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Poor Vauxhall Grandland: not only does the new Mk2 need to find a place among its many, many rivals (which include everything from the BMW X1 at the premium end to the MG HS at the budget end and the Kia Sportage in the middle), but it also needs to justify its existence in the expansive Stellantis stable of mechanically similar cars.

In the latter challenge, it does at least have the benefit of being at the front of the queue. The Grandland is only the third model to use the new STLA Medium platform, which was designed from the ground up for EVs and long-range plug-in hybrids as well as petrol and hybrid versions.

The car in the pictures has Opel badging because it’s the car that we had at our disposal at the annual Car of the Year testing bonanza in Denmark. The UK-market version will look all but identical.
Illya Verpraet
Road Tester

The Grandland follows hot on the heels of the Peugeot 3008 and its seven-seat sibling, the 5008, and like those cars, it's being launched as the Grandland EV and as the 134bhp hybrid we’re driving here. A plug-in hybrid with 53 miles of electric range will follow later.

Verdict

01 Vauxhall Opel Grandland Hybrid 2024 review lead front

Model tested:

Rating:

Vauxhall Grandland

Has a nicely made and intelligently conceived interior; worthy but uninspiring everywhere else

Good

Very nicely appointed interior

Largely fuss-free driving experience

Bad

Hybrid is rather underpowered

Fairly average across the board

DESIGN & STYLING

Pros

Central spine gives some visual interest

Available with petrol hybrid and electric power. PHEV to follow later

Cons

Rather anonymous looks

No manual, pure-petrol diesel or more powerful hybrid versions available

02 Vauxhall Opel Grandland Hybrid 2024 review rear corner

But let’s be honest, if the Peugeots and the Vauxhall were parked side by side in a showroom, you would head straight for the French cars, wouldn’t you? Vauxhall’s design team did a sterling job making the Astra and facelifted Corsa look interesting, but doing the same with this medium SUV was clearly an uphill battle.

There are a few neat elements. The Perspex not-a-grille that Vauxhall calls the Vizor now encompasses a light-up griffin badge, and there’s a central spine running down the bonnet, rear spoiler and parts of the interior. But even for a family crossover, the Grandland is rather lacking in visual excitement.

The thing is, though, if you’re looking for a sensible family SUV, you would be wrong to ignore the Grandland, because it takes the shared Stellantis parts and fashions them into something much more practical and usable than the 3008.

INTERIOR

Pros

Appealing materials

Good selection of physical controls and few ergonomic quirks

Competitive interior space

Very comfortable seats

Cons

Digital gauge cluster doesn't use its screen real estate as well as it should

Infotainment screen can be laggy

08 Vauxhall Opel Grandland Hybrid 2024 review dashboard

Where the Grandland shines is inside, as it manages to combine function and style.

Vauxhall prides itself on its ergonomic seats, and indeed these ones are very comfortable. Even the manually adjustable items in our test car have a pull-out thigh bolster, as well as variable lumbar support and a variable cushion angle.

With a bit of imagination, the steering wheel boss looks like the Vauxhall Vizor grille, which is a neat detail. I also like the steering wheel's thin rim.
Illya Verpraet
Road Tester

The Grandland avoids most of the 3008’s ergonomic foibles. The driving position is relatively tall, but feels natural, and the view out over that longish bonnet with the central ridge is quite a distinctive one. There’s a normal steering wheel and instrument cluster, the gear selector is where you expect to find it and there are physical controls for the cabin temperature and fan speed.

The materials are great, too, including plenty of interesting, patterned, recycled cloths instead of the synthetic leather that seems de rigueur today.

The light colours give a sense of space that isn’t just an illusion: there are various cubbies and shelves around the front of the cabin and the boot is right at the top end of the class, with 550 litres of space. Rear leg room is competitive and passengers have enough room to put their feet under the front seats.

The touchscreen multimedia system is the same standard-issue Stellantis one, but because you don’t need it for adjusting the temperature, it works much better than in the 3008. As usual with these systems, you can configure the homescreen to show exactly the things you find useful, and being wide rather than tall means it offers plenty of screen space without it impinging on forward visibility. The main screen isn’t entirely immune from lag, although we’ve seen worse.

ENGINES & PERFORMANCE

Pros

Reasonably smooth if you take it easy

No need to plug it in

Cons

Quite underpowered for this big car

Slightly clunky gearbox if you hurry it, and the engine sounds quite rough at certain rpms

16 Vauxhall Opel Grandland Hybrid 2024 review engine

You would buy the Grandland for its thoughtfully designed interior, because the rest of the car is unremarkable at best.

If you can charge at home, the EV might be the better choice, since this mild hybrid is rather underpowered. It uses the same 134bhp system as almost every other mainstream Stellantis car. That means a 1.2-litre three cylinder with a 28bhp electric motor in its six-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox. It’s plenty in an Astra or Peugeot 208 but struggles in this 1600kg SUV.

This 134bhp hybrid feels like the entry-level powertrain, but if you

Although you can keep up with traffic, you always have the feeling that the little mill is working hard and there isn’t much reserve. It will be fine for most people but no more. The Volkswagen Group’s mild-hybrid 1.5 makes a better fist in big SUVs like the Volkswagen Tiguan and Skoda Kodiaq while returning similar economy.

Meanwhile, the electric version is no Tesla Model S Plaid, but even if you drive it flat out everywhere, it will be smooth and quiet.

RIDE & HANDLING

Pros

Intuitive and inoffensive

Cons

Neither very sporty nor comfortable

17 Vauxhall Opel Grandland Hybrid 2024 review front cornering

Despite the promise that the new frequency-selective passive dampers combine comfort with dynamism, it feels like Vauxhall has tuned the Grandland’s suspension to feel very middling.

It’s a bit firm and fidgety at lower speeds, and slightly choppy at medium speeds, but for no notable return in handling: there’s plenty of body roll and relatively limited grip. Again, it’s not offensive and should suit the target market just fine, but it does feel like Vauxhall missed an opportunity to profile the Grandland one way or the other.

The steering wheel isn't as comically small, or oddly shaped, as on the Peugeot 3008, but it's still pretty go-kart like for a family SUV and writes cheques the driving experience can't cash.
Illya Verpraet
Road Tester

We didn’t have the opportunity to do much motorway driving, but the Grandland seemed quiet enough at speed. The lane keep assist and overspeed warning weren’t especially intrusive and were relatively easy to disable anyway. However, the shared Stellantis adaptive cruise control tends not to be the smoothest or most intuitive.

MPG & RUNNING COSTS

Pros

Decent economy

Cons

On the pricier end of the class

Price-wise, this model is – you’ve guessed it – quite middle-of-the-road: cheaper than the equivalent Tiguan or 3008 but pricier than the Hyundai Tucson or Mazda CX-5.

Vauxhall says it has achieved price parity between the Grandland EV and the hybrid when you go for PCP finance, but that does require the deal to be longer for the EV. Compared with rivals, the hybrid is still in the middle of the pack when you’re buying on finance.

On a fairly gentle run through the Danish countryside, it returned an MPG figure in the mid-40s. The way the throttle is mapped successfully stops you from using too much of the modest performance. If you do really put your foot down, it can start to get fairly thirsty.

VERDICT

19 Vauxhall Opel Grandland Hybrid 2024 review static

Verdict

Model tested:

Rating:

Vauxhall Grandland

Has a nicely made and intelligently conceived interior; worthy but uninspiring everywhere else

Good

Very nicely appointed interior

Largely fuss-free driving experience

Bad

Hybrid is rather underpowered

Fairly average across the board

With its focus on distinguishing interior ambience, usability and practicality, Vauxhall has thankfully not lost sight of what matters in a car like this. The plush fabrics are a real reason to go for the Grandland over the the slightly dour cabins of the VW Tiguan or Hyundai Tucson.

But with rather anonymous looks and neither distinguishing ride, handling, performance, nor a bargain price, the Grandland might find it difficult to stand out in a crowded field.

TECHNICAL SPECS

Model tested:

Vauxhall Grandland Hybrid 1.2 136PS

Price:

£34,700

Engine:

3 cyls in line, 1199cc, turbocharged, petrol, plus 28bhp electric motor

Transmission:

6-spd dual-clutch automatic

Driveline layout:

Front, transverse, FWD

Model tested

Vauxhall Grandland Hybrid 1.2 136PS

Price

£34,700

Engine

3 cyls in line, 1199cc, turbocharged, petrol, plus 28bhp electric motor

View all specs and rivals

Transmission

6-spd dual-clutch automatic

Driveline layout

Front, transverse, FWD

Power

134bhp at 5500rpm

Torque

170lb ft at 1750rpm

0-62mph

10.2sec

Top speed

126mph

Kerb weight (DIN)

1600kg

Fuel economy

51.4mpg

CO2

123g/km

BIK tax band

29%

Rivals Volkswagen Tiguan Mazda CX-5 Kia Sportage

Power

134bhp at 5500rpm

Torque

170lb ft at 1750rpm

0-62mph

10.2sec

Top speed

126mph

Kerb weight (DIN)

1600kg

Fuel economy

51.4mpg

CO2

123g/km

BIK tax band

29%

Rivals Volkswagen Tiguan Mazda CX-5 Kia Sportage

Illya Verpraet

Title: Road Tester

As part of Autocar’s road test team, Illya drives everything from superminis to supercars, and writes reviews, comparison tests, as well as the odd feature and news story.

Much of his time is spent wrangling the data logger and wielding the tape measure to gather the data for Autocar’s eight-page road tests, which are the most rigorous in the business thanks to independent performance, fuel consumption and noise figures.