• Diesel, petrol or plug-in
• No full electric version
• There are more powerful options out there

Petrol engines

There’s just one conventional petrol engine, a turbocharged 1.2-litre three-cylinder with 130hp. It’s available exclusively with a six-speed manual gearbox. It’ll do the industry standard 0-62mph test in a little more than 10 seconds, giving performance that’s adequate if not particularly sparkling especially with passengers aboard.

This engine isn’t too intrusive when worked hard, with neither noise or vibration proving particularly bothersome. Certainly when you don’t have anyone else on board it feels perky enough, but the mpg, which you can read about in the ownership cost section, isn’t all that brilliant.

The 1.5-litre four-cylinder found in the SEAT Ateca, Skoda Karoq and Volkswagen Tiguan is much punchier and still more efficient in real-world conditions..

Diesel engines

Like the petrol, the sole diesel engine gets 130hp but with an eight-speed automatic gearbox as standard. It’s considerably slower and more expensive to buy, so you need to really value the long-distance economy and slightly lower BIK rate.

Once again, we’d point out there are far stronger options out there such as the 2.0-litre TDI fitted to the Ateca, Karoq and Tiguan.

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What’s it like to drive?

• Safe and secure handling
• Not much fun in corners
• Reasonably comfortable

The Grandland is arguably at its best on the motorway thanks to decent comfort at speed and well contained wind and road noise. Scruffy surfaces at lower speed aren’t rounded off quite as effectively, especially on the largest wheels fitted to Ultimate models.

It’s inoffensive in the bends, with plenty of grip and a safe, assured if unremarkable feel. We’d like a little more precision from the steering and it never feels as agile as the best in class. That’s especially true of the heavier plug-in hybrid models.

If you prefer a bit of spice rather than the Grandland’s vanilla flavouring, the SEAT Ateca is a sharper, more agile SUV as is the Mazda CX-5.