Should you buy one?

Although the Grandland X has its qualities – not least its long-distance capability and refinement – it’s far from the best to drive. We’d recommend a Mazda CX-5, SEAT Ateca or Peugeot 3008 far ahead of the Vauxhall, unless the more adventurous styling of those cars isn’t your bag. However, it’s a solid secondhand choice, with good availability and value pricing compared with the aforementioned rivals.

We reckon the 1.2-litre petrol is an undercover budget choice, thanks to its low list price and relatively bold fuel economy figures, and well worth recommending. It’s a great engine and delivers excellent mpg and decent performance, but hybrid power will be more suitable for some customers.

What we like

The Grandland X is well-equipped, with some interesting safety kit as standard, and there’s plenty of choice across the range, making it easier to tailor the car to your needs. Admittedly, some of the hybrid models can look a bit pricey on paper, but finance deals seem more competitive when you drill down into the figures.

On a more subjective level, the Grandland X is better to look at than contemporary Crossland X and Mokka X models, although the new Mokka is a vast leap forward for the brand and leapfrogs its big brother. The Grandland X also has a distinct, more grown-up character than the Peugeot 3008 with which it shares so much.

What we don’t like

For all the Grandland X’s maturity and understated smartness, it does lack some of the desirability that the CX-5, Ateca and 3008 all possess. Interior quality is a tad hit-and-miss, too, while our long-term review threw up some questions about its reliability (it needed a new gearbox), which is something we’ll continue to monitoring in the future.

The biggest criticism is the lack of driver involvement, which makes the car feel a bit dull to drive, but it doesn’t need to be exciting – as the sales figures show – to be a highly capable used family SUV that’s kitted up with reasonable levels of tech.

Further reading

>> The Parkers guide to SUVs

>> The best small SUVs

>> How we rate cars