New Vauxhall Grandland review

It’s hard to pin down exactly when the term ‘glow up’ became mainstream, but like Matthew Lewis – the actor who played Harry Potter’s Neville Longbottom – the Vauxhall Grandland can now be added to the list of examples.

You see, the latest version has seemingly gone from traditional family SUV to something a little more space age, getting styling inspired by the Vauxhall Experimental concept car, bigger dimensions and a new interior that’s fit for a flagship model.

On top of that, the engine line-up has changed, with the Grandland now offering solely electrified options. For now, that means a mild hybrid and an electric version (which you can read more about in our Vauxhall Grandland Electric review), but in the future you can expect a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) too. 

That’s all well and good but, in the past, the Grandland’s stumbling block has been going up against the closely-related Peugeot 3008 and a range of impressive family SUVs, including the Hyundai Tucson, Kia Sportage and Nissan Qashqai. Is that about to change? Let’s find out…

At the time of writing, you can only have the Grandland as a mild hybrid, which means it has a 1.2-litre turbocharged petrol engine and a 48V hybrid system. In total, it gives you 134bhp and more than enough performance for everyday driving, with an official 0-62mph sprint of 10.2 seconds. 

Thanks to the electric motor, you can drive the Grandland on electric-only power for short periods at low speeds, something that should help to keep your fuel bills down if you drive around town a lot. That said, if you want something with a petrol engine and a better electric-only range, you might want to wait for the PHEV, or look at regular hybrid rivals such as the Kia Sportage or Hyundai Tucson. 

Every Grandland comes with a six-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox that provides slick and smooth gearchanges in most scenarios. While there’s a slight hesitation to drop down a gear or two when you ask for a burst of power, it still makes overtaking pretty easy. 

With the suspension being on the firmer side of things and the entry-level Design version getting large 19in wheels, you might expect the Grandland to ride quite poorly. Luckily, for the most part, that isn’t the case. 

You see, the firm ride helps to give the Grandland a good level of stability and control as you drive along, keeping the body upright over undulating roads better than softer rivals including the Citroen C5 Aircross. That’s especially true at motorway speeds, where the Grandland is a fairly refined cruiser. 

It isn’t perfect, though. While it doesn’t thud through potholes and imperfections, you’re more aware of them than you would be in the Sportage, and there’s a constant, if very slight, fidget that you can feel through vibrations on the steering wheel. It’s far from uncomfortable, but it isn’t as comfortable as slightly softer rivals.

If you want something that's fun to drive and dynamic on a country road, the Grandland is not the answer – ideally you'll want to take a look at the BMW X1.

While the Grandland's firm suspension does a decent job of containing body movements over undulating roads, it's not very involving. That’s largely due to the steering, which feels light and lacks feedback in any driving mode, including Sport.

Don’t get us wrong, it feels fine around town, but it just doesn’t give you the confidence that an X1 or Cupra Formentor would give you, particularly at higher speeds. 

Every Grandland comes with a six-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox that provides slick and smooth gearchanges in most scenarios. While there’s a slight hesitation to drop down a gear or two when you ask for a burst of power, it still makes overtaking pretty easy. 

The engine itself is refined for the most part, only seeming a little gruff at idle before fading into the background as you drive along. Wind and road noise are both well contained too. 

Our only main demerit is that the brakes could feel more responsive, because there’s quite a lot of travel in the pedal before it starts to do anything. 

“Unlike its closest rivals, the Grandland’s brakes take some getting used to. However, I did find the regenerative braking system to be smooth, so you don’t have to use the pedal so much.” – Lawrence Cheung, New Cars Editor

The Vauxhall Grandland has a good range of seat and steering wheel adjustment, and the pedals are well aligned with the driver’s seat. Most people will find it easy enough to get comfortable and you sit reasonably high up (roughly in line with Hyundai Tucson drivers, but not quite as high up as in the Volvo XC40).

We’re yet to try the seats in the entry-level Design version, but we have tried the ergonomic seats that come as standard in the GS and Ultimate models. They’re comfortable and offer plenty of lower back and side support – you can adjust both too. 

The dashboard is logically laid out, with separate climate control buttons that are easy to operate while you're driving. We prefer them to the touchscreen-based shortcut buttons that you get in the Peugeot 3008 and they’re much better than rivals that force you to use the infotainment system to make changes.

You get a good view out of the front of the Grandland, and slim windscreen pillars mean you can see plenty when negotiating junctions. 

Rear visibility isn’t quite as impressive and, while you get a decent view over your shoulder, the shallow rear window doesn’t offer the best view backwards.

Luckily, parking is made easier by standard-fit front and rear parking sensors. Upgrading to mid-spec GS makes things even easier, with the addition of a rear-view camera, and Ultimate upgrades that to a 360-view camera.

The size of the Grandland’s infotainment system depends which you go for, with entry-level Design getting a 10.0in infotainment touchscreen and GS and Ultimate getting a 16.0in one. 

So far, we’ve only tried the latter, but it bodes well that the screen is clear and easy to read, while the software responds reasonably quickly to your prods. The menus are simple and easy to understand as well, plus you get a few physical shortcut buttons beneath the screen. We wish some of the icons were larger, though, because they can be quite fiddly to try and hit while you’re driving. 

It gets a good amount of features, including DAB radio, Bluetooth, and Android Auto and Apple CarPlay smartphone mirroring. Wireless phone charging and built-in sat-nav are also added with the larger screen, while top-spec Ultimate adds a 10-speaker Focal premium sound system.

We haven’t really been impressed with the Grandland’s interior in the past, but the latest version marks a vast step forward. You see, nearly every surface you come into contact with is covered with soft-touch materials and anything scratchy is hidden low down. 

The mix of colours and materials goes a long way to giving the Grandland plenty of showroom appeal too. That said, there are some areas where it doesn’t feel as well-built as a Sportage, and you could argue the closely-related 3008 has a little more wow factor.

"The Grandland’s interior has gone from quite bland to rather appealing. I especially like the soft fabric atop the doors." – James Tute, Content Editor

There’s more than enough head and leg room in the Vauxhall Grandland for taller adults, and the interior is wide enough to ensure that front-seat occupants won’t clash elbows.

However, if you’re well over 6ft tall, the Hyundai Tucson offers more headroom. It’s one of the largest models in the family SUV class.

Vauxhall is very proud of the amount of storage space they’ve put up front in the Grandland and you can see why, with lots of areas dotted around for your odds and ends. 

The new Grandland has grown in length by 17cm, in comparison with the older versions. That’s allowed for slightly more rear leg room than before, making it easy to fit a six-footer back there. 

Just bear in mind that, if you regularly drive around with a car full of adults, the Tucson and Kia Sportage both offer even more space.

Middle seat passengers are treated to a small central tunnel so they have plenty of foot space, plus they get a decent amount of shoulder room when sitting between two adults. 

Folding rear seats are standard in the Grandland and they split in the versatile 40/20/40 configuration. It’s easy to get the backrests down too, because there are handy quick-release levers next to the tailgate opening.

The Grandland's rear seats don't recline, as they do in the Sportage, or slide forwards and backwards, which they can in the VW Tiguan.

The Grandland’s larger size means that boot space has been increased to 550 litres (up from 514 litres in the previous version), which is spacious enough to take a buggy or a couple of large suitcases with ease. It’s a practical shape, with no awkward intrusions. 

Even though the boot is a similar size to the Sportage and Tucson, it’s smaller than the similarly priced (and much larger) Skoda Kodiaq, which offers up to 700-litres of space. 

A powered tailgate is standard if you go for top-spec Ultimate, which is handy when your hands are full.

“I like the fact the Grandland offers 40/20/40 split folding rear seats, which is more useful than the 60/40 split seats you got in the old version. This means you can now feed long items through from the boot without sacrificing an outer seat.” – Neil Winn, Deputy Reviews Editor

The Vauxhall Grandland’s price starts higher than most of its rivals, including the Ford Kuga, Hyundai Tucson, Kia Sportage and Nissan Qashqai. For that reason, you’ll want to make sure you get the best price through our new Vauxhall deals page.

Officially, the Grandland should manage 51.4mpg, helping to keep your fuel bills down. What’s more, with CO2 emissions of 125g/km, it should be fairly cheap for company car drivers. 

Just bear in mind that it won’t be as cheap as plug-in hybrid versions of the Sportage and Tucson, and those after the cheapest benefit-in-kind (BIK) payments will want the electric version.

Even if you go for the entry-level Design trim, the Grandland comes with a good amount of standard equipment. That list includes 19in alloy wheels, adaptive cruise control, LED headlights, dual-zone climate control, automatic wipers and the other bits we’ve mentioned. It's our pick because it gives you plenty of kit without pushing up the price too much.

Upgrading to mid-spec GS adds a few extras, including matrix LED headlights, a heated steering wheel, heated front seats and some styling tweaks. It also gets the upgraded infotainment system with built-in sat-nav. 

If you want all the mod cons, Ultimate upgrades the alloys to 20in and adds a head-up display, a heated windscreen and a panoramic sunroof. It’s quite expensive, though.

In our 2024 What Car? Reliability Survey, Vauxhall as a brand finished in 29th place out of 31 manufacturers. That’s a pretty poor performance, placing it below nearly all of its rivals, including Renault (9th), Citroën (7th) and Toyota (5th).

We don’t have data for the Grandland but the 2018-2021 Grandland X came 20th out of 34 family SUVs (see the full table here).

Like all Vauxhalls, the Grandland comes with a three-year/60,000-mile warranty and a year of roadside assistance. That matches the cover provided by most manufacturers, but can’t beat the five-year warranty offered by Hyundai, Kia’s seven-year package or the (up to) 10 years warranty Toyota gives you.

The Grandland is yet to be tested by the safety experts at Euro NCAP, but it’s good to know that it gets plenty of standard safety kit.

Indeed, every Grandland comes with lane-departure warning, automatic emergency braking (AEB), a driver drowsiness alert, a blind-spot warning and Isofix child-seat mounts on the front passenger and outer rear seats.

"While the new Grandland has plenty of equipment and an efficient engine, I find it hard to overlook the expensive price tag, particularly when the cheaper Kia Sportage is a better all-rounder." – Dan Jones, Senior Reviewer

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