Review and test Opel Grandland 1.6 Turbo Hybrid4 Ultimate

If there is one brand that has reason to be happy that it has been brutally ripped from its mother’s womb, it is Opel. It seems to suddenly realize that old stepmom GM may not have been the ideal parent after all, and that cute new French mom brings a lot of exciting new things with her. In any case, it brightens up completely. For example, the new Corsa surpasses competitors such as the Fiesta and 208 in a large number of markets (including the United Kingdom and Germany, not the least of which are) and takes the lead in the sales statistics. There are fun new initiatives like the reborn electric Manta, and the new Astra is the most beautiful we’ve seen in years. And, oh yes: the Opel Grandland X has been given a second life.

First of all: following the Opel Crossland and Mokka, you can omit that X from now on. It stood for ‘crossover’, but we all understood that too, less is moreso it can go. In addition, he has been fitted with the new Opel family face, the so-called Vizor. That’s a rather pretentious name for what is basically a black piece of plastic in the nose, behind which are a bunch of sensors and radars hiding. Of course, he also received the corresponding daytime running lights that should make Opels recognizable from miles away. The headlights can be equipped with IntelliLux LED Pixel Light, which consists of 168 LEDs that can be individually directed and dimmed. This allows optimal lighting without dazzling anyone. It must be said: it suits the Grandland excellently. It all looks just that little bit more modern and fresh – it works.

The inside of the Opel Grandland

The interior was also thoroughly renovated. The entire dashboard has been digitized, where you can adjust the meters behind your wheel to what you want to see at that moment. Funny detail is that you can also limit that to less, instead of just more: if you just want to see your speed, that’s also possible. They call it ‘Digital detox’, and that in itself is a refreshing view of the only increasing amount of stimuli that you have to undergo as a modern person. More is of course also possible: you can even opt for Night Vision, with which you can spot people and animals that you cannot see in the dark. Everything is easy to operate.

Much more of the same

Technically little changed. Yes, some more safety and driving aids and connectivity things have been added, with which the Grandland can fully participate again with the rest. In the motor area, everything remained the same. We chose (pardon us) of course again for the thickest version, a 300 hp plug-in hybrid that immediately costs you more than 52k, but you can get in from about 35,000 euros and then you are, with 130 hp. a 1.2-litre turbo, not so badly endowed.

The Opel Grandland 1.6 Turbo Hybid4 is not a sports car

If you think that you buy a semi-sports car with that 300 hp, you will be disappointed. It all goes smoothly, but ferocious sportiness is just not in the genes of the Opel Grandland. The chassis always remains friendly and all electronics (not even that easy to turn off, all) ensures that you always keep coloring within the lines. You can certainly do a smooth overtaking or quickly insert, but it all remains more under the motto ‘a lot of power is safe’ than ‘a lot of power is fun’. And there is nothing wrong with that at all. Great thing, with which you can easily go forward for years.