Safe and sound in hi-tech haven
With its battery of safety features, Vauxhall’s big MPV is the ideal family transporter, says Carmel Stewart
For a big car, the Vauxhall Combo Life XL is a sensitive soul. It beeps and buzzes when cars/vans/bikes/people get too close or overgrown hedges and wildly waving grass verges alert its sensors.
Not that that is really a bad thing, it just takes a little getting used to and serves to keep the driver alert to multiple roadside hazards and multiswivel ple road using idiots.
At 4.75m in length, the XL is some 350mm longer than its non-XL sibling, but shorter than the 4.95m/5.3m stablemate/rival, the new Vivaro Life.
Actually, the five/eightseater highly specced Vivaro Life is not really a rival, aimed as it is at the more corporate/ business end of the market. Its seats are all full-sized and can into face-to-face meeting mode.
The Combo Life, aimed at the retail market, is versatile and functional. It’s very much a family-focused vehicle, with plenty of features which make it suitable for transporting children. Most notable is its ability to accommodate three child seats side by side (with ISOFIX brackets) across the second row. The sliding doors makes for easy access and both the standard wheelbase or the slightly longer XL can be ordered with five or seven seats.
Price is also a major distinguishing feature: the Vivaro Life starts at £27,760 while the Combo Life starts at £21,290 for the five-seat Design, rising to £28,815 for the XL Elite with seven seats and an automatic transmission.
The Combo Life standard spec is very generous with Bluetooth, eight-inch colour touch screen, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, auto windscreen wipers, high beam assist, front and rear parking sensors, day time running lights, forward collision alert, lane keep assist with lane departure warning, cruise control with speed limiter and driver drowsiness alert all included.
On the road, the XL drives very much like the five-seater, being composed and comfortable with no unruly characteristics. The Peugeot sourced award-winning 1.2litre Pure Tech 108bhp petrol neatly matched to the straightforward six-speed manual box, proved more than up to the job, such are the technological advances of today’s engines.
Official stats show that nought to 60mph takes 12 seconds, so not a vehicle to be pushed to the limit but treat it (and your passengers) with respect and it’ll do the job it’s designed for. Thrashing it into corners will merely unsettle it but push it to where it feels comfortable and it’ll travel along smoothly and without fuss.
Bag and baggage storage varies according to the number of seats in use. The five-seat, standard length version has a minimum luggage volume of 597litres, while the long wheelbase model has a minimum luggage volume of 850litres.
Caravanners can tick the optional towing pack box which comes with Trailer Stability as standard. This additional ESP function stabilises the swaying of the trailer or slows the vehicle as required. If these measures are not enough to avert the danger, the system reduces engine torque even further and brakes the vehicle so that the critical speed range is reduced - the wonders of modern technology.