Some cars’ personalities take a while to decipher, though that has never been the case with the towering Ineos Grenadier Quartermaster. The pick-up variant of Ineos’s core station wagon offering sits in the N1 commercial vehicle class and is designed to be immensely tough, immensely useful and rich in the kind of old-world character the Land Rover Defender has relinquished.
At a glance, there’s nothing to suggest it can’t heartily tick all of those boxes, and indeed when we first drove one of these cars in 2024, we liked it, though our praise was qualified. We are returning to the Quartermaster now firstly because Ineos has introduced a number of improvements for the 2026 model year, as well as a £72,000 Black Edition trim level, as seen and tested here. There is also the fact that the diesel engine has yet to go under the road test microscope (it was a petrol we previously tested), which feels like an omission for a car of this ilk.
These are tough cars. Solid axles are supplied by agricultural experts Carraro, and the ladder chassis is made of thick steel, of which there is more beneath the Quartermaster than the station wagon, on account of a wheelbase some 305mm longer. Overall length grows by more than half a metre to 5440mm, making the pick-up noticeably longer than even a BMW X7.
The bed itself is comfortably big enough for a Euro pallet, at 1530mm long and 1270mm wide at the opening. (Note the rear door can itself hold 225kg when open.) . The Quartermaster has a maximum 835kg payload, but that’s for the petrol variant with the lightest options. The heavier diesel has a base weight of 2740kg and carries 760kg. Our diesel test car, generously optioned and with its 90-litre fuel tank brimmed, was 2896kg. No, this is not a light car. In fact, it’s 650kg or so heavier than a four-cylinder double-cab Toyota Hilux and you do feel that heft.
The Grenadier has six cylinders, of course, supplied by BMW and aided by a single turbo. Power outputs are unchanged at 282bhp for the petrol and 246bhp for the diesel, which makes up for the deficit with 407lb ft turning over from 1250rpm. Downstream sits an eight-speed automatic gearbox and a locking centre diff. If you want locking diffs on the axles, you need to option the Rough Pack. This isn’t available on the luxurious Black Edition Quartermaster, which is geared more to the ‘urban user’.
Mechanically, the Quartermaster is mostly as it was, though Ineos, stung by harsh criticism, has modified the car’s recirculating-ball steering with the aim of making it more precise and responsive through the 90deg arc around dead centre. It has also altered the car’s bump stops in a bid to rein in what was a tanker-sized turning circle.
The Quartermaster’s interior is no different from the Grenadier’s, which means panoramic visibility, a low window line and a sense of space that’s enhanced if roof-mounted ‘safari windows’ have been fitted (as in our test car). The Grenadier’s designers have chosen to lean into a flight deck ambience. While an array of climate controls is built into a hardy-looking panel on the centre console, switchgear relating to off-road activities is on an overhead panel.
Here, you will also find chunky, pre-wired toggle switches for any auxiliary accessories fitted either inside (additional USB points) or outside (40in light bar, for example). All the switchgear is supersized for use with gloves, and while the BMW-sourced central display can be touch-controlled, there’s also a large rotary control on the transmission tunnel. The OS is clearly not cutting edge, mind, hence the latency.
Ergonomics are generally good. Ineos’s unfortunate four-month production hiatus off the back of supplier Recaro’s insolvency was worth working through: the front seats are commendably comfy, though the driving position remains upright—something that is even more true for back-row passengers. As for the load bed, it optionally includes a secure exterior lock box and is competitive in its dimensions. Some alternatives offer a greater payload, but no rival does much better than the Quartermaster in terms of length.
Don’t be too disheartened by our as-tested 0-62mph time of 10.1sec. In reality, the diesel Quartermaster, even with its meagre power-to-weight ratio of 90bhp per tonne, feels adequately brisk if you’re prepared to properly stoke its six-cylinder BMW motor. Just be ready for how gravelly and unrefined it can sound under load. This is really not your typical BMW 640d M Sport expérience—not in noise, performance or the faint driveline shunt sometimes experienced when gradually hauling to a standstill.
In many ways, we prefer the Grenadier with the petrol engine. It is smoother and more enjoyable to extend and was able to propel the Grenadier station wagon we road tested in 2023 to 60mph in an impressive eight seconds dead. However, it most certainly plays second fiddle to the diesel when it comes to economy, as we’ll see.
That petrol station wagon’s 2023 test also provides interesting brake data. Despite 214kg of extra bulk and colder conditions, our pick-up hauled from 70mph 2.8m sooner, thanks to its Bridgestone Dueler tyres. The station wagon wore chunkier BF Goodriches.
We have tested the Grenadier in numerous guises and in terrain of varying severity and it is among the toughest series-production vehicles out there, with excellent axle articulation, even if it is heavier than ideal on steeper slopes, where the petrol unit can get quite breathless.
Note also that the length increase has some ramifications for the Quartermaster’s off-road credentials, which are the same as the station wagon’s in terms of wade depth (800mm officially, apparently with another 80mm in reserve), ground clearance (264mm) and approach angle (35.5deg). However, the breakover angle is down from 28.2deg to 26.2deg and the departure angle is notably reduced from 36.1deg to 22.6deg.
The Black Edition, as a more louche and lifestyle-focused Quartermaster, isn’t the model to have if you plan on beasting away from closed surfaces. It lacks the more serious tyres from BP Goodrich (updated to KO3s for 2026) and the locking differentials at each end of the car, which you might expect as standard at this price.
Now we get to the most pertinent question: has Ineos addressed our chief criticism of the original Grenadier, in all its forms, and improved the steering? In the main, yes. The ratio is now variable—it’s quicker for the first 45deg of travel either side of centre due to modifications to the grooves of the worm gear. The result is better response and precision on the road but still with no risk of thumb-snapping kickback when traversing ruts and rocks.
The new steering box is also designed to give better self-centring. One of the frustrations with the original Grenadier’s steering was the way lock had to be wound off post-apex with the urgency of bailing water from a sinking skiff. It’s still not perfect, and our feeling is that the scope of the improvements is more discernible in the station wagon than the pick-up, but it is unquestionably improved.
What hasn’t changed is the springing, though the Grenadier’s ride quality was never a particular problem for us in light of the vehicle’s construction and its utilitarian reason for being. So it will still list generously if you tip it into bends too enthusiastically and it does not, in short, exhibit the miraculously car-like handling that the monocoque-based Land Rover Defender does. Equally, it has better road manners than many a traditional pick-up in the mould of the Toyota Hilux, if only by a small margin.
We didn’t mind driving it long distances—think three or four hours in the saddle—even if the breeze-block frontal area does translate to 70dBA at 70mph, which is not in any way quiet. In general, only supercars are louder at a cruise. Know also that the Grenadier remains a tricky car to drive in town, particularly in Quartermaster guise. If you get the entry to a tight right-angle turn wrong, you will need to three-point it, which is humiliating. A 14.5m turning circle remains among the biggest around.
As a (potentially) commercial pick-up costing more than £70k, the Quartermaster Black Edition unsurprisingly doesn’t have many direct rivals. Or indeed any unless you are willing to include the highly extroverted Isuzu D-Max AT35 in your reckoning, breathed on as it is by Arctic Trucks, to dramatic effect. You don’t have to have the top-of-the-range model, of course. A basic version starts at £64,495, which is considerably more than even a top-spec 2.8-litre Hilux, but then you are getting more cylinders and, frankly, a lot more fun and individuality.
Were it our Quartermaster order heading to the factory at Hambach, we would lean into the Out of Africa vibe and opt for a Trialmaster Edition (the rugged one, basically) in a classic colour like Sela Green, on the 17in steelies, and with Safari windows, which would add £1695. Choice of fuel is a harder call. Our diesel Quartermaster returned 21.5mpg at a cruise and 25.4mpg in our everyday economy test, translating to 426 and 503 miles between fill-ups respectively. In our experience that is 10-20% better than you will manage with the more amenable petrol powertrain.
Elsewhere, what might turn buyers off is the modest payload, which is well under one tonne. That and the fact that you can have a V6-engined, quicker Ford Ranger Raptor for notably less outlay. More toy than genuine workhorse but improved and still charmingly hardcore.
We once pondered if the Grenadier would have had a smoother start in life had it been introduced as a pick-up rather than a station wagon. The comparisons to luxury SUVs would have been fewer, making it easier to appreciate the pick-up’s multitude of features and outstanding off-road ability, as well as the fact that few if any factory-built pick-ups are this tough. None of that has changed and the model-year updates make the Grenadier less stressful on the road.
If you love the idea, go for it, but know that the pick-up has only a modest payload, is vast and is no value choice.
Richard is Autocar's deputy road test editor. He previously worked at Evo magazine. His role involves travelling far and wide to be among the first to drive new cars. That or heading up to Nuneaton, to fix telemetry gear to test cars at MIRA proving ground and see how faithfully they meet their makers' claims.
He's also a feature-writer for the magazine, a columnist, and can be often found on Autocar's YouTube channel.
Highlights at Autocar include a class win while driving a Bowler Defender in the British Cross Country Championship, riding shotgun with a flat-out Walter Röhrl, and setting the magazine's fastest road-test lap-time to date at the wheel of a Ferrari 296 GTB. Nursing a stricken Jeep up 2950ft to the top of a deserted Grossglockner Pass is also in the mix.
Matt is Autocar’s lead features writer and presenter, is the main face of Autocar’s YouTube channel, presents the My Week In Cars podcast and has written his weekly column, Tester’s Notes, since 2013.
Matt is an automotive engineer who has been writing and talking about cars since 1997. He joined Autocar in 2005 as deputy road test editor, prior to which he was road test editor and world rally editor for Channel 4’s automotive website, 4Car.
Into all things engineering and automotive from any era, Matt is as comfortable regularly contributing to sibling titles Move Electric and Classic & Sports Car as he is writing for Autocar. He has a racing licence, and some malfunctioning classic cars and motorbikes.