In a Crossover world of lookalikes Vauxhall needed a lift – and they might just be knocking on the door to success with the new Grandland X Ultimate.
There wasn’t a great deal to differentiate Grandland from the rest of the field until the Ultimate was revealed and now that door to success is ajar thanks to a range-topper which ticks all option boxes to save you the bother.
There’s now no need to go trawling through the “extras” list with a sharp pencil – Vauxhall did all that for you, topping-up the kit already available on the previous top-spec Elite Nav-trim.
And better still the Ultimate gets a new 2.0litre turbo diesel engine with 177PS benefitting from the PSA relationship to get an eight-speed automatic box, offering much better performance than earlier editions.
In fact you can expect a top speed of 133mph, 0-60mph in 9.1 seconds, combined fuel economy of 57.6mpg and C02 emissions of only 128g g/km, pretty good by any standards.
Those figures all add up to strong performance with torque to spare but the model on test’s annoyingly overactive stop-start system put a bit of a dampener on things.
There’s a solid feel to this new Vauxhall and inside the cab is a welcoming haven. Leather covering to steering wheel, seats and dash give an air of quality leaving the driver in little doubt that this is the company’s range-topper.
There’s more technology than you will ever need. Of course you get Vauxhall’s OnStar system, Navi 5.0 intelliLink system, fully integrated European sat-nav, smartphone projection, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto along with an 8-inch colour touchscreen. Bluetooth audio streaming and mobile phone portal are included too.
There are heated front and rear seats, 60/40 split-folding rear seats, automatic lights and wipers, panoramic sun roof, heated windscreen and dark tinted rear windows for that extra bit of privacy.
Outwardly this Grandland has star quality with sculptured looks and stands on 19-inch diamond cut alloys, black roof and door mirrors and a power tailgate system.
Safety is assured with a switchable stability control programme, anti-locking brakes, side blind spot alert, lane departure warning, speed sign recognition, 360% camera system, traction control and hill-start assist, six airbags park assist, and daytime running lights.
There’s a price to pay for any range-topper of course and you’ll need to dig deep for £34,280 to get the Grandland X Ultimate on your driveway.
