Vauxhall Grandland review: this large family SUV is steadfast rather than sparkling

Joining a crowded and cut-throat market, does the British firm’s contender stand out enough to appeal to the no-nonsense buyer?

3/5
I was fortunate enough to have missed the launch of the original Vauxhall Grandland in 2017, a car described by one colleague as “a Peugeot 5008 with all the nice bits taken off”. A large family SUV of rather curious appearance, the Grandland replaced the Antara SUV and eventually also the Zafira MPV/people carrier. It didn’t bother the consciousness of the British car-buying public much and you rarely see them.
It’s easy to take the mick out of the Grandland – so I won’t. Vauxhall might be the car you end up with rather than the one you really wanted, but the British marque has scored some fantastic hits over the years with, among others, the fantastic Prince Henry (the world’s first sports car), the Firenza, second-generation Cavalier and the Corsa supermini, which is a car I have a sneaking admiration for.
“We’re from round here,” was the advertising campaign inspired by Tim Tozer, former Vauxhall CEO in the pre-Stellantis days, which is perhaps a little too close to the truth: there’s not much exotic about a Vauxhall. But nor should there be, the UK has liked its Vauxhalls even if they are not much more than Opels with a griffin badge on the front. And with Ford sleepwalking into oblivion in Europe, there’s still money to be made at the no-nonsense, European-produced (and in some cases the UK-produced) end of the market.
So, this second-generation Grandland is all new and based on the Stellantis STLA medium platform, a new version of the base for various Peugeots, Citroëns, Jeeps and so on. It’s built at their Eisenach complex in Germany.
In the ubiquity of the C/D-sized, non-premium five-door, five-seat family SUV market, Grandland sells about 10,500 a year in the UK, which leaves it anywhere between fifth and ninth in the market behind the Kia Sportage, Nissan Qashqai, Hyundai Tucson, Ford Kuga and Volkswagen Tiguan, although as one Vauxhall marketing boss noted: “Ford’s Kuga has been falling back lately.” I’d also add in Skoda’s excellent Kodiaq, which can be specified as a seven-seater, the Mazdas CX-60 and, for the bargain hunters, the new MG HS which is priced from £18,000.
The Grandland’s dimensions and prices (from £34,700 for the hybrid and £40,995 for the EV) plonk in somewhere in the middle of all the above.
At 4,650mm, it’s 173mm longer than the outgoing model. It looks big, too, but that’s something to do with the slab sides, which are relieved with swaged body creases along the length, though unfortunately these disappear in the darker body colours on a grey Frankfurt day.
The attractive “visor” styling uses the compass design first seen on Vauxhall concepts and lifts the front at least. Opel Vauxhall design boss Mark Adams has thought long and hard about how his cars should look and how they shouldn’t. This is especially important when you consider the 14 marques currently under the Stellantis umbrella, which prompts a game of “match the BMC marque to a Stellantis one”. Here are a few: Vauxhall/Opel, Morris; Jeep, Land Rover; Lancia, Wolseley; Alfa Romeo, Triumph; Citroen, Austin.
Stellantis boss Carlos Tavares might be facing a little local difficulty with Jeep’s collapsing sales and the group’s lacklustre profitability in the US, but that’s nothing compared to the reaction from the buying public if it starts to be perceived that all the group’s cars are the same apart from the badging…
As if in defence of the British marque, Adams has spelt out the Vauxhall name across the full width of the Grandland’s tailgate. At dusk, however, the effect is not unlike that of an Exit sign in a cheap cinema.
And for all the signposting, the Grandland is based on the same basic kit of parts with two power units, a hybrid and an EV, with three trim levels.
You’ll recognise the touchscreens and graphics from the rest of the group, though their high mounting in the facia is Vauxhall’s own. There’s even a head-up display option and the re-emergence of buttons for heater controls and, bless me, a radio volume control. After diving down the cheap’n’cheerful screen-based functions route, which the public hated, European car makers are beginning to put proper controls back in the cars. Vauxhall has even put in a one-touch control to turn off the endless EU mandated lane-centering and speed-limit warning bongs and bing.
The front is spacious, with soft, recycled fabric surfaces, pleasingly textured plastic panels and comfortable seats with holes to relieve the pressure on the lower spine, though we need longer with the car to get an idea how good they are. There’s lots of storage space (36 litres), the views out the front and sides are good and this is an easy car to place, partly because of the distinctive bonnet crease, which acts as an aiming sight.
In the back, the Grandland’s width allows three to sit across the bench with head and leg room to spare. It’s comfortable and well-appointed, including a centre console with a couple of USB slots. The boot is wide (over one metre) and generous at 550 litres with the rear seats up, with up to 1,645 litres with them folded. “So, you can slide a washing machine in,” claimed the blurb, but since the load bed isn’t flat, that’s not going to be easy. The boot floor has two positions and in the highest there’s a large space underneath for charging cables or valuables.
Note here though that the rear load space cover is very old school, being of pressed recycled material and with no space under the boot floor to store it, so it will doubtless become a spider hotel in the back of the garage.
There was something of the “jam tomorrow” about this launch, since the initial range is limited to one battery with 73kWh of usable capacity alongside a 134bhp mild hybrid petrol. To come are a company car tax-friendly plug-in hybrid (PHEV) and a more promising 97kWh battery, along with four-wheel drive, but you’ll have to wait until next year for those.
So first the hybrid. The 1.2-litre, three-cylinder engine has a lot to do and even with a turbocharger at maximum boost and a 21bhp/38lb ft electrical boost to fill the gaps in the power/torque curve, the engine feels pressured. The accelerator isn’t the most progressive and the combination of a 134bhp/169lb ft hybrid and the 1.6 tons of kerb weight means the Grandland feels less grand and more Gradgrind, especially when pulling away or at low speeds. The top speed is 125mph and 0-62mph achieved in 10.2sec, so it’s hardly a livewire, but on the hills north of the Frankfurt-based launch it dug deep on the climbs, even if progress was stately.
In the middle-ranking GS trim (priced at £36,650), the 48V hybrid is fine if you don’t run at maximum weight with all five seats filled – and don’t live on a mountain. Carbon dioxide emissions are 123g/km and claimed WLTP fuel consumption is 51mpg, although I rarely saw better than 42mpg.
On MacPherson-strut front suspension and a simpler, cheaper torsion-beam set-up at the rear, along with 19in wheels and tyres, the ride is bitty. The rear end seems noisy and less controlled than the EV version, which has independent rear suspension, 20in wheels and standard frequency-selective dampers, which react to the speed of wheel movement to give a softer ride quality without compromising the handling.
The steering on both models is well-weighted, with good on-centre response. You can modify the steering weight and response with a three-position driving mode, which also speeds the response of the six-speed twin-clutch gearbox.
Overall, the battery model seems better to drive, but my goodness it’s heavy, at 2,132kg, more than half a ton heavier than the hybrid. You feel that extra heft mainly as a reluctance to deviate from a straight line on the approach to tight corners. The body control is well judged, being comfortable and confidence-inspiring at high speeds. However, since the roads were very smooth and the corners easy, we’ll need to see how it copes on Britain’s more challenging surfaces.
The all-disc brakes are nicely balanced and powerful, although the initial pedal reaction could give a bit more grab, while the tricky very-slow-to-stop deceleration can be jerky. Regenerative braking is dealt with by steering wheel paddles with a small dashboard icon to show how much you’ve selected; it all works well, ranging from one-pedal driving to coasting.
Vauxhall aims to bring down the cost of electric motoring for the common man, which is entirely laudable. The deals available on home charging wall boxes and charging vouchers are attractive, but pushing the notion that the EV price has parity with that of the hybrid isn’t entirely true. The EV’s monthly PCP/lease charges are over an extra year compared with the hybrid’s, which makes owners vulnerable to issues when the car is two years out of warranty. As always, you need to read the small print.
In fact, to drive, the EV is the better vehicle (but over £6,000 more expensive) – and if you can run it through a company and have a charger at home it would make more financial sense as well.
So has the Grandland got enough to make a dent in the market? Perhaps not in its driving qualities, which are steadfast rather than sparkling, but the prices are keen and the interior feels high quality and spacious. Worth a look then, but there’s better competition, even in the Stellantis ranges.
On test: Vauxhall Grandland Hybrid GS 136PS e-DCT6
On sale: end of the year
How much? range from £34,700, from £40,995 for EV models, £36,650 as tested
How fast? 125mph, 0-62mph in 10.2sec
How economical? 51.4mpg (WLTP Combined), 42mpg on test
Engine & gearbox: 1.2-litre turbo petrol engine, six-speed dual-clutch gearbox, front-wheel drive
Electric powertrain:  900Wh lithium-ion battery with 21bhp/38lb ft AC motor hybrid system (motor is in the gearbox)
Electric range: 0 miles
Maximum power/torque: 134bhp/169lb ft
CO2 emissions: 124g/km (WLTP Combined)
VED: £210 first year, then £180
Warranty:  three years /60,000 miles, eight years and 100,000 miles on the battery
Very comfortable SUV with an identical hybrid Stellantis drivetrain to the Grandland. There are also diesels, pure petrols and a full plug-in hybrid (PHEV) version available. Slightly showing its age these days, but very practical and good value. The posh Max Edition is £32,420.
Other drivetrains are available, but the e-Power system (in which a 187bhp 1.5-litre petrol engine only charges the battery) is an ingenious if weird introduction to EVs without being dependent on charging companies. It delivers 53.3mpg, 105mph and 7.9sec 0-62mph. British-built, good looking and drives well, although you need to get used to the engine cutting in.
Petrol, diesel, hybrid, plug-in hybrid, two- and four-wheel drive, there’s myriad choices with this market-leading SUV. Shame the 1.6-litre petrol engine is rough and the hybrid system a bit jerky, but the quality, the seven-year warranty and the attractive appearance means many buyers aren’t disappointed.
4/5
5/5