2024 Ineos Grenadier Fieldmaster SUVOTY Review: Mostly Ridiculous, Totally Cool

What happens when a petroleum billionaire who happens to be a classic Land Rover Defender fanboy gets rejected when he tries to resurrect the Defender on its deathbed? You get the 2024 Ineos Grenadier FieldMaster, his own take on the original Land Rover 4x4 and one of the most curious vehicles in some time. The Grenadier has no interest in how modern life has redefined what an SUV is and can be. Instead it looks to reach back to the roots of the term.

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Fashioned after the rugged SUVs of old, not only the aforementioned Defender but also the Hummer H1, G-Class, and others, it wants you to think that it’s a decommissioned military vehicle repurposed for civilian life. In reality, it’s just nostalgia-fueled wish fulfillment, though we aren’t knocking it for that.

We think it’s unlikely that anyone looking at the Ineos Grenadier FieldMaster would confuse it for a classic Land Rover Defender, but we can certainly see the inspiration. It has the same utilitarian charm with few modern exterior design elements outside of its lighting, so we wouldn’t blame anyone for thinking the Grenadier is from the last century, not this one.

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That retro charm is amplified inside, with military-style buttons, knobs, and other switchgear making us feel like we’re on an expedition with Dr. Jones to find an ancient artifact or teaming up with G.I. Joe to take on Destro and his evil Cobra forces. Those illusions are cracked by the very obvious, very modern BMW gear shifter, which looks oddly out of place amid the analog bits.

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The novelty of the look and layout fades quickly once underway. Ineos sources the B58 3.0-liter inline-six engine from BMW, and it simply isn’t powerful enough for the SUV’s heft. The six's 258 horsepower and 331 lb-ft of torque lug around about 5,900 pounds of Grenadier, and you can tell the engine’s straining.

Then there’s the steering. We’re not sure if Ineos is leaning too hard into the retro vibe or if it's a genuine miss, but the steering is terrible. Dangerously slow to react to inputs, the rack suffers a glacial ratio, and it can feel like there’s time to read a book in the time between cranking the steering wheel and when the Ineos actually turns. Worse, the steering doesn’t return itself to center after a turn, leading to lots of arm-flailing in everyday driving scenarios around town.

As you’d expect, the Grenadier FieldMaster performs well off-road. It would be pretty horrible if it didn’t, right? Gravel, sand, and dirt are no problem for the FieldMaster, but it does make an excessive amount of noise when at work. Creaks, squeaks, and rattles form the dominant soundtrack when bouncing around in the dirt.

We could say more, but by now we think you get the point. The 2024 Ineos Grenadier FieldMaster is a fun, quirky blast from the past, but unless your daily commute is over the mountain and through the woods, it’s just not well-rounded enough to progress in our SUV of the Year competition.

This review was conducted as part of our 2025 SUV of the Year (SUVOTY) testing, where each vehicle is evaluated on our six key criteria: efficiency, design, safety, engineering excellence, value, and performance of intended function. Eligible vehicles must be all-new or significantly revised.