Hybrid Vauxhall rated
Plug-in family SUV promises a mix of performance and economy
WE’RE likely to see plenty of new Vauxhalls arriving over the coming months, as the company taps into the huge resources of its new owner PSA to expand its horizons. And here’s one of the more intriguing newcomers made possible by new ownership: the Grandland X Hybrid4.
It boasts some promising specs. The car has a 197bhp 1.6-litre turbocharged petrol engine, along with a pair of electric motors – one on each axle – for a combined total output of 296bhp and 520Nm. That makes it the most powerful model in Vauxhall’s current line-up – and by some way.
There’s an eight-speed automatic transmission, and the electric motors help to deliver punchy performance; 0-62mph takes a claimed 5.9 seconds, and the car is capable of up to 84mph on electricity alone.
Vauxhall claims that the 13.2kWh lithiumion battery will give you around 35 miles of all-electric range, and while there’s no DC charging, the relatively modest size of the battery means that a 7.2kW home wallbox will be able to fully replenish the cells in just under two hours. Cheekily, though, Vauxhall doesn’t supply even this level of functionality as standard; if you want anything more than the weedy charger that works with a threepin plug, it’ll cost you an extra £500.
Prices start from £41,500 for private buyers for SRi Nav models and rise to an eye-watering £46,650 for the Ultimate Nav that we’re driving here. Even on a PCP deal, put down just under £8,000 and the SRi Nav model will be yours for £450 per month.
On the road, the Hybrid4 fires up in pureelectric mode as default – a sensible move, allowing you to pull away in silence and with no emissions. We remain to be convinced about the claimed pure-electric capability; our fully charged Hybrid4 was predicting a range of just 30km (19 miles, instead of 35 miles) when we started our journey, and even a sharp focus on efficiency from the driver failed to stop this figure depleting at a steady rate per mile travelled.
Most of the time the car will run in Hybrid mode, judging for itself when it’s most appropriate to fire up the engine. When this does happen, the transition is hard to detect – helped by the petrol motor being smoothrunning and relatively hushed. As a result, the Grandland X is a very refined cruising tool, regardless of which mode you’re in.
Over a mixture of pure-electric urban running, forced recharging, hybrid miles and a motorway cruise, we saw around 45mpg – a solid figure, but one that we suspect a non-plug-in Toyota RAV4 would beat.
In Sport mode, which gives you maximum performance from the engine and full power from both electric motors, there’s no doubt that the Grandland X is fast – but that’s mainly in a straight line. Again, the gearbox is smart enough to avoid being flustered when you’re pushing hard, but the rest of the dynamic package can’t quite keep up.
The Grandland X has a relatively stiff set-up that allows a good mix of body control and compliance over bumps. But the steering, while direct, has next to no feel, and rapid changes of direction upset the car. Offthe-line pace will make you think, briefly, that you’re in a hot hatch, but the first few corners will remind you that you’re in an SUV.
The cabin is nicely screwed together but it’s desperately dull in there. There’s no fully digital instrument panel or head-up display. Some may find the dual analogue gauges for fuel level and battery charge reassuringly conventional, but to us they look old-school for a car with this amount of tech on board.
“There’s no doubt that the Grandland X is fast – but that’s mainly in a straight line”