Vauxhall Frontera review

Actually, better than you might expect. Vauxhall’s engineers reportedly worked hard to make the steering as precise and predictable as possible while retaining a good level of body control, and it shows.

So it steers nicely, and while there’s a bit of roll through corners, it remains surprisingly composed. You do sit high and quite upright, so tighter corners are best approached cautiously – we reckon the electric variant is slightly better in this regard, with the batteries under the floor contributing to a lower centre of gravity. But it also rides a bit harder thanks to its additional mass.

Tell me more about this hybrid powertrain.

It combines a 1.2-litre three-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine, available in two power outputs – 99bhp/151lb ft of torque, or 134bhp/170lb ft of torque – and a 28bhp electric motor, integrated into a six-speed dual clutch transmission.

When starting from a standstill and under acceleration, the electric motor supports the petrol engine with small power and torque boosts, with the standard version accelerating from 0-62mph in 11.0 seconds and on to a 112mph top speed, and the more powerful version 0-62mph in 9.0 seconds on to a vmax of 118mph.

Otherwise, at low speeds it’s claimed to enable fully electric driving for up to 1km at a time, but in reality the engine only switches off when you’re sat in crawling traffic.

No plugging in is required, with the engine switching off and the electric motor acting as a generator to charge the 48-volt battery of the hybrid system when slowing down. Vauxhall says it ‘significantly’ reduces fuel consumption and CO2 emissions compared to a comparable combustion vehicle.

So it should be light on the wallet?

We saw 38.5mpg versus Vauxhall’s official figure of 53.3mpg over a route of around 50 miles, but the caveat here is that our route involved lots of rural roads and efficiency wasn’t our priority. You can probably reckon on slightly better. Loads better if most of your driving is around town or on the school run so often referenced in small, affordable SUV reviews like this.

Of course, the big advantage of the mild hybrid over the electric one is that there’s none of that range anxiety if you do decide to go further. But if you’re used to driving an electric car – and thus negotiating the perils that come with the UK’s charging infrastructure – we reckon the EV is well worth a look.

Whatever variant you go for, your hand is forced when it comes to the regulated speed limit and lane keep warning systems, which auto activate at the start of every journey, but there are physical shortcut buttons to allow you to quickly switch these off. Easier than almost all of the Frontera's rivals, in fact, only its near-idential C3 Aircross twin boasting such simple deactivation.