The Opel Grandland is economical, but really loads too slowly

Opels. I had one. An omega, the business bake for better representatives until the beginning of this century. Second -hand cheaply purchased when child one to purchase cribs, trolleys and cars with lots of space forced. Then you took this. Opel in 1990 was what Van der Valk was before the chain wanted to count, simple but nutritious. He rusted, but BMWs did that too. I loved that car. Never broken and everything could come along.

The descendants of the righteous, solid Opel-Mens received cures. The successful people in their twenties of the nineties became hedonistic yuppen, and Opel hoped to hunt that spirit of the times. The gentrified shocked, such as Van der Valk Verhiltonde. There was a lifestyle city car, the Adam, in which only Opel saw a serious competitor of the Fiat 500. One day, Opel Corsas drove around with a heated steering wheel. In the meantime, Opel was unable to compensate for the erosion of the Golf class and the higher middle class, in which it had traditionally had a strong position from Kadett to Omega, with successful SUVs. For example, it became a takeover prey for the French brand conglomerate Stellantis. Opel promised some freedom of movement, but quickly subjected to the technical equalization of the existing Stellantis brands. The electric Opel Grandland is on the platform of the Electric Peugeot 5008. Given my experiences with that roommate, I don’t know if the Opel person should be grateful for that. High consumption, lousy view.

Zoom in for details of the Opel Grandland
Click on the points for explanation about the details.Merlin Doomernik

Even in the Grandland the view around is not great. He does look better. Opposite the armored car-like coarseness of the 5008, he makes the Opelian straightforwardness that makes the current, technically also a Stellantis clone-transformed middle class Astra the best design in his genre. Without Peugeot Designgefröbel, the sleek Opel dashboard looks soothing systematic. The thin steering wheel tackles fine, the bar with physical switches under the multimedia system is home from seat and steering heating to front and rear window heating all functions that you want within reach. Handy is the shortcut under the infotainment screen to an overview of all on and off-switchable assistance systems. Strange is the equipment package of the test car, always symptom of delicate cost plots. You see Opel counting to make a little profit. A head-up display, no electrically adjustable seats. And what a very-German colors for the furniture: black with woody white blocks-that Locale Couleur did not even get Stellantis out. But at least the line with the mood lighting runs nicely straight and that car brands with more fuss sometimes painfully worse.

Photos Merlin Doomernik

Unlike Peugeot, a seven -seater version is not available. All the better. At least you have a normal trunk and child -rich families become rare. With 2,132 kilos, the Grandland is slightly lighter than the 5008, but strangely enough, the maximum load capacity with 568 kilos is much lower than the 707 kilos of Peugeot. Perhaps the Opel engineers, if they still have something to say, have understood better what overloading with those already heavily loaded rear axle due to the battery pack.

Load seriously slowly

Now the efficiency. It seems to be not too bad at Opel. The 18.3 kWh per hundred kilometers for his class I have not achieved anywhere with the Peugeot. But then loading. I do it at a Fastned station that I enter as a destination well in advance via the Opel navigation. Normal EVs then start in time with the pre -heating of the battery, so that it has reached the optimum operating temperature for the charging process on arrival. Except the Grandland, which is not even equipped with a heat pump as standard. Opel asks 799 euros extra for. Anyway, the promised loading speed of 150 kW in practice does not exceed 60, quite serious. So if you want to remain loyal to Opel, dear grandson of that proud omega representative, order it with a heat pump and the larger 82kWh battery, otherwise the nostalgia will be dead. Perhaps the relatively affordable Opel can take short-term benefits from the Tesla hate that keeps buyers away from the technically superior Tesla’s Model 3 and Y. On the other hand: now that VW has lowered the basic prices for the generous and virtually clear ID.7 with 9,000 euros to below 50 mille, the clones of Stellantis will also get it for a warm pump. Anyway, you can also just purchase the Grandland with a gasoline engine or as a plug-in hybrid. For that escape route you see more and more consumers. Understandable, but a formidable spoke in the wheel of the energy transition.

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