles,
00:09:58
you would feel some of these big rocks
and, and like, braking bumps
00:10:02
and potholes and, you know, mud pits
and everything that you're going through.
00:10:06
But this thing just really doesn't
it just doesn't care.
00:10:08
It's unfazed by
and no kickbacks through the steering.
00:10:11
Yeah, yeah.
00:10:11
It's funny on the Rock Hill
because a bunch of us took it up there
00:10:15
and I just kind of let it idle
for most of it and really just,
00:10:19
nothing but everybody who tried to, like,
give it gas
00:10:22
and low gear with the dips, like, it's
like you're just spinning your wheels.
00:10:26
It doesn't need that.
00:10:27
It just does the thing effortlessly.
00:10:30
If you lock all the differentials
because you can lock,
00:10:32
you know, lock the center
and then the two front and rears up.
00:10:35
Yeah.
00:10:35
On this awesome panel
that it looks like your model airplane.
00:10:38
Yep. It's when you lock it all up solid
like that.
00:10:40
It's just it's unstoppable.
00:10:41
There is a weird sequence though about so
yeah I just going to let's get into that
00:10:46
because they actually left a cheat sheet
in the vehicle for how to get into this.
00:10:51
And I did not find that cheat sheet.
00:10:53
So it took me a minute. Yeah.
00:10:54
And and several of us like Dumbo over here
I had the cheat sheet
00:10:58
and I still you if you don't
do the sequence just right it won't.
00:11:02
Yeah. Engage throughout the long launcher.
00:11:05
Yeah. You're like
why is it just. But it doesn't.
00:11:07
There is a sequence to it. Yeah. Yeah.
00:11:08
So and involved in so mechanical
00:11:11
it does involve
like actually rolling a little bit
00:11:13
so that it clicks into here
because there's a I'm
00:11:15
pretty sure it's like a direct like locker
like an actual pin dropping.
00:11:18
Yeah.
00:11:18
I mean the,
the center like to put it in low gear
00:11:21
and put it in to,
you know, to lock the center diff.
00:11:24
It's a physical knob,
but the front and rear, which you know,
00:11:28
that's an option, part of the rough pack,
I think that was added on to your car,
00:11:34
to use
00:11:35
those that that's
in the kind of airplane panel above.
00:11:38
But yeah, the,
the one is like super duper mechanical.
00:11:42
And the other one has a little help.
00:11:44
Yeah. It's just yeah.
00:11:45
I mean, the one that the shifting it's
the low gears.
00:11:48
Simple.
00:11:48
It's obvious like any other vehicle
that you shift to low gear.
00:11:51
But it's those engage
in the differentials.
00:11:53
You have to do it
in a certain order. Right.
00:11:56
And if you don't, whereas like my Tacoma,
I just press rear,
00:12:00
rear locking diff and I'm good to go.
00:12:02
I don't have to do anything.
00:12:03
So I would argue, though today
00:12:05
that putting it in
low range is not like this thing.
00:12:07
This is actually connected to a transfer
case. You can feel it.
00:12:11
That mechanic,
00:12:11
it's like maybe 20 years ago,
like if you had a pickup truck
00:12:14
that had the other shifter on the floor,
that's what minus.
00:12:16
Yeah, that's all right now.
But today did everything right.
00:12:19
So I thought that was what I'm saying.
I don't have to do anything goofy.
00:12:21
I put it in low range.
00:12:22
Yeah, I hit my it hit
my rear differential lock.
00:12:24
Yeah. I'm good.
00:12:25
Not all this goofy. Like,
if you don't do it in the right order,
00:12:27
you have to start over again, right?
00:12:29
I found that a little bit annoying,
but I'm sure as an owner,
00:12:31
once I understood the sequence,
it wouldn't be a problem.
00:12:34
I'm sure there's a reason for it
inside of it.
00:12:35
How are they designed it? Yeah,
I mean that.
00:12:37
I kind of like that.
00:12:39
It's so mechanical because, you know,
they're ones where now you can even
00:12:43
disconnect the sway bars with a button
to get more articulation and everything.
00:12:48
So, you know, computerized.
00:12:50
Well, you know,
00:12:51
if you're using this thing as intended,
if you're going way off the beaten path,
00:12:55
if you're, you know, they designed
so much of this around repairability.
00:12:59
And that's really refreshing at a time
where a lot of car companies
00:13:03
are seeking to kind of gatekeepers,
fight against right to repair laws.
00:13:07
And this one's like, no, you know,
even the frame is not galvanized.
00:13:12
So you can weld it
on the side of the road.
00:13:15
I thought that was interesting. Yeah.
00:13:16
That is galvanized
for rust prevention in the bottom half.
00:13:19
Not in case you had to,
you know, weld this thing up.
00:13:22
You're in the Arctic Circle somewhere
doing, you know, off the beaten path.
00:13:25
And that's they put a lot of effort
into that kind of stuff.
00:13:27
Fix it with a hammer.
00:13:29
It's great.
00:13:31
So let's talk about the powertrain
because,
00:13:34
I think it's kind of interesting,
you know, very serious off road vehicle.
00:13:38
Yet it has this BMW turbo inline six,
which of course
00:13:43
it's it's yeah, it's an awesome
it's an awesome powertrain.
00:13:46
It's an awesome power.
I can see why they chose it.
00:13:48
What did you think about it?
00:13:49
I thought it was pretty smooth.
00:13:50
I mean you know
obviously it's turbocharged.
00:13:52
So you do get a little more power.
00:13:53
But it didn't have that like annoying kick
that would like getting away.
00:13:58
Oh well like what kind of kick.
00:14:00
Well you know like when,
when boost turbo lag.
00:14:03
You know well that that BMW engine hasn't,
it doesn't
00:14:06
have that so much like a supercharger
that power something like that.
00:14:10
Yeah. Which is perfect for an off road
vehicle like those. Right. Yeah.
00:14:12
I thought it moved.
00:14:13
I mean, it only
it doesn't even have 300 horsepower.
00:14:16
And this is an ATV.
00:14:17
Yeah,
I thought I'd actually moved down the road
00:14:19
pretty darn good for such a heavy vehicle.
00:14:21
Like when you really would. It. It goes.
Yeah, yeah.
00:14:23
I mean, they detuned the horsepower
00:14:26
a little bit to give it more torque,
which that's what I want.
00:14:29
An off roader.
00:14:30
Yeah.
00:14:30
No, I, I was pleased with,
I thought shifted fairly smooth.
00:14:32
I mean, there's so much other stuff
going on that you're like, super smooth
00:14:36
shifting transmission and something like
this is not really a priority.
00:14:40
Yeah, because there's so much,
you know, but, I thought it was just so.
00:14:44
And it was it's fairly smart idea.
00:14:46
I mean, he,
he said to veer somewhere in the world
00:14:48
and you need a part
like you can get a part
00:14:50
was if they had to build
and you know, design
00:14:52
and build their own engine and get it up
to, you know, some reasonable amount
00:14:56
of reliability inside of that
that many years, it was never happen.
00:14:59
Right.
00:15:00
So why not.
00:15:01
And and then that's sort of what they do
with a lot of the other
00:15:03
other parts on this thing.
00:15:04
Now you Recaro
00:15:05
there's all kinds of other like main
good brands that are clear on this thing.
00:15:09
Very good components.
00:15:09
I thought it sounded good to like,
you know, it doesn't really sound
00:15:13
like in a BMW.
00:15:14
They did a really nice job
tuning the exhaust.
00:15:16
So it sounds a little bit tricky.
00:15:18
Yeah.
00:15:19
And yet,
especially if you roll the windows down,
00:15:21
you can hear the turbo whistle
and it just sounds it's just
00:15:24
has a really good note to it
without being obnoxious.
00:15:27
We certainly had some, some, you know,
like we had what was a forerunner that,
00:15:31
Oh God. With a snorkel.
Yeah. Like this narwhal.
00:15:33
That thing was kind of obnoxious.
00:15:34
This is not like that at all. Yeah.
00:15:37
So, yeah,
I thought I thought that was really good.
00:15:40
What else?
00:15:42
Really stood out to you guys
00:15:44
good or bad, about the vehicle?
00:15:47
I mean, I wish it came with something
that's so manual and every other I wish.
00:15:52
I know they were like,
we don't have any plans to put
00:15:55
a third pedal,
but it would have been so nice.
00:15:57
Meaning a manual transmission,
a manual transmission.
00:15:59
Yeah.
00:16:01
I mean that ZF eight speed
that's in there.
00:16:03
It's everywhere.
00:16:04
You can find parts for it I'm sure.
00:16:07
But also I really liked it.
00:16:11
It does hold a gear pretty well though.
00:16:12
I mean yeah it is kind of funny
because that shifter or the transmissions
00:16:18
you know common they use the same shifter
like, okay, that's kind of hilarious,
00:16:23
right?
00:16:23
So you
get in and if like very utilitarian,
00:16:26
like two panels and switch
big toggle switches and the knob for the
00:16:29
the transfer case is like a, you know,
it looks like it belongs.
00:16:32
Yeah.
00:16:32
And then there's like a BMW shifter,
like straight out of the next five or
00:16:36
whatever.
00:16:37
And it's just it doesn't bother me.
00:16:39
But it's also a little bit like okay.
00:16:40
But yeah, they also didn't like
try to reinvent the wheel there.
00:16:43
They just let it be
because it works. Right. Yeah.
00:16:44
So but it's pretty funny.
00:16:46
It is funny that it's such
00:16:48
a unique interior in every way
except for that one thing.
00:16:51
One, I mean, I think in the end,
probably most owners aren't going to care,
00:16:56
but it almost seems like, okay,
so what would it cost an extra?
00:17:00
Would you have to tack on an extra
thousand dollars to have a shifter
00:17:03
that looks more similar
to the transfer case? You know?
00:17:06
And then I think a lot of their owners,
00:17:07
when it's this expensive,
they probably wouldn't care.
00:17:09
But when you start, you know,
when you design a vehicle from scratch
00:17:13
like they did, you have to look
at every single bit of cost.
00:17:17
And, you know, you look at all
this will be unique and that'll be unique.
00:17:20
And and they probably like,
you know what? This is why mess with it?
00:17:23
It's already there. It works.
00:17:24
You can go yeah, I get it.
00:17:26
Whatever. Yeah.
00:17:26
So, yeah, I thought that was kind of
interesting, but, some negative things.
00:17:31
I'll just jump in, I guess. Talk to us.
00:17:33
So the first thing I notice, well,
first thing you notice is
00:17:35
when you go to get in this thing,
especially if you're taller. Guy you.
00:17:38
I had to get in and like, tuck
my knee under the steering column
00:17:42
because it's very the floor is high,
the door opening really not that big.
00:17:45
So like it's actually quite awkward.
00:17:46
And I had it for night and I was like,
00:17:48
I jump in and out of it
for, you know, half a dozen times.
00:17:51
It's like, wow, if I had this every day,
I'd probably drive me nuts.
00:17:54
Right in the seat was mechanical manual.
00:17:56
Yeah, yeah. So yeah.
00:17:56
So you don't have to do
like the other thing that, like,
00:17:59
like what do they call them
moves out of the way for you. Yeah.
00:18:01
Like none of that is just mechanical,
which is fine.
00:18:04
Once I'm in it, it's okay. It's snug.
00:18:06
The driving position is kind of snug.
You're up high.
00:18:08
I could use more headroom.
00:18:09
Well, you're up nice.
And how you can see the corners, front.
00:18:11
You know, Frontward visibility is great.
00:18:14
Out the back is not so great.
00:18:15
Oh, well, they did this.
00:18:16
They have this unique way that
the rear door is a it's a two third split.
00:18:21
Yeah.
00:18:22
And so what that does is
I understand the utility aspect of that.
00:18:26
Right.
00:18:26
But in the reality
it means that what you're
00:18:29
looking through in the rear view
mirror is super skewed.
00:18:32
And you really can't see much of anything
like it's a huge pillar in the center
00:18:36
just offset. Yeah, yeah.
00:18:37
And then, you know,
you've got the the tire right.
00:18:40
The spare tire. Yeah. Yeah.
00:18:41
And he explained,
they explained when they were here,
00:18:43
like if you're parked somewhere snug
and you want
00:18:45
you want to open the back doors,
you know it's not a full door swinging.
00:18:48
So it's a buys
you some room which I get right.
00:18:51
But I don't know if it was worth
sacrificing visibility.
00:18:53
Like it's pretty tough because there was
a ladder on the back, right?
00:18:56
You then you crawl up on the roof.
00:18:57
No. Yeah.
00:18:57
My and Mike.
00:18:59
Mike,
00:18:59
when you like jumping around on the roof
like he told us to go up, he's not a no,
00:19:04
because they're super rigid,
like they're meant for, like, you know,
00:19:06
this is one of those things
for people to stand up there
00:19:07
and go camping or whatever, right?
We worried about them.
00:19:10
We were worried about him
falling off. Yes.
00:19:12
He is older, years old. Yeah.
00:19:15
Anyway, okay, so let's talk about
one of the things that I think
00:19:20
maybe is going to catch
the most new owners off guard.
00:19:25
And that's the steering, you know,
I mean, the steering.
00:19:27
There's a couple things
about the steering,
00:19:29
the several things about the steering.
00:19:30
You want to start it off, right?
00:19:31
Because it's I've never felt steering
quite like this.
00:19:34
So again, the first time I got in
I took off and it low speed.
00:19:37
You don't know this
what you're going to talk about.
00:19:39
Are we going to back up in a minute?
00:19:40
But the turning radius is actually really
not good, which is off road vehicle.
00:19:44
That's really weird.
00:19:45
I learned about this even harder
when I went down one of the dirt roads.
00:19:47
I turn around at one point because
it was a big mud pit, and I didn't.
00:19:49
I didn't have the time to figure out,
oh, I went right through it.
00:19:51
Did you go through it? Yeah. I'm
such a I'm such a jerk. Was it dirt?
00:19:54
Was that real deep?
00:19:55
I mean, it wasn't
it wasn't crazy, but it was very green.
00:19:57
It was very green.
00:19:59
So I went I went through the green one.
00:20:00
I went through super slowly.
00:20:02
And then all the other ones
I went through fast
00:20:04
because I knew I was giving it
to Mike Quincy the next night.
00:20:06
So I wanted him to have the vehicle have
like a nice patina of dirt all over it.
00:20:11
So I did him a favor
I wish I did not go through.
00:20:13
I didn't have time and I was just like,
00:20:14
so anyway,
so you turn around, turned around, and
00:20:16
I was like Austin Powers in the hallway
trying to play around with because in that
00:20:20
area that you'd expect it to turn.
00:20:22
And the test I have is for years,
but I've been here for long enough.
00:20:26
There's a park you park along the edge
over there by the the,
00:20:29
lunchroom, especially when I was in here.
00:20:30
I always park over there.
00:20:31
And if you can turn around
before the hedges,
00:20:33
you got a decent turning radius car.
00:20:35
This thing does not even come close.
00:20:37
Yeah. No, I mean, like, if you just
doing a U-turn right there, right?
00:20:39
You can do it before the hedges.
That's like my official title.
00:20:41
And for an off road vehicle
that's a little bit more.
00:20:44
There's going to be times where you are
going to have to turn around on the trail.
00:20:48
Some of that has to do with the off
road, the axles that are on it and the.
00:20:52
So I'm not completely,
but there's more to it talk.
00:20:55
Let's talk about the actual well,
the steering's very heavy at low speeds.
00:20:58
But that's and like really heavy very very
but that's not the weirdest thing
00:21:03
about the steering
at all. Talk to us about that.
00:21:06
So most vehicles when you, you know,
you go around a turn
00:21:09
and you kind of let go, you can like,
00:21:11
ease up on the steering wheel
as a car straightened out.
00:21:13
It should kind of go back to center
right or castle center
00:21:16
faster, like the vehicle's, so suspension
00:21:19
geometry like, makes it wheels come back,
cast it right.
00:21:22
It doesn't come back to center it like,
come back, and it kind of just quits.
00:21:26
Yeah.
00:21:26
And you're helping it out,
but you have very little steering.
00:21:29
It is very awkward when you are just used
to driving normal cars that do that.
00:21:33
Like that's a natural thing, right?
00:21:35
And you have to literally
help it back home.
00:21:36
And you have to remember that
you're going out
00:21:38
because there are times where like there's
a little rotaries in town on it.
00:21:41
And I came out of them and like, I'm like,
I'm and I'm still going the wrong way.
00:21:46
I'm like, oh my goodness.
00:21:46
You have to literally help it back.
00:21:48
Yeah. Did you find that?
00:21:49
I assume you found that
very strange as well. Yeah.
00:21:52
And there's like a little dead spot
00:21:53
in the middle and is no, no,
it's it's a little it's a little weird.
00:21:57
I did appreciate that.
00:21:58
It was a pretty slow ratio though,
because that's that's what I want.
00:22:01
I mean, yeah, but for that.
00:22:03
Yeah I agree.
00:22:04
But it's, it's and it's funny
because you're going down the highway
00:22:07
and because it's so dead on center,
it wanders.
00:22:10
Right. And so what happens
is it starts wandering.
00:22:12
And then when you have to pull it
back, you have to turn it
00:22:15
much further back than you thought
you were going to have to turn it back.
00:22:18
I mean, it is a box. Yeah, yeah.
00:22:20
So let's the aerodynamics
aren't helping us out of either there.
00:22:23
But and I, I don't think I've ever felt
steering this dead in my life
00:22:26
as far as actual the feel and feedback
that you're getting through on the road.
00:22:30
It's just it's now super dead.
00:22:32
I will say,
when I was going up the Rock hill,
00:22:33
I was getting the information
I needed to know where the tires again.
00:22:37
That's right, that's right.
00:22:39
Yeah. Give them credit for that.
00:22:40
But yeah, for regular road
driving it's different.
00:22:43
Very different. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
00:22:45
So, I
00:22:47
want to go back to the controls real quick
00:22:50
because I feel like,
like that's a big thing to you, right?
00:22:54
Physical controls.
00:22:55
Oh, yeah.
00:22:55
So do you want to tell us about them
and talk to us about the airplane effect
00:22:59
on all that. Do
you want to just talk a little bit about.
00:23:01
Yeah, sure. Did you like them.
Did you not like them or.
00:23:03
I liked them, but they could be better.
Yeah.
00:23:05
Lots of buttons, lots of big buttons.
00:23:07
They're all, you know, kind of sealed off.
00:23:09
There's a little bit of give
and a lot of the switches and stuff.
00:23:12
And they said that was, you know,
because they're sealed to keep water out.
00:23:15
If you go through splashes
and have the little Safari windows
00:23:18
open on the roof,
you can hose the whole interior down.
00:23:21
That was part of the thing that they want
you to be able to feel, feel comfortable
00:23:24
about under a certain point,
but still obnoxiously
00:23:27
like you can close the inside of the.
Yeah, yeah.
00:23:29
And, so, you know, you have this like
00:23:32
almost airplane cockpit look in effect.
00:23:36
But the only thing is, is,
00:23:38
you know, some of the, like,
layout of the buttons,
00:23:42
could have made
a little more logical sense, but,
00:23:44
you know, for most of the things,
you can just slap the thing.
00:23:48
Turn the thing
00:23:50
could have been a little more obvious on
some of the knobs.
00:23:53
There could have also been a bit
more like variation in color.
00:23:58
Because you know, it's it's
cool to see this wall of, of buttons.
00:24:02
But, you know,
I want to know that I'm grabbing towards,
00:24:06
you know, temperature,
fan speed at a glance.
00:24:09
Well,
you have the fan speeds. Really weird.
00:24:11
Like, it it it only has a few, like,
00:24:14
choices anyway.
00:24:15
But you you have to turn it so far to go
from, like, 1 to 2 and 2 to 3.
00:24:20
And it's super weak detent,
so it's just feels super odd.
00:24:23
Did you
when when he was explaining like made
00:24:26
some up upgrades and one of them
was like the Hvac and he's like, oh yeah.
00:24:30
We went from three three fan speech
to five and I'm like, oh wow, what a gift.
00:24:33
Yeah, yeah.
00:24:34
You know, so
but not so weird that the fan speed
00:24:38
is super weak detent
and the suit and super long,
00:24:42
you know, that you have to turn it
between each, each setting.
00:24:45
But the temperature one
has much more defined detent.
00:24:47
So it's weird that they aren't
the same. It's just straight up.
00:24:50
Yeah I will say it's better
than some swipe thing I love for sure.
00:24:53
For sure. You know? Yeah yeah yeah yeah.
00:24:56
Well and that's one of the issues
I had with, you know, speaking of
00:25:00
swipes and things,
00:25:02
I mean, to their credit,
00:25:03
you know, that you do get kind of the BMW
iDrive style.
00:25:08
Mazda kind of did the same thing with the
the knob that you can use to
00:25:12
because the actual touch screen
is like way up here for me
00:25:16
and and kind of out of reach. But,
00:25:20
yeah.
00:25:20
So volume was the other one
that was like that.
00:25:23
There was a huge difference
in each step and.
00:25:27
Like too much, too much, too much.
00:25:29
Yeah. Yeah.
00:25:30
And so it there's a lot of things
that were kind of afterthoughts like that.
00:25:35
Like the stereo terrible XM radio.
00:25:39
Reception probably the worst get bad.
00:25:42
A lot of the like safety items were tucked
00:25:46
like you could still whack
a button and turn off start stopped.
00:25:50
Great. Like that.
00:25:52
But, you know, if you want to turn it
off, lane keep assist
00:25:55
while it's in an on screen menu,
the menus are pretty logical.
00:25:58
There's minimal stuff
they shoved onto the screen,
00:26:02
but it also didn't remember your settings.
00:26:05
Aside from you'd have to do it
each time you start that.
00:26:07
Yeah, yeah, I keep going back to them.
00:26:09
They think the gentleman that brought it
so they, you know, they they
00:26:11
they debriefed us on it beforehand.
00:26:13
We got to start crawling
all over the roof and stuff.
00:26:17
But they were, you know, he, they like,
00:26:19
we didn't have to have a screen legally
because I think
00:26:21
because of the backup camera, whatever,
we wouldn't
00:26:22
there would have been a screen
in this thing, which is like, I love that.
00:26:25
Right.
00:26:25
But, to your point, it was fairly simple,
I thought, but it was there's
00:26:29
the panic button
because there's so many of them,
00:26:31
and there's a lot of buttons
00:26:32
that aren't in normal vehicles,
like just off road stuff.
00:26:34
There is a learning curve to knowing where
in some of these things are like.
00:26:36
I quickly went with a stop start was,
yeah,
00:26:39
you know, so but there's so
there is a learning curve to that
00:26:41
as much as we like the hard buttons,
it's like they're probably too many.
00:26:44
Yeah. For like a modern car.
But yeah, I still like that.
00:26:47
And I like this
I like the styling of them.
00:26:49
I mean, they're kind of obnoxiously big
and they give you four.
00:26:52
There's four auxiliary switches
that are pre-wired areas.
00:26:54
Or you can just put a light or whatever
you want and it's already there, you know.
00:26:58
Yeah. Which is kind of cool, I like that.
00:27:01
Yeah.
00:27:01
You know what? I liked?
00:27:02
I liked that it has a keyfob,
holder slot on the dashboard
00:27:07
where you take the key and you put it in
and you turn it.
00:27:11
It's a man.
00:27:11
Now, the knob isn't rolling around
in the cupholders.
00:27:14
I love that.
00:27:15
That was fantastic.
00:27:16
The only thing I didn't like about that,
though,
00:27:18
is that I back to the days of the key
dragging on my knee.
00:27:21
Yeah. You know. Damn.
00:27:22
Oh, if I had to take
all the stuff off of that.
00:27:24
But oh, tall guy problems.
00:27:25
Like,
we really want to discuss that, right?
00:27:27
Anyway, let's.
00:27:29
Since we're sort of, in on doing
the interior,
00:27:31
let's talk about the driving position,
because there are some quirkiness.
00:27:34
I know I had plenty of headroom.
00:27:37
I thought the, and I, like I said,
I liked those overhead windows
00:27:40
that made the cabin more airy.
00:27:41
And I like the upright driving position.
00:27:44
Well, position.
00:27:45
Dead paddle.
00:27:46
But there's, some armrest issues.
00:27:49
Do you want to talk about that stuff?
Did you notice that, like how you.
00:27:52
There really isn't a a left,
an outer armrest?
00:27:55
Yeah.
00:27:55
I mean, it's the same thing
I do with my Volkswagen.
00:27:59
I could pop my,
00:28:01
But he's never symmetrical.
00:28:02
It's got to be symmetric.
Yeah, I need symmetrical.
00:28:04
So you're like this. Yeah.
But actually it's because there's.
00:28:07
So you're on the windowsill,
which luckily is not as high up
00:28:10
as most windowsills, but then, you know,
so you're sort of like this.
00:28:14
And because it's so wide though I didn't
find it that bad for shorter drives,
00:28:19
but I could see that
being on a longer drive,
00:28:21
I would definitely want some position
that I wasn't up like this whole time.
00:28:25
Do you know what I mean?
Yeah. Does that make sense?
00:28:26
I feel like it was really made to, like,
hop in and out and look at your line
00:28:30
and you know, this because, like,
on a longer drive, like, I took it up
00:28:34
in, mountains in Massachusetts
to goof around and,
00:28:41
yeah, it the seatback is so
00:28:43
flat, like,
I don't use the armrest as much.
00:28:47
I just usually kind of in weird
00:28:50
locations for me.
00:28:54
Sorry. Mr.
00:28:54
Symmetrical. It's okay. But.
00:28:57
Yeah, if you're asymmetrical,
you're asymmetrical.
00:28:59
It's all right, you know?
00:29:01
But, you know, I was just like.
00:29:03
Yeah,
there is no lumbar support on this day.
00:29:06
So now we're talking about the seat.
00:29:07
Yeah, that's what I was going to go knock
because I found,
00:29:10
I mean you had it for a weekend,
so you had
00:29:12
you were probably a lot longer than I was
just a duration, you know, for one drive.
00:29:15
But I was in it for like an hour
and change me an hour.
00:29:18
And I was the seat
started to fall apart a little bit.
00:29:20
I mean, they're not the best.
They're not great.
00:29:22
And try adjusting that seat back.
00:29:24
Yeah.
The lever, like way back here somewhere.
00:29:26
I know it's awkward.
00:29:27
It rotates backwards
from how you'd expect.
00:29:29
So most, you know,
you pop it down, you know,
00:29:33
and this was like whole backwards
for some reason that took off.
00:29:37
You know what you want.
00:29:37
And they're
they're all manual city documents.
00:29:39
I actually don't care if that's the
00:29:41
if that thing wasn't so awkward,
I wouldn't care.
00:29:43
But several people said
in the logbook, $90
00:29:46
and and not even the driver's seat
doesn't have power
00:29:49
adjustments, you know, but I well, if you
the water comes in the well,
00:29:53
there's water shouldn't come in because it
the doors are double sealed.
00:29:56
Yeah.
00:29:56
To seal so you can go through
how much water they said.
00:29:59
But but if you think about it,
you don't want with water does get in.
00:30:01
You don't want power seats
sitting in water, right.
00:30:04
So that's part of the reason it was
interesting was we did have heated seats.
00:30:07
So there is a plug under there.
00:30:09
I guess in theory they could
add power seats, but I wouldn't really.
00:30:13
That's true.
00:30:14
Want them?
00:30:14
The other thing is the steering wheel
just doesn't tilt down enough.
00:30:18
So you it's like in this bus
like position,
00:30:20
even at its lowest, it's
kind of kind of weird.
00:30:22
I don't know, is set to,
Okay, let's talk about noise.
00:30:25
I wrote down
noise. Noise, noise stuff. Go.
00:30:29
Wind noise, tire noise.
00:30:31
You're forcing a big brick
with a lot of that.
00:30:34
What?
00:30:34
I like that there's a lot of attachment
points, like there's, you know, rails
00:30:38
down the side of the car
that you can stick, you know, fuel cans
00:30:41
or whatever you want,
but it makes a crapload of noise.
00:30:47
Pushing a boxer too early.
00:30:48
You just said it. Yeah.
00:30:49
And there's kind of aggressive tires on it
there.
00:30:52
BFG, co k2's, all terrain tires.
00:30:55
So these are, like, knobby.
00:30:56
They're not designed to be quiet.
00:30:57
They're designed to get you out of mud
and stuff. So.
00:30:59
Yeah, they're making some noise
and, Yeah, it's just it's noisy, but I.
00:31:04
I'll be honest,
00:31:05
I didn't think it was terrible
because considering what the vehicle is,
00:31:07
I was expecting it
to be kind of a little bit loud.
00:31:09
You know.
00:31:10
So I didn't think it was terrible
either, except I noticed a couple of,
00:31:13
of, like, there's this low
frequency reverb reverberation
00:31:17
that I noticed in the vehicle,
and it was so funny.
00:31:20
Like, I couldn't even really figure out
if it was tires, if it was powertrain.
00:31:24
And and Tanya hadn't noticed.
It is my girlfriend I'm talking about.
00:31:27
And then once I told her, I said,
listen for that, can you hear that?
00:31:29
And then she couldn't unhear
for the rest of the drive.
00:31:32
She was mad at me
because I told her about it.
00:31:34
And also around 1700 to 2000 rpm.
00:31:37
There's like a gritty vibration
00:31:39
you can feel through the steering wheel
and the gas pedal. That's engine related.
00:31:43
And then, you know, like I said,
00:31:45
there's lots of wind noise above 55 miles
an hour, tons of wind noise.
00:31:48
Not to Wrangler levels,
00:31:49
but it's it's going to be a noisy
vehicle on a, on a road trip.
00:31:53
It's, you know, on the highway, it's
going to be a noisy vehicle
00:31:55
and then you'll even even the powertrain
at 70, it's there the whole time.
00:31:59
You know, it's not not obnoxious,
but it's there.
00:32:01
So I noticed and maybe you guys did
two regular road driving impacts
00:32:06
like like bumps
have a like a good amount of noise.
00:32:09
Like some cavity
noise from the tire maybe. Yeah, exactly.
00:32:12
It was like kind of booming in the. Yeah.
00:32:14
And that became,
that was one of the things
00:32:15
I started like paying attention to it
and then I couldn't unhear it, you know.
00:32:19
Yeah. Yeah.
00:32:20
So that's but again,
this thing is a, it's a body on the body.
00:32:24
Thank you guys for your like.
00:32:25
And it handles like
one. Yeah. So rides like one.
00:32:29
Okay.
00:32:29
Not as much body roll as I expected
it, actually.
00:32:32
Yeah. I kind of agree with you.
00:32:34
I thought it would be
00:32:34
just like this roly poly beast,
and it's really pretty handling
00:32:38
was if you take if the steering was,
you take that out of the equation.
00:32:43
It's actually not that bad.
00:32:44
No, but the steering kind of ruins
the all the on road handling.
00:32:46
But I agree with you
the suspension wise in terms of body roll.
00:32:49
And it's not too bad.
00:32:50
Yeah. Okay.
00:32:51
So is there anything we've forgotten or.
00:32:55
No gauge pod?
00:32:57
Yeah, it's over the speed.
00:32:59
Oh, yeah. Is over here
on the central screen.
00:33:01
Yeah. That's annoying.
I that's not good. Yeah.
00:33:03
I think they could have done something
that they have turn signals right here.
00:33:07
And a couple of headlights
and turn signals.
00:33:09
Right are here running lights.
00:33:10
If you turn off any of the safety systems
like lane keep assist.
00:33:13
Well, I don't want that going off
on a narrow country road.
00:33:17
You get a warning
like like something's wrong.
00:33:19
And I'm just like,
oh, I know I turned it off.
00:33:22
I don't really know what I'd like
to see here is, you know, speed,
00:33:26
maybe RPM, maybe, you know, a great
something related
00:33:30
to the operation of the truck.
00:33:31
And I,
00:33:32
I know they said
it was for better visibility out,
00:33:35
but I think they still could have done
something a little.
00:33:37
Yeah. Yeah.
00:33:38
Or just like, even just like a bar,
like my mom's old won't be able had, like,
00:33:42
bring it back. Yeah.
00:33:44
That being said, I mean, you don't drive
this thing very quickly anyway.
00:33:47
Yeah, he's
00:33:47
not really a big issue,
but it would be nice
00:33:49
to have something where even
I just like to see RPM.
00:33:52
And you want me to stop
me too. Yeah. All right. So,
00:33:56
Well, everything we've talked
00:33:57
about, the goods and the bads.
00:34:01
Are you guys spending $90
on this thing,
00:34:03
or is there something else
that you're spending $90,
00:34:06
or is there two vehicles
that you're buying for $90?
00:34:10
Ryan. So let's start with you.
00:34:12
What are you doing here?
Are you buying this thing?
00:34:13
You're buying something else
entirely or one?
00:34:15
I will just
there's a million scenarios, right?
00:34:16
I am, I was extremely, well wealthy.
00:34:18
I can have
I can have a bunch of cars. Yeah.
00:34:20
I buy one of these things
as my only vehicle.
00:34:22
No, I would not, I would, I wouldn't,
I'd buy like a maybe a jack serve,
00:34:28
something like.
00:34:28
Oh, yeah.
00:34:29
Yeah, something. Yeah. Well,
this has more road manners.
00:34:31
You're driving this thing on road
90% of the time. Let's be real, right?
00:34:35
However, if I did,
you know, you did live somewhere crazy
00:34:37
and you needed something like this,
I would.
00:34:38
Yeah, this thing would be cool, right?
00:34:40
I'd have to do a lot of sacrifice,
00:34:42
so getting in and out of it
is the biggest thing for me. Yeah.
00:34:45
And then,
you know, the rest of the little thing
00:34:46
nuances we were talking about, but. Right.
00:34:48
I love what they did with this thing.
00:34:50
I think it's so awesome.
00:34:51
And every time I see one now,
00:34:52
it's like, cool because I got to drive it
so I can appreciate a little more.
00:34:55
So yeah, I just it's
nice to see the don't make and cars
00:34:59
a little bit different, you know.
00:35:00
Yeah. Steph, what about you?
00:35:02
You are you buying this or,
I mean, what if I had a fifth car?
00:35:07
Okay, that's the thing though.
00:35:09
It wasn't your only vehicle, like.
00:35:11
Yeah,
and you had a ton of money toys every day.
00:35:13
And one of the one of the gentlemen
that they daily drive
00:35:15
these things, I'm like, that's
so that could be tiring after a while.
00:35:18
Yeah, yeah, I mean, I would want it.
00:35:21
It's on depreciation watch. Hello.
00:35:24
Yes I know I would use one
so I like have you,
00:35:26
have you looked at
what are they going. Yeah.
00:35:28
I think they were in the 60s. Really.
00:35:30
Yeah. Yeah.
00:35:32
Hopefully they depreciate a lot for us.
00:35:34
Yeah, yeah.
00:35:35
But I like that they,
00:35:38
they emphasized repairability, like.
00:35:40
And they even said, like,
00:35:42
we want to make this
unless we absolutely have to change it.
00:35:45
You want to make the same vehicle
for 30 years.
00:35:48
They, they've license the the powertrain
components from BMW for like till 2030.
00:35:53
So that's even going to be around a lot.
00:35:56
Some of the
00:35:56
updates that they've done
have been in response to owner feedback.
00:36:00
It's not just going in a black hole,
so you're able to turn off the speed
00:36:05
limit warning
that they have to have for Europe,
00:36:09
that we don't have to have
and that we find really, really annoying.
00:36:13
It's the one setting on that
like safety screen.
00:36:16
It actually latches.
00:36:17
So I'm like, okay, well maybe there's hope
that they update the other things.
00:36:22
You know, in response to owner feedback
would.
00:36:27
Yeah. It's unique.
00:36:28
It's you know,
there's a bajillion like G wagons around
00:36:32
and that kind of nicer off road
ish space cute retro vehicles.
00:36:37
There's a bajillion defenders out there.
00:36:40
Range Rovers, whatever.
00:36:43
This is something unique.
00:36:44
And of people are like, what is that?
00:36:47
Yeah.
00:36:48
Yeah, I, I think, I mean, I enjoy
00:36:50
driving it,
but I enjoy driving old Truckie vehicles.
00:36:53
Yeah, right.
00:36:54
Some of us enjoy that,
but it is a lot in every way.
00:36:59
Right?
00:36:59
It's expensive, it's
inefficient, it's noisy, it's
00:37:02
ergonomically odd, full of quirks
that I think.
00:37:06
Let's be realistic.
00:37:06
This is a luxury SUV.
00:37:08
You know, they can they can
they can say it's off road.
00:37:10
It's off road intended. Whatever.
00:37:12
But that's probably not
who's buying it right.
00:37:15
Maybe hopefully some are buying it.
00:37:16
But the reality is it's
00:37:18
if it isn't now, it probably will become
some kind of a status symbol.
00:37:22
And so I think it's important
that people know what the vehicle's
00:37:26
really like to live with.
00:37:27
And I'm going to
00:37:27
and I'm going to read a quote
from the logbook from Maddie McCarty.
00:37:32
Okay. So Maddie McCarty is on the podcast.
00:37:35
Obviously,
she's in charge of all of our Adas
00:37:37
testing, advanced driver
assistance systems and usability,
00:37:40
and she's in all of our vehicles.
She spends a lot of time on them.
00:37:43
And but she's not someone who,
you know, is, a high performance driver.
00:37:48
And she's not, you know, doesn't love
going off road, necessarily.
00:37:51
Those aren't her areas. But,
00:37:54
she said
00:37:55
I did not like
driving this vehicle on the road at all.
00:37:58
It feels unrefined and demanding
normal use, and
00:38:01
I needed to adjust my driving more
than I have in any other vehicle.
00:38:04
I felt disconnected from the surroundings,
00:38:06
especially because of the steering
behavior, poor visibility, lack of blind
00:38:10
spot warning, unsettling
Adas intervention, the day to day
00:38:14
experience was dominated by noise, effort,
discomfort and a lack of confidence.
00:38:18
Now, I only say that as a caveat
because we love.
00:38:22
We love blind.
00:38:23
We love driving this vehicle.
00:38:24
Yeah, but we're not everybody.
00:38:27
And it's important that your regular,
everyday person is looking for a
00:38:31
little bit of a status symbol
and something unique.
00:38:33
This you're not necessarily going to love
driving this vehicle every day
00:38:36
because you're exactly right. She's right.
00:38:37
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, okay.
00:38:40
Last question for what I wanted. Sorry.
00:38:42
Go ahead.
00:38:43
I did appreciate the CentOS seven 7000.
00:38:46
I think 7000 or 7 700
or something like those a lot,
00:38:50
which I thought was quite capable,
which was something I would be like.
00:38:52
Well, that's pretty good.
That's a good amount of weight. Right. So.
00:38:55
So I just want to now, one last thing
before we move up, wrap this up.
00:38:59
Ryan,
00:39:01
I'm not going to hold you to it, but
00:39:02
how would this fare in, if we tested it,
how would you guys who would fare?
00:39:05
Would be.
00:39:06
It would be bad score, road
test. Score wise.
00:39:08
It would not. We're looking at, like,
Wrangler level. Yeah.
00:39:11
Because of all the compromises and quirks.
Yeah. Yeah.
00:39:14
I mean it starts
with getting in the thing, right?
00:39:16
Right off the bat. It's got a high floor.
We talked about this.
00:39:19
Yeah.
00:39:19
Yeah, it's going to do well,
and we knew that we, we,
00:39:21
we when we approached them, it was like
we were not really looking to test it.
00:39:25
We want to know
so we can have information on it
00:39:27
just so people can come
and, you know, read about it.
00:39:29
And we just like, we're nerds,
we want to drive this.
00:39:31
And we wanted to drive it.
00:39:32
We wanted to have some fun and we did it.
00:39:34
Like I said, we we I think most people
really enjoy driving it.
00:39:38
But there are some things that they did
much of this to appease consumers.
00:39:41
Okay.
00:39:42
So what makes a good off
road is what would make it bad
00:39:47
in our test times,
like ride height and scary.
00:39:51
Yeah. So, staff is hard at work, right?
00:39:54
In a first drive on this that's going
to be up on Korg Consumer reports.org.
00:39:58
So make sure you check that out.
00:40:00
And with that, let's move on
to our audience question of the week.
00:40:04
And speaking of those questions, folks,
don't forget the best place to send us
00:40:08
your questions, comments, video
clips is talking cars at Icloud.com.
00:40:13
So and then remember, if we
if you send in such an awesome question
00:40:18
that producer Dave Abrams chooses
your question and we use it on the show,
00:40:22
you will get sent some CR swag.
00:40:24
I mean, which is pretty awesome.
So major life a comment.
00:40:27
What an incentive, right?
00:40:29
So and don't forget
we love, love those video questions.
00:40:32
As John Stockbridge used to say,
no one believes me that.
00:40:34
She used to say that.
00:40:35
But she used to say, doesn't
that sound like Jen Stock Burger?
00:40:37
We love, love those video questions.
Love, love. Yes.
00:40:39
Okay okay.
00:40:40
So our question today is from Chaz
in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
00:40:45
This is really interesting.
00:40:46
Chaz says I own a 2014
BMW 328 D that I love,
00:40:52
but it's starting to approach
the end of its life due to repairs
00:40:54
that would be needed to its emissions
system.
00:40:57
What are my options for offloading a car
that won't pass emissions tests
00:41:00
in many states, and would cost far more
to repair than it's worth?
00:41:04
Stuff.
00:41:06
Help Chaz out here. What's the answer?
00:41:08
You're probably going to want to,
you know,
00:41:11
instead of trading in a new dealership,
if you want to, like, maximize
00:41:14
how much money you'll get, you'll probably
want to go to, like, do a private sale,
00:41:20
sell it on a BMW for or Facebook
00:41:24
Marketplace or,
you know, Craigslist, local classifieds
00:41:28
and just deal directly with the buyer
because a lot of them don't care,
00:41:34
about the issues
that they're going to be dealing with.
00:41:36
What if I got a fifth car?
00:41:38
Well, wouldn't
that be a six? Wouldn't that be sixth?
00:41:40
I thought the Grenadier was fifth.
This is six.
00:41:43
I might be able to afford this one first.
00:41:45
But, you know, BMW,
you sell it on a BMW form.
00:41:49
Dudes might just have that part
lying around.
00:41:51
There's got to be.
00:41:52
Yeah, I would imagine that was a great car
that I love that do the diesel, that car
00:41:56
that was like an awesome car.
00:41:58
I there's got to be
I didn't look into this,
00:41:59
but there's got
00:42:00
to be like a little culty group out there
that into fixing these things up.
00:42:04
And they know the cheats around it.
There's always a way around things. Right.
00:42:06
So I would imagine
like someone would be looking for that
00:42:09
or yeah, you but private sales
I was going to make the most I would say.
00:42:13
And it might even if it's just parts,
there's a lot of parts in that car.
00:42:16
They're probably still good to keep.
00:42:17
So I would figure out the exact problem.
00:42:21
Or, you know, you could always just say,
00:42:24
as is, I'm having emissions issues.
00:42:27
It won't pass inspection.
00:42:28
Right. You know, good luck.
00:42:30
Yeah just me but
but yeah I actually we have a used vehicle
00:42:33
valuation tool on Consumer Reports, dawg.
00:42:37
And I actually like priced out
the difference between trading it in
00:42:40
which, you know, if you don't
want to deal with the million.
00:42:44
Is this still available?
Is this still available?
00:42:47
Oh, from private parties.
00:42:48
So yeah, messages from random people.
00:42:50
And you just want to,
you know, take the hit and train it in.
00:42:53
Well, you know, depending on
whether it classifies as rough or average,
00:42:58
you know, you'll get 2100 ish
00:43:02
to about 3900 ish as a trade in.
00:43:05
Or if you go private party
sale, it's about 43,
00:43:09
50 to 60,
200 is the range that it pulled up.
00:43:13
So I mean, you'll take a couple
thousand dollars in a hit if you do it
00:43:17
as a trade in, but then, you know, you're
that's basically the convenience fee.
00:43:21
Yeah. Trade ins always like that way.
00:43:23
Yeah. No matter what it is.
00:43:25
All right.
00:43:26
So Chaz
hopefully that helps you out a little bit.
00:43:28
That is going to do it for this episode.
00:43:30
But before we go, we just for those of you
that don't know,
00:43:33
Consumer Reports
is a nonprofit organization.
00:43:37
If you notice on our website,
we don't have any ads.
00:43:39
And unlike most automotive media outlets,
we buy all of our own test vehicles.
00:43:43
Right. And that costs a lot of money.
00:43:45
So, we survive, through subscriptions,
through donations.
00:43:49
And if you, watch us on YouTube,
we actually have a donate button.
00:43:53
So you can give us a little.
You can give us a lot.
00:43:56
That'd be even better.
00:43:57
But anything you do to help us, means
00:44:00
we can keep doing what we do,
which is try to give you the most,
00:44:03
thorough and unbiased, road
tests, of everything.
00:44:07
Every vehicle that we can possibly test.
00:44:09
So help us out if you can.
00:44:10
And we really appreciate it.
00:44:12
Now, that really is it for this episode.
00:44:14
If you want to learn more about the topics
and the vehicles we talked about
00:44:17
and click on the links in the show
notes, don't forget to send us those
00:44:20
questions comments videos to Talking Cars
at icloud.com.
00:44:24
As always,
this video was produced by Dave Abrams
00:44:27
and it was edited by Andrew Police
and Anatoly Chomsky.
00:44:30
Thanks so much for watching
and we'll see you all next week.