• Ample room up front
• Reasonable in the back
• Petrol and diesel have a big boot

How much space is there?

Interior space up front is plentiful, with a reasonably wide armrest to share with your passenger, good headroom and a seat that goes a long way back to accommodate tall drivers.

Rear passenger space is average for the segment, albeit with enough room for a six-foot passenger to sit behind a six-foot driver. If you want more space you’ll need a Hyundai Tucson, Kia Sportage or Volkswagen Tiguan.

Boot space and storage 

Boot space in the plug-hybrid model reduces to 390 litres due to the battery underneath — the petrol and diesel Grandlands have 514 litres of space with the rear seats up. Drop the rear bench and you’ll find those figures grow to 1,528 and 1,652 litres respectively. There’s plenty of useful oddment storage around the cabin, although the glovebox is small and you need Ultimate trim for map pockets on the back of the front seats.

You can’t get convenient three-piece 40/20/40 split folding rear seats in any Grandland, all featuring a conventional 60/40 split, with GS Line and up adding a ski flap. You also won’t find sliding or reclining rear seats in the Grandland, but they do at least have useful levers in the boot to easily fold them.

If you need more space, we’d point you towards the Hyundai Tucson or Kia Sportage, both of which have bigger boots regardless of their hybridisation level.

Is it easy to park?

The Grandland isn’t a particularly large SUV, so you won’t need to find a massive parking space. It’s smaller than a Sportage or Tucson and not much longer than your average family hatch. All models get a reversing camera as standard, with Ultimate models adding front and rear parking sensors, a surround view camera and semi-autonomous parking.

Those assistants are useful as the rear screen isn’t particularly big and the rear pillars are pretty large. A rising window line eats into your over the shoulder view, too.

Safety

• Five-star rating from Euro NCAP under older test
• Isofix seat mounts front and rear
• Standard Autonomous Emergency Braking

When it was tested in 2017, the original Grandland X received a five-star safety rating that’s been carried over to the Grandland. However, adult protection isn’t as good as most newer rivals, while the Grandland’s tests were carried out under older, less strict regulations. A Nissan Qashqai or Hyundai Tucson are both safer in a crash.

At least you get plenty of kit to prevent an accident in the first place. That includes the usual electronic stability and anti-lock braking systems plus automatic emergency braking as standard. Ultimate models add adaptive LED headlights to give a better view at night with a night vision camera on the options list.

Watch: Vauxhall Grandland Euro NCAP crash test