Here’s How I’d Design An Imaginary Ineos Model ‘Inspired By’ The Jeep XJ Cherokee

“I’ve got something else out back we’re working on that I think you might like.”

It’s the second day of a trip to preview revisions on the back-to-basics Ineos Grenadier off-roader, taking drives into the trails around Aspen, Colorado to see how this don’t-call-it-a-Defender-rip-off behaves in the wilderness. A “rustic” place with three thousand dollar a night lodging is the ideal location to show off a very unofficial Land Rover Defender 110 “continuation”.

[Note: The following words are not from the actual David Tracy; in fact, all of this is just imaginary. As you’re reading this, the Real David is probably asleep on the floor next to a crib with his head on a stuffed bear after spending two hours trying to get a kid to fall asleep. However, I wanted to imagine what would constitute a “really good dream” he might be having right now in the minutes before the baby begins to once again cry louder than his postal Jeep without a muffler.] 

The Ineos marketing director led me to the rear of the lodge alone with the promise of showing me something nobody in the press had yet seen, and I was sworn to secrecy (so you readers should keep it hush-hush as well). I didn’t expect much; often companies highly tout some less-than-spectacular “new” product, so I wasn’t imagining anything earth-shaking. Maybe a regular-cab pickup model of the Grenadier or some different wheels and “reimagined lower body cladding”? Boy, was I wrong this time.

We go out the service door, round the corner of the building, and I see it. Suddenly I thought my legs were about to fall out from under me. I felt delirium setting in; what was happening? There in front of me was the manifestation of all my automotive dreams and desires in a brand spanking-new package. I know the feeling of seeing your newborn son for the first time; there’s nothing like it, but this experience was, well, maybe I shouldn’t say “on par” since my wife might be reading this. Autopians, I think I’ve finally found The Car.

It’s A Jeep Thing- You Wouldn’t Understand

There probably isn’t a community center where people can meet in a circle of folding chairs and, with coffee in hand, stand up one-by-one to declare that they are Jeepaholics. If such a thing exists, please let me know. From mail delivery Jeeps and FC Jeep pickups to Golden Eagles, a fair share of Toledo’s finest products has stained my driveways, and I simply can’t stop craigslist and Facebook Marketplace from presenting me with more. For some reason, though, the things that consistently have me willing to drop everything and risk financial and psychological ruin are XJs.

Now, by “XJ” I’m not referring to a certain self-immolating British luxury sedan favored by rich older ladies. No, the “XJ” of my desires was never even officially called that; it’s the codename for the compact 1984 to 2001 unibody Jeep Cherokee, though there was a fancied-up woodied-up XJ called the Wagoneer up until 1990:

The XJ was a bit like the Volvo 240 series in that it kept its basic boxy appearance for the entirety of its seventeen hear production run with minimal updating, never succumbing to the crime of adding composite headlamps that yellow over time.

I’ve owned a fair number of XJs, often in less-than-fair condition. There’s even a non-running one sitting in Michigan as we speak that I can lay claim to, if I can ever get there. Having experienced so many of them, and with a brand-new child to attend to, you would think that my lust for forty-year-old trucks would diminish. Sadly, even late at night while on baby duty I can’t ignore surviving examples that come up on my glowing phone screen, particularly if they feature three pedals in front of the driver.

Obviously, I don’t need another vehicle, especially one that I’d likely be using alone. You see, the compact XJ would be an absolutely ideal-beyond-words choice as a daily-driver family car if this were 1985. Unfortunately, the availability of current, effective safety technology and coexistence with six-thousand-pound SUVs on the road driven by texting drivers means that isn’t the case now. Even if I was fine with transporting my offspring in an XJ, I can assure you that my spouse would not let me pull a Jason Torchinsky and carry my child in an egg-shaped death-trap of an old car.

(No, I don’t think that Torch was intentionally putting his kid in danger. Also, it must be stated that one example of this egg-shaped car he owned was flipped and flown over 80 feet by him before crash landing, while another example was T-boned at an intersection, and the sum total of injuries to occupants was one scratch. It’s a pretty strong egg, and it floats, too).

So what’s an old Jeep lover to do? I was moved enough to put a deposit on the new Scout, but as time has passed I realize that neither this nor anything else new out there that can scratch my itch, and I’m not alone. How can the XJ magic be recreated for the modern day?

$100,000 For An AMC 360 V8? Really?

There are plenty of vintage cars that many want to see revived by the original automaker, as if they could tool up and make brand new examples to put on dealer lots right now.

With Jeeps, one of the most iconic examples of this is the 1963-91 SJ Series “full sized” trucks, in particular the later wood-clad “Grand Wagoneer” versions. Used as family and work vehicles, these were often ridden hard and put away wet so pristine examples were hard to come by.

A firm called Wagonmasters in Texas recognized this and sold fully reconditioned and partially upgraded examples of SJ Wagoneers. This was a dream come true to those that long for the old-school nostalgia of this Brooks Stevens designed sport utility pioneer. Such dreams don’t come cheap; for some reason they aren’t listing Grand Wagoneers for sale now on the Wagonmasters site but with what’s typically on offer you’d have little to no change from a $100,000 bill after driving one off of the lot.

Note that the “upgrades” Wagonmasters does to old Wagoneers might include things like heated seats and Bluetooth audio, but if it’s side curtain airbags or any safety features from the last thirty years you want for your six-figure spend you’re out of luck. It’s also got a motor whose faults I’ve risked my life to tell you about.

Today, a quarter century after the last new ones rolled off the assembly line and years of glorious abuse by people like me, the XJ Cherokee seems to be finally getting its day in the sun. It’s arguably as universally loved and cherished as the old SJ by many serious off-roaders and fans of Radwood-era analog vintage machines alike.

It’s also smaller, more maneuverable and is far more modern than the archaic SJ that was already twenty years old when the XJ debuted. Sadly, as with that SJ Wagoneer, this newfound respect and years of attrition are raising prices.

Like Wagonmasters, a firm called Davis AutoSports is doing the same kind of as-new restoration work on surviving Jeep XJ Cherokees. They even offer multi-stage upgrades to make it into an off-road monster if your taste and pocketbook allows. List prices appear to start in the $40,000 range, which at around half the cost of refurbished Wagonmasters Grand Wagoneer seems like an outright bargain.

Naturally, like the Wagonmasters creations, safety equipment beyond what was available when Clinton was president is not on the features or options list for these refreshed XJ Cherokees at Davis AutoSports. That’s kind of a nonstarter for me, and we’re back to Square One. No, what I need is a brand-new SUV with 2025 technology built right into it. Now it sits in front of my hyperventilating self.

Foraker Yeah!

The Ineos PR person explains what the Deep Indigo Blue machine I’m falling in love with is. “David, this is the upcoming Ineos Foraker, an SUV that’s a bit more compact and less hair-shirt rugged in appearance or demeanor than the Grenadier.”  It’s named after the third tallest mountain in the United States, which in turn was named after Joseph Foraker, a Senator from Ohio who among other things fought hard to clear the names of black soldiers wrongly accused and set up in the 1906 Brownsville Affair.

“Dear God,” I tell the Ineos PR person, “you’ve remade the Jeep XJ Cherokee.” Naturally, he dismisses this notion, saying something along the lines of how this new Ineos is in fact “inspired by the simpler sport utilities from American and Japan in the 1980s.” I can understand what he’s saying, but there is no way around the fact that they’ve rebooted the XJ.

This is not the first rodeo for Ineos in this regard, since their Grenadier model bears a remarkable resemblance to the discontinued Land Rover Defender 90/110. It’s no secret that the billionaire founder of Ineos wanted to purchase the tooling for the old Land Rover when production ended in 2016 after a 67-year run; his offer was flatly refused. The goal was then to make a new “farmer’s truck” and  “improve the design” of the outgoing Defender; mechanically that might be the case with the Grenadier but aesthetically the jury is out.

Land Rover understandably thought these “improvements” didn’t stray far enough from the OG Defender and took legal action again Grenadier for copying the design; the court deemed that the “similarity was insufficient”.

With this Foraker XJ “tribute,” will Stellantis follow Land Rover and take Ineos to court? “It’s not the same” says the PR man in a curt British-accented huff, doubling down. He points to Grenadier-style bumpers and the nose with totally different round headlamps and driving lamps; no seven-bar grille.

On the Foraker, the odd broken-up black trim on the side of the Grenadier is one continuous piece that wraps around the tailgate to the sides, becoming door handles at the appropriate spots and terminating on the fenders in turn signal repeaters. Vents behind these turn signals can remove to be used as intakes for “snorkel” air intakes. Glass in nearly flush, and even a vestigial Hoffmeister kink at the rear quarter differentiates the Foraker from an old Cherokee. Let’s lay the Foraker over an old XJ and animate it:

Yes, I know, who are they kidding? It’s totally an XJ Cherokee.

Part of me is bothered by what could be considered blatant plagiarism by some, but it’s admittedly not a complete carbon copy (you could arguably see some Isuzu Trooper, Mitsubishi Montero, and Nissan Patrol in the styling too). Also, Stellantis has had twenty-four years to come up with a credible “new” version of everyone’s favorite SUV, and they haven’t done it. Shame on them?

In back, the wraparound taillights of the XJ give way to sunken-in rear facing units not unlike on the latest Range Rover, and that black trim conceals the hatch handle and base of the wiper. A recessed license plate cavity sits above a more workmanlike style rear step bumper similar to the Grenadier (the blue example I was shown sported UK plates but was left hand drive with side marker lights, since you know this thing is meant to conquer America). Yes, I really want a spare tire on the back but I’m assured that Ineos will offer that as an option.

Here’s another animation of the Jeep and Ineos:

The PR guru said that a longer wheelbase model was available, possibly to allow for the addition of a miniscule third row. This would make it almost like the Jeep Commander that Mercedes Streeter just wrote about but hopefully executed much better. I had The Bishop do a quick Photoshop of what this Foraker LWB might look like:

Inside, the first XJ Cherokee in 1984 was a blocky affair that fit perfectly with the exterior:

By the late nineties Jeep had rounded things off somewhat but kept a very industrial, non-stylish appearance:

At least with the interior, Inoes did not use much of the old Cherokee as “inspiration”. Instead, they decided to go hyper-angular and. according to the PR person, the designers used vintage military radio equipment on their mood boards to give an industrial aesthetic with exposed screws and mock handles that surprisingly can actually be used to pull these modules out for service.

Simple screens ahead of the driver and in the center stack are complemented by industrial-looking physical switches similar to what the Grenadier has and rubber-covered toggles even for things like the windows on the doors. Optional pods can be added to below the dash or overhead to hold switches for accessories if your desire is to turn your Foraker into the ultimate overlanding machine (but keep it simple if it’s just a Whole Foods runner). A multi-purpose display surrounding the hazard flasher button on top of the dash can simulate a horizontal compass or be a time and temperature display.

The most important thing is backup cameras, blind spot detectors, Apple CarPlay and more airbags than I remember the count of are all present. No AM radios or nonfunctional dealer-installed air conditioners hanging below the dash in this thing. Everyone in the whole family will gladly ride in this car, and your spouse that won’t touch your other cars with a ten-foot pole might even take the keys.

A drive is out of the question since, well, this mockup was rolled here behind the Aspen lodge with a cover over it; the hood doesn’t even open. I am told that the mechanical bits will be similar to the Grenadier, meaning live axles front and rear just like on the XJ Cherokee. As with the Grenadier, BMW powerplants are going to live under the hood; you can upgrade from a standard turbo four cylinder to an inline six-cylinder (smaller than the Grenadier) and diesel options for markets outside of North America. What the Mr. PR said next almost caused me to lose consciousness: “this mockup is shown with a selector for an eight-speed automatic but we’re planning on offering a six-speed with two-speed transfer cases on certain powertrains”. I held back from kissing this guy but understand that I wanted to. Badly.

Get All The Change From The Couch Cushions

As much as I personally love this Ineos Foraker, I do wonder how many others will share this feeling. The Grenadier was a single-minded creation of a billionaire that was upset his favorite “farmer’s truck” SUV was being discontinued, but how many likeminded others have the means to afford this near-six-figure reproduction? Our man Adrian pointed out to me that Land Rover themselves now offer beautiful fully restored real-deal Defenders starting at $220,000, so truly wealthy people that want such a “farmer’s truck” might find that to be the better way to go. For everyone else, the Grenadier would give you more modern technology and safety equipment but does a $75,000-plus knockoff make any more sense than buying a $10,000 replica of a $40,000 Rolex Cosmograph watch but with a different brand name?

I’m not sure, but I might be in the small niche that would actually go fork cash over for a Foraker. The PR person claims with great bluster that this will be “the biggest British product to hit the US shores since the Beatles sixty years ago, or at least Wham! Maybe Oasis”. I don’t know who “Wham!” is, so that might be true but even if you can look beyond the blasphemy of copying a masterpiece the cost could be an obstacle. Our PR man admitted that though pricing hasn’t been set yet you’ll likely need at least $65,000 just to secure any kind of Foraker, or just a little less than the $75,000 entry fee for a Grenadier (though that model quickly rises to well into the six figures with options). I knew it wasn’t going to be cheap, but if I’m willing to swallow my pride and get the eight-speed automatic this thing could legitimately replace my wife’s daily Lexus SUV if the ride isn’t too spine-crushing.

I’d have to actually drive the Foraker, but I’m pretty certain this will be a modern-day XJ that I’d gladly have in my driveway, even twenty years from now when I’m inside the house watching videos on the computer of my son attempting to drive up near-vertical faces at Moab in a rusted early 2000s Jeep. “Check this out, Dad!” he screams. What an idiot; where did he get this lack of common sense from?