That's the reality of a solid front axle vehicle on the street. It's going to a turn off for many people that will never off-road the Ineos and only drive it on the streets. There are only a handful of vehicles in the US that still come with a solid front axle. I believe the Ford Super Duty, Ram Heavy Duty and the Jeep Wrangler/Gladiator. Even the G-Wagon switched to IFS which worked great for them. They can't sell enough G-wagons in the US.
I’ve had a reservation in for quite some time, I went to the local dealer for a test drive on one of their test vehicles and I’m very unsure about it. This was supposed to be the sort of “middle finger” to overly electronical component vehicles but it has things like power door locks which is fine BUT if you notice there are NO mechanical interior latches or switches to manual lock your vehicle from the inside. I’ve had batteries go flat when visiting someone, I don’t want to leave the whole car unlocked while I go get a new battery, the battery is in the back seat too, how do you re-lock your back doors when you go get another battery? On top of that, yes it has recirculating ball steering, very robust, compliment to them BUT the hydraulic assistance is provided by what appears to be a no name electric pump that has the Ineos name and “made in China” on it, it’s NOT driven off the engine, you literally have electric hydraulic power steering in a supposed car that was meant to shun “unreliable” electrical stuffs. Then you add in there things like it comes standard with “automatic climate control” yes you pick a temp and little electric motors make adjustments to which vents and temps you are getting. AND that BMW shifter lever, there is NOTHING mechanical connected to the transmission, that is an electronic shifter which tells the computer what gear to put the transmission in. For a vehicle intended to be “simple” and “reliable” I have my hesitations. I’m still on the pre-order list BUT I am having second thoughts. On top of that, power windows, power mirrors BUT they brag about having removed the little mirrors from the visors because “who needs that”, I dunno, I’ve been stung in the face by a bee before and had to use the mirror in my car to remove the stinger from my face 😄 Ineos specd recaro seats but a probably 50 cent mirror the vehicle it “too tough and rugged” for. I mean really? I’m sort of getting worked up thinking about how this doesn’t sound to me like they delivered on what they originally set out to deliver on and it seems like it was mostly ego that made them do some of this stuff.
I like the rugged exterior look like a defender but I hate everything on the interior; dash board, lack of instrument cluster, steering wheel, and more. I really wanted this suv after I saw this clip from Australia, see below reply. I'm noticing North America deliveries don't come with grille guard, roof rack, rear side hard window and air intake. The Australia deliveries look way more better and fully equipped.
Great review but honestly, I want an instrument cluster. I’m not gonna spend 90 grand on a car that doesn’t have an instrument cluster. The only exception to that would be the cyber truck.
