2026 Ineos Grenadier First Drive: Steering Changes and Real-World Driving

My preferred car wash is 0.6 mile away from the Rusnak Ineos dealership in Pasadena, California, the only Ineos dealer serving Los Angeles. As such, I encounter a fair number of Ineos Grenadier owners on a routine basis. I always ask them how they like their Grenadiers, and the answer, while admittedly anecdotal, is always the same: “The turning radius sucks!”

That summary is shorthand for a larger problem—Ineos’ tough, off-road-first approach to making cars gave the Grenadier vague, non-centering steering and a comically naval turning radius most owners dislike or outright hate. Ineos’ North American president, George Ratcliffe, the son of billionaire Ineos Automotive founder and owner Jim Ratcliffe, began the introduction of the updated 2026 Grenadiers by stressing that Ineos is a brand that listens to its customers. So yes, for the 2026 model year the steering is changed. Details in a moment.

George Ratcliffe went on to say Ineos is having a little moment. The company has sold 30,000 Grenadiers worldwide since launching in 2023. And since bringing the brand to the U.S. in ’24, 12,000 Americans have purchased one. Not bad for a charming though expensive anachronism of an SUV and a chicken-taxed pickup that costs more. Back to the anecdotal evidence—and I’m fully aware Southern California is a bubble, so take it for what it is—there are certain days when it feels like Grenadiers are conquering the city. They’re sort of just ... everywhere suddenly. By the end of 2026 there will be nearly 50 Ineos dealerships in North America.

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What’s New?

Because all those dealers want to sell even more trucks and SUVs, a Grenadier refresh was in order. But before we talk about the steering, Ineos made a few other changes worth mentioning.

First, it added the word “GRENADIER” to the spare tire cover in large letters. Ineos thinks this will somehow stop most people from thinking they’re looking at a Land Rover of some sort. I’ll bet the new signage won’t clear anything up for most Americans, as I still meet folks on the regular who ask me if Tesla builds Rivians. Ineos also added seat nets on the back of the front seats, because a constant customer complaint is the lack of cabin storage. We can file this one under “the least Ineos could do.”

Despite the brand’s intentional modern primitive pretensions, Ineos is being dragged toward modernity via legislation. As such, all 2026 Grenadiers receive drips and drops of ADAS, specifically front crash warning and lane keeping assists. Ineos calls the latter “ELK,” which stands for Emergency Lane Keep.

The rigs use a Bosch system that late-model Mercedes-Benz owners are all too familiar with. Essentially, as you cross a solid line, the opposite side rear brake activates, firmly dragging the Grenadier back into the lane. It’s jarring at first, but you get used to it. Like the annoying (though mandatory in Europe) beep you get every time you violate the speed limit, ELK can be switched off. However, ELK must be switched off again every time you start a Grenadier; the speed warning annoyance, on the other hand, is one and done for as long as you own the Grenadier. Because the planet continues warming and the weather gets ever wilder, Ineos installed a new, more powerful HVAC unit, along with new software. The results are chillingly good, as the 85-degree January beach weather we encountered in Malibu was thwarted easily.

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Right, but What About the Steering?

Of course, the steering is the only change for 2026 that really matters. If you’re unfamiliar, Grenadiers use a recirculating ball steering box—as opposed to a rack-and-pinion setup like most modern passenger vehicles—that was chosen because it gives you finer control at 1 mph in mud. On top of that, Ineos chose to go with closed steering knuckles, a bulletproof solution that will keep snakes out of your U-joints at the cost of increasing the turning radius. Jeep abandoned closed-knuckle steering in 1977, if you wondered. The result of all this agrarian steering technology was a vehicle without self-centering steering and with a turning radius customers hated.

Ineos at least partially fixed the Grenadier’s steering woes for 2026. The basics remain the same, but the worm gear inside the steering box is altered for a much quicker ratio for the first 22 degrees in either direction. After that, the steering ratio is back to how things were—tuned for dirt. Additionally, the turning radius decreased by 5 percent, and the hydraulic power steering is recalibrated to feel more like a normal passenger vehicle.

The results are an improvement. Not a massive one but one that will win over some fence sitters. Around town, the 2026 Grenadier drives more conventionally than before. The steering still doesn’t self-center like a regular truck or SUV, but it’s improved. Also, the centering seems to be speed dependent. If you’re turning right from a stop sign, for instance, the wheel begins to unwind back toward center slowly, though it ramps up as you hit 22 degrees. Still, you must catch it as it touches center. If you’re moving at a higher speed—say on a circular freeway on-ramp—the steering seems to center itself well enough. That said, I had my wife drive the Ineos around the block to see what she thought. “I hate it,” she said. “What’s with the steering? Why doesn’t it center?” After I explained to her that non-centering steering gives you finer control off-road, well, I can’t share what she said, but she didn’t agree with my explanation.

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In old Grenadiers (2024 and 2025 models), twisty roads were to be avoided. The revised steering gear makes a massive difference here. To illustrate this, Ineos comically routed us onto Decker Canyon Road, the absolute twistiest road in Malibu, and much to my total surprise, the Grenadier Quartermaster I happened to be driving did great.

The Quartermaster is what Ineos calls its pickup truck, also revised for 2026, and it has a 10.0-inch-longer wheelbase than the station wagon, what Ineos calls the SUV. One note: For the sake of simplicity, Ineos does not include native map software; it relies instead on Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. This is a decent solution if you have cellphone coverage. Once we got onto Decker Canyon, however, we had none and suddenly had no route to follow. This is an odd problem for such a go-anywhere machine to have.

Even More About the Steering

What many owners never realize is that Grenadiers have both hydraulic steering bump stops in addition to actual bump stops. Turning the wheel to what feels like all the way will first hit the hydraulic stop. Give it some muscle (keep turning), and you can push through that first stop and reach the actual, physical stop. Doing so requires lots of elbow grease, sure, but just think of it as extra analogue. Even without resorting to a bicep workout, and while driving the longer-wheelbase Quartermaster, I attempted a U-turn that before this 2026 update would have been at least a three-point turn. Guess what? The 2026 Grenadier performed a perfectly acceptable U-turn. It’s still not as tidy as, say, a Hummer EV with all-wheel steering, but it’s not bad.

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Speaking of perfectly acceptable, bopping around the upscale versions of suburbia that are Calabasas, Westlake Village, and Malibu—yep, that’s Kardashian country—the Grenadier felt at home. To paraphrase former MotorTrend boss Angus Mackenzie, you could show up to the opera in one caked in mud, just like a Range Rover. And the ride quality, even on beefy Grenadier-specific BFGoodrich KO3 tires, is better than it ought to be. Especially when you consider that the two live Carraro beam axles were originally designed for tractors.

What About the Drivetrain?

The BMW-sourced 3.0-liter inline-six remains a smart choice here. Rated at 282 horsepower and 332 lb-ft of torque and running through the ubiquitous ZF eight-speed automatic transmission, the B58 engine allows the Grenadier to flow with traffic. Need to get ahead? Kick it down, and there’s enough grunt to pass the minivan next to you. Quick? Not even kinda. The first one we tested (a 2024 model) hit 60 mph in 8.9 seconds and got through the quarter mile in 16.8. Yet somehow that doesn’t matter, especially as once you’re rolling, the Ineos feels much better than our numbers indicate.

Are there versions of the BMW B58 that make more power? Yes. Would, could Ineos sell a bunch of tuned-up (for lack of a better name) Grenadier Sports for more money? Certainly; just look to the Mercedes-Benz G63 outselling the G550 as proof. But doing things the normal way seems to go against the company’s ethos. The trouble is, Ineos has done a poor job getting the word out about why its vehicles are built the way they are.

The Real Point

You must take the Grenadier off-road to fully understand it. The more severe the road, the better. I’ve rarely driven a more dirt-capable vehicle. Maybe a Unimog? Sure, a Ford Bronco Raptor can climb bigger boulders, but the Yank tank will absolutely get bogged down in English mud and muck that the Grenadier is designed to sail through. Case in point: On the off-road portion of this Ineos experience, the company set up a muddy obstacle for us to get stuck in. We were to drive down into a mud pit in four low with just the center differential locked, get stuck, and then turn on the front and rear diff locks to get unstuck. Trouble was, I couldn’t get the station wagon stuck and wound up easily powering my way out of the pit with a bit of right boot, showering the poor Ineos engineer standing next to the Grenadier in mud as I did so. Oops.

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The off-road course was pretty tough—mud, loose dirt, rocks, some felled trees to crawl over, hill climbs, pretty good sideways angles—and would challenge most production 4x4s. The new Toyota 4Runner and Landcruiser jumped to mind. But I don’t think we even scratched the surface of what the Ineos Grenadier is capable of.

Another example: Ineos built a gnarly frame twister, which is a series of staggered pits that causes the vehicle’s live axles to show off their articulation on opposite sides at the same time. If the passenger-side front wheel is tucked all the way up into the fender, the passenger-side rear is at full extension. This particular obstacle became more severe as you went forward until full articulation was reached.

The idea was to go through the first couple ruts, park yourself so that only two tires were in contact with the ground. When I drove through the frame twister, I stopped with my passenger front and driver-side rear wheels on dirt, and the poor mud-splattered Ineos engineer would show off the rig’s 50/50 weight distribution by rocking the truck up and down with his hands. We were then to engage the front and rear lockers and finish the obstacle. When I was out of range of the vehicle filming my colleagues doing the same thing, I noticed one guy who not only didn’t stop to get rocked but also looked like he made it without locking the diffs. When I asked him if he had indeed done so, he said, “Nope” with a smile. In other words, Grenadiers are way more capable than most owners will ever need.

More Charming Than Ever

Yes, whether it’s the Station Wagon or the Quartermaster, SUV or truck, the 2026 Ineos Grenadier continues its charm offensive. Easy to dismiss as a Land Rover Defender wannabe, these off-road brutes are much more. It would have been easy for Ineos to make a weak vehicle that resembled the old Defender and call it a day. But having driven a handful of old Defenders, I submit that Ineos has surpassed its inspiration with the Grenadier. These creations are heart-attack-serious off-road beasts, whose purity of purpose is not only admirable but inspiring.

Sure, for 2026 Ineos made a few concessions toward civility—improved steering, a tighter turning circle, crazy-powerful air conditioning—but underneath the skin lies one of the most capable vehicles on sale today. These are rigs that could run the Camel Trophy stock, and ones you can now more easily get through a Taco Bell drive-thru.