INEOS INEOS Grenadier Station Wagon vs Lexus GX

The GX for most buyers. It is the only one with seven seats, and it fits nine airbags plus the complete driver-assist suite the Grenadier deliberately omits, with a cabin a generation ahead for comfort and tech. If the brief is remote-area touring and accessorising, the Grenadier's sweep of the geometry table, its 833kg payload and 7,000kg combined mass, and the $16,880 it saves at entry on August 2026 pricing make it the sharper tool. Both ask you to accept something unusual at this money: the Lexus its six-monthly $695 services, the INEOS its missing AEB and uncapped servicing. Only one of those is a safety call.

On paper the Grenadier takes every line. It approaches at 35.5 degrees to the GX's 26, departs at 36.1 against 22, clears 264mm to 220mm and wades 800mm to 700mm, on beam axles built to flex where the Lexus runs a more road-biased setup. Both carry low range, a locking centre differential and drive-mode selection as standard, and the Trialmaster grade adds front and rear diff locks the GX cannot answer. The GX is no soft-roader, and the Overtrail grade on its taller all-terrain tyres is the one Australian critics rate as the genuine off-road pick of the Lexus range. But this theme has a clear owner, and it is the INEOS.

Neither has been crash-tested to ANCAP's protocol, so neither wears stars, and the honest page says so rather than borrowing a sibling's rating. The difference is what each ships anyway. The GX carries nine airbags, autonomous emergency braking, lane keeping, adaptive cruise, blind-spot monitoring and a 360-degree camera. The Grenadier fits six airbags and, in Australia, no AEB at all, an omission INEOS made deliberately under an off-road vehicle exemption and says its buyers prefer. A buyer who ranks a modern assist suite first has their answer in one column; a buyer who wants levers instead of beeps has theirs in the other.

The headline is a tie: both are rated to 3,500kg braked and 750kg unbraked. The margins are not. The Grenadier's diesel payload of 833kg beats the GX's 625kg by 208kg, its gross vehicle mass of 3,550kg clears the Lexus's 3,150kg, and its 7,000kg gross combination mass gives it 350kg more total headroom, which is what actually matters with a heavy van on the ball and a family aboard. One caveat on the Lexus side: the Sports Luxury tows less than the other grades, so check the specific grade before you plan around the maximum. For working loads, the INEOS holds the advantage.

The Lexus gives you certainty at a price. Servicing falls due every six months or 10,000km at a capped $695 a visit on 2026 pricing, about $6,950 over five years, and the V6 claims 12.3L/100km from an 80-litre tank, with Australian testers reporting more in practice. The Grenadier inverts the deal: intervals run a friendlier 12 months or 15,000km, but INEOS operates no capped-price program, so costs vary by dealer, and it publishes no official fuel figure, which makes budgeting your job. Both carry five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranties. If a printed schedule matters, the Lexus wins this theme; the Grenadier suits owners happy to negotiate servicing with their dealer.

The GX is petrol only: a 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 with 260kW and 650Nm. There is no diesel or hybrid in the Australian range, and it feeds from an 80-litre tank at a claimed 12.3L/100km. The Grenadier offers a real choice at identical money: the 183kW, 550Nm twin-turbo diesel that most buyers take for touring torque, or the sweeter-revving 210kW, 450Nm petrol. Its tank is larger at 90 litres, though INEOS publishes no consumption figure to plan range against. For remote touring where diesel availability and engine braking matter, the Grenadier's diesel is the pragmatic pick; the GX's V6 is the more powerful and more refined instrument.

Only on the Lexus side. The GX Luxury and Sports Luxury carry 7 seats, while the off-road Overtrail deletes the third row for a five-seat, bigger-boot layout. Every Grenadier Station Wagon seats five, across the base car, the Trialmaster, the Fieldmaster and the limited Black Edition. A family that genuinely needs the third row has no Grenadier to consider, and that single line settles this comparison for a lot of households. Note the boot numbers carry different measuring bases, so compare seats-folded space: 2,035 litres in the Grenadier against 1,875 in the GX.

The GX. It has 77kW and 100Nm more, a 10-speed automatic, a luxury-grade cabin with a 14-inch screen and three-zone climate, and the complete driver-assist set working in the background. Australian critics praise the V6 and rate the ride well settled on the smaller-wheeled grades. The Grenadier is honest about being a tool: reviewers describe firm, heavy manners and a slow recirculating-ball steering box that demands acclimatisation, improved by the MY26 variable-ratio revision but still the defining quirk. Its cabin is characterful, with aircraft-style overhead switchgear and Recaro seats, but the daily-driving brief belongs to the Lexus without much argument.

On August 2026 driveaway pricing the Grenadier opens at $113,835 for the base wagon in either engine. It steps to $127,485 for the Trialmaster and Fieldmaster editions, with the Black Edition sitting above the standard car. The GX opens at $130,715 for the seven-seat Luxury, runs to $137,560 for the five-seat Overtrail and tops out at $144,054 for the Sports Luxury. The sweet spots are clear on each side: the base Grenadier already carries the full mechanical package, with the Trialmaster's twin lockers the upgrade that matters, while the GX Luxury keeps seven seats and the full towing rating for the least money.