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By Jonathan Crouch

Vauxhall's Grandland mid-sized SUV gets an extra dose of appeal. Jonathan Crouch takes a look.

Ten Second Reviewword count: 40

Vauxhall's Grandland remains an affordable, well equipped mid-sized SUV and has lately gained a frugal 48v hybrid engine option. It's still one of the more affordable choices in the Qashqai segment and offers a sharp look and a modern cabin.

Backgroundword count: 192

When the original version of this car, badged the 'Grandland X' was launched in 2017, it was quite a late entrant to the mid-sized SUV segment. Or that's what you might think anyway. Actually, Vauxhall competed half-heartedly in this sector for nearly a decade between 2006 and 2015 with its Korean-built Antara, which replaced the Luton-built Frontera model launched way back in 1991. Neither of these crossovers really hit the segment sweet spot though and neither was helped by brittle build quality that could charitably be described as 'patchy'. By the middle of this century's second decade though, Vauxhall had got on board with the kind of SUV modern family buyers really wanted, launching its supermini-based Mokka model in 2012 and shortly afterwards, entering into an agreement with Peugeot to share the engineering of two further contenders in this class, the original Grandland X model being one of them. Four years on in 2021, it shed the 'X' part of its badge and gained a smarter look both inside and out. And more recently, Vauxhall has introduced 48V hybrid technology to the range, creating the car we're going to look at here.

Driving Experienceword count: 353

Engine-wise, the main news for Grandland customers in recent times is the addition of a 48V hybrid powertrain. It's based around the brand's familiar 1.2-litre petrol engine but here pairs it with a six-speed dual-clutch auto transmission and a 0.89kWh lithium-ion battery, which is recharged automatically under certain conditions. A permanent magnet synchronous electric motor is integrated into the gearbox and produces peak power of 28hp and maximum torque of 55Nm. Total power output in 136PS. If you can't quite stretch to that, then Vauxhall continues to offer the 1.2-litre petrol engine in more conventional unelectrified form with 130PS and the choice of either manual or auto transmission. In manual form, it makes 10.4s en route to 122mph. The alternative is a 1.5-litre diesel, also with 130PS but only available in auto form; that manages 62mph in 12.3s en route to 119mph. At the top of the range, there's still a Plug-in Hybrid model which is front-driven in mainstream form. This PHEV variant uses a 1.6-litre petrol engine, but there's just one electric motor mated to it in 2WD guise, so the combined power output is 225PS. That gets you to 60mph in 8.9s and the top speed is 140mph (or 84mph in all-electric drive, which lasts for up to 34 miles between battery charges). A twin motor AWD 300PS Grandland GSe variant is also available, which gets to 62mph in just 6.1s. As for drive dynamics across the Grandland range, well we'd anticipate that your expectations of a car of this kind when it comes to handling will probably be pretty modest. You'll want quite a commanding driving position, a comfortable ride, reasonable refinement, decently responsive engines and, well, that's likely to be about it. If you're after a C-segment SUV that you can throw around a bit, then this one certainly won't suit. Take a more typically relaxed approach though and everything becomes much more satisfactory. It soaks up bumps and tarmac tears that would trouble many rivals. Plus it's relatively quiet and easy to manoeuvre, particularly around town where the light steering that hampers you at speed becomes a boon.

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