Vauxhall Grandland Review & Prices

The Vauxhall Grandland is a practical family SUV with a hybrid engine. Exciting it is not, but it looks smart inside and out, and offers an excellent blend of practicality and value - even if alternatives are much more interesting to look at and to drive.

The Grandland is a bit like getting a six pack of plain pants from the supermarket - it’s not sexy and it won’t get any pulses racing, but it’s good value. Leave the vibrant patterns and funky cuts, as well as the more exciting SUV options out there, to people who really care about appearances.

Funkier choices are myriad, but few beat the Grandland when it comes to the combination of size and price. An exception to that is the new Dacia Bigster, but that’s much more of a budget offering than the Vauxhall - and it feels it. More obvious alternatives would be the stylish Peugeot 3008, practical Volkswagen Tiguan, or the consummate all-rounder that is the Nissan Qashqai. All of these cars have either petrol or hybrid engines, but if you’re interested in going for a full EV there’s also a Vauxhall Grandland Electric, which we’ve reviewed separately.

The Vauxhall Grandland does have a bit of an air of a kitchen appliance about its styling if you go for a base-spec model in white - but go for mid-spec or higher, and pick one of the genuinely nice colours on offer and it’s a very smart-looking thing. The most eye-catching feature is the lighting - at the front, you get a lightbar with an illuminated Vauxhall Griffin badge, while at the back the brand name is integrated into the brake lights.

Inside the smart-but-staid impression continues. The cabin doesn’t have the wow factor of something like a Peugeot 3008, but there are some really nice touches such as the fabric covering for the door tops and central storage bin which help to lift the ambiance. Everything feels quite well screwed-together but there are some cheap and nasty materials in prominent places.

All versions get two screens, one for driver information and the other for infotainment. They’re not as slick as the screens in a Tiguan, nor as feature-rich as a Nissan Qashqai’s Google-based system - but they work pretty well on the whole, and they’re a huge improvement over the last Grandland. You also get physical controls for the air-conditioning, which is a really nice extra.

Inside, it’s roomy but not huge. A Skoda Karoq has better rear legroom, and a Tiguan is wider for three occupants across the back - but the Grandland should cope with family duties just fine, being spacious enough for three kids or two bulky child seats. The 550-litre boot is more of the same - it’s firmly middle-of-the-pack, bigger than a Nissan Qashqai but smaller than a Tiguan or Hyundai Tucson.

There’s just one engine to choose from - a 1.2-litre hybrid, which shortly after the Grandland was launched got upgraded from 136hp to 145hp. Even the more powerful model of these won’t win any drag races - you’ll have to work it hard to get up to speed when you’re fully laden, and if you like a powerful car you’ll be better served by heftier alternatives.

But driven more gently, such as for jaunts around town, or sitting steadily on the motorway, the Grandland is just fine. It’s also efficient, returning around 50mpg - and the comfortable suspension makes it a great place to while away the miles.

The Vauxhall Grandland is a pretty good car - it’s just one that’s really difficult to get excited about. If quiet and unassuming wins out for you against flashier alternatives, though, why not check out Carwow’s best Vauxhall Grandland deals, or get a great price on Vauxhall Grandland leasing deals? You can search for a used Vauxhall Grandland for sale, or find other used Vauxhalls for sale. And remember that Carwow can even help you to sell your old car when the time comes.

At first glance, the fact that the Vauxhall Grandland has jumped a few grand in price over the old one could be cause for concern, but it’s a bigger car now with a much, much nicer interior, and the forthcoming Frontera will be more of a value proposition if budget is a key concern.

Among alternatives it’s far from a budget option, with the Grandland starting at around the same price as the Peugeot 3008, Volkswagen Tiguan and Nissan Qashqai. Indeed, entry-level models are pricier than equivalent versions of the Mini Countryman, Skoda Karoq, Kia Sportage and Hyundai Tucson. However, you can get a fully loaded version of the Vauxhall for less than top-spec versions of most of those cars.

There are just three trim levels to choose from. Design models get LED headlights, two screens inside and some useful assistance kit such as lane-keeping and cruise control. Mid-spec GS versions get more advanced headlights, a bigger touchscreen and an illuminated badge on the front. Go for the top-spec Ultimate model and you get a panoramic glass roof, upgraded Focal sound system and more advanced assistance kit.

Comfortable and refined at higher speeds, but the engine feels underpowered

In town

Driving around town is easy enough in the Vauxhall Grandland. It’s not a proper hybrid, but the petrol engine has a little electric support and can run on electric power for very short distances, which help you make smooth, quiet progress in slow-moving traffic.

Comfort’s pretty good on the whole, though the suspension does struggle with short, sharp impacts, such as potholes, which can send a bit of a judder through the cabin.

The Grandland feels fairly big, but visibility is fine all around so it’s not too tricky to place on the road. You get rear parking sensors as standard to help in a tight spot, but GS models get a rear-view camera and Ultimate versions upgrade to a full 360-degree view.

On the motorway

If you do a lot of motorway miles the Vauxhall Grandland is a comfortable companion. There’s a bit of tyre noise, but nothing too drastic, so it’s otherwise quiet and refined. The suspension smooths out at higher speeds too, so you barely notice cracks in the road that might have made you wince at lower speeds.

Assistance kit is well-implemented, so you don’t feel the urge to turn off the standard-fit lane-keeping systems because they’re only there if you get things really wrong. Adaptive cruise control is standard, but top-spec models get ‘Intelli-Drive 2.0’, which bundles some other clever stuff like lane change assistance and automatic speed adjustment for curves in the road.

On a twisty road

If you’re looking for a family SUV that’ll put a smile on your face on your favourite B road then the Vauxhall Grandland is not the one. It’s fine, because there’s enough grip from the tyres and the body doesn’t roll too much, but the steering is light and the engine lacks the oomph to propel you quickly out of corners, which doesn’t exactly encourage spirited driving. Look to the Ford Kuga if that's your thing.

Usefully practical throughout the cabin and boot, but the rear seats aren’t hugely spacious for three

The Vauxhall Grandland is really spacious up front and feels pretty light and airy. There could be a bit more adjustment in the seat and steering wheel to get a comfortable driving position, but you sit nice and high for a good view of the road ahead.

Storage is excellent, with a large space beneath the armrest and another tray under the centre console. There are two cup holders with nifty moveable arms to grip different bottle sizes. In entry-level models there’s another tray beneath the screen, but in GS and Ultimate trims this is replaced by a covered space with the wireless charger. It’s behind an opaque screen with the idea being that your phone isn’t visible on the move, but when you stop it illuminates so you see it and don’t leave it in there. Feels a bit gimmicky but works aesthetically, at least.

Space in the back seats

There’s plenty of space in the back, with enough kneeroom for a six-footer sitting behind a six-foot driver. Headroom is generous too, though it’s not quite as good for three, because the middle seat passenger’s knees will push into the front seats and shoulder room is a bit tight.

Fitting a child seat should be easy enough because there’s quite a bit of space to the seats in front. The ISOFIX mounting points are a bit fiddly to get to though, because they’re behind zips in the seat fabric.

Boot space

The Vauxhall Grandland has a 550-litre boot, which puts it slightly above average compared with what alternatives offer. The Volkswagen Tiguan leads the pack with 652 litres, followed by the Hyundai Tucson at 620 litres and Kia Sportage at 591 litres. The Peugeot 3008 (520 litres), Nissan Qashqai (504 litres) and Mini Countryman (460 litres) are all less spacious.

The space itself is usefully square, and there’s a good amount of underfloor storage too. You also get small clips that let you hold the floor up so you have both hands free to load items into this space, too.

The Vauxhall Grandland interior has a simple class and feels well put together, but alternatives offer more style

The Vauxhall Grandland has comfortably the best interior of any Vauxhall. The dashboard is multi-layered with various materials and muted colours that, while far from posh and premium, give the car a simple elegance. The Peugeot 3008’s ‘80s lounge vibe is infinitely cooler, and a Volkswagen Tiguan feels more high-tech, but there’s very little to complain about aesthetically in the Vauxhall.

Material quality is fine too, because while there’s not much in the way of premium, squishy plastics, nothing feels particularly cheap either. And you can poke and prod the trim without worrying about breaking anything off, too.

On GS and Design trims you get a 16.0-inch infotainment display in the centre, which is very wide but not very tall, which takes some getting used to, and means the sat nav struggles to show you a good distance ahead. However, the new menu designs are an improvement on older Vauxhalls and it’s easy enough to find your way around menus, though there’s still just enough lag in your inputs to be mildly annoying.

Top-spec models get an excellent head-up display, which looms large in your view of the road ahead. It displays enough information that you rarely have to look away from the road at the displays in the car, something you really notice when you jump into a model without it.

There’s just the one engine in the Vauxhall Grandland, a 1.2-litre hybrid. It’s not as powerful as the hybrid system in a Toyota RAV4 or Kia Sportage - you can drive on electric power, but only at very low speeds. Initially this had 136hp but later in the Grandland’s life was upgraded to 145hp.

Official fuel economy is up to 51.4mpg, and on the motorway that’s genuinely achievable - a week of mixed mileage saw us beat that with around 53mpg. One drawback of the engine is that it feels underpowered for a car of this size, so you really need to work it hard to get up to higher speeds, particularly on steep inclines, which is bad for economy.

Because it’s not a plug-in hybrid, CO2 emissions are fairly high so it’s not hugely competitive for company car drivers, with Benefit-in-Kind (BiK) ratings of 29-30% depending on spec. The Vauxhall Grandland Electric is a better bet here, because it’s zero emissions and therefore has a rock bottom BiK rate as well as no Vehicle Excise Duty to pay.

The Vauxhall Grandland has not been put through the latest Euro NCAP safety tests yet. Most recent Vauxhall models have scored four out of five, which is a little disappointing, usually scoring poorly on driver assistance kit and vulnerable road user protection.

This version should fare slightly better in this regard, because the standard assistance kit is pretty good. You get adaptive cruise control, automatic emergency braking with in-crash braking assistance, and intelligent speed adaptation. Top-spec models get some more kit including semi-autonomous lane changing and automatic curve speed adaptation.

Although the Vauxhall Grandland is too new to get a picture of its reliability, Vauxhall as a brand didn’t perform particularly well in the latest Driver Power owner satisfaction survey, coming 26th out of 32 manufacturers. However, the previous Grandland did much better, ranking 23rd in the top 50 cars to own list.

Vauxhall’s warranty is about the minimum you get from a car maker in the UK, at three years or 60,000 miles (with unlimited mileage in the first year). The likes of Toyota, Kia and Hyundai offer much better warranties.