The Ineos Grenadier Quartermaster Truck Is Posh and Primitive

As American pickup trucks grow larger and more powerful with each passing year, while adding increasingly luxurious creature comforts, the 2025 Ineos Grenadier Quartermaster arrives from the UK as a refreshing blast from the past. The Quartermaster essentially adds a short truck bed to the first model from Ineos Automotive, the boxy Grenadier SUV, which therefore necessitated stretching the wheelbase by 12 inches.

I drove a Grenadier in Europe over two years ago, and admittedly, that early production vehicle needed some of the finer details ironed out. But I enjoyed the rugged simplicity, even if the unusual recirculating-ball-steering system and solid front and rear axles caused some instability at higher speeds—certainly requiring a bit of a mental adjustment. 

I’ve spent the interim timeframe very curious about whether the forthcoming Quartermaster’s longer wheelbase might help to improve the Grenadier’s bare-bones underpinnings. Sure enough, during a week of off-roading, city life, and highway driving, I found the Quartermaster improved on almost all of the Grenadier’s attributes, emerging as one of the most unique yet singularly enjoyable vehicles—of any type—on the market today.

Design

The Grenadier and its Quartermaster variant both very clearly reference the classic Land Rover Defender’s design. In this case, the Quartermaster’s truck bed helps the overall profile look slightly less upright, without losing any of the boxy and rugged aesthetic. The interior only reinforces that theme, with large buttons and switches that stay easy to operate while a driver wears gloves or is trundling over bumpy trails. The seats also contribute to the sense of verticality, with manual operation no less, but provide enough bolstering and cushion for daily life and long trips off-road alike.

A few cues to modern technology do exist, notably the small-ish touchscreen atop the dash that allows for wireless Apple CarPlay, and the BMW gearshift, which looks oddly out of place next to the cue-ball shifter that controls the four-wheel-drive transfer case.

Power Train and Hardware

Beneath the retro hood, Ineos has installed a turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six engine—sold by BMW—paired to a ZF eight-speed automatic transmission (hence the aforementioned shifter). But it’s a great gearbox, arguably the best torque-converter automatic ever, and, in this case, it perfectly harnesses the engine’s 281 hp and 331 ft lbs of torque.

The output then feeds into a traditional solid-axle power train, with optional front and rear locking differentials. The setup translates to significant articulation off-road, despite passive suspension that uses traditional shock dampers and no disconnecting sway bars. But the solid axles also pair with the steering to produce the most antiquated element of an Ineos—either the SUV or truck. Essentially, the steering doesn’t return to center, instead requiring the driver to actively spin the wheel back into a straight line. For those not accustomed to large body-on-frame trucks, this sensation can definitely feel peculiar. 

Yet for off-road use, the combo works perfectly. And further options, including a snorkel, winches, lights, and storage solutions to mount to the roof and side accessory rails, only enhance the impression that the Quartermaster belongs in the dirt. But the spare tire seems like sort of an afterthought, so the truck bed (which actually measures wider than it does long) may therefore dictate a full-on roof rack or camper shell to fully utilize the Quartermaster’s additional length.

Performance

Luckily, loading down the Quartermaster with gear shouldn’t stress the smooth and torquey engine too much. I hauled my dirt bike and a day’s worth of equipment out to the desert and barely noticed any drop-off in acceleration. The eight-speed transmission no doubt helped, and I never even needed to put it in manual mode to hold gears longer while blasting up the Grapevine (part of SoCal’s Interstate 5) or climbing steep trails. 

Of course, manual mode sometimes comes in handy while off-roading, but the Quartermaster never harbors hopes of high-speed dune charging. Instead, the overlanding and camping lifestyle make more sense for this truck, so the suspension tuning perfectly absorbs bumps and washboards to make longer days on the trail comfortable. 

Other than the truck bed, the Quartermaster’s biggest pro is how much the stretched wheelbase actually adds to stability—both for typical on-road driving as well as off. At highway speeds, I could relax while holding a straight line much easier than in the Grenadier, and the whole truck felt less susceptible to wind buffeting and tramlining, too. Off-road, the shorter wheelbase of the Grenadier can occasionally feel awkward, lifting tires into the air excessively despite the solid axle’s articulation. Not so for the Quartermaster, though the additional foot of length also makes for a slightly wider turning radius.

Neither the SUV or truck target rock crawling, but the Quartermaster matches the Grenadier’s approach angle of 36.2 degrees. The breakover angle decreases from 28.2 degrees to 26.2, however, and the length of the bed drops the departure angle significantly, from 36.1 to 22.6 degrees. Adding slightly larger tires, since 33-inch options should fit just fine, will help to improve all of these stats.

Is It Worth It?

As expected, the Quartermaster pickup truck costs more than the Grenadier SUV. Pricing starts at $83,900, and the truck I tested totals $92,900. I might skip some of the options that add to the latter’s cost, but the locking differentials and heated seats seem mandatory—and maybe the integrated winch.

Uncertainty surrounding tariffs, however, may affect the Quartermaster, an issue which only contributes to the difficulty of choosing a truly comparable vehicle on the market. Ineos priced both of its first two models surprisingly low for a startup automaker, clearly planning to amortize development costs over decades, rather than these first few years. 

The closest competitor is probably the Jeep Gladiator, the pickup version of the legendary Wrangler, but neither Jeep matches the refinement or interior comfort of an Ineos. To an extent, Ineos also targets G-Wagen customers, or at least those who loved the more rugged G-Wagens, before Mercedes-Benz entered the arms race of luxury SUVs. 

But despite the resemblance, neither the Grenadier nor the Quartermaster compete with any current Land Rover, which, in the end, places both in their own class. As such, the Quartermaster definitely requires unique taste, so a test drive for any prospective buyer is recommended in order to suss out whether they can live with something that mixes primitive functionality with modern tech. That being said, the Ineos Grenadier Quartermaster combines the two sublimely.

Specifications

Click here for more photos of the 2025 Ineos Grenadier Quartermaster.