Vauxhall Antara (07 on) - Review

The Antara is a five-seat 4x4 in the same mould as the Toyota RAV4 and Honda CR-V and is essentially the replacement for the long-running Frontera which stopped being sold in 2003. It's neat styling, decent equipment levels and modern cabin give it plenty of appeal but unfortunately the Antara lags behind other similar off roaders in too many key areas. The vague steering and wallowy handling do it few favours while the five-speed gearbox is poor. Elsewhere, the 2.0-litre CDTi diesel is noisy and crude which only adds to the feel that the Antara is dated before its time. In early 2011 the Antara was given a number of updates. The aesthetics were given minor updates with some exterior design refreshes as well as small changes to the interior. The more substantial changes included a tweaked chassis, new gearbox and cleaner and more efficient engines.