The Ineos Grenadier is intriguing. It’s a new, old-school off-road SUV — almost too literally the closest thing you can buy to a new old Land Rover Defender. And it features an innovation — one that has nothing to do with its off-road chops — that every car should be fitted with: the toot horn.
The Grenadier is the brainchild of British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe and caters to his particular interests. The available trim levels — Trialmaster and Fieldmaster — reference Ratcliffe-owned Belstaff jackets. Ratcliffe is also invested in professional cycling. The Grenadier comes fitted with a toot button on the steering wheel, which allows drivers to warn cyclists of their presence subtly without alarming them with the full-blast horn.
Toot horns are undoubtedly useful for drivers to share the road safely with cyclists. But it’s also a feature with potential utility outside the cycling context.
The full-bore horn (something the Grenadier itself also possesses) has its usefulness. For as much R&D and technology car manufacturers throw at safety, one of the best accident-preventers is still another human driver making a loud noise to stop another driver from causing a collision. But deploying the horn is inherently aggressive — to the point it makes calling out another driver’s faux pas often more of a faux pas than the initial indiscretion.
For instance, I was recently driving behind a Lincoln SUV in my neighborhood on a Saturday morning. The driver began applying makeup at the stop light and missed the light turning green. The delay stretched beyond momentary — to the point we would nearly miss the light. I didn’t want to be aggro. But I didn’t want my son to be late for his rec league soccer game either.
