Vauxhall Grandland Electric Review & Prices

If you’re looking for an electric SUV with useful practicality and a smart cabin, the Vauxhall Grandland Electric is well worth a look. It might not have the design pizazz of some alternatives, but it does all the things you need from a family car well. It’s the sensible option – a bit like buying a new build home close to local amenities, rather than that cute cottage out in the sticks.

Other electric SUVs you might consider include the mechanically similar Peugeot E-3008, as well as both the Hyundai Kona Electric and Ioniq 5, Skoda Enyaq, Tesla Model Y and Mini Countryman Electric.

Most of those cars will turn your head quicker than the Vauxhall Grandland that’s for sure. On all but the base trim you get an illuminated Vauxhall badge on the front, which gives the car some presence, but otherwise it’s a rather plain and featureless design.

Vauxhall Grandland Electric: electric range, battery and charging data

Range: 325 miles
Efficiency: 3.6 mi/kWh
Battery size: 73kWh
Max charge speed: 160kW
Charge time AC: 6h 45mins, 0-100%, 7kW
Charge time DC: 26mins, 0-80%, 160kW
Charge port location: Left side rear
Power outputs: 213hp

You can’t say the same for the inside. The Peugeot E-3008 has a funkier cabin, but the Vauxhall Grandland’s interior is a huge improvement over the old one, with a multi-surfaced, multi-layered design that looks great with little fuss.

You get a large display in the centre of the dashboard for your infotainment, which has crisp graphics and easy menu navigation, but it is a bit sluggish to respond to your touch. Base models get a tiny screen here, too.

At least it’s spacious and practical inside whichever versions you go for, with useful storage throughout the cabin and a boot that’s on the better side of average. At 550 litres it’s some way behind the Tesla Model Y and Skoda Enyaq, but bigger than a Mini Countryman Electric and Nissan Ariya.

Out on the road the Grandland Electric feels heavy. It has more advanced suspension than the petrol Grandland, but it rather clatters into bumps in the road and jiggles about quite a bit over imperfections, particularly at town speeds.

The electric motors are tuned with sedate acceleration in mind, even in its sportier setting, which is fine most of the time, but you do miss that quick burst of speed that makes most electric cars so great for nipping about in traffic or pulling off swift overtakes.

Despite this, particularly at motorway speeds, the Grandland Electric is a refined thing to get about in. Just don’t expect it to be as much fun on a twisty road as the Ford Mustang Mach-e.

At the moment there’s only one choice of electric motor and battery, providing a range of up to 325 miles, which is similar to what you get in alternatives. It’s a single-motor model, but dual-motor and big battery versions are coming further down the line, offering more power and more range respectively. The latter should provide a massive 435 miles between charges…

Even without that huge range this is a decent electric SUV with a solid cabin that’s usefully practical, and feels like it’s lightyears beyond its predecessor. If you’re interested, check out the latest Vauxhall Grandland Electric deals on Carwow, or browse used Vauxhall models from our network of trusted dealers. You can also browse other electric car deals, and when it’s time to sell your current car, Carwow can help with that, too.

The Grandland Electric feels a touch pricey for something wearing a Vauxhall badge, with even the basic models starting at just over £40,000, but it’s not too bad in comparison with other electric SUVs.

There are some excellent alternatives that start at a lower price, including the Skoda Enyaq and Hyundai Kona Electric, but the Nissan Ariya, Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Mini Countryman Electric are all similar to the Vauxhall. The Peugeot E-3008 is more expensive, but feels more plush, despite sharing much of its mechanical bits with the Grandland, while the Tesla Model Y is also pricier but comes with more range and a bigger boot. It’s also worth noting that most of these models come with smaller batteries at Grandland Electric prices, and you need to pay more to go further than the Vauxhall on a charge.

You have a choice of three trims in the Vauxhall Grandland Electric, though the base Design model’s 7.0-inch infotainment screen and lack of funky illuminated badging should be enough to put you off, even if you do get adaptive cruise control as standard. The GS trim gets the full 16.0-inch infotainment screen, as well as the cool lights up front, wireless smartphone charging and a reversing camera. Top-spec Ultimate cars get extra assistance kit, a panoramic sunroof and a powered bootlid.

Comfortable and refined at higher speeds, but you feel every bump around town

In town

The Vauxhall Grandland Electric feels quite chunky on the road, but you have a pretty good view around you so it’s not too difficult to navigate tight city streets. The electric motors are smooth when accelerating, and you can change the regenerative braking settings using the wheel paddles so you barely have to use the brake around town. When you do though, it’s tricky to come to a stop without the car rocking back and forth on its suspension.

The seats are comfortable and that helps make the Grandland a generally relaxing place to be, but the suspension does rather clatter through sharper road imperfections such as potholes, which could be a bit of a problem on poorly paved British roads.

On the motorway

At higher speeds the Grandland Electric’s suspension settles down and it feels much smoother. This feels like a car built for swiftly dispatching miles of Autobahn, so a stint up the average speed camera-infested M1 should be a walk in the park. There’s some tyre roar to contend with, but otherwise it’s a quiet and comfortable place to do big miles.

It helps that you get useful driver assistance kit included as standard, such as adaptive cruise control to maintain your speed and distance to the car in front, as well as lane-keeping assistance. It’s all well-implemented too, so you’re not immediately tempted to turn it off in the car’s settings (something you can bring up in one button press, though, which is always a nice touch).

On a twisty road

It’s a bit less impressive on a fun country road, though. The high-speed comfort translates pretty well to larger lumps in the road, with the body of the car not rolling around too much, but it feels very heavy in turns and you don’t get much feedback through the steering wheel about how much grip the front tyres have. There are a few better alternatives if you’re a keen driver, such as the Ford Mustang Mach-e and Tesla Model Y.

Plenty of practical touches in the cabin and the boot is pretty big, but rear seat space isn’t amazing for three

Space in the front of the Grandland Electric is good, and you sit high with a clear view of the road ahead. The seats are comfortable and have a groove cut in the middle to take the pressure off your tailbone for long journeys.

There’s lots of storage, with a large cubby hole in the armrest and another tray beneath the centre console that’s good for small bags and other odds and ends. Design models get a small tray beneath the screen for your phone, but the other trims get a covered area with the wireless phone charging pad inside. There’s a panel covering the front that hides your phone from view, but illuminates when you turn the car off to remind you to pick it up.

Space in the back seats

You won’t be left wanting for space in the back seats, because you can fit a six-foot passenger behind another six-footer with little fuss. The seats have a cut out of the back so there’s plenty of room for your knees, and your head won’t be brushing the headliner. It’s a bit of a squeeze for three, but the main issue with this is the person in the middle will struggle to find a comfortable place for their legs.

At least the space means the Grandland Electric should be able to fit even the bulkiest rear-facing child seats without too much fuss. The ISOFIX mounting points are pretty easy to get to, though they’re hidden behind fiddly zips in the seat fabric.

Boot space

The Vauxhall Grandland Electric has a good-sized boot at 550 litres, which is the same as the petrol model, so you don’t have to sacrifice space for batteries. That puts it on the better side of average, though some alternatives have more space, such as the Tesla Model Y’s 854 litres and Skoda Enyaq’s 585 litres. It’s also a bit more than the mechanically similar Peugeot E-3008, which has 520 litres thanks to its sloping roofline.

It’s a clever space too, because you get a false floor that you can drop down to maximise space, or leave in place to remove the load lip and create some hidden underfloor storage. There are also clips so you can hold the floor in the raised position when loading things inside.

It might lack the design pizazz of some alternatives, but the Vauxhall Grandland Electric is refreshingly simple inside and build quality is impressive

If you’re coming out of the old Grandland and looking to upgrade to the Grandland Electric, you’ll probably be sold on the interior glow up alone. It’s not as flashy as the Peugeot E-3008’s cabin, but there are multiple layers, materials and colours that give a subtly classy appearance. Material quality is fine and it all feels well screwed together, too.

On the base model you get a tiny 7.0-inch display, but on the mid- and top-spec trims you get an excellent 16.0-inch display that’s clear and easy enough to navigate your way around. It’s not perfect, because it’s a bit sluggish to respond to your inputs. It’s also wide but not very tall, which takes some getting used to, particularly when you’re using maps and can’t see very far ahead.

Useful is the head-up display, which is included on top-spec models and displays most of the information you need, such as your speed and battery range, in your line of vision in the windscreen. It means you rarely have to look away from the road, which is always a good thing.

There’s just the one battery and motor combination at the moment. You get a single-motor setup with 213hp and a range of 325 miles, which is pretty good – most alternatives can go further with their big battery versions, but this typically pushes their price above that of even the top-spec Vauxhall.

If you’re using a public DC fast charging station, you can get a maximum speed of 160kW, which keeps the 10-80% charge time under half an hour. The Tesla Model Y and Hyundai Ioniq 5 are much quicker to top up, but the Grandland Electric is in line with what most other similarly priced EVs can achieve.

If you can wait, a dual-motor version with more power and all-wheel drive is coming at a later date, as is a big battery option that pushes the range up to a massive 435 miles. Expect the latter in particular to be considerably more expensive, though.

As a zero-emission vehicle you get ultra-low company car tax rates with the Grandland Electric, and you won’t pay any Vehicle Excise Duty until 2025 either.

The Vauxhall Grandland Electric has not been put through Euro NCAP safety testing yet, though recent Vauxhall models have typically scored four out of five, losing marks for poor driver assistance technology.

That could change for this model though, because you get some decent kit included as standard, such as adaptive cruise control and automatic emergency braking with in-crash braking assistance. Top-spec models get added assistance equipment, including a semi-autonomous lane-changing system.

As a new model the Vauxhall Grandland Electric’s reliability can’t be confirmed, though Vauxhall had a poor showing in the most recent Driver Power ownership survey, placing 26th out of 32 manufacturers.

Vauxhall’s warranty isn’t great either, at three years with a 60,000-mile limit – you get much more from Toyota, Kia and Hyundai. Vauxhall does also give an eight-year/100,000-mile battery guarantee as well as three years of roadside assistance, though.