Vauxhall Frontera Electric Review & Prices

The Vauxhall Frontera is back. Those of you who remember the original from the 90s may recall that it was a rather utilitarian thing - well this new one is totally different. It’s available as the electric car we're reviewing here, but there's a hybrid Frontera, too.

You can think of the new Frontera Electric as being like an old friend who’s spent a bit of time travelling to ‘find themselves’, and has come back more well-rounded and mild-mannered. It’s now no longer a rough and ready, diesel-swilling lout, and has become a rather pleasant small family SUV with an attractive price tag. For reference, it’s exactly the same length as a Vauxhall Astra Sports Tourer.

It’s hard to pinpoint any direct alternatives to the Frontera Electric, because no other EV really offers the same blend of space and value for the money. For similar cash you could have the much smaller MG4 or a BYD Dolphin, or if you want a similar amount of interior space you could spend a lot more money and have a BYD Atto 3 or Hyundai Kona Electric. A new Citroen e-C3 Aircross is also on the way, which will use the same mechanicals as the Frontera.

The new Frontera Electric is a handsome-looking thing as well. It has a boxy and rugged shape to it, something which is added to in base spec because it comes with steel wheels. Step up a trim level and you get 17-inch alloys.

Vauxhall Frontera Electric: electric range, battery and charging data

Range: 186 miles
Efficiency: 3.4 miles per kWh
Battery size: 44kWh
Max charge speed: 100kW
Charge time AC: 3 hours 50 minutes, 11kW, 20-80%
Charge time DC: 26 minutes, 100kW, 20-80%
Charge port location: Left side rear
Power outputs: 113hp

When you step inside you can tell this car has been designed with practicality in mind. That tall roofline means you have an abundance of headroom, both in the front and the back, and rear legroom is really generous for a car of this size as well.

Moving around to the boot and no other electric car has this much capacity for the money. It’s considerably bigger than the similarly-priced MG4, and it’s only a few litres down on the Hyundai Kona Electric.

The other thing you notice when you climb aboard is that the Frontera is built to a budget. There are no soft-touch plastics to be found in here, and there are a couple of details which feel a bit flimsy. It’s pretty solid on the whole though, and you can forgive the cheap-feeling plastics when you look at the standard equipment list. You get a lot of kit for the money.

Out on the road the Frontera does nothing to set your pulse racing, but it’s a perfectly competent cruiser. It handles bumps in the road pretty well, the steering is light and precise enough and there’s very little body roll through the corners for such a tall car.

From launch there’s just one battery and motor combination on offer, a 44kWh pack mated to a 113hp motor powering the front wheels. It’s not a quick car, and doesn’t offer the same off-the-line punch you might expect from an EV, but it’s quick enough for most people’s needs.

The Frontera Electric has a claimed range of 186 miles, which isn’t anything revolutionary these days, even at this price; a BYD Dolphin will do up to 265 miles on a charge. Still, the Frontera should still go far enough to suit most people’s daily needs, and if you need to go further there’s a long-range version coming soon with around 250 miles of range.

The new Vauxhall Frontera Electric may not be the most exciting car to drive but, to use the old cliche, it’s a lot of car for the money. If you’re after a family-friendly, spacious electric SUV which is still small enough to be town-friendly, it should be near the top of your shortlist.

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The Vauxhall Frontera Electric is a great-value option if you’re looking for a lot of space for not a lot of money. It costs around the same as an MG4, which is much smaller, and the Hyundai Kona Electric offers around the same amount of room inside but costs almost £10,000 more.

Interestingly, the Frontera Electric also costs exactly the same as the hybrid version. It’s a unique proposition these days, and means the decision between the two will come down to your personal preference.

It’s not like Vauxhall has skimped on standard equipment either, because all Fronteras get a 10.0-inch touchscreen with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a reversing camera, LED headlights, cruise control and a digital driver’s display.

Go for the top spec GS model and you get 17-inch alloy wheels to replace the 15-inch steel rims you get on the entry-level car, power-folding door mirrors, automatic air conditioning, two-tone paint and blind-spot monitoring.

If you want luxuries like heated seats, a heated steering wheel, heated windscreen and LED foglights, you’ll have to spend £800 on the Ultimate pack, something which is only available on top-of-the-range Fronteras. The only other option is a Style Pack on the entry-level Design car, which gets you white steel wheels and a white roof for an additional £400.

The Vauxhall Frontera Electric is comfortable and easy to drive in town, but it’s pretty slow off the line

In town

Electric cars are usually at their best in town, and the Frontera is no exception. The tall driving position and small, boxy dimensions make it easy to place on the road, and slotting through small gaps in traffic is a breeze.

It’s pretty easy to park as well thanks to the standard-fit reversing camera and rear parking sensors - although if you want front sensors then you’ll have to step up to the GS model. The super-light steering also takes some of the strain out of the constant wheel-twirling in tight spaces.

The suspension handles pot-holed city streets pretty well. You have to hit a pretty big bump for it to send a thud through the cabin, and it can get a bit jiggly over smaller imperfections. It’s not super noticeable though unless the road is particularly bad.

One thing that is a bit disappointing though is the pickup from the electric motor. You expect an EV to be quick off the line with instant acceleration, however the Frontera feels a bit lethargic. Obviously it’s never going to be a drag-racer with 113hp on tap, but it would be nice if it felt a bit more lively for nipping out at busy junctions. The lack of one-pedal driving is a bit annoying as well, but not uncommon at this price point.

On the motorway

The Frontera Electric is most at-home in town, but that’s not to say it can’t handle an extended motorway stint. You don’t get an excessive amount of wind noise inside, however there is a bit of tyre roar as you push closer to the national speed limit. A Kia Niro EV is more hushed at speed.

The seats deserve a special mention for long-distance drives as well, because they’re really comfortable. You can spend a good few hours in these chairs without a hint of backache.

The main thing hindering the Frontera Electric as a motorway cruiser is the driving range. With just 186 miles of claimed range, it won’t be ideal for regular long-distance drives - you’ll be looking at around 160 miles at 70mph. The hybrid version is better suited if you spend a lot of time on the motorway.

You also can’t get the Frontera with adaptive cruise control, it just has a basic setup that won’t maintain your distance to the car in front. You can’t really hold that against a car this cheap, but it would be nice to have as an option to take some of the strain.

On a twisty road

Adequate is the best word to describe the Frontera Electric on a twisty road. This isn’t the sort of car you’ll be buying for spirited B-road blasts, it just needs to feel safe and secure - which it does.

The steering is precise enough and the car goes where you point it - and body roll is pretty minimal which is impressive in a car as tall and narrow as this. If you push a bit too hard into a corner you get some safe and predictable understeer, but keep it at sensible speeds and it's perfectly competent.

It’s pretty comfortable as well. The car doesn’t jiggle about too much over small imperfections and only really big bumps upset things.

The Vauxhall Frontera Electric is hugely spacious for such a small car, however there’s not much rear seat storage

Getting comfortable behind the wheel of the Frontera Electric is a breeze thanks to ample adjustment in the seats and the steering wheel. There’s masses of headroom and legroom up front, so even the lankiest of drivers will find an ideal driving position.

You get pretty decent storage up front as well. The door bins are large enough to swallow up a big bottle, the glovebox is a good size and there’s a wireless charging pad in front of the gear selector. A couple of USB-C ports are also placed here to give you plenty of charging options.

The cupholders have a pretty strange quirk as well. They’re open at the sides with a big elastic strap to stop things falling out, and you can use this to put an iPad or other large items in here. Realistically though you’re not going to do this, and the cupholders themselves are enormous. This is great for a big cup of coffee, but smaller bottles and cans will rattle around and fall over under acceleration or cornering.

Space in the back seats

Space in the back of the Frontera Electric is impressive for a car of this size. It’s the same length as a Vauxhall Astra Sports Tourer, but it offers a lot more leg and headroom than that car.

There’s enough room for a six-foot adult to sit behind another six-foot adult with ease. This car trumps any other EV at this price point when it comes to space in the back – including the MG4 and the BYD Dolphin – making it an ideal family car. It can even give the much more expensive Hyundai Kona a run for its money.

It’s a shame that the battery pack under the floor pushes your knees up a bit too high, it feels a bit like you’re sitting in a stress position, but you can just about slide your feet under the seat in front to alleviate this.

Fitting a baby seat is pretty easy thanks to the massive rear doors, which open to almost 90-degrees. The fiddly zip-up ISOFIX covers are a bit annoying though. Once the seat is in place there’s plenty of room for it without sliding the front seat forward.

You don’t get many clever features in the back though, apart from a couple of USB-C chargers and a 12-volt socket. There are no cup holders, the door bins are tiny and the only other storage you get is some pockets on the back of the front seats.

You can get the hybrid version of the Frontera with a third row of seats in the back, however this option isn’t available on the electric version.

Boot space

Space in the boot is just as impressive as the space in the back seats. You get 460 litres back there, although that does include the massive underfloor storage compartment. It’s a nice square shape which makes it easy to load, and there’s no lip to lift stuff over either.

But how does it compare to the alternatives? Well an MG4’s boot is 171 litres smaller, but a Hyundai Kona Electric has six litres more than the Frontera. A Kia Niro EV also has an extra 15 litres. Interestingly, despite being the exact same length, the Astra Sports Tourer’s boot is 56 litres bigger than the Frontera’s.

Once you’ve folded the rear seats down you get 1,600 litres to play with, and there’s a completely flat load floor to make sliding heavy items to the front easier. There’s also a couple of tie-down points, but that’s your lot really in terms of features.

The Vauxhall Frontera Electric’s cabin is logically laid out and well-equipped for the price, but it does feel pretty cheap

When poking around the Frontera’s cabin you need to keep in mind that this is an inexpensive car, because it’s not as well-polished as something like a Peugeot e-2008 or a Mini Aceman.

There are no soft-touch plastics to be found in here, and some bits feel a little bit flimsy - such as the trim around the infotainment system and the clips holding that weird strap around the cupholders.

Minor gripes aside though, the majority of the cabin feels pretty solid. The switchgear all feels good, and all the cabin controls are easy to operate. The physical climate control buttons are a welcome addition, as are the buttons to quickly switch off the lane departure and speed limit warning bongs.

The 10.0-inch infotainment system is best described as basic, but functional. The display itself is pretty bright and responsive, and the menus are easy to navigate. There’s just not that much in the way of functionality - you get a radio, sat-nav and smartphone mirroring - and that’s about it.

But what more do you really need? The wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto pair quickly when you get in the car, so you can stick your music on, pull up Google Maps and be on your way.

The digital driver’s display is also pretty basic, with no options to customise the layout. Still, it displays your speed, battery range and battery percentage clearly, and the screen itself is nice and bright.

There’s just one motor and battery option available in the Vauxhall Frontera Electric for now - a 44kWh pack paired to a 113hp motor powering the front wheels. It has a claimed range of 186 miles.

That’ll be enough for most people’s daily commutes, but those wanting to venture further afield on a regular basis may want to wait for the long-range version to come along, which will have 248 miles of range.

The Frontera can charge at up to 100kW at a DC fast charger, which will get you from 20-80% in as little as 26 minutes. An 11kW AC charger will top up the same amount in 3 hours and 50 minutes.

Being an electric car you won’t pay a penny in road tax until April 2025, when EVs will be subject to a small first year fee and a £190 per year bill thereafter.

The new Vauxhall Frontera Electric hasn’t been through its Euro NCAP safety tests just yet, but the rest of the Vauxhall range scores well on average, so you can expect this model to perform pretty well.

You get a decent amount of safety kit as standard as well. Lane keeping assist, a reversing camera, autonomous emergency braking and front collision warning are all included, and the top-spec GS gets blind spot monitoring.

The new Frontera Electric has only just gone on sale, so there are no reliability records just yet. Vauxhalls prove to be pretty dependable on the whole though and, being an electric car, there’s not really a lot to go wrong mechanically.

All new Vauxhalls are covered by a fairly mediocre three-year warranty. This will be fine if you’re just keeping the car for the length of an average lease deal, however the Kia Niro EV gets seven years of coverage.