What is it?
Meet one half of Vauxhall’s two-step journey towards electrifying its entire passenger car line-up by 2024 - a journey set to make its other significant stride forward in just a few months with the arrival of the Corsa-e electric supermini.
The Grandland X Hybrid4 is the first ever plug-in hybrid to wear a Vauxhall badge, 2012’s Ampera being, strictly speaking, a range-extender electric car rather than a PHEV. With a 13.2kW battery, it can deliver as much as 35 miles of zero-emissions range - enough, says Vauxhall, for 80% of customers to do the majority of their driving on electricity alone. A 7.2kW wall box can then recharge it in under two hours, though only if you pay £500 for the option.
Of more interest to the average Autocar reader? That this is also the most powerful production Vauxhall on sale today, a pair of electric motors and PSA’s familiar 1.6-litre turbocharged four-pot petrol engine sending 296bhp to all four wheels. 0-60 takes a claimed 5.9 seconds, or enough to raise the eyebrow of the average hot hatchback owner.
In the UK, the all-wheel drive Hybrid4 starts with with the well-equipped SRi Nav trim, at £41,500. Our test car, a top-spec Ultimate Nav which adds niceties such as advanced park assist, premium audio and bespoke LED headlights, was an altogether more ambitious £46,650. That isn't too far removed from premium plug-ins from Audi, BMW and Volvo. Fleet customers may be more tempted by the Business Edition at roughly £37,000, but private buyers may want to wait for the less pricey, front-drive only variant set to follow later in the year, with an equally attractive benefit-in-kind tax rate.
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Grandad
It's such a dull looking car, not helped by having a name that sounds like Granddad.
PHEVs are a massive comprimise and only work for certain people (I should know, I have an Outlander). You might just get that 204mpg if you do lots of short journeys. I do virtually all my journeys on electric alone.
But generally company car drivers do big mileage which means that even with a full battery, you won't be getting much more than 30-35mpg on a motorway trip.
So a private buyer will get a second hand Outlander for £16K whilst a business buyer will find that the lease and fuel costs on a BMW diesel are much less.
I've no idea who will buy this.
They've tested the wrong car
The price is insane
Why do they keep doing it? £47K for a Vauxhall. You don't have to get into badge snobbery to know that very few people are going to opt for the Vauxhall. As for waiting 2 years Ski Kid. You can buy Grandland X's that are not much over a year old with less than 12,000 on the clock for under £15k.
A £32k saving buys a lot of fuel and covers a lot of extra tax/emissions/congestion etc charges. You would have to be the full on Thunberg to blow £47k to save the planet by buying that thing new.
Fully agree