Vauxhall Grandland Electric joins our fleet | Long-term test

Friends, neighbours, relatives, they’ll all see you coming. And to address the question I’ve been asked the most in the three weeks of driving the Vauxhall Grandland, its distinctive colour is not salmon pink or rose gold, as has been suggested, it’s impact copper. 

The debate has been an unusual icebreaker in introducing Vauxhall’s fully refreshed SUV to all the above people. The Grandland sits above the newly-relaunched Frontera in a car and van range that has an electric choice for every model. 

Now the essentials.  

New Grandland is available in three trim levels, Design, GS and Ultimate. It does away with the GSe variant that topped the range for its predecessor, which I got to drive in 2023. 

The range includes a choice of fully electric or hybrid powertrains. The latter combines a 134PS, 1.2-litre turbo petrol engine with a 28PS electric motor. Vauxhall says it will give you 50mpg. A plug-in hybrid is due to launch later this year.

But our Ultimate spec test model is the former, an all-electric option. It provides a stated range of 325 miles (WLTP) on a full charge and the 0-62mph time is nine seconds.   

Its battery has 73kWh of usable capacity and there’s an 11kW AC charger on board as standard.  

With the capability for 160kW DC rapid charging, the battery can be charged from 20% to 80% in about 26 minutes, Vauxhall says.  

Using a 11kW type 2 public charger, the same charge is achieved in about four hours, 30 minutes; a 7kW wallbox will see the same achieved in six hours, 45 minutes. 

You have the option to switch from immediate to delayed charging, to take advantage of lower electricity tariffs during off-peak hours. 

Despite swings in temperature in April, I’m getting a claimed range capacity of between 321 and 326 miles, achieved I suspect through the standard-fit battery heat pump ironing out the variances typical due to air temperature fluctuations. 

Note, at some point this year Vauxhall says it will introduce a 97kWh battery, offering an impressive range of around 435 miles. 

Since Fleet News first drove the second-generation Grandland in October, Vauxhall has dropped the price of its electric cars range below £40,000 to avoid you being stung by the new ‘expensive car supplement’. 

The Grandland Ultimate’s on-the-road price fell from £40,495 to £39,995 because of Vauxhall’s move earlier this month. 

As an added incentive, the Grandland is available with a ‘Plug & Go’ branded offer that includes £500 towards a Octopus Ohme Pro home wallbox or £500 public charging credit at Tesco stores or through Octopus Electroverse. 

Plug & Go includes a battery warranty for eight years or 100,000 miles and three years of roadside assistance.