Vauxhall Grandland Electric review

Like a collector scrambling to complete their prized collection of football cards, Vauxhall has finally completed its collection of electric cars with the new Vauxhall Grandland Electric. 

It’s quite an impressive feat and makes Vauxhall one of the first brands to successfully offer an electric version of every car that it sells. Even the revived Vauxhall Frontera is hitting showrooms in both hybrid and electric forms.

Of course, the petrol-powered Vauxhall Grandland has been around for quite some time, but this is the first time Vauxhall has offered an all-electric version. To make sure it has maximum impact, Vauxhall has given its biggest electric car a large battery, a competitive range and a spacious interior.

It's going to need all those things if it’s going to compete against the best electric SUVs, including the Kia EV6, Skoda Enyaq, Tesla Model Y and Peugeot e-3008 (which is closely related to the Grandland).

What’s new?

- June 2025: Grandland Electric AWD announced – the first electric Vauxhall with four-wheel drive
- October 2024: Deliveries of the latest Grandland commence 
- August 2024: Three trim levels confirmed (Design, GS and Ultimate)  
- April 2024: Latest Grandland SUV revealed, with a choice of hybrid, plug-in hybrid and all-electric power

You can have the Vauxhall Grandland Electric with a 73kWh (usable capacity) battery and a 210bhp electric motor, with a long-range version (using a 93kWh battery and a range of more than 400 miles) on its way.

The 73kWh Grandland has an official 0-62mph sprint time of nine seconds, which should be plenty fast enough in any situation. The thing is, in practice, it feels way slower and it never really gives you a sudden dose of power that pushes you back into your seat, as you would get if you planted your foot in a Skoda Enyaq.

The Grandland Electric still has enough oomph to get up to motorway speeds easily, but it doesn’t accelerate quickly enough to make overtaking as much of a doddle as in rivals. That’s even true when you put it in Sport mode and have access to the full 211bhp.

In entry-level form, the Grandland Electric can officially cover an impressive 323 miles between charges, which is around the same as the Peugeot e-3008 and much further than the more expensive Enyaq SE L 60 and Ford Mustang Mach-E Select.

Just bear in mind that, as you step up the trim levels, bigger wheels and more standard equipment means that the range starts to drop, with top-spec Ultimate officially covering 318 miles. It’s also priced at around the same as some rivals with bigger batteries and longer ranges, including the Enyaq 85 (up to 358 miles).

We’re yet to try the new all-wheel drive version of the Grandland Electric, but with power increased to 322bhp and the 0-62mph sprint dropped to 6.1sec, we suspect it’ll be more than quick enough. That performance comes at a cost, though, dropping the range to just 306 miles. 

When it comes to ride comfort, the Grandland Electric is best described as unsettled. It’s not uncomfortable at any point and it doesn’t thud over potholes, but it’s firm enough that there’s a constant fidget as you drive along. In fact, while it improves at speed, it never really goes away. The Grandland is still more comfortable than the Model Y, but the Audi Q4 e-tron is more comfortable, as is the Kia EV6. 

An upside to the firmness is that the Grandland Electric’s body is well controlled, not swaying you around over undulations or leaning as you drive through faster corners. Even so, it's not that fun to drive because its overly light steering and inconsistent brake pedal detract from the driving experience.

True, you can strengthen the level of regenerative braking to remove a lot of the need to brake with the pedal, but it’s not quite as smooth or well-rounded to drive as a Kia EV6.

Better news comes when we look at refinement, with the Grandland Electric proving calm at a cruise, sending very little wind and road noise into the interior. Even around town, there’s very little noise from the electric motor.

“With its great body control, it’s a shame the Grandland Electric isn’t more fun to drive. I find it just doesn’t give you confidence to push on, especially on damp roads, where it quickly runs out of front-end grip.” – Dan Jones, Senior Reviewer

You sit high up in the Vauxhall Grandland Electric and the driving position itself is good. Better still, every version comes with plenty of seat and steering wheel adjustment, which makes it really easy to get comfortable.

The good news continues when it comes to the dashboard, with its logical layout and physical buttons for the climate control system. We much prefer its set-up to the touchscreen-only system you’ll find in the Skoda Enyaq or the separate touchscreen buttons that you’ll find in the Peugeot e-3008. 

Forward visibility is pretty good in the Grandland Electric, with the elevated driving position giving you a good view out over the front of the car and slim windscreen pillars allowing for plenty of visibility at junctions. 

Things aren’t quite so positive when it comes to rear visibility though. The view over your shoulder is decent enough, but the shallow rear window means that you can’t see that much out the back. To make parking easier, front and rear parking sensors and a rear-view camera come as standard, with a 360-degree camera added on the top-spec Ultimate. 

When it comes to infotainment, going for GS and Ultimate trim upgrades the touchscreen infotainment system from 10in (with Design trim) to 16in. So far, we’ve only tried the bigger screen but it’s quite impressive, reacting quickly to prods and showing you information in really clear high definition.

You get a few physical shortcut buttons, but most of its menus require you to use the touchscreen, which isn’t ideal. Some of the icons are small and hard to press while you’re driving, too. That said, the Vauxhall’s system is better laid out and it has simpler menus than what you’ll find in the Peugeot e-3008.

It gets a good amount of features as standard, including wireless Android Auto/ Apple CarPlay smartphone mirroring and, if you go for the larger screen, built-in sat-nav.

We were never particularly impressed by the interior in earlier versions of the petrol Vauxhall Grandland but things have vastly improved as of late. The Grandland Electric’s interior is a pleasant place to be, with varied soft-touch materials giving it plenty of showroom appeal. There are some hard plastics around, but they’ve been hidden low-down and you won’t really notice them. 

It doesn’t quite have the wow factor of the Peugeot e-3008 interior but it’s more interesting than the ultra minimalist interior of the Tesla Model Y. It feels pretty well built too, if not quite as good as the Kia EV6. 

"I think it’s great that the Grandland Electric’s interior has so many physical controls because it’s much easier to use without looking away from the road.” – Claire Evans, Consumer Editor

Even if you have a pair of broad six-footers sitting in both front seats of the Vauxhall Grandland Electric, they’ll have plenty of space to get comfortable and shoulder room to spare. 

They’ll have loads of space to store various items too. In fact, Vauxhall says the Grandland Electric offers the same amount of storage space as you get in a carry-on suitcase. The space comes in the form of large door bins, a refrigerated cubby beneath the central armrest, and a storage area underneath the centre console. If you go for GS or above, that’s where you’ll find a wireless phone charger. 

As in the front, there’s plenty of space for those measuring 6ft tall in the back seats, with plenty of head, knee and leg room on offer. Middle-seat passengers will be happy to know that there’s no central tunnel to straddle your feet over, plus there’s enough shoulder room for three people to get comfortable. Just bear in mind that the Kia EV6 is even more generous, as is the Toyota bZ4X. 

Every Grandland Electric comes with rear seats that split in the versatile 40/20/40 configuration and fold totally flat. That’s better than the 60/40 split you get in the Ford Mustang Mach-E, plus it means you can load long items through from the boot without losing one of the outer seats.

That said, with 550 litres of boot space (the same as the Vauxhall Grandland Hybrid), you might not need to fold the rear seats all that often. You see, the boot is bigger than you’ll find in a Mustang Mach-E, an EV6 or a Peugeot e-3008, and it should easily swallow a couple of pushchairs or your weekly shopping. The Skoda Enyaq has an even bigger boot, though. 

“Compared with older versions, this latest Grandland has grown in all directions, with the most notable change being the extra 17cm in length. This pays dividends in the boot, where I could easily fit several carry-on suitcases and backpacks inside.” – Dan Jones, Senior Reviewer

As a cash purchase, the Vauxhall Grandland Electric will cost you less than its rivals, including the Kia EV6, Peugeot e-3008, Skoda Enyaq and Tesla Model Y. 

Better still, the Grandland Electric is predicted to depreciate more slowly than most rival electric SUVs, losing its value slower than the EV6, the e-3008 and the Enyaq. That can have an effect on how much you’ll pay per month on a PCP finance deal. 

It also helps that the Grandland Electric comes with lots of standard equipment, with even entry-level Design trim getting 19in alloy wheels, dual-zone climate control, an EV heat pump, Matrix LED headlights, adaptive cruise control and an automatic anti-dazzle rear-view mirror.

Stepping up to mid-spec GS trim adds some niceties to the list, including the upgraded infotainment system, heated seats and a heated steering wheel, while top-spec Ultimate gets all the bells and whistles. Indeed, that version gets 20in alloys, a premium Focal stereo system with 10-speakers, a heated windscreen, a power tailgate and a panoramic sunroof.

With a maximum charging rate of 160kW, the Grandland Electric’s charging times are pretty competitive in the class, with 20-80% on a fast charger taking around 30 minutes. That’s similar to the Enyaq and Model Y. The EV6 can charge at up to 350kW, meaning that, provided you can find a charger that’s fast enough, it’ll go from 10-80% in just 18 minutes. 

Vauxhall performed very well in the 2025 What Car? Reliability Survey, managing to claim 5th place out of the 30 included manufacturers. That’s better than all of the Grandland Electric’s rivals. 

The three-year/60,000-mile standard warranty is pretty par for the course though, and doesn’t come close to Kia’s seven-year/100,000-mile offering. The Grandland’s electric battery is covered by a separate eight-year/100,000-mile warranty. 

The Grandland Electric scored a slightly disappointing four stars out of five for safety when it was tested by the experts at Euro NCAP. Most new cars and SUVs get five stars, although the related Peugeot e-3008 scored four stars too.

Every Grandland Electric comes with automatic emergency braking (AEB), lane-keeping assist and a driver drowsiness monitoring system. Upgrading to top Ultimate trim adds to the safety equipment list, getting lane-changing assist, rear-cross traffic alert and semi-autonomous lane changing.

“I think the entry-level Grandland Electric looks like reasonable value but the price quickly escalates and puts it right in the crosshairs of better rivals with more range.” – Will Nightingale, Reviews Editor

Buy it if...

-You want an electric car that won’t break the bank

-Having a decent electric range is important to you

-Reliability is important to you

Don’t buy it if…

-You value a five star EuroNCAP rating

-You want the most comfortable electric car

-Fast acceleration is high on your priority list

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