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First drive: Vauxhall Frontera. Image by Vauxhall.

First drive: Vauxhall Frontera
Has Vauxhall come up with a winner in the form of its affordable Frontera EV?

   



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Vauxhall Frontera

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The Vauxhall Frontera's back! Which will be of absolutely no interest to anyone who doesn't remember Vauxhall's early Nineties attempt to compete with the Land Rover Discovery (anyone? Anyone?). Back then, the Frontera was a rugged SUV with four-wheel drive and low-range gears, not to mention one of the worst reputations in motoring as being a shed to drive, and an unreliable shed at that.

Well, the Frontera's back, but aside from the name everything has changed. Now, instead of chasing Land Rover, Vauxhall is out to court Dacia's customers with a car that majors on practicality and affordability, and which can be had with either electric or hybrid power.

Test Car Specifications

Model tested: Vauxhall Frontera Electric
UK pricing: Frontera starts at £23,495 for car as tested
Powertrain: electric - 83kW electric motor, lithium-iron phosphate battery of 44kWh usable energy capacity
Transmission: automatic - single-speed gearbox, front-wheel drive
Body style: five-door, five-seat crossover
CO2 emissions: 0g/km
VED motor tax: £10 first year (from April 2025), £190 subsequently
Energy consumption: 3.4 miles/kWh; or 18.3kWh/62.1 miles
Official range: 189 miles
Max charging speeds: 100kW on DC, 7.4kW on AC (11kW optional)
Top speed: 86mph
0-62mph: 12.1 seconds
Max power: 113hp
Max torque: 125Nm
Boot space: 460 litres all seats in use, 1,600 litres rear seats folded
Max towing weight: 350kg (braked trailer)
Kerb weight: 1,514kg

Styling

The best bit of the Frontera's styling is the wheels. In basic form, the Frontera comes not with fussy, delicate, vulnerable-to-kerbs alloy wheels, but simple steel items painted in white to look like the ones on a Land Rover Defender. It's a bit of a masterstroke, really, as it sets out the Frontera's cheap-and-utilitarian stall in a way that would take ages to describe, but once you've clocked the wheels you instantly understand.

As for the rest of the Frontera's styling, it's... not great. The structure under the skin - indeed the entire 'Smart Car' chassis - is shared with the Citroen C3 and the incoming new Fiat Grande Panda, and unlike Fiat, Vauxhall hasn't been as good at disguising the car's shared nature. Aside from the blanked-off 'Visor' grille at the front, and the neat split-style brake lights, it just all looks too much like the Citroen, and no amount of contrast colour roof effects can really disguise that. It's also quite a narrow and tall car, so looks a little gangly while the extended rear end (compared to the Citroen C3 hatch) looks rather bolted-on as an afterthought, in the fashion of the old Fiat 500 XL. It's not ugly, just not especially interesting to look at.

Interior

If the exterior of the Frontera isn't especially distinguished, then the interior makes up for that. Yes, there's a lot of cheap plastic in here, befitting a car of its price tag, but the overall effect is of something that's well put-together, even if the surfaces are all cut-price. In the UK, the Frontera comes as standard with two ten-inch digital screens, for instruments and infotainment. The instruments look a bit too plain, while the infotainment can be a bit fiddly, although it's good that Vauxhall continues to stick with physical air-conditioning buttons. The three-spoke steering wheel is more or less identical to that used by the much more expensive Grandland, and feels good to hold.

The front seats, if you specify the optional 'Intelli-Seats' with their fabric made from recycled plastics, are very supportive and comfortable, and notably better on which to sit than those of the rival Dacia Jogger.

Practicality

There's plenty of space up front in the Frontera, with a good driving position and lots of useful, if slightly small, storage spaces. The cupholders come with an elasticated fabric band around them, which can be used to hold in place larger items if you need to stash, say, a laptop or a tablet. The door bins are somewhat small though, but there's a useful open shelf above the passenger side glovebox.

Space in the back seats is genuinely impressive - only the tallest rear-seat passengers will complain as there's ample space for legs and heads, and the back seat is pretty much as supportive and comfortable as those in the front. The middle-rear seat is pretty narrow, though, so don't expect to get anyone sitting comfortably there for long. There are Isofix anchors in the outer rear seats, but sadly none in the front passenger seat.

Space in the boot is decent, at 460 litres. The boot aperture is big and square (slightly taller than it is wide, to be entirely accurate), and there's an adjustable boot floor so that you can have a flat and level load lip. The rear seats tumble easily forwards to open up 1,600 litres of available space.

The Frontera is - optionally - a seven seater, but only if you're buying the Hybrid model, as the seven-seat layout isn't compatible with the Frontera Electric's structure, which is a bit of a shame. So far, Vauxhall hasn't let us try out a seven-seater version, either driving or as a static display model, so we can't comment on the available space in the third row, but we can say this - the Frontera's boot is much smaller than that of the Dacia Jogger, so it's unlikely to be able to offer Jogger-matching space for adults in those foldaway seats.

Performance

On paper, with its 113hp electric motor and 12.1 seconds 0-62mph time, the Frontera Electric seems like it might be pretty sluggish. In fact, it's not - think more 'appropriately nippy', although it does run out of breath at motorway speeds, as you get close to that 86mph limiter. On smaller roads and around town, performance for the Electric version is just fine, with some useful 'tip-in' torque when you need a burst of extra speed.

With a range of just 189 miles, the Frontera's looking a bit short in the all-round ability department, but its 44kWh lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) battery seems better able to deliver on its claimed range than some rivals, which promise 250 miles, but end up actually delivering a real-world range more or less identical to that of the Frontera. There will also, in short order, be a bigger-battery model with a 250-mile claimed range.

The Frontera Hybrid is slightly more sprightly and can get to 62mph 3.1 seconds quicker than the Frontera Electric. It's a solid all-round performer, and obviously can go further in one go than the short-ranged electric version. It is a bit noisy, though, with an odd whistle from the electric motor which can be disconcerting at times.

Ride & Handling

Given its cheapness, you'll be expecting the Frontera to drive in a very ordinary fashion. And you'd be right - this is no secret handling champ - but it's a car that drives in an ordinary fashion with a little bit of polish that's lacking in some rivals. Vauxhall's engineers were in on the ground floor of the development of this 'Smart Car' platform, so were able to sneak in their own steering and suspension settings, which are sportier than those used by the other Stellantis Brands. So the Frontera's steering - in both Hybrid and Electric versions - feels more well-weighted and responsive than you'd think it would. It's also a pleasingly precise car to drive, with little of the slack feeling you get in a Dacia Jogger.

Impressively, Vauxhall's spanner-jockeys have done this while preserving an impressive ride quality, which does a great job of soaking up bumps, especially around town where the Frontera is particularly good at dealing with speed ramps - that will be manna from heaven for urban commuters.

Value

At £23,495, the Frontera Electric and Frontera Hybrid are identically priced, which is good work by Vauxhall - the Electric model is considerably more expensive in the German market, for instance. It is pricier than the Dacia Jogger, but when you spec the Jogger up to its hybrid engine option, the prices are more closely aligned, and the Dacia doesn't offer an electric version at all. Standard kit includes the two big screens, those wonderful steel wheels, cruise control with a speed limiter, a bevvy of airbags, automated emergency braking, an automatic gearbox, and lane-keeping steering.

Verdict

Cheap and cheerful? As it happens, we think that the Frontera - in both its forms - is more utilitarian and honest. It's a well-made and roomy family crossover that's surprisingly good to drive. The Electric version currently only offers a short range, but that will improve in time (and the real-world range is better than that of some rivals). It's far from the most thrilling car in Vauxhall's lineup, but it's rather pleasantly sensible and useful.



Neil Briscoe - 17 Dec 2024



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2025 Vauxhall Frontera Electric. Image by Vauxhall.2025 Vauxhall Frontera Electric. Image by Vauxhall.2025 Vauxhall Frontera Electric. Image by Vauxhall.2025 Vauxhall Frontera Electric. Image by Vauxhall.2025 Vauxhall Frontera Electric. Image by Vauxhall.








 

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